But I was no longer the woman I had been back then.
Even the Hughes family members around us grew restless.
His sister, Emily Hughes, stepped forward first.
“Claire, my brother’s already been generous by not throwing you out. That’s more face than you deserve. What are you pretending for?”
Emily had followed Isabella since childhood, hanging on her every word.
Three years ago, she had made trouble for me more times than I could count.
Now, Emily supported Isabella and sneered.
“Isabella carries the Hughes family’s eldest legitimate heir. He’s precious. And you, with your worthless bones, dare provoke her?”
Hearing this, Isabella’s face brightened with delight.
Back then, Alexander’s branch of the Hughes family had been insignificant.
If not for Alexander’s father working under Ethan, Alexander wouldn’t have even been qualified to attend the banquet.
But now, Emily thought their family could strut proudly through the Hughes estate.
And Isabella believed that once her child was born into the main Hughes line, she would rise to glory.
The other Hughes family members exchanged glances but stayed silent, turning their eyes toward me.
I gave a cold laugh.
“The eldest heir? From her?”
Alexander hadn’t expected my defiance.
“Watch your mouth. Isabella is pregnant, she carries a child. Don’t upset her.”
So he did remember that pregnant women shouldn’t be angered. He could still handle them with such care.
Yet when I had been pregnant, he had forced me to dance for three days and nights—just to make Isabella laugh.
When I bled out and miscarried, he had ordered the doctor to deny me anesthesia because I hadn’t been able to keep dancing to please Isabella.
He had said that since I had upset her, I would pay her back in agony a hundredfold.
Emily sneered at me.
“Brother, why waste your breath on a barren hen like her? She’ll never bear children again.”
That wound—my lifelong scar—was now being mocked as a joke.
For the first time, a trace of sorrow flickered across Alexander’s face.
I had no intention of tangling with them any further and walked straight toward the exit.
Seeing me leave, Alexander Hughes made to chase after me at once.
But Isabella Reed let out a pained cry, halting him mid-stride. He turned back in alarm to check on her.
Outside, Thomas Reed approached the moment I stepped out.
He opened his mouth to say, “Ma’am—” but Alexander’s sharp voice cut him off.