Ned naturally pulled her toward the food table in the center of the garden. Sophie was clearly at a loss. These things that seemed so natural to others always made her feel uneasy—she couldn't quite explain why, just a nagging sense of discomfort.
"Ned!" Victoria, who had grown impatient waiting for her son to return, finally came looking for him with Lara in tow. But she hadn't expected to witness this scene.
Seeing their clasped hands, Lara froze in place.
Sophie spotted the two approaching and quickly pulled her hand away, but Victoria had already seen their interaction and was glaring at her with a stern look.
"What are you doing?" Victoria's voice suddenly rose, drawing the attention of several guests to the hostess's unusual behavior. "Who are you? Who invited you here? You're not welcome!" She glared at Sophie, her chest heaving with anger.
"Auntie, hello!" Sophie bowed deeply to her.
"Who's your auntie? Hello? Seeing you makes me anything but happy!" Victoria shouted loudly, repeatedly, disregarding all decorum.
Sophie stood stunned, her face flushing. The surrounding guests were slowly gathering around.
Though the invited guests were all prominent nobles from high society, everyone was too concerned with saving face to point and gossip openly. Still, it was clear from their expressions that they were all eagerly watching the drama unfold.
Lara was shocked that Sophie had even shown up, but seeing the crowd's attention focused on the commotion, she forced a smile and tried to placate Victoria: "Uh, Auntie, please don't get so angry. Everyone here is…"
Victoria realized that all the guests were staring at her and instantly felt she'd lost face. Her anger flared even more. "How did a shabby nobody like you even get in? How dare you come to my house?" She demanded, fixing Sophie with a piercing stare.
Sophie's face turned pale. She glanced at Ned: "Um, I—I was—"
"I invited her to my birthday banquet. Is that not allowed?" Ned said calmly, looking at his mother.
"You invited her?" Victoria's eyes widened as she stared at Ned, then at Sophie, in disbelief. "Why would you invite her? Isn't Lara your date?"
Lara lowered her head in grievance, her hands twisting together. She was supposed to be Ned's date at the banquet, yet he had publicly admitted to inviting Sophie—and in front of everyone, he'd been holding her hand. She felt utterly humiliated.
"Lara was the one Mother wanted to invite. I was just going along with your wishes to make you happy and help invite her." Ned locked eyes with Sophie. "Sophie is the companion I truly wanted to invite today."
Hearing her son's explanation, Victoria's anger burned even hotter. "What? What did you say? You—you dare speak to me like this!?"
Hearing Ned's affirmative response, Sophie was utterly shocked.
"This is what I truly want to say in my heart. I only say what I should." Ned remained calm.
"You—" Victoria clutched her chest with her right hand, roaring in fury: "You're killing me, absolutely killing me! If I'd known it would be like this, why would I even throw you a birthday banquet? How could you invite a girl like her to our home? What's her status? What's our family's status? Don't you think this is outrageous?! What about Lara? You—are you deliberately trying to anger me to death?"
"Mrs. Harrington, please don't be so agitated." Though Sophie had long prepared herself for humiliation, when truly facing the enraged Victoria, her pride wouldn't allow her to remain unmoved by such insult. For the first time in her life, the shame brought tears streaming down her face.
"If you don't want to see me, I can leave right now. Your banquet can continue." With that, she turned to go.
"You can't leave, Sophie." Ned grabbed her arm.
"Let me go, please let me go…" Tears fell from her eyes like a string of pearls.
"You promised 'as long as I'm here,' you'd come if it made me happy. But if you leave like this, I won't be happy—I won't be happy at all."
"No one will be happy if I stay, including you. Let me go. When you invited me, you didn't tell me you'd also invited someone else as your date."
"Don't go. If you really want to be with me, you have to learn to face all this." He was still forcing her.
"No, give me some time, please. I need time. This is too overwhelming for me—it's not fair." Sophie pleaded, almost desperately.
"No, stay. At least you can't leave right now." His grip on her hand was like an iron clamp, preventing her from moving.
Sophie glared at him, frozen in place, unsure whether to leave or stay.
"What are you holding her for? Let her go! Why can't she leave?" Victoria took a few quick steps forward and yanked at her son's arm.
Lara felt utterly humiliated and didn't dare step forward to intervene.
"What's going on here? You all—" Seeing the chaos, Jonathan sensed something was wrong and finally walked over. When he took in the scene, he was utterly stunned.
As soon as Sophie saw Uncle Jonathan approaching, overwhelming shame washed over her; she lowered her head, unable to meet his eyes.
Jonathan strode decisively to his wife. "What on earth are you doing?! This is humiliating!" He pulled her away.
"Why are you pulling me? Let go! I want to know why he brought this woman into our home! Is he deliberately trying to kill me with anger?" Victoria glared fiercely at Sophie.
When he'd first glimpsed Sophie moments ago, he too had been shocked. "Whatever it is, we'll discuss it in the study. Making a scene in front of all these guests—what kind of behavior is that? Do you have any dignity left as a lady?" Lowering his voice, he dragged his wife toward the villa.
Though furious, Victoria swallowed her rage in front of everyone and followed her husband to the study.
"You too—come in," Jonathan said to his son just before entering.
Sophie remained frozen in place.
Ned took her hand. "Come with me."
Sophie's eyes widened. "But I—" Before she could finish, Ned had already pulled her inside.
Watching the hosts disappear into the villa—and Sophie being dragged in with them—Isabella was flabbergasted. She couldn't help turning to her daughter…
Lara stared at the Harrington villa's double doors, suspicion and hatred for Sophie blazing in her eyes.
Victoria held in her seething anger and, mindful of her status, maintained the appearance of a model couple with her husband in front of outsiders.
Inside the villa, before they even reached the study, Jonathan began interrogating his wife: "What is all this? Yelling at your own party? You've made us a laughingstock! Wasn't this banquet your idea?"
"A laughingstock! Hmph—if anyone's to blame, it's your son! Ask him why he brought that woman here! What exactly does he mean by it? Huh!" Once the door was shut, Victoria let loose, shouting at the top of her lungs.