“Sophia!”
A cry sounded, and a woman suddenly burst in, rushing up to hold Sophia’s arm. “Sophia, I’m Avril, Murphy’s daughter.”
Sophia instantly sized Avril up. She had only been back at Wicked Palace for a short while – she had not gotten the chance to meet the rest of Murphy’s family.
When Sophia left Wicked Palace, Avril had just been born. The woman smiled happily at Avril because she had never expected to see her niece come running to her.
“What a beautiful young lady you’ve grown into now, Avril! Why don’t you go head back with me?”
“I can’t, Sophia.” Avril turned to glance at Stephen shyly. “My love is here, so I’m not going anywhere unless he goes with me.”
Portia, who was standing beside Stephen, burst in flames when she heard Avril’s words.
She could not believe that the woman would dare to gesture at Stephen with that suggestive glance in front of everyone.
Am I a joke to her?
“Look at how she’s confessing to you again, Stephen! Go, tell her what’s on your mind.”
Sophia was baffled by Portia’s words because she was unsure of who the duchess was referring to. Besides Portia herself, Sophia was the closest in age to Stephen.
She’s not talking about me, is she?
Sophia was about to ask Portia when Sheila approached her to gesture at Avril.
Avril has fallen for Sir Musgrave?
The man’s almost as old as Murphy! Why would Avril fall for him?
Sophia considered how Avril looked at Stephen and soon realized that her niece was indeed in love with the man.
Does Murphy know?
Portia demanded impatiently, “Say something, Stephen!”
After glancing at his wife, Stephen turned to Avril and noticed her looking at him with love-struck eyes.
At that moment, Avril promised herself that she would give up everything to follow Stephen like a moth to a flame if he confessed openly to her.
Her eyes burned with flames of passion as she looked expectantly at the duke.
“Avril, I told you that it’d be great to have a daughter like you, so would you like to be my foster daughter?”
The question came down like a bucket of cold water on the woman, extinguishing the flames in her eyes.
“No! I don’t want to be your foster daughter!” she shouted angrily.
Sophia walked over held her niece’s hand. “Stephen will be like a father to you, and you’ll be a sister to Nicole. That’s good, isn’t it?”
“No, Sophia. That’s not good,” Avril sneered.
“What do you want then? Stephen won’t be with you, so I suggest you stop dreaming about it!” Portia huffed.
Avril then turned to Nicole. “Didn’t you say your mother’s more beautiful than you? All I see here is a madwoman. There’s nothing beautiful about her.”
Nicole was stunned by her harsh remark. She had never told Avril that Portia was not her birth mother.
She thought the woman would find out eventually, but it had not turned out that way.
Just when Nicole was wondering if she should explain the situation to Avril, Portia did it for her.
“I am Stephen’s wife, but not Nicole’s mother. That woman’s been dead for a while now.”
The word “dead” hurt Nicole like a knife to the heart, and it also prompted Stephen to roar at his wife, “Portia!”
The duchess turned to her husband in a huff. “What are you yelling at me for? It’s the truth!”
Avril froze. She knew Portia was telling the truth when she noticed the sadness in Nicole’s eyes.
