When His Perfect Mask Shattered I Awoke (by Opal Aguilar) novel Chapter 777

Derek himself was completely unable to comprehend it. After the death of Adrian's biological daughter, his immediate action was to bring home another little girl to raise as his own.

To outsiders, it looked no different from replacing his late daughter with a substitute, even forcing his own son to grow up sharing everything with someone who didn't truly belong.

No matter how impressive Adrian was in his professional life, when it came to family, he was utterly incapable of handling things properly.

Penelope spoke, "Anne has always been gentle and emotionally fragile, and she's still so young. How could she possibly endure rumors like that? She cried in my arms for a long time. Even after calming down, she still forced herself to smile and spent half the day playing with Ellie in the garden. Only after Ellie fell asleep did she finally let her emotions out. Jonathan is still upstairs with her, comforting her right now."

At that moment, Anneliese and Jonathan were walking together around the bend of the second-floor stairs when they accidentally heard Penelope's words.

Anneliese blinked, then tilted toward Jonathan and murmured, "Should I go downstairs and pretend I've been crying and fix my makeup first?"

She couldn't simply interfere and undo Penelope's entire narrative.

Yes, she was angry—someone had spread those disgusting rumors about her and Steven, and even Elizabeth had been convinced enough to confront her.

But Derek, Penelope, and Jonathan had never once doubted her, so she hadn't actually been hurt or emotionally shaken by it.

As for crying in Penelope's arms—that part was completely fabricated.

Her mood had indeed been off, but not because of the rumors. It was due to what had happened in that fire years ago.

Jonathan smiled faintly and pinched her cheek. "Why go through all that trouble? If Grandma says you cried, then you cried. Who would dare question her? Going down like this is better anyway—looking bright, glowing, and beautiful. It'll be enough to annoy Gianna."

Anneliese couldn't help but curve her lips into a smile. It was becoming clear to her that Jonathan was even more skilled than she was at provoking people.

She nodded and linked her arm with his. Their footsteps immediately drew everyone's attention downstairs.

Steven lifted his gaze. When he saw Anneliese holding onto Jonathan so naturally and closely, his eyes briefly swept over Jonathan before settling on Anneliese's face, studying her carefully and in detail.

Many people who had seen photos of Anneliese with Ellie often commented that they resembled each other. Before this, Steven had refrained from examining her too closely out of respect for Jonathan's wife.

But now his gaze was fixed, sharp, and almost analytical, as if he were evaluating something and thinking deeply.

Her eyes burned red with anger and shame. When Anneliese met her gaze and saw her tearful, furious expression, Anneliese responded with a bright, dazzling smile, as if to say, You saw right. I'm perfectly fine. I wasn't affected at all.

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