Their Villain, The Mogul's Beloved

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“Don’t stay up too late tonight, you two. Get ssleep early. I'll drive you to school in the morning,” Yannis

said, handing Maisie the toiletries he'd just bought.

“Got it, Yannis,” Maisie replied obediently.

“Zinnia,” Yannis then said to Zinnia.

“Yes?” Zinnia turned to look at him.

“Here you go,” Yannis said, handing her a pink paper bag. She noticed it looked a lot like the one he'd given her

last time. “It’s a cake-to celebrate your gaining a new family member,” he said with a warm smile.

“Thank you,” Zinnia said, pausing briefly when she heard it was a cake, but she didn’t refuse. She thought, ‘Il can

give it to Maisie later. Besides, today really does feel like a day worth celebrating-and Yannis’s thoughtful gift is

just perfect.

“Alright, callif you need anything,” Yannis said, giving them one last look as the elevator doors began to

close.

“Zinnia, it’s girls night.” Maisie cheered as she pushed open the door. Her eyes lit up in the warm, cozy room -

she was truly happy for Zinnia. Thank goodness Jackson and the others treated Zinnia so well now, or Maisie

would feel so sad for her.

“Okay,” Zinnia replied, a shy smile tugging at the corners of her lips-she’d never had a sleepover with a close

friend before.

“Zinnia, con! Let's try this cake from Sugar Rush. It's delicious, you have to order it days in advance. | can’t

believe the stone-faced Yannis actually bought you one!

“Just picture that a tough guy carrying an adorable pink bag into a cute bakery. It’s hilarious!”

Maisie, not treating herself as an outsider at all, tugged Zinnia down beside her on the sofa, her eyes sparkling

with anticipation as she stared at the little cake in Zinnia’s hands.

“Do you like it? It’s all yours-no need to share,” Zinnia said, as she took the cake out of the bag. It was a

chocolate cake, encircled with strawberries and topped with a tiny flower.

The deep, velvety aroma of chocolate was mouthwatering. Zinnia stared at it longingly, and thought wistfully. ‘It

smells so good and looks so delicious. What a pity | can’t eat it,"

“Zinnia, aren't you going to have some?” Maisie asked, placing the cake in front of her and handing her a fork.

“I can’t eat cream,” Zinnia said, shaking her head. “I'm allergic to it.”

“Oh no. You're allergic to cream? Doesn't that mean you can’t even have a birthday cake? What a shame. You're

missing out on so many delicious treats,” Maisie exclaimed, genuinely surprised and a little disappointed.

“That's just how it is,” Zinnia sighed, disappointed, too.

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“Zinnia, letscoop out just the sponge part for you-we’ll avoid the cream,” Maisie said, her heart softening at

Zinnia’'s longing gaze. Maisie stared at the small cake in her hand as if she could see the fluffy sponge core

inside.

“Really? Can we do that?” Zinnia looked up at her with hopeful eyes. She’d never thought of eating cake this way

before. ‘I can’t have cream, but the sponge part should be fine, right?”

The cake looked incredibly soft and fluffy, layered with cookie crumbs and oozing with rich chocolate sauce. The

more she looked, the more irresistible it became.

“I'm not sure if this will work, but let's give it a shot,” Maisie said. “We'll just try a tiny bit first and see if you

react. | don’t know if the cream might've soaked into the cake sponge.

“If you can’t even eat the sponge, that would be awful.” Maisie wasn't sure if just the sponge would be safe for

someone allergic to cream, but figured it should be fine as long as it didn’t touch any cream.

“Okay,” Zinnia's eyes

lit up with hope.

Maisie couldn’t help but laugh at Zinnia’s eager look. Carefully put aside the cream with her spoon, she scooped

out the fluffy center of the cake and offered it to Zinnia.

“So yummy!” Zinnia exclaimed as the sweet sponge cake melted in her mouth. She couldn’t help but bob her

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head in delight. ‘So this is what cake sponge tastes like," she thought, her heart brimming with happiness.

Even just eating the sponge without any cream made her feel content. Because she was allergic to cream, Zinnia

had never tasted cake before.

Every tshe could only watch longingly as others enjoyed their cake, wishing she could have stoo- but

never daring to touch it.

“How are you feeling, Zinnia? Any discomfort?” Maisie asked anxiously, her eyes fixed on Zinnia-a stark contrast

to Zinnia’s excitement.

“No,” Zinnia shook her head. This new way to eat cake was like discovering a whole new world. This cake was

really delicious.

The chocolate sauce is silky smooth with a hint of bitterness, but the aftertaste is rich and sweet. And those

buttery, crispy wafers inside are fragrant and crunchy. She loved it.

