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“Nathaniel?” Winnie was extremely shocked to see the man in the motel at the foot of the mountain.
“Why are you here? Aren’t you on a business trip abroad?” she queried.
There was a look of shock on Winnie’s face, but on the other hand, Nathaniel seemed pleasantly
surprised to see her.
He walked over to her with a smile hanging on his lips. “The project has been temporarily canceled, so
I flew back here shortly after. I’ve already settled a bunch of things in advance because of the project,
and since the schedule that’s already set in stone can’t be altered, I decided to just give myself a
break.”
After a brief pause, the man continued to explain, “When I thought of a holiday, the first place that
popped into my mind was Mount Albeise. I didn’t expect to meet you here either, but I suppose that’s
fate, huh?”
“Yeah.” At that point, Winnie was still completely unaware of the rumors that had spread like wildfire
about her upcoming engagement with Nathaniel.
Flashing the man a courteous smile, she said, “What a coincidence indeed. The only difference
between us is that I’ve already descended the mountain, whereas you still have a long way up.”
“You’re right.” Nathaniel nodded, and a thought instantly crossed his mind. But if I can spend the rest of
my time here with you, I’ll gladly forgo my hiking plans.
He couldn’t help asking her, “What are your plans after this? Are you planning to stay for a little longer
to do some sightseeing, or are you heading back?”
Not giving her a chance to respond, he then proposed, “I know a town nearby that has a wine cellar
that produces good wine. You should go try it if you get the chance to. I can take you there if you want,
and if you’re interested, we can also go hunting together. There are a lot of moose around here.”
“Is that so? It sounds great, but I think I’ll take a rain check.”
Winnie had witnessed an avalanche while she was on the mountain the previous day. Although she
had been tens of miles away at the time and hadn’t been in any danger, she could still feel the intense
pressure of that moment.
When the avalanche occurred, she instantly had a flashback to the explosion that happened on the
dock.
The danger and fear she experienced back then was no different from what she felt about the
avalanche, but what made the former incident so memorable was the people she had experienced it
with—her lover and her friend who had jumped in to save her with little regard for their own safety.
Hence, after the avalanche, Winnie knew it was time for her to go home and take care of some matters
as no one knew exactly what life had in store for them.
She couldn’t keep harboring resentment for something or someone because of an incident, nor could
she miss out on everything she should’ve cherished at that moment.
With her mind made up, Winnie politely declined Nathaniel’s invitation. “I’ll come back and experience it
when I get the chance, but I’m in a bit of a rush to go back to Chanaea now.”
“Are you going back to Avenport so soon? It doesn’t seem like you’ve been here for long,” said
Nathaniel, a hint of disappointment evident in his tone.
He had already seen the news about their supposed engagement and also read the Speiser family’s
response to it.
Truth be told, Nathaniel was delighted to see Wilhelm deny the fact that Winnie had ever married
Xavier.
I thought this would be my chance, but I didn’t expect her to go back so soon. Besides, judging by her
behavior, it doesn’t seem like she knows what has been going on in the outside world ever since she
came here.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtAfter pondering for a while, Nathaniel asked, “Winnie, is the reception bad up there? Have you
contacted anybody in the outside world recently?”
“The reception is pretty bad in the mountain. What is it? Did something happen? Does it involve me?”
The woman was simply too sharp, so Nathaniel could only flash her a wry smile and come clean about
the situation. “All right. Since it seems you’re truly unaware, I think we need to find a place to sit and
talk.”
“Sure.”
“Give me your backpack. It must be heavy, right? I’ll carry it for you.”
Eyeing the nearby tables, Winnie once again declined the man, “No need. It’s only a couple of steps
away.”
“All right.” Nathaniel had no choice but to retract his hand and let her be.
Alas, he couldn’t help worrying it was too strenuous for Winnie, so he took the initiative to reach his
hand out and lift her backpack up.
The entire scene was coincidentally captured by a bespectacled man standing in a corner of the motel.
Unfortunately for him, however, his flash was on, and both Winnie and Nathaniel immediately noticed
him.
The two exchanged glances with one another and furrowed their brows.
Nathaniel instantly said to Winnie, “Why don’t you take a seat over there? I’ll go and see what’s going
on.”
