Chapter 485 Kicking My Woman Out?
“Trust me, Melody. It’s quite normal to not understand.” Kenneth teased matter-of-factly.
Meanwhile, Melody was quite used to his behavior, so she calmly turned her back to him and walked off.
Kenneth took another look in the direction that Elise had walked off in before he finally moved and caught up to Melody.
Before the official start of the gem auction event, the founding families of Dukethorn organized a party under the pretext of welcoming guests from all over the country. In actual fact, it was just an opportunity provided for each different force to find out in advance about their opponents’ actual capabilities.
Naturally, Elise was invited as well.
However, she wasn’t interested in building up her contacts, nor did she have any interest in probing for her opponents’ limits. She was mainly there to have some fun.
There were plenty of different gemstones usually available at the gem auction event, but the top-grade stones were usually monopolized by the founding families of Dukethorn. The middle-grade ones would then end up in the hands of the Dukethorn locals, while the lower graded ones were the ones that became available elsewhere.
It wasn’t that the Dukethorn local players intentionally ganged up against the outsiders, but it was purely because this was an industry that was dependent on one’s abilities. Therefore, the locals had relied on this as their livelihood since generations ago, so they usually had an eye for picking out the best gemstones. Naturally, this was something that the outsiders couldn’t quite compare against.
The next night, Elise brought Tom along with her to attend the dinner.
The party was quite crowded, so no one noticed them as they walked into the hall.
Truth was, the Dukethorn locals had an inborn sense of superiority and they looked down on the outsiders.
However, as soon as Kenneth and Melody appeared at the party, it caused a slight commotion.
“Mr. Bailey, thanks for gracing us with your presence. This year’s gem auction event is definitely going to be much more exclusive with you being here, and it’s great that you and Miss Melody are as sweet together as always.” Someone walked up to the duo and flatteringly fawned over them.
However, Kenneth’s face was impassive and he calmly pursed his lips and said, “Melody’s my most capable assistant, that’s all. I hope you guys can spare some thought for her and watch your words. After all, this could affect her future prospects.”
“Oh—I understand. We’ve spoken too much. Come, Mr. Bailey; let’s head inside.”
The group of men placed a hand on each other’s shoulders and they walked toward the corner after exchanging a few short sentences.
Meanwhile, Melody followed Kenneth without any complaints, not looking the least bit upset.
Just then, Elise shook her head and sighed. Poor woman! Even her thoughts are under his control. That darned man doesn’t even dare to acknowledge your identity in public, so why are you still with him?!
“Miss Anderson, what’s wrong?” Tom asked with a puzzled look.
Just then, Elise took a deep breath before turning around to slap him on the back of his head. “My last name is Sinclair! It’s Sinclair, okay? Why are you so dumb?!”
Tom rubbed at the spot she had hit him and looked at her with a baffled expression. “Okay, Miss An—Sinclair!”
At that point, Elise finally nodded approvingly and heaved a sigh of relief. Subsequently, she headed over to a corner with the least people. “Let’s go over there to get some fresh air.”
She didn’t want to increase her chances of bumping into Kenneth.
There weren’t that many people in that corner, but there were a few people in groups of twos and threes. Elise didn’t recognize any of them, so she leaned against the stone pillar and had a drink as she scrutinized the passersby with a glazed look in her almond-shaped eyes.
Just then, a few middle-aged females started walking in her direction, their heads bowed deep in conversation with each other.
“This year’s auction seems to be at a larger scale than the previous years, right? The number of people in attendance is so many that we can’t even fit in one hall.
“Well, it’s those outsiders from Athesea and Landred City. Even the largest jewelry company in the country has assigned some people to attend the auction. All of the hotels in town are fully booked!”
“It looks like they’re all quite well-prepared and are ready to take away the top-grade gemstones.”
“They won’t be able to succeed! We’ve got plenty of skillful players in Dukethorn, and even a child would be more knowledgeable than any of those outsiders. It would be wishful thinking for them to win the top-grade gemstones from us.”
“Exactly! They’re just a bunch of clueless people who are here to cheer for the people of Dukethorn.”
The women went back and forth as they discussed the topic, but each word they uttered was full of disdain and discriminated against the outsiders. They laughed out loud from time to time too.