“Alright, you take the sponge and I'll have the cream!” Maisie said cheerfully, relieved to see Zinnia wasn’t

having an allergic reaction. She handed Zinnia another fork.

So that’s how they split the cake-Maisie happily took the cream, while Zinnia enjoyed the sponge.

After they'd eaten their fill, Maisie leaned back against the sofa, let out a satisfied sigh, and said, “No wonder

Sugar Rush is so famous for being hard to get-this is seriously delicious.”

“Delicious,” Zinnia echoed, feeling as if she'd discovered a whole new world today. Completely satisfied, she

leaned back on the sofa just like Maisie, her face still glowing with joy.

“Hey, Zinnia, that two-faced Betty is such a liar,” Maisie said indignantly. “You're allergic to cream, but she

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claimed you were mad just because she didn’t get you a cake. What a complete joke.”

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As they chatted, Maisie suddenly brought up that birthday party. On that day, Betty went around telling everyone

Zinnia got mad just because of that, and that Zinnia tried to push her into the water out of spite.

Maisie exclaimed indignantly. “But you're allergic to cream. You'd never even had cake before-why would you do

something like that over a cake? Not a single word Betty says can be trusted.”

“Zinnia, check out our class group chat. Ethan just posted a photo-Betty’s face is all swollen and covered in

rashes. Everyone's saying it's karma for all the bad things she’s done,” Maisie laughed as she pulled out her

phone and saw tons of new messages.

Everyone was mocking. Scrolling up, she found the photo that showed Betty's face was covered in crazy red

bumps. “On my god, that rash all over her face is terrifying,” Maisie said, handing her phone to Zinnia.

Someone had posted a photo on the forum-no one knew who took it. Even with a mask on, the red rash covering

Betty's face was impossible to hide. Tiny bumps clustered across her forehead, the bridge of her nose, and her

eyelids.

Maybe it was itching so badly that she scratched her forehead raw, leaving it red and inflamed. It looked

horrifying, and there was no way she could get rid of them anytsoon.

Zinnia looked at the photo on her phone, then at the nearly faded marks on Maisie’s face. She stayed silent,

thinking, ‘Evildoers always get their due!

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Chapter 303

Maisie had her fill and then went to get cleaned up. She changed into Zinnia’s pajamas and told her, “Zinnia,

don’t worry about the scratch on my face. It’s probably already scabbed over. No need to put anything on it.”

Zinnia dragged Maisie over to the vanity and sat her down. She pulled out a white jar holding a milky-white

cream that smelled fresh and soothing. As Maisie stared at the jar, it struck her as strangely familiar.

“This works as skincare too,” Zinnia said as she scooped out scream with a spoon and gently smoothed it

onto Maisie’s face.

Maisie saw the stubborn look in Zinnia’s eyes and knew she couldn’t say no to her kindness.

“Zinnia, this feels amazing,” Maisie exclaimed. The cream felt cool and soothing on her face. She even thought it

was better than the fancy Moon Scar Cream she’d used from the Moore family.

“I made this myself,” Zinnia said, carefully smoothing the cream over Maisie’s face. “If you like it, | can whip up a

fresh jar for you in a couple of days.”

“Wait, what? You made this yourself? Since when are you this good at stuff?” Maisie stared at her, surprised. She

never thought this cream would be something Zinnia had actually made.

Zinnia nodded. “Back when | lived in Tareston, my Master taughtsmedicine. If you ever feel sick or

anything, just letknow. I'll check you out.”

“That's so cool. Sweetie, you're amazing.” Maisie beamed. She kept staring at that white jar, the nagging feeling

that she'd seen it before getting stronger.

“Zinnia, did you make Moon Scar Cream yourself?” Maisie picked up the jar, her fingers tracing the raised letters

on its surface. That was when it clicked. She’d seen this exact jar at James's place.

The jar had “Moon Scar Cream” written on it in raised letters. It didn’t just make old scars disappear completely-

it made your skin look years younger, slowed aging, and basically worked magic on your whole body.

It was said that a single gram of this stuff cost over 100 thousand dollars. Every rich woman in high society was

dying to get her hands on it.

Medical labs everywhere had tried cracking the formula, but they'd only figured out a handful of ingredients

before giving up. The authentic recipe remains exclusive to the Moore family.

But over a decade ago, the main Moore family was wiped out overnight in an explosion. The original Moon Scar

Cream recipe vanished with them. The Moore family’s distant relatives had pieces of the formula, so the cream

they made was nothing like the original.

Still, women in high society fought tooth and nail for the low-tier version. Maisie’s mom had actually snagged

sa few times, and Maisie loved how it worked. She couldn't wrap her head around how incredible the real

Moon Scar Cream must've been.

