[GotStrongAfterTheStorm: And what did I get in return? No ring. No marriage. Just endless chores and the humiliation of having to ask for grocery money like so maid. Then he had the audacity to tell I’d "let myself go", as if being exhausted from taking care of his life was my fault!]
[GotStrongAfterTheStorm: And guess what? He cheated with another coworker. Young, pretty, and as gullible as I once was. ]
[GotStrongAfterTheStorm: I think following soone like Hera could really open my eyes to how the world actually works, so I won’t be so easily fooled or taken advantage of by n again. I might never reach her level of success or wealth, but at the very least, I’ll know my worth and stop settling for less.]
[GotStrongAfterTheStorm: After all, Hera has so many suitors, yet she never lets that define her. She kicked her ex to the curb the mont she wasn’t treated right, and I respect that so much.]
[GotStrongAfterTheStorm: What’s even more inspiring is that, despite being surrounded by powerful, wealthy n, she doesn’t rely on them. Instead, she works hard to soar high on her own, to stand shoulder to shoulder with them.]
[GotStrongAfterTheStorm: That’s so much more empowering than listening to people who talk about independence but never live it. Hera shows it through her actions. Her success isn’t just for show; it’s real, raw, and unfiltered.]
[AuntieNextDoor: @GotStrongAfterTheStorm, you’ve got a sharp eye, dear! You hit the nail right on the head, and your userna says it all. Let just say, you’re a strong and wonderful person. Being able to face your pain, understand it, and grow from it shows incredible resilience.]
[AuntieNextDoor: Rember, the world doesn’t end with one man. I’m genuinely happy that you woke up and stood on your own before falling any deeper into an abyss with no way back. You deserve better.]
[GotStrongAfterTheStorm: Thank you! (╥﹏╥) ]
...
Little did Silvia know, her actions had the opposite effect of what she intended. Instead of making people focus on Hera being a so-called mistress, she inadvertently helped turn Hera into a symbol of won’s empowernt.
After all, no one could deny Hera’s achievents.
Much of the credit went to Hera’s loyal fans, led by Massie and Stacy, who steered the online discussion in a different direction. They reminded netizens of Hera’s hard work and integrity, urging others to see that she had done nothing wrong, which was, in fact, true.
Thanks to their efforts, Betty didn’t even need to step in for public relations damage control. On the contrary, the controversy ended up boosting Hera’s reputation and popularity even further.
Whether this turn of fortune ca from Hera’s newly strengthened ’female lead halo’ or from the unwavering faith of her fans, no one could say for sure. What was certain, however, was that those who had followed Hera for a long ti knew her well enough not to believe Silvia’s baseless accusations.
But Silvia had no idea what was really happening. In her mind, the bomb she dropped had already done its work; she believed that Hera was now being torn apart online, labeled as a shaless mistress who clung to another woman’s fiancé.
’So what if Leo refuses to acknowledge ?’ she thought. As long as she could ruin Hera first, drag her down and make her scurry away like a rat in the gutter, then she’d have her chance to go after Leo again. All she needed to do was erase Hera from his side.
Silvia knew Leo might be furious with her for a while, but she didn’t care. As the Avery heiress, she was confident he wouldn’t stay angry forever. In her eyes, Leo’s forgiveness was inevitable; after all, who could possibly defy her for long?
Silvia was counting on that. She didn’t care how things would end as long as they went her way. To her, there was only one acceptable outco; everything else could be dealt with later.
anwhile, Hera, who stood at the center of it all, simply sat in her wheelchair with a composed smile. It was as if she couldn’t see the malice burning in Silvia’s eyes, or perhaps she did, and simply refused to let it affect her. Her calm smile remained, unshaken.
"Miss Silvia, you jest. I’ve never once heard from Leo that he was engaged to you," Hera said evenly.
It was the truth. While Leo had admitted that he was engaged to the Avery heiress, a fact Hera only learned recently, Silvia was not that heiress. That made Hera’s words completely accurate.
