From Forgotten Wife To Fierce Queen - Chapter 68: Chapter 68

Kayla turned her attention to Marissa after she confirmed that Nion had indeed arrived. Seeing Marissa's pale face, Kayla asked, "Marissa, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"
Marissa glanced at Diana beside her and forced a smile. "I'm fine."
But Kayla could see right through Marissa's forced smile. "What's really going on?" She leaned slightly forward, looking to the other side of Marissa, and finally spotted the enigmatic smile on Diana's face.
Both Kayla and Diana came from prestigious families, and they knew each other. Seeing Marissa's forced smile, Kayla was certain that Diana had bullied Marissa. Kayla's expression darkened. "Mrs. Beaumont, did you say something to Marissa?"
"No. She didn't say anything to me. Kayla, I am fine." Marissa tried to reassure Kayla, but inside, she felt secretly pleased, thinking, 'This foolish Kayla finally stood up for me.'
Diana genuinely looked down on Marissa. She thought, 'I really don't understand. Is the Vanderbilt family full of fools? How could they allow such a hypocritical woman to stay by Dominick's side?' However, Diana knew that this was their business and she couldn't interfere.
"Marissa, don't be afraid. If you're bullied, just tell me, and I'll help you," Kayla said loyally. In her eyes, Marissa was kind, gentle, and easy to talk to. Otherwise, Marissa wouldn't have been so badly harmed by Paisley, nearly suffering death from an allergic reaction.
Diana knew that Kayla was certain that she had bullied Marissa, and Kayla was willing to defend Marissa. So, Diana turned her head and looked at Marissa with a half-smile. "That's right, Marissa. Tell her how I bullied you."
"Yes, Marissa, say it," Evelyn also urged.
Marissa pressed her lips together, unable to speak, but she had already cursed Kayla countless times in her heart.
Marissa had only wanted Kayla to back her up, to let Diana know that she was important to the Vanderbilt family.
But Kayla was too foolish to understand Marissa's intentions and even made Marissa voice her grievances.
Marissa thought, 'What can I say? Should I tell Kayla that Diana mocked me for living in the Vanderbilt family without any status? How could I say something like that?'
"Kayla, I'm really fine." Helpless, Marissa could only endure it and smiled at Kayla, "I just expressed my thanks to Mrs. Beaumont. They gave us these two seats."
After that, the anger on Kayla's face finally disappeared. She then smiled apologetically at Diana, which showed her etiquette. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Beaumont. I was being rash. Thank you for giving us your seats." Kayla was beautiful, and her smile was sweet.
Diana couldn't be bothered to argue with Kayla and turned her eyes back to the stage.
At this point, the auction had already begun, and the host was explaining the first item for auction, an abstract sculpture made by a contemporary abstract artist, with a starting price of 30 thousand dollars.
Due to the sculpture's extremely weird posture, despite the host and auctioneer praising it for all their efforts, no one participated in the bidding, and it ultimately went unsold.
"How could they have the nerve to put such an ugly thing up for auction?" Kayla complained softly to Marissa. She wasn't interested in the other items and was only waiting for Nion's oil painting to come up.
Thinking about it, Kayla looked in Diana's direction. "Mrs. Beaumont, any items you're interested in?"
Kayla was determined to get Nion's painting, but there were quite a few people at the venue who wanted that painting as well. Kayla could ignore the others because they couldn't compete with her financially, but Diana was different.
Diana thought for a moment and said, "Nothing particular." She had looked at the auction item descriptions in advance and didn't find anything she particularly liked. However, for the sake of charity, she planned to bid on a few items tonight.
"If I had to name one, it would be that oil painting. It really is beautiful, and it would look nice hanging in the reception room," Diana added. "But that item is later in the auction, so I estimate I'll have to wait a while."
Upon hearing this, Kayla immediately became alert. "So you also like Mr. Vaire's painting? I'm a fan of Mr. Vaire. I came here today just for that painting."
Diana understood and thought, 'So Kayla is warning me not to compete with her.'
Seeing that Diana didn't respond, Kayla continued, "Marissa even used her connections to invite Mr. Vaire. Once I win that painting, Mr. Vaire will sign it for me."
Diana raised an eyebrow and looked at Marissa. "Did you invite that artist?"
Although Diana didn't understand oil painting, she was knowledgeable about art, especially valuable art.
Nion's painting was one of those valuable artworks, which was why it had an unusually high price. One reason was that Nion's painting was indeed beautiful, and the other was that Nion never publicly revealed himself, maintaining an air of mystery.
When Diana asked this, Marissa began to feel guilty. The reason she said so was to make Kayla more grateful to her. But in reality, Nion had not been invited by her at all. Marissa hadn't even met Nion. He had decided to attend on his own accord.
However, Marissa had already boasted about her connections to Kayla, so she couldn't confess now. Marissa ambiguously replied, "I do have some connections that can reach Nion."
Upon hearing this, Diana didn't press further, thinking, 'After all, Marissa had been with the Vanderbilt family for so long. She having some connections isn't surprising.'
After taking a deep breath, Marissa looked back. Once she confirmed that someone was seated in Nion's spot, she breathed a sigh of relief. When she turned back, it seemed she caught sight of a familiar figure.
'Paisley?' Marissa was startled. Now, whenever she thought of Paisley, she would have a stress response, thinking, 'Could Paisley be here too?'
But when Marissa widened her eyes to look closely, that figure had already disappeared. She looked in other directions and, after confirming there was no sign of Paisley, finally relaxed.
Marissa thought, 'It seems I was too sensitive and saw things. How could I mistake any woman with Paisley?
Of course, it was not her. Paisley has no right to enter this hall. The guests present were all verified wealthy individuals, each worth at least a hundred million dollars. Paisley couldn't possibly be among them.'
As Marissa pondered, two more auction items passed.
Kayla grew a bit impatient and stood up to Marissa, saying, "Marissa, I'm going to the restroom."
In the restroom, Paisley was taking care of the two female teachers and a few girls to the bathroom.
The auction would take a long time, and the girls had drunk a lot of juice, so they took the opportunity to bring them to the restroom.
"Thank you so much, Ms. Sutton." The two teachers shyly thanked Paisley.
Due to the lack of organization at the venue, the staff couldn't attend to these people from a poor village at the moment. The children wanted to go to the restroom but didn't know where it was and were too shy to ask.
Since Paisley's paintings wouldn't be auctioned for a while, she took them out. "It's no problem. I was just idle anyway."
The last girl to come out of the restroom was named Annie. She had never been in such a clean restroom and looked curious. "It smells so good in here, and there are no bugs, and it doesn't freeze my butt."
Seeing that Annie's clothes were not neatly put on, Paisley wanted to help her fix it, but one of the teachers beat her to it.
"No, Ms. Sutton. How could I let you do this? Annie, how come you can't even put your clothes on properly?" Although the teacher complained, her actions were gentle. Paisley could see that the two teachers genuinely cared for these children.
Just then, a sharp female voice suddenly rang out. "Gosh. Who are you? How did you get in here? You've made this place filthy."
Paisley frowned, feeling that the voice was quite familiar. She turned her head and saw Kayla without surprise.