Maisie noticed the mark on Zinnia’s jar was totally different from the Moon Scar Cream jars sold now. The Moore

family had changed the packaging since the cream wasn't as effective anymore.

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Zinnia’s jar looked exactly like the old-school ones. In fact, Maisie started to think that Zinnia’s jar might be the

real deal.

Maisie remembered something her mom had told her. Back in the day, Yannis was totally wrecked-his whole

body was just one big mess of wounds. James spent a fortune buying up the last of the original Moon Scar Cream

from the Moore family.

Yannis used the cream every day, and his cuts ended up healing without a single scar.

One tat James's place, Maisie spotted an empty Moon Scar Cream jar. James noticed how much she liked it

and gave it to her. She used to play with that jar all the tas a kid, so she knew every detail about it.

The jar looked like an authentic one. She thought, ‘But Uncle James bought up every last drop of the original

stuff. And everything on the market now is made from the Moore family’s distant relatives. How could Zinnia get

an original jar?’

“Yep. You like it?” Zinnia asked, not quite grasping why Maisie looked so surprised. “I can whip up a fresh jar of

cream for you later.”

“Zinnia,” Maisie said, trying to push down her confusion, “you said you made this cream yourself? So, where did

you even get this jar?”

“Yeah, | made it,” Zinnia replied. “This jar? My Master gave it to me. He just found it.”

Zinnia had plenty of these jars. When she was little, her Master noticed she really liked the bottles. So one day,

he showed up dragging a whole box, absolutely stuffed with them. He just told Zinnia he'd found them.

In Tareston, they always seemed to stumble upon all sorts of odd things-Master would often bring them back.

Zinnia never doubted him. There were still plenty of these strange finds lying around their house in the

countryside.

“I see...” Maisie still felt like something was off. But Zinnia wasn’t the type to lie, and Maisie knew that. Maybe

the jar really was something Maisie’s Master had found.

‘Maybe this jar just happens to look like that one,” Maisie thought. ‘After all, over the years, plenty of people

have tried to counterfeit the Moore family’s mark, hoping to sell more of their own scar creams,

Still, Maisie couldn't shake off that strange feeling. ‘I should go hand dig out my old Moon Scar Cream jar to

compare, she thought. ‘Zinnia’s looks just like the real thing!

Early the next morning, the doorbell rang. Maisie shuttled to the door, her hair sticking up as she rubbed her

eyes and yawned. “Yannis, what brings you here so early? Oh, right. | forgot you have insomnia. Couldn't sleep

again?”

Last night, Zinnia Maisie had been up till all hours talking about everything under the sun, so they’d crashed

pretty late.

“What were you doing last night? You look like a zombie.” Yannis eyed Maisie as she kept yawning.

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“Hey, it's still early. Classes don’t start until eight. And school’s only like ten minutes away,” Maisie said, already

used to her cousin Yannis’s sharp tongue. He only bothered being nice when Zinnia was around.

“Maisie, who is it?” The sweet voice drifted over. Both Maisie and Yannis turned to Zinnia. She shuffled out in her

slippers, slowly brushing her teeth, a ring of foam still clinging to her lips.

Her hair hung loose around her shoulders, with a few pieces sticking up funny. She had on a pale blue sundress

and yawned mid-brush.

“Hey, Zinnia,” Yannis said, smiling at her.

“Yannis? Morning.” Zinnia was still groggy from staying up late, yawning every few seconds. But the sight of

Yannis standing at the door-his good looks hitting her like a shot of espresso-snapped her right out of her

drowsiness.

Then she realized she had toothpaste foam all over her mouth and slapped her hand over it. ‘Oh no, | look like an

idiot in front of this stunning guy,’ she thought. The embarrassment jolted her completely awake.

“Figured you'd be up by now, so | ordered breakfast for you,” Yannis said, lifting the takeout bags and flashing a

charming smile. “Just eat up before you head to school.”

“Sure. Yannis, con in. Just grab a seat,” Zinnia blurted out, then quickly spun around and hurried off.

Yannis kicked off his shoes and padded inside barefoot to drop off the food.

The apartment had the slayout as his place upstairs, but it couldn't have looked more different. His place

was minimalist and cold, while this one radiated cozy warmth, like a storybook princess's room. Jackson had

hired sfancy designer to make it just right.

Being in this space, Yannis felt warm and comfortable, like he was wrapped up in a cozy blanket. He smiled as he

glanced around-this was the perfect place for someone as sweet and gentle as Zinnia. A cold, minimalist style

would never do for her.

After breakfast, Yannis drove both girls to school.

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