“No, I’ll go with you,” Winnie refused as she glanced at the man who was taking pictures of them in
secret.
Much to Nathaniel’s and Winnie’s surprise, the man strode toward them instead of waiting for them to
approach him.
He wasn’t sneaking around like they were expecting and openly passed them his business card.
“Nice to meet you guys. I’m a journalist from ABC News. I came here on a holiday, but I didn’t expect to
bump into you two. May I have the honor of interviewing you guys? I can assure you it won’t take up
too much of your time,” said the man.
Winnie furrowed her brows as she mulled over the man’s words. “Thank you for your interest, but why
are you interviewing us if you’re on a holiday?”
It’d be more believable if he said he was conducting street interviews at the foot of Mount Albeise and
coincidentally saw us. On the other hand, this situation is just too strange.
“You see, Ms. Vivian…” Since Winnie didn’t outright reject him, the bespectacled journalist even pulled
out his handy dandy recording pen.
He then began to explain, “Previously, other journalists reported that the Speiser family is interested in
arranging a marriage with the Huxley family. They said that you and Mr. Nathaniel are preparing for
your engagement. We’ve asked for clarification, but we weren’t able to get any reliable information. I
didn’t expect to bump into you and Mr. Nathaniel here at all. Are you two really dating? When are you
two planning to get engaged or perhaps get married?”
Confusion was plastered all over Winnie’s face when she heard the journalist’s words. She even
lowered her gaze to look at the name that was printed on the business card.
In a polite tone, she queried, “What are you talking about, Mr. Graham? What arranged marriage?
What engagement? Why don’t I know anything about this?”
The journalist felt rather speechless for a moment and chuckled in response. “How can you not know
about this, Ms. Vivian? Look, I even took a picture of you and Mr. Nathaniel.”
A crease appeared between Winnie’s brows as she looked over at Nathaniel. “What’s going on?”
Just as Nathaniel was about to speak, the journalist piped up first, “Ms. Vivian, if you’re unwilling to
answer that question, why don’t I ask you another one? Is it true that you married a Chanaean man? Is
the marriage between you two legal?”
Looking at the unrelenting man in front of her, Winnie said in a stern voice, “I’m sorry, Mr. Graham, but
until I figure out exactly what’s going on, I will not be answering any of your questions.”
“Why?” The journalist attempted to probe further. “Is it that hard to answer a couple of questions?
Could it be that Wilhelm Speiser is lying?”
At that, Winnie’s frown grew deeper. “What does this have to do with Wilhelm?”
“Mr. Wilhelm publicly denied the fact that you were ever married in Chanaea. He also said that you
have the freedom of marriage. There are people who are speculating that you two are doing this for
your upcoming marriage into the Huxley family. Do you have any comments? Or perhaps you’d like to
set the facts straight?”
Winnie truly didn’t know what had happened while she was gone, but the journalist kept hounding her,
and his questions were deliberately phrased in a way that was leading her to answer in a certain
manner.
It wasn’t an interview but rather a scheme to lure her into acknowledging matters she hadn’t even
heard of, and Winnie did not like this feeling at all.
Having had enough of the journalist’s unscrupulous behavior, Winnie scolded, “Please abide by your
professional ethics, Mr. Graham. I didn’t agree to your interview, nor did I answer any of your questions.
Please stop your baseless assumptions and speculations!”
At that, Nathaniel took a step forward to put some space between Winnie and the journalist. “I believe
it’s time for you to leave, Mr. Graham. Otherwise, I’ll call the police.”
The argument between the three of them had caught the attention of the motel’s receptionist, and she
was already holding onto the phone at the front desk.
As soon as Nathaniel gave her the order, she would immediately call the police.
It was then the journalist finally realized he had been too hasty and had almost angered the two people
in front of him.
He immediately apologized to Winnie, but Winnie did not accept it. Not only did she ask him to leave,
but she also made him delete the picture he had taken of them.
After the journalist left, Winnie instantly found a table in the restaurant to sit at.
“Tell me.” She looked at the man sitting in front of her with a stern gaze. “What the h*ll is going on?”
Nathaniel strung his words together and explained everything that had happened thus far.
When she heard everything, Winnie couldn’t help but scoff. “As expected, it’s Helen.”