She didn’t acknowledge Silvia’s supposed status and deliberately emphasized the words "to you" instead of saying "to the Avery heiress." In doing so, she subtly separated Silvia from the identity she was pretending to hold—Hera’s stand-in persona as the real Avery heiress.
But Silvia failed to catch the hint of sarcasm hidden in Hera’s calm tone. She took Hera’s words as re stubbornness, thinking the woman just wouldn’t stop until she hit her own wall.
Silvia let out a derisive snort. "Just because you didn’t hear it, you think it doesn’t exist?"
"Well then, Miss Silvia," Hera said with an unfaltering smile, "since you claim it’s a long-standing agreent between the two families, why not have the Averys and the Hendrixes announce it officially?"
"That way, everything would be clear for everyone. After all, as I’ve said, I’ve never once heard Leo ntion having a fiancée. In fact, he told himself that he was single, so I wouldn’t have to worry about any... romantic entanglents."
Her tone carried the faintest trace of a taunt, elegant but unmistakable. "If you don’t believe , you’re free to check online and see how things between Leo and began. Everyone’s seen how our story, and my other suitors’ pursuits, unfolded in the public eye."
Hera’s smile didn’t waver. She knew Silvia couldn’t possibly ask the Avery family to make such an announcent, because the one truly engaged to Leo wasn’t Silvia at all, but the real Avery heiress, who had yet to make her appearance.
And more than that, Silvia knew she couldn’t simply convince Leo to announce her as his fiancée, because deep down, she knew he didn’t truly like her. Hera’s words struck her like a slap across the face, exposing that painful truth she tried so hard to ignore.
All Silvia could do was glare at Hera, venom burning in her eyes, because Hera had hit her exactly where it hurt the most.
But not once did Silvia suspect that Hera already knew she wasn’t the real Avery heiress. She simply assud Hera was acting this way out of blind confidence, believing too much in Leo’s loyalty.
Silvia snorted inwardly at what she saw as Hera’s naïveté. In her eyes, there were no absolute loyalties in the upper class, only interests. As long as she could offer Leo sothing more valuable than what Hera could give, sothing beyond re novelty, she was certain she could win him over.
Whatever Leo saw in Hera, Silvia believed she could provide better and more.
"Why would an outsider like you butt into a family matter? Do you really think a commoner like you has the right to tell what to do?" Silvia said haughtily, crossing her arms and looking down at Hera as if she were beneath her in every possible way.
What Silvia failed to realize was that the faces of those who had followed her there were already changing. Even the people watching the livestream online found her words appalling. Her arrogance and condescension rubbed them the wrong way, and public sentint quickly shifted in Hera’s favor.
To the viewers, Silvia no longer looked like a wronged heiress but an arrogant woman suffering from a princess syndro, soone who believed she was superior to everyone else and only deserved to be with soone of high status.
They couldn’t imagine Leo liking soone so uncouth and self-important.
And though Leo wasn’t the Hendrix heir, his looks and charm already placed him high in people’s eyes. In fact, since no one knew who the real Hendrix heir was, many thought Leo must be even more handso and capable than him, after all, why else would an "heiress" like Silvia go after Leo instead of the true heir?
Especially when she clearly looked down on commoners.
So even without anyone deliberately spreading the idea, people were already thinking along those lines. They began to believe that Silvia was flaunting her status and abusing her identity to push Hera aside, using power to force Leo into being her fiancé.
Because of this, online discussions quickly exploded with speculation. Netizens, being as imaginative as they were, loved to analyze and assu things, and this ti, their theories ended up working in Hera’s favor.
But this outco wasn’t entirely accidental. Hera had subtly planned it. Since she couldn’t yet reveal her true identity, she chose instead to manipulate the conversation and provoke Silvia on purpose. Her goal was to push Silvia into showing her arrogance on the livestream, letting her own temper expose her.
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