No longer a pushover (Noelle and Cedric)

Noelle's gaze was filled with mockery as she watched Xenia being pushed away by Brittany. It was apparent that Xenia's usual pitiful act could not work on

Brittany.

Donovan turned to Xenia and said, "Come here, Xenia. Help us take photos of everyone."

Since Xenia had already offended both Emma and Brittany, he felt it was best for her not to join the group photo session and make things worse. For Xenia, seeing that Donovan did not even speak up for her only deepened her resentment toward the Liddell family.

She felt that they were treating her however they pleased simply because she was not their own flesh and blood. She believed that if Noelle had taken her place, things would definitely be different.

Xenia's heart grew resentful and unwilling. She held up the camera and watched as Donovan walked over to stand beside Noelle. It almost made her want to smash the camera to the ground.

She felt that Donovan standing right next to Noelle meant that he was now standing on her side, both literally and metaphorically.

Xenia planned the charity sales event. She believed that she should have been the center of attention, but Noelle stole that from her.

Frank spoke up with a threatening tone. "You'd better do things right, Xenia. If you were to offend the Greene family and drag our entire family down with you, even Donovan would have no choice but to kick you out."

She had no choice but to swallow her anger and take the photos. Once the group photo session was over, the event had also officially come to an end. Emma was still surrounded by a group of people eager to curry favor with her.

Noelle noticed that Emma was not interested in dealing with the crowd, so she approached Emma and said, "Mrs. Greene, let me take you to the lounge for a rest."

Emma could tell that Noelle was trying to help her out of the situation and happily agreed. "Sure, thank you."

Noelle then led Emma and Brittany to the lounge. She even had someone buy desserts specifically from Brittany's favorite brand and arrange them on the table. The rest of the Liddells also followed after them into the lounge.

Brittany picked up a piece of dessert from the table for a bite before turning to Noelle. "Noelle sure is a well-mannered lady, unlike a certain someone that was adopted."

Xenia, who was standing beside Donovan, immediately turned pale.

Donovan spoke up politely. "Mrs. Parham, Mrs. Greene, it's true that Xenia was not being thoughtful just now. I'll have her apologize to both of you."

Xenia immediately stepped forward, hoping to leave a good impression by making amends.

Emma replied coldly. "You should be apologizing to Noelle, not me. I'm sure you know better than anyone else about how you treated her earlier."

Xenia instinctively turned to Brittany, as she was not the one who had made things difficult for Noelle earlier.

Brittany immediately explained

herself to Emma. "I was just trying to test the Liddell family. I had no intention of making things hard for Noelle specifically. Who would have thought that they would actually force her to eat it? I've never seen such a family in my life."

She could tell that Emma was clearly protective of Noelle, so she immediately distanced herself from the matter.

Xenia wanted to argue after hearing Brittany shifting the blame away from herself, but Donovan stopped her. He said, "Xenia, Mrs. Parham's right. You really shouldn't have done that. You should apologize to

Noelle."

He could tell that Emma was standing up for Noelle, so he did not want to argue against her. Xenia, however, was unwilling to take the blame.

Emma picked up a piece of dessert from the table and tossed it onto the ground. "It's the same as before. If you pick it up and eat it, we'll forget about this matter."

Xenia's eyes turned bloodshot from rage. "But it wasn't entirely my fault!" She could not understand why they were all so fixated on punishing her.

Brittany sneered and said, "Tsk, tsk. I wonder if the Cantrell family knows what kind of people the Liddells are like. It's making me feel embarrassed just looking at them."

Emma chimed in. "I agree. The Cantrells must have misjudged in choosing their son-in-law. Why

hasn't anyone from the Cantre//net

arrive@yet? Could it be that they heard about what happened earlier and felt too ashamed to show up?" noveldrama

Donovan's expression sank as he realized that none of the Cantrells had appeared for the charity sales event.

He walked up to Xenia and whispered, "Xenia, I know that you've always been an obedient and sensible younger sister, but I need you to listen to me this time. I'll make it up to you, I promise."

He could not let the Cantrells form any negative opinions about the Liddells, no matter what.

Noticing his expression, Xenia finally bent down to pick up the dessert before placing it into her mouth. She took a small bite and then spit it out immediately as if she had just tasted poison.

She then turned toward Noelle, her voice choking up. "Is this enough?"