The crowd was equally stunned.

“If what Mr. Yoder said is true, then this is literally the real-life version of ‘The Scorpion and The Frog’.”

“Exactly. The Rodriguez family kindly helped their friends, only for that family to repay their kindness by destroying them. And years later, they came after the granddaughter’s marriage too! The entire family was a nest of vipers, ruthless enough to devour anyone who crossed their path!”

“I bet they got a taste of the benefits the first time around. Then, when they saw Ms. Rodriguez married into one of the most powerful families in Baumond, they got jealous and decided to pull the same trick again.

“After all, if they hadn’t latched onto Mr. Fleming, they wouldn’t even have been qualified to attend tonight’s banquet. They really would do anything to climb the social ladder.”

“I had dinner with Mr. Fleming, Ms. Locket, and Ms. Rodriguez before. Ms. Locket sat right next to Mr. Fleming in front of Ms. Rodriguez and acted like she was his girlfriend, as if she didn’t even know Ms. Rodriguez existed. Thinking back on it now, she really was shameless.”

“That’s not even the worst of it. She does that at practically every banquet like this, right in front of Ms. Rodriguez. And then she goes around behind her back spreading all kinds of nasty rumours about her. Tsk!”

After hearing all this, Jorge, Narcissa, and Quentin were even more shocked and incredulous. They stared blankly at Wynn.

If what Matthias said was true…

No! How could what Matthias said possibly be true?

Miles was equally stunned. His emotions were complicated as he looked at Trevor, Celeste, and Wynn. Unable to hold back any longer, he asked Beck, “What Matthias said… can’t be true, right?”

If it was true, then Trevor and the Wynn they had known all this time—

At that moment, Beck’s emotions were just as complicated. He had always thought he understood everything that had happened between Trevor, Wynn, and Celeste.

But it was only now that he realized that perhaps he didn’t truly understand any of the three of them.

Hearing Miles’s question, he finally snapped out of his thoughts. Looking towards Celeste and the others, he said slowly, “It should be true.”

Miles froze.

The entire room fell silent. Everyone was waiting to hear how Wynn would respond. But Wynn merely clenched her hands tightly and remained silent.

Matthias didn’t give her any more time. He glanced at Wynn, then at the Lockets and Shaws nearby.

“Ms. Locket, regarding everything I just said, is there a single thing I fabricated or slandered you over? If there is, point it out. We can go through everything with everyone here tonight.

“And if we still can’t settle it tonight, Cel and I don’t mind taking this online. We can publish Ms. Isabelle’s divorce certificate and the complete record of the divorce proceedings between her and your father.

“We can also lay out, piece by piece, exactly how your family repaid the Rodriguez family’s kindness. We have plenty of evidence, Ms. Locket. What do you say?”

The entire room fell deathly silent.

Wynn pressed her lips together without saying a word. Neither did Lilian or the others.

Linda could feel the judgmental stares and hear the whispers surrounding her. She bit her lip and lowered her head, her eyes turning red with tears.

She wanted to cry, but with no one from her family saying anything, she didn’t dare to do anything She wished she could find somewhere to hide, but her legs had gone weak. She couldn’t even move.

Ruby was in much the same state, though she was slightly better off. She looked frightened and bewildered, unable to understand how everything had suddenly spiraled this far.

At this point, there was hardly anything left for the crowd to misunderstand.

“So, what Mr. Yoder said is true?”

“Holy crap!”

Quentin stared at Wynn and instinctively took a step backwards. Jorge and Narcissa reacted almost the same way.

Narcissa clenched her hands tightly as she stared at Wynn, her eyes reddening.

Matthias looked at her with cold disdain, without a trace of sympathy. Then he glanced at Quentin.

“Mr. Yallop, Ms. Lackspur, let me ask you two a question now. Do you have anything else to say?”

“You-” Narcissa was furious.

The contempt in Matthias’s eyes, the fact that Wynn had deceived her, and everything that had happened that night left her overwhelmed with anger and frustration.

She wanted to say something, but the words seemed stuck in her throat.

After the devastation of the revelation, Quentin seemed to have calmed down. Yet he continued staring blankly at Wynn.

Then, almost as if speaking to himself, he murmured, “So… Getting into YodaVision, becoming Mr. Newman’s student, and now becoming Professor Lancaster’s student tonight… was all revenge?”

Someone in the crowd immediately scoffed.

“So what if it was revenge? If I were Celeste, I’d want to tear the entire Lockets and Shaws apart!”

“Exactly! Look at how obsessed Mr. Fleming is with Ms. Locket. If she had also become Mr. Newman’s student and earned his favour, Locket family would have had complete control over Ms.

Rodriguez. At that point, et

Mr.

Yoder probably wouldn’t have been able to protect her.

“In that case, sooner or later, she would have ended up at the mercy of the locket family again. So, rather than calling what Ms Rodriguez Cid revenge, I’d say she was just protecting herself!”

“Exactly!”

Jorge, Quentin, and Narcissa fell silent. So did Beck and Miles.

Caleb looked at Wynn, his lips pressed tightly together.

Kieran’s emotions were incredibly complicated.

But Matthias simply laughed. “Revenge?”