Nathaniel was surprised by her response. “Judging by your reaction, did you already know she’d do
this?”
“No, of course not,” said Winnie. “But I’m not surprised by the fact that she was the one who started it.
Wilhelm must’ve gotten on her bad side. Still, I didn’t expect she’d come up with such a story. It’s
completely absurd! Does she intend to take revenge on my brother like this? By attacking us with a
baseless rumor?”
Smiling sheepishly, Nathaniel chimed in, “It… isn’t entirely baseless.”
Winnie looked at the man, confused. “What do you mean? Don’t tell me you’re the one who leaked the
news?”
After that, she did not hesitate to make her opinion on the matter clear. “My beloved business partner,
Nathaniel Huxley, I’ve told you that I prefer Chanaean men. Plus, you already know that I married
Xavier in Chanaea. He’s my lover.”
“Oh, my dear Ms. Vivian, of course, I know.” Nathaniel smiled, masking the hint of disappointment in his
expression. After a brief pause, he added, “I must say you’ve misunderstood me as I didn’t leak any
information at all. The truth is, our families did try to hook us up in the past. My mother always knew
that I wanted an Aplothian woman as my soulmate, but back then, I didn’t know you were the Speiser
family’s adopted daughter, nor did I know you were my collaborator, Ms. Gator, so I rejected my
mother’s suggestion without hesitation. Hence, Helen’s story isn’t completely baseless.”
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmWinnie’s brows furrowed. “I didn’t know any of that.”
“I know. It’s probably because I refused to meet you, so your family didn’t tell you about it.”
“That’s possible.” Winnie nodded.
Then, she said to Nathaniel earnestly, “I apologize for misunderstanding you earlier. I hope you can
forgive me.”
“No worries, but…” The man pondered for a moment before saying, “The news has already spread to a
global scale, and the discussion in Chanaea is particularly heated. Although our engagement is false,
your brother’s statement is true. Perhaps you should check on Xavier. You’ve been cut off from the rest
of the world for the past few days, and I’m sure he must’ve called you a lot during this period. To be
honest, when I first saw the news, I tried calling you as well, but either your phone was out of the
service area or the call was left unanswered.”
“Oh, right! You reminded me.” Winnie instantly fished her phone out of her backpack. “I have to give
him a call.”
Flashing a smile at the woman, Nathaniel said, “Okay, go ahead. I’ll go get you a cup of coffee. The
usual, right?”
Winnie’s phone had shut down, and she was looking for her power bank. Hence, she didn’t look up
while responding, “Yeah, thanks.”
“You don’t have to be so courteous with me,” said Nathaniel as he stood up.
However, by the time he returned with the coffee, Winnie was no longer at the table.
She had left him a note, telling him that both her phone and power bank were dead, so she was going
back to her room to charge her phone.
While they were talking earlier, the bespectacled journalist had already uploaded the picture he’d taken
to social media.
It turned out that he hadn’t deleted every copy of the picture from his phone and had kept a copy on
cloud storage.
He had a social media account in Chanaea and had accumulated quite a huge following.
The scandal between Winnie and the CEO of Fairchild Corporation had been trending. The journalist
knew that, and he knew that he’d be able to reap the benefits of the situation.
Hence, he quickly turned the picture into a video and an article before publishing them on his platform
in Chanaea.
It didn’t take long for Xavier to see what the journalist had published, and his mind went blank when he
saw it.
All of a sudden, he recalled what Josiah previously asked him.
Did she take the picture herself, or was it taken by another? Did she go alone, or did someone else go
with her? Who is that person?
Xavier’s curiosity was piqued when he saw the picture of Winnie and Nathaniel that the journalist had
taken when he bumped into the two.
Did they really go together?
At that thought, Xavier picked up his phone, intending to give Winnie a call.
However, he truly hated the anxiousness that would torment him whenever he had to wait for someone
to answer the call or when the call went to voicemail.
Thus, he decided against calling her and instead sent a text message to Louis.
Xavier had received his health report from the hospital, and it stated that his body was fine for the time
being. Hence, he wanted Louis to book him the earliest flight to Yartran so he could look for Winnie
himself.
At that precise moment, his phone rang, the screen indicating that it was a call from Winnie.
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