Clara immediately leaned in, turning Sarah’s face to get a closer look. While it wasn’t very obvious anymore, you could still see a faint bruise by the corner of her mouth if you looked carefully.

Her heart ached for her, and she couldn’t help but chide, "Look at you. Why did you go looking for her? Weren’t you just asking for trouble?"

Then, she started blaming herself. "This is all my fault. You wouldn’t have been slapped by them if it weren’t for me. Does it still hurt?"

Seeing Clara blame herself, Sarah actually smiled to comfort her. "It’s fine, it doesn’t hurt anymore. If Autumn dares to steal your man, of course I’m going to back you up. I even told them that from now on, I’ll hit her every time I see her bullying you."

After she finished, the smile on her face froze. She paused for a couple of seconds before continuing, "Clara, did you know? Of the two slaps, one was from my dad."

Clara froze. Although she had never met Evan Shelby, she knew he had always doted on Sarah, and Sarah loved him dearly in return.

But this time, he had actually hit her!

Her lips parted, but she didn’t know how to comfort Sarah. She could only fall back on blaming herself; it was because of her that Sarah was now fighting with the father she loved.

Sarah continued, "Honestly, I’m so disappointed in him. Autumn is trapped in some self-righteous fantasy of love and can’t pull herself out. And Yvette Zimmerman is her mother, a woman who doesn’t understand anything, so it’s one thing for her to blindly help Autumn.

But he’s the head of a family business, after all. How can he be so blind to reality, still thinking he can snatch Seth Quinn back?

I know his goal isn’t really to get Seth back, but to get the Quinn Family—to forge a connection with them. Hah. After all, the Quinns are the number one family in Novaria, the leaders of the business world. If it were possible, I bet there isn’t a single family in all of Novaria that wouldn’t want to marry into the Quinn family, right?

But Seth and Autumn were over a long time ago. How can he not see that? Why won’t he give up? Even if they did manage to get Seth in the end, he doesn’t love Autumn. Could she really be happy for the rest of her life?

She already developed depression before they were married because of Seth’s coldness and indifference. Isn’t he afraid she’ll just get depressed all over again after they get married, and it’ll be even worse because of his apathy?

No matter how you look at it, Autumn is his daughter, too. If he really wanted what was best for her, he should be persuading her to let go of this obsession.

Can it really be that in his heart, the Shelby Family’s interests are more important than his own daughter’s lifelong happiness?"

As Sarah spoke, she looked at Clara, her eyes filled with worry. "Clara, after yesterday, I’m suddenly afraid... afraid that one day I’ll also become just a tool for him to advance the Shelby family’s ambitions."

Clara grabbed her hand, comforting her. "He won’t. After all, he dotes on you so much. I’m sure he could never bring himself to do that."

Though she said he wouldn’t, Clara was worried too. She quickly added, "But, maybe you shouldn’t defy him from now on. No matter what Autumn does to me in the future, just stay out of it, okay?"

Before Sarah could reply, Clara hesitated for a moment and then said, "Actually, something else happened yesterday, something Seth didn’t tell you."

Then, she told her everything that had happened the day before, without hiding a single detail.

When she heard about Clara’s background, Sarah was stunned. ’This... how is that possible?!’

Seeing her friend’s disbelief, Clara gave a wry smile. "Surprising, isn’t it? When I found out a little while ago, I couldn’t believe it either. But unfortunately, it’s the truth.

So, when I made a scene yesterday about breaking up with Seth, the main reason was my background. I felt like I wasn’t good enough for him, and I mistakenly thought he looked down on me for it."

So, Autumn was only a small part of the reason. She can’t actually threaten my relationship with Seth. So, please, Sarah, don’t go looking for trouble with Autumn on my account anymore, okay?"