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Chapter 5: The Showdown

As soon as I reached the bottom of the stairs, I saw Alexander approaching with Clara right behind him, trailed by the snobby Julian.

Alexander looked at me from afar, his dark gaze sweeping over my entire body from head to toe, clearly, intensely checking if I was alright.

Before I could say anything to him, Clara rushed forward, softening her tone to sound incredibly concerned.

“Seraphina! You were gone for too long just now,” Clara gasped, placing a hand on her chest. “We were so worried something terrible might have happened to you!”

I laughed lightly. “How could that be? It was just a sticky lock on the restroom door.”

Clara stiffened slightly. Julian, standing beside her, chimed in with a sarcastic, mocking smirk. “I didn’t expect the elegant Mrs. Sterling to know such strange, lower-class skills like picking locks.”

I inwardly scoffed. What a brainless idiot. Just then, Clara signaled a waiter, who brought over a tray of drinks. “Here, Seraphina. Have some champagne to calm your nerves.”

I looked at the glass. I didn’t trust her for a single second. I was still considering how to reject it without causing a scene, when I immediately pretended to stumble in my high heels.

I fell gracefully forward, clinging tightly to Alexander’s strong arm, whispering weakly, “Husband, I’m feeling a little dizzy suddenly.”

Alexander immediately bent down, his strong arm naturally and securely wrapping around my waist to catch me. His voice lowered, a hint of genuine, deep annoyance aimed at the others in his tone.

I snuggled against his broad chest, acting very obediently, closing my eyes as if my head ached terribly.

I saw Clara’s expression clearly stiffen in pure jealousy, while Julian frowned uncomfortably. Alexander didn’t even bother looking at the two of them anymore. He just hugged me tighter.

“I’ll take my wife home first,” Alexander announced coldly, turning his back on the party.

The matter should have ended there. We should have gone home. But no, the very next day, Clara manipulated the social circle to ensure we were both invited to Alexander’s grandfather’s massive birthday gala.

Which is where the real, brutal battle of wits truly began.

The birthday celebration was held at the Sterling family’s sprawling mountain estate. The guests were all familiar, powerful faces from the city’s tycoon elite.

After respectfully greeting his grandfather, I ran into Clara and Julian alone in the beautiful, glass-walled lakeside corridor.

I decided to make the first move. I smiled very gently at Julian. “Julian, be careful walking today. Don’t accidentally lock anyone else in a bathroom, or bump into Miss Clara again.”

Julian froze, looking guilty.

Clara chuckled softly, trying to maintain her serene facade. “What are you saying, Seraphina? We were just looking for you to have a friendly chat.”

Before I could reply, a chaotic blur of motion occurred. A seven-year-old child, the son of one of the guests, suddenly ran blindly down the corridor, sprinting straight toward me from behind.

It was too fast for him to stop, but my survival reflexes were even faster.

I reached out and quickly pulled Clara forcefully toward me. Before she could even understand what was happening, she stumbled forward, and the running child smashed directly into her leg.

By sheer momentum, Clara slipped backward, lost her balance, and tumbled over the low ledge directly into the decorative, freezing lake next to the corridor.

The water splashed violently, and the wealthy guests nearby screamed in shock.

I almost burst out laughing, but I forced myself to maintain a calm, extremely panicked expression. “Oh my god! Clara doesn’t know how to swim!”

She thrashed wildly in the shallow water, screaming Alexander’s name hysterically.

Seeing Alexander running toward the commotion from the courtyard, I immediately took off my expensive silk jacket and shoved it into his chest. “Husband, hold this! I’ll go down and save her!”

Without waiting for anyone’s reaction, I kicked off my heels and jumped into the freezing lake.

Of course, I didn’t dive in to sacrifice myself to save a noble goddess. I had grown up swimming in the ocean, while Clara kept violently surfacing and sinking, swallowing mouthfuls of lake water until her face turned pale.

I swam over and grabbed her, acting outwardly full of frantic worry. “Clara! Don’t be afraid! I’m saving you!”

But every single time she surfaced to gasp for air, I subtly, deliberately pulled her weight down just slightly, under the pretext of holding her tightly to calm her panic. I didn’t drown her. Just pulled enough for her to swallow two more large mouthfuls of dirty lake water, ensuring she truly understood what absolute despair felt like.

When I finally pulled her ashore, Clara was violently trembling, her expensive mascara heavily smudged down her cheeks like a raccoon, and her lips were turning blue.

Julian was about to rush over to help her with a towel, but I was much faster.

I immediately stumbled forward, shivering, and fell directly into Alexander’s waiting arms. I hugged his neck tightly, my voice trembling pitifully.

“Husband… I’m so cold!” I cried.

Alexander lifted me up into his arms immediately. His grip tightened fiercely around me, his dark gaze darkening to a terrifying, lethal degree as he looked at the water. He was clearly deeply frightened by my jumping into the lake, but I didn’t give him time to scold me.

I buried my wet face in his shoulder, trembling perfectly. “I was trying to save her, Alexander, but my leg cramped! She kept pulling me under!”

That single sentence was enough to make all the surrounding elite guests start to suspect Clara had tried to drown me in her panic. Clara was still choking on water on the grass, and hearing that, she almost vomited again in pure indignation.

I quickly turned to look at Julian, adding another very innocent, devastating remark. “Julian, what’s wrong with you? The woman you care about so much fell into the freezing water, and you reacted so slowly to help her.”

Julian froze in embarrassment, and the elite crowd began to murmur in judgment.

I obediently snuggled deeper into Alexander’s warm arms, listening to his slow, steady breathing above my head. A second later, he carried me straight away into the villa, without looking back at Clara even once.

I smiled against his chest. This is how you fight back, I thought triumphantly.

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