From Forgotten Wife To Fierce Queen - Chapter 38: Chapter 38

The white horse suddenly went wild, scaring the crowd into scattering in all directions. Alexis, still shaken, barely dodged the horse's flying hooves, which had nearly kicked her. She shouted, "What did you do to the horse?"
The white horse thrashed its limbs and twisted its body, its distressed neighs showing a peculiar sense of grievance.
Paisley shrugged casually. "I didn't do anything. Didn't you see? I just gave it a pat." Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, there was no way she could've done anything sneaky. It really was just a light smack on the horse's rump.
Usually, a horse that was suddenly frightened might have become agitated, perhaps even started kicking. However, these were specially trained horses, and the strength of one woman wasn't enough to provoke such a strong reaction in a thick-skinned animal.
The white horse seemed to settle down as the sharp sting of pain began to fade. Under everyone's wary gaze, Paisley began walking toward it.
"Stop! That's dangerous. Don't go near it." Dominick instinctively got up, ready to stop her from approaching the agitated animal.
Noticing that, Marissa quickly grabbed his arm and leaned into him weakly. "Don't go, Dom... I'm scared," she whispered, her voice trembling.
While they hesitated, Paisley had already stepped forward, now standing right in front of the horse. Dominick's brows furrowed deeply, but when the horse showed no signs of harming her, his tensed shoulders finally relaxed.
Paisley gently stroked the horse's neck. "Typically, when administering injections to horses, this spot here is the safest," she explained, her hand sliding down to its chest. "Next would be this area, the pectoral muscles."
"Finally..." Paisley walked to the horse's right hindquarters. "There's this spot here—the semi-tendinosus and semi-membranosus muscles." The crowd looked utterly confused, unsure of why she was rambling on about horse anatomy out of nowhere.
She then continued like a teacher giving a lesson, saying, "So why is the hindquarters the last resort? It's because this area is close to the horse's powerful hind legs. And for the horse, this spot is essentially in its blind spot.
"If you inject here, it's easy to startle a horse, especially if it's nervous or skittish. That's why when people give injections to unfamiliar horses, this spot is never their first choice."
For some reason, the crowd actually listened as if they were attending an impromptu equine science class. Dominick's gaze softened as he quietly watched Paisley speak, an inexplicable ripple stirring in his chest. Even the anger on Grayson's face began to fade as he focused intently on her words.
Marissa's face darkened when she saw how Paisley had shifted the atmosphere. A flicker of malice crossed Marissa's face, but she quickly masked it with a pained expression and let out a soft, deliberate cough.
The sound immediately snapped everyone back to reality. Alexis shook her head, wondering how she had been drawn into Paisley's words so easily. 'What am I doing? I'm on Marissa's side. I need to show where my loyalty lies,' she scolded herself in her mind.
With a hardened expression, Alexis cut Paisley off, "What's the point of all this? Does any of this prove you didn't cause Marissa to fall off her horse?"
Hearing that, Paisley couldn't help but scoff, "You bunch of idiots."
Actually, Paisley knew that it wasn't fair to call these people idiots. It was more accurate to say they were simply used to weighing their options.
After all, in their eyes, Marissa was Dominick's future wife—the future matriarch of the Vanderbilt family. Compared to Paisley, dressed modestly and with no clear standing, it was painfully obvious who carried more weight.
Paisley understood that they didn't really care about the real reason Marissa fell off the horse. They just wanted to impress and flatter her.
Paisley also knew that if their roles were reversed, even if she had deliberately caused Marissa's fall, these people would still side with her, spinning baseless arguments to defend her.
Having seen through all this long ago, Paisley didn't let it stir her emotions. To her, these people were nothing more than clowns.
"Of course, I can prove it," Paisley said. Her hand hovered near the white horse's right flank, deliberately avoiding the crucial spot.
She continued, "As I mentioned before, injecting into a horse's vein at the flank isn't the best option. Second, before giving any injection, the horse needs to be calmed. If you inject while its muscles are tense, it'll hurt—a lot."
As Paisley spoke, she raised her hand and lightly tapped the spot she had been avoiding. "Like this." The white horse then reacted instantly, letting out an uneasy whinny.
Her pat had been light this time, so the horse's discomfort wasn't as intense. Even so, it was enough to startle the onlookers.
After all, they'd seen with their own eyes how wild this horse had been earlier, throwing Marissa off with all its might. Spoiled and pampered their entire lives, they were still shaken by the memory.
"Oh, look at that—the proof is right here," Paisley smiled faintly as she parted the dense hair on the horse's flank. Two small puncture wounds came into view.
The wounds were about one millimeter in diameter, with only a faint trace of blood seeping at the edges. The dense coat had hidden the wounds so well that they were nearly invisible to the naked eye.
At that moment, the horse's caretaker also noticed the wounds and said, "Wait a second. Why are there two wounds on the horse's flank? Those weren't there before."
These horses were bought at a premium price and treated like royalty. There was no way this could have happened under normal circumstances. Even a needle used for a vein injection wouldn't leave such noticeable marks.
The caretaker's words seemed to click with the crowd. One of them pondered, 'Yeah... How could there be two wounds on the horse's flank out of nowhere?'
Paisley turned calmly toward Marissa and asked, "Well, Ms. Prescott, care to explain?"
"Explain what? I'm the victim here..." Marissa murmured as she avoided Paisley's gaze, inching closer to Dominick.
Early on, when Marissa saw Paisley's hand hovering around the white horse's rear, she had a sinking feeling in her gut. At the time, Marissa had been very discreet, and since everyone was focused on Paisley, that was when she had steeled herself and jabbed the horse's backside.
Marissa figured that even if there were cameras nearby, there was no way they could have caught it clearly. She always seemed to have a way to justify herself.
Besides, Marissa never intended to give Paisley a chance to flip the situation by checking the footage. Marissa believed that as long as everyone was on her side, Paisley would be left with no way to defend herself—just like with that mango cake four years ago.
What Marissa didn't expect was that the twist would come from Paisley herself. She couldn't help but wonder when Paisley had gotten so clever.
Paisley had anticipated that Marissa wouldn't admit it so easily, but she didn't seem in a hurry. "Oh, really? Then, can you tell me where your brooch is, Ms. Prescott?"
"My brooch..." Marissa instinctively glanced at herself. The brooch wasn't there.
Paisley then pointed to the ground nearby. The brooch was lying right by Alexis' feet. It was a limited-edition piece from an ultra-luxury brand, made of metal, heavy and large, with a thick, long pin.
Alexis bent down and picked up Marissa's brooch. Sure enough, there was blood on it. She murmured, "Marissa..."
"Marissa..." Grayson's little heart took quite the hit at that moment.
He first looked at Marissa, then at the brooch, and finally fixed his gaze on Paisley. He wondered, 'Could it really not have been Paisley? Did she not hurt Marissa or cause the horse to throw her? Did I misunderstand Paisley?'
Marissa's face turned pale in an instant, and she quickly made up an excuse. "That brooch must've fallen off when I was thrown off the horse. The blood on it is mine."
Paisley didn't argue further. She simply nodded in silence. "Hmm."
At this point, she figured those who needed to understand already did, and there was no need for her to say more.
Paisley thought that if anyone insisted on pushing it further, they could always have the blood on the brooch tested to see if it was from a horse or a person. But then again, there was really no need.
Paisley knew very well that Marissa had panicked this time, which was why she resorted to such a clumsy scheme. Paisley couldn't help but think how mindless the attempt was, yet Marissa still had people backing her, people who were willing to believe her.
So, Paisley only said what she needed to clarify. As for what the others thought, she couldn't care less.