When Barrett returned to Valor Estate, the maid had managed to pull the two women apart.


    However, both Serena and Vi were in a terrible state-hair disheveled, clothes torn, and their faces marked with scratches and handprints. They looked like they had been in a street brawl.


    Reba sat on a chair, gasping for breath and ring fiercely at Vi. "Serena is about to debut into society! How can she face anyone with her face so marred?"


    Vi was sitting on the floor, crying inconsbly. Her sobs filled with deep frustration and helplessness.


    Barrett strode in and helped Vi to her feet, then handed her a stack of banknotes. "The ruby tiara has been returned. Take this money back with you."


    "Are you out of your mind, Barrett?" Reba snapped, rising angrily. "Returning the jewelry we bought-what''s left of our family''s dignity?"


    "Bring it back! I won''t return it!" Serena had just caught her breath, and she rushed at him. She pounded his chest and disyed an unseemly tantrum. Barrett endured her blows stoically, his face impassive. He was weary of this life, and was utterly exhausted.


    Vi was stunned as she held the banknotes in a daze, momentarily forgetting her tears.


    After striking Barrett for a while, Serena turned to snatch the banknotes from Vi, who quickly hid them behind her and stepped back.


    "What are you trying to do?"


    "That was a gift you bought for me! You insisted on buying it," Serena''s voice was hoarse and filled with bitterness.


    "I regret it," Vi said nkly.


    Was she regretting the purchase of the ruby tiara, or something else? She wasn''t sure of her own feelings.


    But this was not the life she wanted.


    The Warren family felt like a rotting, festering cesspool into which she had plunged headlong.


    However, she had no say in this marriage. It had been arranged by Natalie, who hade as a matchmaker. Her mother had exined the reasons behind it, and it wasn''t that she couldn''t refuse, but rejecting it would have been detrimental to her eldest brother''s prospects.


    Moreover, she had been very lonely then. She wanted someone by her side who understood her, someone who would make her feel the way she had felt with Thomas.


    She had thought Barrett would be like Thomas, but he wasn''t.


    The Warren family was also a far cry from the Farrell family. Everyone in the Farrell family was so easy to get along with. Alice treated her like a beloved daughter, sparing her from daily duties and not requiring her to wait on her. In the Farrell household, there was no one difficult to deal with.


    In contrast, the Warren family was


    full of difficult people. The air was et


    constantly filled with the sounds of insults, shouts, and cries.


    sw contentThis is the property of N?-velDrama.Org.


    Suddenly, she felt a deep sense of weariness. Holding the banknotes, she turned and walked out, sitting listlessly in the side hall.


    By evening, Vi''s crying had finally stopped. She leaned back on the chaise, tears still quietly falling.


    She felt so aggrieved. Even if Barrett hade tofort her, it would have eased her heart a little.


    But Barrett didn''t stay in Grace Mansion. After Reba and Serena left, Yvonne came to report, "Mr. Warren has gone to Madam Aurora." Vi buried her face in her hands, and cried bitterly.


    What had she done wrong? Why was she being treated this way?


    She would have preferred if he had stayed in the study rather than going to Aurora''s side.


    She felt deeply hurt tonight, yet Barrett didn''t stay with her but went to Aurora instead. Did he care about her at all?


    Aurora had been disfigured and lost. an ear-she looked like a monster Barrett would rather be with a monster-like figure than stay with her.


    -


    Barrett sat in Aurora''s room, having no other ce to go.


    He had stayed in the study for several days. It was quiet, but the solitude of thete night was terrifying for him.


    He was gued by memories of his


    past mistakes, his heart weighed down and suffocating under the burden of regret. As if to prove to himself that he had not made those


    mistakes in vain, he came to Aurora


    tonight.


    But as he sat across from her, her cruel actions reyed in his mind, making his stomach churn with nausea.


    "You really do despise me," Aurora said coldly, her eyes fixed on him since he entered the room.


    Since returning from the battlefield, he hadn''t sought her out unless she made a fuss.


    Aurora was well aware of the recent turmoil in the residence. She enjoyed watching the chaos and seeing the foolish people flounder.


    Look, she hadn''t done anything, yet Barrett hade to her of his own ord.