It was a good thing we could use the private exit when leaving the hotel, so we didn’t have to face that crowd of reporters again.
It was such a pity, though, that we couldn’t watch the performances of those famous singers at the event. But honestly, it would’ve been even more annoying to breathe the sa air as a bunch of jerks for too long.
"But I’m still curious..." I said once we sat inside the car. "How could Madeline and I end up wearing the sa necklace? I an, Irene Delacroix has so many designs. Why did it have to be the exact sa one? And even stranger, how co one was real and the other fake?"
I’d also heard that Diana Reiss rarely ever attended charity events like this, yet sohow she just happened to show up tonight, right when this drama happened.
One or two coincidences I could accept, but when there were too many odd things happening at once, I couldn’t call it coincidence anymore.
Unless... soone had planned all this beforehand.
I turned toward Lando and noticed that he’d been staring out the window the whole ti instead of looking at .
"Husband..." I called softly, narrowing my eyes. "Were you the one behind this?"
The car fell silent for a while before he finally spoke. "I knew Dorian was going to marry Madeline."
"I knew it!" I gasped, jumping toward him so suddenly that he flinched a little. "Why didn’t you tell from the beginning?!"
"That’s because—"
"I wanted to join your little sche too!" I cut him off before he could finish.
He blinked, a bit confused. "You’re... not mad at ?"
I tilted my head. "Why would I be?"
"Because I used you to humiliate my brother," he said quietly. "And even dragged you into our family problem."
"But husband... I’m your family too, aren’t I? That ans your family problems are also mine. Besides, you embarrassed Madeline too, so it’s a win-win situation for ," I said with a grin. "But how did you know they’d buy the Celestial Tear Diamond?"
Lando finally explained that it really hadn’t been a coincidence.
When Mr. Lan—of course, that was Lando himself—went to buy a necklace as our wedding gift, the jeweler warned him that the Celestial Tear Diamond had illegal duplicates and advised him not to purchase it.
However, instead of listening, Lando still bought it and decided to plan sothing mischievous with it.
"Before that, I had already heard from a maid working at the main Brixton residence that Dorian was going to marry a woman nad Madeline," he said.
At first, he thought maybe the na was just similar and that they were two different people. But after the maid secretly took a picture of Madeline, Lando finally confird that she really was Madeline Davenport.
"She also told that Dorian and Madeline argued because she wanted to use a rare piece of jewelry, while Dorian thought she was being troubleso." He continued, "In the end, he gave her money and let her buy it herself."
So, Dorian wasn’t lying when he said he had given Madeline the money.
"Then how did you make Madeline end up buying the imitation?" I asked.
"Madeline was the one who bought it, but she bought it because Dorian told her to get it from a fake collector."
Lando had secretly sent Dorian a fake jewelry catalog under an anonymous na. He even added a flashy slogan that said, "Exclusive Celestial Tear Diamonds, crafted for those who deserve the rarest brilliance."
It looked so real that even a trained jeweler might’ve believed it. The photos were flawless, the details convincing, and the prices... were hidden, so Dorian couldn’t tell whether they were expensive or cheap.
"Dorian has always had this obsession with showing off," Lando continued calmly. "He wanted everyone to see that he could afford the rarest things. So, when he saw that ad, he thought he’d found sothing special, a shortcut to outshine everyone else."
I couldn’t hold back a laugh. "So he told Madeline to buy the imitation necklace from that collector, thinking it was real?"
And of course, the ever-brilliant Madeline didn’t even check the actual price of the real Celestial Tear Diamond. She thought a hundred thousand dollars was already expensive enough.
"This is ridiculous." I burst out laughing. "Who knew they’d be that easy to fool? Then... what about Ms. Reiss? Did you invite her too?"
"No," Lando replied. "Her na was already on the guest list from the beginning. But honestly, I didn’t expect her to help us."
If Diana Reiss hadn’t stepped up, Lando was sure Dorian would’ve suggested checking the diamond with a detector.
Still, it seed that after seeing the real one, Dorian had already realized Madeline’s necklace was fake. Even though they looked nearly identical, a man used to luxury items like him could tell the difference instantly.
"Wow... you really have such a beautiful brain," I said, looking at him admiringly.
Lando imdiately turned his face away, his eyes glinting red because of it. "Not at all," he muttered. "My brother’s just too stupid, that’s all."
But of course, he did have a beautiful brain. After all, he was the only one among Victor’s children who managed to build his own company from scratch, while the others rely inherited their father’s legacy.
"Thank you, Lando." I smiled. "I know your goal was to humiliate your brother, but thanks to you, Madeline ended up embarrassed too."
Not only did I receive a reward from the system, but I also got to watch that bitch get humiliated in public.
If it weren’t for Lando, I probably would’ve had to endure the unfairness of that situation alone.
Madeline might’ve wanted to humiliate Helcia, but since I’m the one in her body now, that ans she was trying to humiliate .
"You don’t have to thank ," Lando said. "I’m your husband. It’s my duty to protect you."
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