Silly Bride

Chapter 280

for confirmation. “Is that so?”Winnie immediately nodded. “Yes, that’s indeed my decision. Thank you for your invitation, but I’m afraid I’ll have to turn it down. We’ll be heading off now if you and Margaret have no other questions.”Since Winnie had already made herself clear, Helen knew there was nothing more she could do. “Very well, then. Have a good day. I’d also like to apologize to you on Margaret’s behalf.”Winnie merely gave a silent nod of acknowledgment before taking Emily by the arm and following V upstairs.As soon as everyone was in the VIP lounge, Wilhelm suddenly turned to Winnie and burst out laughing.Bewildered, Winnie shot him a glance and raised her brow. “Why are you laughing at me? Do I look like a joke to you?”To her surprise, Wilhelm’s smile grew wider. “My, my. You’ve been hiding your light under a bushel, Vivian. I can’t believe you’re the boss of Champes! Say, what other identities do you have that we don’t know of?”“Oh, there are so many I can’t even count them on my fingers,” Winnie replied half-jokingly. “I’ve even forgotten some of them. I suppose I’ll only recall them when I have another chance encounter.”Wilhelm instantly guffawed at that. “If I didn’t know you better, I’d have pegged you as a snob after hearing what you just said. No wonder Grandma always receives the best treatment when she’s here to order her clothes. Well, I’m glad I finally know the reason, but when will it be my turn to enjoy such treatment too?”“My goodness, Wilhelm. Champes is a women’s clothing brand,” Winnie said with a hint of annoyance. “If you find yourself a wife worthy of my respect, I’ll also make sure to give her the VIP treatment.”“Are you taking me for a joke too?” Wilhelm grumbled as he lightly smacked her head.Winnie knew the man would never be heavy-handed on her, so she didn’t even bother ducking.“Speaking of which, I think that journalist, Helen, looked at you rather oddly earlier,” she suddenly remarked. “She seems to hate you, but I’m sure it’s not just because you turned her down on my behalf. Fess up, Wilhelm. Did something happen between the two of you?”Without thinking twice, Wilhelm replied, “No!”“Oh, Wilhelm!” Emily exclaimed, looking rather shocked. “How could you deny it? Have you forgotten that you rejected her before in public?”Upon hearing that, Wilhelm looked utterly confused. “Grandma, are you sure? Why don’t I have any recollection?”“Yes, of course,” Emily said, a deep-set frown on her face. “I’m sure it was her.”Before Wilhelm could reply, she turned to Winnie and added, “Do you know why I told you I know this particular journalist? Not only did she expose the royal family’s scandal, but she was also the only lady brave enough to profess her love for Wilhelm in public. On top of that, she even got rejected by him.”“That’s impossible,” Wilhelm retorted. “I do remember someone professing her love to me, but that was at a birthday party three years ago and by a very young lady. I’m sure it wasn’t that journalist.”“Oh, my dear Wilhelm…” Winnie muttered. “Three years have passed since then. Don’t you know that appearances change as people grow?”“You didn’t, though. I think you look the same as you did three years ago. The only thing different about you is that your skills have improved.”“Fine. It seems you never cared much for the lady,” Winnie reasoned. “You know, if she’s someone with high self-esteem, there’s a chance she’s still holding grudges.”The moment she finished speaking, V and his assistant walked into the room with the tailor-made gown and various haute couture dresses.Dazzled by the beautiful clothes, Emily immediately ordered Winnie and Wilhelm to quieten down.“Hurry up and get changed, Winnie,” she urged. “I’ll need your help too, Wilhelm. I plan on gifting one of these dresses to my friend, but I can’t make up my mind. Take a look and give me your opinion, will you?”Just like that, the afternoon went by in the blink of an eye. Emily was more than satisfied with the current batch of tailor-made dresses. She especially loved Winnie’s gown.As luck would have it, the group was leaving the lounge when they bumped into Helen and Margaret walking out of another room.This time around, because of Wilhelm, Winnie intentionally paid more attention to the journalist.To her surprise, she realized that Helen’s eyes were always on Wilhelm as though she still hadn’t gotten over the man who once made her heart flutter.With the dress fitting all done, Emily suggested that Winnie return to Speiser Manor with her.The latter, however, turned her down. “I still have to go to the hospital tomorrow, and it’d be more convenient to head there from my condominium than from the manor. My place is only a stone’s throw away from the hospital.”Upon hearing that, Emily and Wilhelm both exclaimed, “What? Are you seriously going back to your condominium?”Before Winnie could reply, the two of them began shaking their heads.“You’ll be alone in your condominium, and there won’t be anyone to take care of you,” Emily said. “Since it isn’t appropriate for you to stay at Wilhelm’s either, why not stay with me?”“Exactly. If that’s the case, I’ll return to the manor too,” Wilhelm hurriedly chimed in. “I can take you to the hospital in a while. There’s no difference whether you go today or tomorrow anyway.”Winnie, who was at a loss for words, had no choice but to oblige. “Fine… Let’s go with that arrangement, then.”As a result, she headed to the hospital to remove her bandages and followed the Speisers back to their manor.Unsurprisingly, the news of her return excited their cousins so much that they threw a huge welcoming party for her.If it weren’t for the fact that she needed to rest and recuperate, there was no doubt they’d have plied her with wine.It was nine at night in Yartran by the time Winnie managed to check her phone.Because of the time difference, it was around four in the morning in Chanaea, when the sun had yet to rise, and everyone was still sound asleep.She looked at the long list of messages that Xavier had sent, not knowing what she should reply.Xavier had asked various questions, such as what she was doing, if she had eaten, and if everything was settled.As much as Winnie wanted to answer each question individually, she was more worried that her flood of messages might wake Xavier up.In the end, she consolidated her replies into a single long message and sent it to the latter.When Winnie failed to receive any response after waiting for ten minutes, she concluded that Xavier must still be sleeping and decided to keep her phone away.Not long after, she was invited to dance, to which she agreed out of courtesy.Just as Winnie was dancing, however, Xavier’s call came through. Alas, the music in the hall was so loud that it drowned out her ringtone completely, and not a single person noticed the blinking notification light.Due to the significant time difference and the fact that Winnie had many social events to attend over the next few days, she could barely find the time to talk to Xavier. Their phone conversations were often interrupted, and even text messages were left unanswered for a long while.Winnie was so busy that she didn’t have time to mope around, but Xavier, on the other hand, found it to be an agonizing ordeal.Soon, it was the day for Emily’s interview with Helen, and she had Winnie vet her scripts before the journalist arrived.Wilhelm was also present when Winnie skimmed through the script. The latter’s expression instantly slid into a frown when she was done reading.“Grandma, are you sure you want to share these old stories? Wouldn’t they affect Steffen and the family’s reputation?” Winnie asked. “Steffen is poised to become the youngest member of parliament. If his future gets affected because of my background, I’ll feel very guilty.”“Don’t worry, Winnie. I’ve already discussed this with Steffen and even had him vet the script,” Emily reassured. “Both your grandfather and eldest brother have no problems with it, so you shouldn’t let it bother you either.”“Really?” Winnie asked, still frowning slightly. I’m more than aware that Grandma only agreed to do this interview because she dotes on me and wants to give me a proper acknowledgment. However, I honestly don’t care about the title. It doesn’t matter whether I’m blood-related or adopted, so long as I know Grandpa and Grandma are good to me. I don’t want to drag the other Speiser family members into my mess…“That’s right, Winnie,” Wilhelm