From Forgotten Wife To Fierce Queen - Chapter 311: Chapter 311

At the Godard family mansion, what should have been a lively Christmas Eve was spent with each person in their own thoughts. Everyone stayed up late, watching the Spring Festival Gala, just like any other ordinary night.
After midnight, Christmas arrived. In the children's room, Grayson was video calling Reginald and Lauren to wish them a Merry Christmas.
Every year before, Grayson always spent Christmas with the Vanderbilt family. Right after Christmas Eve, he would go to greet the elders and then go to bed with his gifts.
"Merry Christmas, Grandpa and Grandma. Happy Christmas, Aunt!" Grayson held up his phone and wished the Vanderbilt family members through a video call.
"Merry Christmas!" Lauren had red eyes, clearly not used to having her son and grandson not at home for the holidays.
"Mom, you can't cry on Christmas, you know," Kayla said to Lauren.
Lauren quickly wiped her tears before they fell.
"Where's Great-Grandpa?" Grayson asked when he didn't see Paul in the video.
"Oh, your great-grandfather is sleeping," Reginald answered, his eyes never leaving the screen.
Although Reginald usually wasn't as expressive as Lauren, he really did love his grandson. With his grandson not at home during Christmas, his heart also felt empty.
"Sonny, why are you in your room by yourself? Haven't you wished the elders yet?" asked Reginald.
Grayson shook his head. "The elders aren't here. Mom told me to go back and sleep."
When Lauren and Reginald heard Grayson mention Paisley, their eyes instantly lit up. Even Kayla's face showed a hint of joy.
She thought, 'Could it be that my brother had successfully won Paisley back? So they are celebrating Christmas together?'
But soon, Kayla noticed something was off. "Wait, I just called your Dad, and he said he was at the hotel."
"Yeah." Grayson nodded. "Dad's at the hotel by himself. I'm here with Mom."
The Vanderbilt family members in the video were silent for a moment, feeling sorry for Dominick.
It was Kayla who broke the silence and smiled, "Well, at least Paisley accepted Sonny. That's a good start."
Lauren and Reginald nodded, their broken hearts finding some comfort.
"But your brother's so pitiful, having to stay in a hotel alone during Christmas." Lauren couldn't help but feel sorry for her son.
Kayla rolled her eyes. "Mom, can you stop being so double-standard? How many times did my brother have to go abroad for work during Christmas? Why didn't you feel sorry for him then?"
Dominick had never treated Christmas as a big deal, he would go on business trips even during the holiday.
The past few years had been better, especially when Paisley was still the Vanderbilt family's daughter-in-law, Dominick had almost never been home for Christmas.
"You used to complain about Paisley, saying she couldn't keep my brother. Otherwise, my brother wouldn't have to go abroad for work during Christmas. Didn't you say that?" Kayla didn't give her mother any face and called her out in front of Grayson.
Lauren could only glare at Kayla. "Shut your mouth!" Then, she carefully asked Grayson, "Sonny, you're alone in your room, right? Your mom's not with you?"
She didn't want Paisley to hear what they'd just said, it would be too embarrassing.
Grayson shook his head. "Mom's not here. She's talking to Grandpa and Uncle."
Hearing that Paisley wasn't in the room, Lauren sighed in relief, but her bad habit kicked in again. "This Paisy, honestly, leaving her child alone during Christmas."
"But I'm not alone. Rena's here," said Grayson.
Lauren was rendered speechless. Grayson's half-sentence completely threw Lauren off.
She had just complained about Paisley again. She wondered if Rena heard it and would tell Paisley about it. 'Why can't I control my mouth!' she thought. If it weren't for the video call, Lauren would have slapped herself right then.
Sitting beside them, Kayla almost rolled her eyes out of her head.
Reginald's expression was also awkward, but he wanted to talk to his beloved granddaughter. "Sonny, turn the camera to Rena. Let me talk to her."
Grayson nodded obediently and turned the camera to Serena. "Rena, it's Grandpa and Grandma, and Aunt."
But Serena had already fallen asleep; it was way past her normal bedtime.
"Grandpa, Rena's asleep," Grayson said as he leaned next to Serena, looking conflicted. He wondered if he should wake her up. But she was sleeping so peacefully. He couldn't bear to do it.
While Grayson was hesitating, Reginald spoke, "Let Rena sleep, don't wake her up."
In the video, Reginald lowered his voice, knowing Serena was asleep and couldn't hear, but still spoke in a deliberately affected tone, flattering himself as he spoke, "Rena, I'm Grandpa. I hope that you'll be happy and healthy. I really want to see you."
"What? Is it Rena? My granddaughter!" Lauren grabbed the phone without hesitation.
"Lower your voice!" Reginald scolded Lauren lightly.
Lauren quickly shut her mouth in embarrassment, and when she saw the little girl in the video soundly asleep like a little angel, her tears, which had just stopped, began to fall again uncontrollably.
"Baby, it's Grandma." At that moment, Lauren truly regretted it.
If only she had been kinder to Paisley back then. If she had eased that child's resolve to leave, maybe now she could be living surrounded by grandchildren. She wouldn't have to endure the pain of longing on Christmas.
But there's no such thing as a regret pill in this world. The mistakes had been made, and now the only thing left was to figure out how to make up for them.
Meanwhile, another person was also enduring the torment of missing someone. Josie sat listlessly in front of the vanity mirror. This was the first year she spent without Zim.
In past years, she wouldn't have been so sentimental. They had been together for so long, a few days apart would have been nothing.
But today, she had suffered a significant blow. She desperately wanted to talk to Zim, to be comforted by him. Finally, just when she thought she couldn't bear it any longer, Zim came back.
Seeing Zim wearing different clothes from yesterday, Josie instinctively asked, "Why did you change clothes? Did Aunt have some of your clothes?"
Not just the jacket, even the shirt underneath had been changed. And these clothes were clearly tailored to Zim's size, fitting him perfectly.
"Hmm, yesterday's clothes got stained with juice from Tommy, so I bought a new set myself," Zim answered naturally, walking toward the bathroom.
Josie didn't suspect anything. With Zim's current status, not only could he buy new clothes for himself on Christmas Eve, he could even have a mall opened if he wanted.
But just as Josie moved forward to hug Zim, wanting to be close for a while, she smelled a fragrance on him.
"Hmm? Did you put on perfume?" she asked. Not only that, but there also seemed to be a lipstick mark on the collar of his shirt.
"What's this?" Josie tugged at his shirt collar.
Zim turned his head and glanced, not showing any panic on his face. Instead, he just shook his head helplessly and said, "It must be Keeley."
"Keeley?" asked Josie.
"Yeah." Zim took a few steps forward, naturally removing his jacket and shirt, revealing his well-toned upper body from years of training. His body was the same as always, no marks or signs of anything unusual.
He then began to take off his watch. "Keeley insisted on me bringing her back. I didn't agree, but she grabbed onto me and wouldn't let me go. The perfume and lipstick mark, that probably happened then."
After saying that, Zim's face showed a tired expression, his voice becoming weak. "Honey, I'm really tired. I'm going to take a shower first. Let's talk after I come out, okay?"
Seeing Zim like this, Josie felt nothing but heartache. "Okay, go ahead."
"Mm, have the servants throw these clothes away." Zim pointed to the clothes on the floor before heading into the bathroom.
Josie was left standing there, filled with guilt and heartache.