Chapter 32: Chapter 32: An Incident

Jessie Sterling turned her head. “Know someone over there?” she asked curiously.

The crowd gathered outside was mostly celebrities.

They were all minor celebrities, a few of whom looked familiar to Jessie. She figured she must have seen them on TV at some point.

“Mhm,” Lynn Jennings nodded, a smirk playing on her lips as if she were watching a good show. “That’s my second brother’s current girlfriend.”

The moment the words left Lynn Jennings’s mouth, she felt a fluffy head lean in close.

“Where?! Where?!” Jessie asked, her curiosity piqued.

Lynn Jennings was speechless for a moment. “…” Finally, she raised a hand and pointed. “The one in the green dress.”

Jessie glanced over. “She looks a little familiar, but I don’t know who she is.”

Lynn Jennings figured as much. She hadn’t known who the woman was before either, but she’d looked her up specifically because of Mason Walsh.

“That’s Cheryl Stuart,” Lynn explained. “She’s gotten pretty popular over the last few years. I guess you could call her a B-list starlet? Anyway, she’s been in a ton of shows, though I have no idea if my second brother helped her land any of them. She was in that huge historical drama that blew up a while back. Wasn’t she always trending on social media?”

Jessie thought for a moment. “Oh, the one who played that… that princess? The innocent little damsel?” She finally placed her. “I don’t like her.” Jessie decisively looked away. “She’s one of Arya Thorne’s actresses.”

A moment later, they were seated by the runway. Jessie leaned in and whispered, “Your second brother really has a thing for actresses, doesn’t he? I remember he’s had a few girlfriends already… all of them in the entertainment industry?”

’That guy’s a real piece of work,’ Jessie thought. ’If Mason Walsh actually had the guts to marry an actress for love, I’d have to give him some credit. At least he’d be a real man.’

’But obviously, Mason is just playing around.’

Lynn replied, “Even if he wanted to date someone else, they’d have to be interested in him in the first place.”

At least on paper, the Jennings family hadn’t divided its assets yet, so Mason’s power was limited. Most women his age in our circle wouldn’t necessarily give him a second look.

After all, he’s not a Jennings by blood. There’s a lot of uncertainty about how much he’ll inherit in the future.

Wealthy people make the shrewdest investments.

He’s too big a risk. When there are better options with a higher potential return, why would anyone choose Mason?

Jessie said, “Oh.” Just as she turned her head, she caught a camera flash in her peripheral vision.

She frowned and looked back, but the space behind her was packed with a sea of spectators, making it impossible to see who had taken the picture.

Jessie and Lynn’s seats were, of course, among the best in the house. As others took their seats nearby, she spotted a few more familiar faces.

One was an old classmate from Jessie’s time studying abroad, someone she’d met at a party.

“Jessie,” a girl in a tank top and jeans greeted her. She was Caucasian, but her pronunciation of the name “Jessie” in Chinese was surprisingly standard.

Jessie was a little surprised. “Mace?”

Knowing Mace at all was a complete coincidence. Mace was fascinated by the Chinese language and culture and had once even asked Jessie to be her tutor.

Later, when Jessie found out Mace’s family was in the arms business, she nearly fainted from shock.

The banker’s daughter had seen plenty of money and wasn’t fazed by it, but the mere thought of weaponry made her skin crawl.

“Are you here for the show, too?” Jessie asked.

Mace replied, “I’m here on business. I just had some free time this morning, so I thought I’d drop by.” Her eyes took in Jessie’s elegant little black dress and the long, straight hair she’d styled to match. “You look beautiful today.”

A smile immediately bloomed on Jessie’s face. ’Of course, our young lady loves nothing more than a good compliment.’

Jessie did indeed look as flawless as a collectible figurine today. She had long, straight black hair with neat bangs, and to complete the look, her stylist had even given her a hime cut, with straight sidelocks framing her cheeks.

Even sitting among the many celebrities at the show, she was stunning enough to draw everyone’s attention.

The fashion show began shortly after.

The show was a preview of the new autumn and winter collections. After watching for a while and not seeing anything she particularly liked, Jessie began to openly let her mind wander.

She’d received a text from Victor Morgan last night.

He knew she was coming to the show and had texted to ask if she’d arrived yet.

Their exchange was brief and didn’t take much time at all.

But Victor’s last message was something she couldn’t get out of her head.

His message had read, “If you see anything you like, buy it all. The entire second floor of the walk-in closet at Four Joys Courtyard is yours.”

Jessie couldn’t help but recall that day back in Aethelburg. During a break in the afternoon, she had gone into the walk-in closet by herself and ventured up to the second floor.

The first-floor closet connected to the east wing and was about seven hundred square feet—more than enough space for lots of clothes, shoes, and jewelry.

But the second floor was even larger.

The staircase was located inside the first-floor closet, and it led up to a second floor that looked like a small, private department store.

It seemed to have floor-to-ceiling windows on all sides, spanning the area above the main hall and both the east and west wings. Jessie roughly estimated it had to be over three thousand square feet.

A space that large was almost as big as her own walk-in closet back at her family’s estate in Southaven.

But the estate in Southaven was countless times larger than this courtyard house in the heart of the capital.

In terms of difficulty to acquire, the closet at Four Joys Courtyard was undoubtedly the more precious of the two.

It was simply priceless.

Jessie had no interest in the afternoon runway show. After grabbing a meal with Lynn, she went shopping instead. That evening, there was an auction at Leighton’s.

She had recently learned that the diamond necklace and bracelet that had slipped through her fingers at a previous auction had actually been bought by Victor. Now that they were both sitting in her jewelry box, Jessie found she had little interest in tonight’s auction. She ended up bidding on just two rings.

One for Quincy Sterling and one for Lynn Jennings.

“Tsk,” Lynn said after they left the auction house. “You used President Morgan’s card and you didn’t buy a single thing for him?”

Jessie let out a little “ah,” then her face fell in dismay. “…I forgot.”

Lynn was speechless. “…”

’And here I thought she did it on purpose.’

“But it’s probably fine, right?” Jessie said, trying to rationalize it. “I mean, think about it. If I use his card to buy him a gift, isn’t that the same as him buying it for himself? So it would be a waste of money, don’t you think?”

Lynn had no reply to that. “…”

Jessie thought back to the few times she had seen Victor. She was certain that aside from a wristwatch, the man wore no other accessories.

“I don’t think he likes gaudy things anyway,” Jessie said with a calm expression.

Lynn gave up. “…”

’Whatever makes the young lady happy.’

Jessie had no special plans the next day, so she slept in until well after noon.

She had just opened her bedroom door when she saw Lynn Jennings walking toward her from the end of the hall.

“Morning,” Jessie said with a stretch, a sliver of her pale midriff showing.

Lynn strode right up to her. “What ’morning’? It’s three in the afternoon, your highness! Something’s happened!”

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