CHAPTER 40: BIRTHDAY BANQUET 4

"Exactly the same as yours, darling. How about you give me your phone number and I'll meet you after the banquet?" As he gazed deeply into Arianna's eyes, Maxim made a suggestion.

Arianna was relieved that she had been able to secure a date with Maxim, so she handed over her phone to him. Maxim picked up the phone and dialed his number before calling him.

He saved Arianna's phone number while she was watching and noticed that the little girl was looking better than before. It appeared that the little girl was madly in love with him, and it did not appear to be a one-time occurrence.

Maxim patted Arianna's little head before leaving her standing in a good mood.

                                                                            ***

On the other hand, everyone was having a good time, and Nadia, the hostess, was busy entertaining her guests. However, when she realized Arianna had been gone for more than ten minutes, she became concerned.

She wanted to see that person, and having her leave like this was not something she wanted to see. Finally, she made a few whispers of her victory, and all she had to do now was wait and see how Arianna would die.

Her patience finally ran out after another five minutes, but before she could act, someone arrived, and she couldn't help but greet this visitor warmly and with a smile.

She felt extremely honored to have this person grace her birthday banquet in such a way. Who didn't want to be this guest's acquittance? Many people will go to great lengths just to be in her presence, and one person traveled all the way to her without her sending an invitation.

"Please accept my greetings, lady Ruby. I didn't know you were coming, or I would have given you a better welcome," Nadia said cheerfully as she hugged Ruby.

Ruby smirked as she observed Nadia's arrogance. People had always looked down on her prior to her engagement to Lucas. Men would whistle and ask her inappropriate questions, such as how much she would charge per night.

They all saw her as a piece of meat waiting to be ravished; no one took her seriously, and her own parents wished the worst for her at one point. Her fate didn't change until she accidentally looked into Lucas' eyes.

To think that she, a commoner, would one day receive the attention and respect due to nobles made her feel as if she were still in a dream. She'd learned in the last few months that power is everything, and she enjoyed flaunting it.

She had no intention of attending the banquet in the first place, but after watching those short videos and reading the articles on Arianna, she felt threatened for the first time.

Even as a woman, she could see and sense how attractive, alluring, and changed Arianna had become since waking up from the comma. If she had been living in a fantasy world, she would have believed Arianna was a reincarnated being or had gone through rebirth.

How could she have changed so drastically? She wanted to see her with her own eyes so she could figure out how to deal with the pest. Ruby realized after being in this complicated circle that if you find a threat, you should eliminate it completely, and any mercy would only come back to bite her in the a$$, which she didn't want.

She had to admit that Arianna was difficult to forget, and she was more ingrained in Lucas' memory than her, which irritated her greatly. Arianna, despite her failure to win Lucas' heart, was someone who had known Lucas longer than she had, and now that she wasn't chasing after him, she had a feeling Lucas might find her interesting.

Men were fickle, and when women devoted themselves to pursuing them, they took it for granted. They will terrorize them, embarrass them, and make their lives a living hell, and yet when they move on and divert their attention elsewhere, these men always misinterpret it as the women using other means of attracting them, which is insane in her opinion.

Aside from that theory, Ruby was aware that Lucas had been paying attention to Arianna recently, which is how things go wrong, and Ruby wasn't about to sit back and watch her man be snatched away after all of her hard work.

While hugging the birthday girl, Ruby began to scan the entire room, her eyes searching for one person, but she was nowhere to be found. 

"Thank you for the welcome, I appreciate it," Ruby said softly as she pulled away from the hug.

"Please come in, I bet a lot of people are dying to meet you," Nadia exclaimed as she attempted to lead Ruby into the crowd.

"Thank you," Ruby agreed before following Nadia. The two easily navigated the crowd, and Ruby listened to Nadia talk about all sorts of things that irritated her, but she was someone who had a reputation to uphold.

"I heard lady Arianna is in town; is she here?" Ruby finally asked after a while of not finding her target.

"Oh, you're referring to her! I'm not sure where she's hiding right now. Who knows if she's too preoccupied with something stupid to notice?" Ruby could hear the hatred laced in Nadia's tone as she spoke with her teeth clenched.

She couldn't stop herself from raising the corners of her mouth. It was nice to meet others who felt the same way she does about Arianna.

"I guess I'll finally get to meet the famous lady, I've heard so much about her," Ruby said softly, her voice full of anticipation.

Nadia sneered as she led Ruby to her mother's location. She was young, but she wasn't a moron who couldn't figure things out. Ruby had come to see for herself how Arianna would be dealt with.

Nadia was still questioning whether the deal she made with the devil was the right thing to do, but since she had already boarded the pirate ship, she was going to see where it went.

The devil appeared on their way to meet her mother, and Nadia couldn't help but stop. Arianna, the person who had been missing for nearly twenty minutes, finally appeared, and the direction she was coming from was the stairs, implying that she had been up there the entire time.

But what exactly was she doing there? Who was she meeting, and what happened? She was intrigued, but there was no way for her to find out. The mansion's cameras were all turned off, so even if she investigates, she'll come up empty-handed unless she can find some witnesses who saw her there.