Chương 26: Seeking Chaos

A/N: This chapter is dedicated to Beauty-san, thank you so much for the super gift!!! ^^<3

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Knowing the lady's sudden disappearance would cause a commotion upon discovery, Eryx gracefully rose from his seat and whistled to a secluded alcove. He won't be labeled as an eye witness to his own misdeed, and besides, the fun had only just begun for the evening.

Meanwhile, everyone was patiently waiting for Annabelle to drink from the cup. Despite Valda's honest attempts to prove her truth, the throngs foolishly chose to side with Annabelle and urged her to drink to humiliate Valda. Everyone knew Annabelle to be the modest one, kind, naive, and all smiles, so it was hard to fathom that she would do anything of the sort she was accused of, regardless of the evidence portrayed for all of them to see.

Valda crossed her arms and waited, and she could see the fury mounting in her cousin's eyes, as well as her anxiety. She finally lifted the cup to her lips, to everyone's expectation, but once the liquid met her lips, Annabelle's bravado waned, and with a sudden motion, she threw the cup away, shocking everyone present.

Another series of whispers circulated around the guest, and Valda's lips formed a satisfactory smile.

"I won't drink it!" Annabelle seethed, facing Valda, "why should I heed your words? You mean nothing to the Griggs family and have only burdened our lives with your existence, including tarnishing my late uncle's memory! You think by doing all of this, and scheming against us publicly, you have the upper hand?"

"I do believe I have the upper hand." Valda answered without hesitation, "your own words were captured for all to hear, or have you conveniently forgotten? You thought you could lace His Majesty's drink with an aphrodisiac, dreaming of ascending to the heights unreachable. You wanted everyone to believe I was responsible for the murder that night, and unfortunately for you three, I have more surprises to reveal."

Valda's eyes twinkled, and her relatives exchanged panicked glances. With her palm opened, Nelson stepped forward and dropped the two files in her palm. She showed it to her so-called family, making sure they were physically and mentally aware of what she held.

"The Griggs family home, that my father worked hard to build, is legally mine." She stated, making their faces blanch at the revelation. "You made a copy of the file, and you made effortless changes to the one with your name on it, but in the end, it wasn't really worth the effort. You stole what was legally mine and made me live like a slave in my own father's home, you made me go out at night to gamble for your selfish desires. I had to pick pockets cause you wouldn't hesitate to starve me in my home, and all for what? Cause I wasn't your own daughter?"

"Valda," Maverick uttered her name in a trembling voice when she started to approach them slowly. "Stop the nonsense you're spewing! You're lying to everyone and I have no idea what file you're talking about!"

"You have no idea?" Valda's gaze swept over him, "your signatures on both files must have been crafted by the gods, since you have no memory of ever owning them. You should have gotten the files when you had the chance, but you left them in my care cause… wait! She's in the dungeon, right? There's no way she could gain access to the files from there."

"Exactly!" Marissa spat, "you're supposed to be in the dungeon! Paying for your sins!"

"Well I'm afraid the chief guard didn't do a splendid job like he promised. Another confession for the night, where is he?"

Valda looked around, and everyone instantly followed suit. Their gazes suddenly landed on a man who was staggering his way forward from the entrance, his swollen face bandaged and bruised. The crowds immediately parted as he staggered towards them, and he dropped to his knees in front of Valda, prompting her to take a step back from his suffocating presence.

"Please! I beg of you! make it stop!" The chief guard pleaded for mercy, eyes watering from the pain he was experiencing, "he… he vowed it would persist until I confessed my wrongdoings. They bribed me to apprehend you and subject you to lashings until you were scarcely able to stand! I was greedy and blinded by my ego after the tavern incident! I promise I'll amend my ways, but make it stop!"

"Who exactly bribed you to whip me?"

"Your family!" He confessed, "they wanted you out of the picture, and made me promise to lie to His Majesty about what happened so they wouldn't be suspected! I swear it's the truth! If… if you don't believe me, you can ask–"

"That's all I needed to hear." Valda's merciless eyes returned to her family, "anything else you wish to deny so I can humiliate you further by bringing in another witness?"

"Why are you doing this?" Annabelle's eyes were filled with tears, "I thought you considered us your family!"

"Indeed, I was a fool back then, but now I want to re-write that mistake of mine."

"You will pay dearly for this!" Maverick warned, jabbing a finger in her direction, "this is precisely why nobody likes you, Valda! You arrogantly presume virtue while steeped in error! Had I known those years ago the misery you'd unleash upon my family, I'd have barred my brother from plucking you from the very thicket he discovered you!"

"Huh?" Valda's composure shattered at Maverick's remark, her calm facade immediately replaced by disbelief. She discerned the hesitation in Maverick's eyes upon uttering those words, and the silence that followed from those around her echoed the shock and astonishment of what had just been said.

"A thicket, like a bush?" someone from the crowd whispered.

"She's adopted?"

"I keep saying she looks nothing like the Griggs, her parents abandoned her for someone else?"

"Why does that make me feel sad for her?"

Whispers began to circulate yet again, but Valda didn't mind that at all. Her attention was on her uncle who just spewed the most incredulous remark! And there was no conceivable way that had to be true! it couldn't possibly be the truth!

"I am my father's daughter," Valda claimed, "and I don't need you or anyone within your disgusting family to tell me otherwise. I know who I am."

"No, you don't." Annabelle shook her head with a mocking glare, "believe it or not, you are in no way related to the Griggs family. Since you have no blood relation to either one of us, you have no rights on any of our properties either! Your real family abandoned you, and my uncle took it upon himself to nurse you, and maybe, if he knew what type of a wretched cursed woman you are, he wouldn't have taken you in, and maybe, he would still be alive! He died because of your own bad luck!"

Annabelle spat without thinking twice, and even Sebastian was too bewildered to utter a sentence.

Valda's gaze shifted to her cousin whose mouth was endlessly running. She was using the situation to her advantage, trying to sway everyone's mind from the main topic, but what hit Valda the most was her audacity to blame her for her father's death.

A light chuckle escaped Valda's lips, and she came to stand in front of Annabelle. However, it was too late to do anything, because Valda's palm struck Annabelle hard in the cheek. A shocking gasp could be heard, but Valda didn't stop there and violently grabbed Annabelle hard by her hair, pulling at it.

"AHHH!! Let me go!!" Annabelle panicked, clutching to the hand that mercilessly held her by her hair. Her scalp burned, and her screams jolted everyone from their shock.

"Listen to what I have to say," Valda began quietly, not letting go of her hair. "My father died because he went out hunting for you and your useless family. He died because he wanted to please his good-for-nothing brother and useless sister-in-law. You have no right to speak about him when you know exactly whose fault it was that he died, do you hear me??"

"Let go of me!! Stop!!!"

"V, let her go." Nelson quickly reached for Valda, freeing her hand from Annabelle's hair. He pulled her away from Annabelle, knowing she would retaliate if he lingered there further.

The crowd simply stared, torn between shock and awe.

"You wanted to rip my daughter's hair from her head!!" Marissa accused, her anger boiling after seeing how red her daughter's forehead had become.

"You crazy woman!"

""You've only glimpsed the pleasant side of me," Valda uttered with a smile, securing her hair into a tight bun. "But if you're seeking chaos, I assure you, what you've witnessed is a mere fraction of what I'm capable of unleashing upon all of you."

Valda no longer cared about the spectators. Her rage, her emotions—everything was in utter disarray. All she could focus on was putting these vipers in their rightful place tonight.

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