The Cherished Wife

Mateo narrowed his eyes as he placed his hands on the armrest and huffed cooly. "Come on, Clarisse Baker. You're from a noble family, and should know to use your brain in deciding what to do in places like these!"

"You... You have no right to criticize me, Mateo Hoffman. A man who pulled nothing but lowly tricks from his sleeves is not even the slightest bit trustworthy to me!"

The corner of Mateo's lips curved upward. "Which one of us do you think is more lowly? I'll let what happened today slide, but some incidents have happened many years ago, and you should stop harping over what will never belong to you."

"Mr. Mateo and the others have settled in. Mr Hoffman. Also..." Ronald leaned toward Charles as he spoke, and Charles narrowed his eyes slightly before he nodded and asked, "Alright, got it. Where is Mrs. Hoffman?"

...

he pointed at the woman in conversation with Arya and Brian. "Mrs. Hoffman has been with

traveled across the crowd to gaze at Noelle, who seemed to realize Charles was looking at her. She turned around, and their gazes met mid-air. The corner of her lips curved upward as a smile twinkled in her eyes. Charles, too, smiled and made a gesture at

lowering her hand and

smiling look appeared in Charles' eyes as he looked away.

just spoke to Ruby on the phone. They're on the way, and will be arriving soon." As Ronald spoke, he received another

itself around Brielle Blake, Royal Star's it girl. Given her standing within Royal Star, she was the first to enter the venue, followed by

makeup done to the nines and looked extremely

they all began talking about the artists under Royal Star