At that point, Elise was annoyed by their loud laughter and she mockingly yelled, “Did you say that the outsiders are just here to cheer you on?!”
“Who are you?” one of the women questioned.
“We were just chit-chatting among ourselves, so you’d better keep your nose out of it.” One of the plump women seemed to have an inbred sense of superiority and she warned Elise with a haughty expression.
Meanwhile, Elise walked toward her with a cold expression. “The blood that courses through your vein originates from Cittadel too. Neither of us is inferior to the other.”
At that point, the woman was clearly displeased.
Such gatherings tended to be quite boring, so her impolite interrogation instantly attracted the attention of the neighboring guests. The group of women was much more upset than ever.
“How does that concern you anyway?! I didn’t target anyone! Why are you so arrogant anyway?!”
“That’s right. Who do you think you are to come here and lose your temper? Do you think that this is somewhere you can show your temper?!”
“You really lack manners!”
Just then, Elise finally saw for herself how a person at fault could start slinging accusations.
“If it weren’t for you guys behaving so high and mighty and spouting nonsense here by discriminating against the outsiders, I wouldn’t have bothered to speak up!”
Upon hearing that, the attendees, who were unsure about the situation prior to this, directed unpleasant looks at the group of middle-aged females.
Those who were able to attend the gem auction event mostly came from families with strong backgrounds, so none of them had ever been subjected to such discrimination.
At that point, the women bit hard on their lips and their faces flushed red out of anger.
“Stop your nonsense! We didn’t say any of those words!”
“Yeah! You guys are visitors, so of course we would welcome you with open hands! How could we possibly discriminate against you?! This woman must be purposely trying to create a scene.”
“Where are the security guards?! How can they let someone like this inside?! Security, hurry up and help us! Come over and throw this woman who’s so full of herself out of the room!”
A few of the women raised their voices and yelled loudly. Meanwhile, several security guards rushed into the room from the outside.
“Miss, please come along with us.”
However, Elise was unaffected by their words, and she walked past them to sneer at the group of women who had lost their composure at the moment.
“So this is how Dukethorn welcomes its guests. You’re just behaving unreasonably and you seem to be very quick to gang up on others!”
As soon as she said that, a baritone male voice rang out from afar.
“What’s going on?”
At that moment, a peppered-hair man in a dove-gray suit with a crew cut parted the crowd and walked toward them.
“Mr. Carnegie, this woman purposely tried to cause trouble. She tried to stir up trouble between us and the guests who are from out of the city.” The plump woman quickly complained about Elise before the latter could even say anything.
Meanwhile, the Carnegie man frowned instantly upon hearing that. “Dukethorn is also a part of Cittadel. I won’t allow anyone to affect our harmonious state and there will be no exceptions! Guards, show her out of the room.”
The party was organized by a local Dukethorn resident and the guards were also locals so evidently, they did not side with Elise, who was an outsider.
The bystanders noticed the situation and had intended to speak up for Elise, but then they ended up silently giving up.
After all, they were all from Dukethorn, so it was home ground for the other party. They would definitely fight a losing battle if they kicked up a fuss. It was quite likely that they would be kicked out of the place too, so it made more sense to avoid trouble.
Elise stood immobile with a calm expression on her face. She scanned the crowd with her cold eyes and a teasing glint flashed through her gaze all of a sudden.
I won’t make a move unless someone lays hands on me! If they actually dared to lay hands on her, then she would not hold back any longer.
Meanwhile, security noticed that Elise refused to leave, so they exchanged looks with each other and were about to forcefully remove her.
However, as soon as their hands landed in front of Elise, a domineering voice rang out loudly from behind.
“I’ll stand here and see who dares to lay a hand on her!” Everyone turned toward the direction of the voice and saw Kenneth standing there, his expression glacial. He seemed to be shrouded with anger as he walked over to stand by Elise’s side.
Meanwhile, Melody remained close behind him.
“Mr. Bailey,” The Carnegie man behaved quite respectfully around Kenneth. “This is a personal matter, so you should stay out of it.”
“Stay out of it?” Kenneth snorted and his cold voice was quite penetrating as he countered, “You’re about to kick my woman out of the room, yet you want me to stay out of it?! How would that be reasonable?”
