Master of his heart

Chapter 513

Alivia felt the sting of the remark as if she’d been slapped across the face. Her chest heaved with barely contained emotion.

The society ladies who had just been showing off their Italian were now flushed with embarrassment. They had intended to make Brielle the butt of their joke, mocking her with a language they thought she couldn’t understand. To their chagrin, Brielle’s Italian was even more fluent than theirs.

The atmosphere turned awkward; the moment they had spoken, they had become the jesters of the evening.

Brielle wasn’t about to let Alivia off the hook. “Ms. Alivia, don’t you understand Italian?” she asked, her voice tinged with nonchalance.

The question cornered Alivia. Admitting she understood meant she knew the other women were ridiculing her, when she told Brielle they welcomed her. Claiming ignorance would suggest that she was less cultured than Brielle, who had mastered the language. Having presented herself as gracious and friendly towards Brielle all evening, choosing the former would expose Alivia’s duplicity to everyone.

Suppressing the turmoil within, Alivia managed a strained smile. “I really don’t understand. Did they say something unpleasant?” Her gaze swept innocently over the other guests, while the instigators avoided her eyes, shifting uncomfortably.

and we rarely gather like this. This

her mood had plummeted. Her eyes

Brielle’s impending disgrace. Unaware that Alivia had

been practicing a piece

piano beautifully and was sure Brielle, an orphaned girl who later joined the Haywood family, couldn’t compare. After all, would the Haywoods have ever provided her with

“Of course, this piano was indeed in a

“Ms. Brielle, you play,

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