In her heart, after she was done hating Zachary Preston, Cara Preston turned her hatred toward Vera Xavier. ’This is all Vera Xavier’s fault. I will absolutely not let her get away with this!’

The mother-daughter pair returned to the residential compound just as people were getting off work. The entrance was bustling with people, and the looks they cast at Rona Langdon and Cara Preston made it seem like they were watching a spectacle.

At first, Cara Preston didn’t understand why people were looking at her that way, until she overheard a conversation between Grandma Dixon and another elderly woman. "I heard something happened at the Preston family’s house yesterday. Their younger daughter was locked up in the police station. You live next door to them, is that true?"

"Of course, it’s true. I even heard from a student at No. 1 High School that she was arrested for indecent behavior."

"You’d never know it to look at her. To think a girl who’s usually so delicate and gentle would do something like that."

"It just goes to show: you can know a person’s face, but you can’t know their heart!"

Seeing Rona Langdon and Cara Preston approach, the two women exchanged a look and fell silent.

Rona Langdon had never liked Grandma Dixon and wanted to storm over to argue with her, but Cara Preston grabbed her arm and stopped her. Rona turned to look back at Cara.

Cara Preston put on an aggrieved expression. "Mom, Sis came from the countryside. First she got a zero on her exams, then her engagement was broken... her reputation is already terrible. If people find out she did something like this, she probably wouldn’t be able to live with herself. I’m just taking the fall for her. I can endure being wronged a little. What matters is that our family knows the truth."

She spoke loudly, as if she wanted the entire world to know she was in this mess because she was covering for Vera Xavier.

Hearing this, the surrounding gawkers grew suspicious. But when they saw her pitiful expression, combined with her well-known talent for putting on an act, a few undiscerning people actually believed her.

Rona Langdon was stunned for a moment before she caught on. "Cara, you’re just too foolish. It’s one thing to let Vera Xavier have her way all the time, but to cover for her in a matter this serious... It’s all my fault. I failed to raise Vera properly."

"It’s alright, Mom," Cara Preston said with a look of utmost sincerity. "She’s my sister. It’s nothing for me to be wronged a little, as long as she’s okay."

"You’re just too kind-hearted," Rona Langdon sighed.

The mother-daughter pair continued their conversation as they walked home.

Grandma Dixon’s brow furrowed slightly. The woman beside her asked, "Is what they’re saying true?"

Grandma Dixon said with a look of contempt, "True? My foot! I hear that mother and daughter bullying Vera Xavier from my house every single day. It doesn’t matter if a person isn’t pretty, but a black heart is truly unacceptable. And even after all this, they’re still slinging mud at Vera! I don’t know where they get the nerve! I find it baffling, too. Vera is clearly Rona Langdon’s biological daughter, so why does Rona treat her so badly?"

However, there weren’t many clear-headed people like Grandma Dixon. Between the mother-daughter duo’s performance and Rona Langdon later telling everyone she met that Cara Preston was only detained for a day because she was taking the fall for Vera Xavier, the truth of the matter became hopelessly muddled amidst the rumors.

The reason some people believed Rona Langdon and Cara Preston’s lies was simply that, in their eyes, Rona Langdon was Vera Xavier’s biological mother. A mother’s love is boundless; what kind of mother would sabotage her own daughter?

When Cara Preston got back to the Preston house, she wanted to find a doctor to look at her injuries, but Rona Langdon immediately shot her down. "No money! You’re not seeing a doctor."

Bonus Scene: 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Vera Xavier (scornfully): Cara Preston, have you no shame?

Cara Preston (laughing): Shame? What’s that worth? Can you eat it?

Author (laughing): Cara Preston, you’ve offended Vera, which means you’ve offended Nathaniel. And offending Nathaniel means you’ve offended me. Your days are numbered, hmph!

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