hotmtlnovel Chapter 18 Lying
Chapter 18 Lying
Chloe felt like she hadn't heard clearly, and mumbled again, "What did you do?"
The Durands exchanged a glance and gave each other an awkward laugh: "Heh heh, it seems we've gotten ourselves into trouble—"
A few years ago, the two of them traveled to Liyue to start a new business. By chance, they got in touch with the Flying Cloud Merchant Guild, which allowed them to gain a foothold in a foreign land.
However, Mr. Durand was recently deceived and apparently signed a dual contract.
Such dual contracts are said to be a very serious crime in Liyue, as they involve suspected tax evasion and can lead to imprisonment.
Mr. Durand, out of fear, fled back with his wife after leaving behind a large sum of Mora short of the real and fake contracts.
However, since their wealth was accumulated in Liyue in recent years, it is inconvenient to deal with it in a hurry. So their current situation is similar to the bankruptcy that Chloe initially guessed.
However, it's still worse than simply going bankrupt.
Chloe now finally understood why they were so nervous when they saw Vilette. They were afraid that the relevant departments in Liyue would hand the matter over to Fontaine. Their first reaction upon seeing the Supreme Judge was whether he was there to arrest them.
Given their guilty conscience and the fact that they happened to be in the eye of the storm, it's no wonder that Vilette took action against them.
The Durands had just returned to Fontainebleau and hadn't heard about the scandal that had been making headlines recently. Naturally, they were unaware of why Villette was with their daughter, and were currently complaining, "Why didn't you tell us sooner that His Excellency the Supreme Judge was—"
If they had known sooner, they wouldn't have come.
Chloe repeated, "It's your own fault for not telling me you were coming back sooner."
The Durands both looked aggrieved: "We sent you a letter a while ago telling you what happened, but you haven't replied."
As the most reliable person in the family, the Durand couple often sought Chloe's opinion on important matters. Before leaving Liyue, they naturally wrote to her to ask for her opinion, but because they did not receive a reply, they made the decision to return to Fontaine on their own.
Chloe learned the exact time the letter was sent from them, and after doing the math, it seemed to be right when she and Navelette had just started writing to each other. It made perfect sense that she had been staring at the mailbox in the Moman Palace every day and had forgotten about the one at home.
For the past two months, it seems like she hasn't opened the mailbox at the door for a long time.
Having figured this out, Chloe suddenly felt guilty and quickly put on a serious expression to change the subject: "Well, never mind, there's no other way now. I'll try to figure out how to resolve this. You guys just stay home and relax during this time."
The Durands, who had no need to save face in front of their beloved daughter, immediately looked at her with the eyes of someone admiring a hero.
Chloe was completely won over by their act; her ears turned red, and she even walked with a slight sway: "Let's go home."
The Durands immediately followed behind her.
They just didn't expect that the phrase "go home" wasn't just directed at them—
Three hours later, after they had even gathered together to enjoy the dinner Chloe had prepared, they stared at the man across from them, who was elegantly wiping his mouth with a napkin, lost in thought.
After all this time, they hadn't been arrested yet, and Chloe had no objection to the scene. Mr. Durand had figured out that the Supreme Inquisitor wouldn't suddenly make an attack, so he boldly asked, "Then, Lady Villette, it's so late, aren't you going back?"
Navelette was taken aback.
He assumed Chloe had already told them what had happened.
In fact, Chloe originally wanted to talk about it, but living with a strange man is something that's embarrassing no matter how you look at it!
Someone's ostrich-like nature kicked in, and they simply kept putting it off until now.
Seeing that he didn't speak, Mrs. Durand twisted her husband's waist hard, causing Mr. Durand, who had been standing, to slump back into his chair with a contorted and grotesque expression.
Lady Durand quickly stepped in front of him and spoke up on his behalf: "We didn't mean to send you away. We were just curious why you were still at our daughter's house so late. After all, there's an old saying in Liyue that men and women shouldn't touch each other, isn't there...?"
Clearly, neither of them were good at speaking.
However, Vilette wasn't the type to overthink what others said. Hearing this, she didn't show any displeasure. She simply explained the matter of the pure white lily of the valley and also mentioned how the two of them met.
Chloe, who had just returned from feeding the baby sea otter, overheard their conversation and immediately hid behind the wall, wanting to hear what Villette meant by her description of herself.
But perhaps even Villette herself couldn't give a clear answer.
Gentle? Considerate? Or something else entirely?
Navelette felt that all these positive words could be applied to her.
There was nothing inappropriate about it. Every aspect of Chloe was vivid and beautiful to him. She was the most perfect human being he had ever imagined before he received the invitation from the water god and actually came to the country of Fontaine.
This emotion also affected his narration. In his words, Chloe became almost a perfect person. What's even more frightening is that what he said was clearly true, but it was as if it was presented after ten layers of filters were applied.
Chloe hid behind the wall, feeling both excited and extremely ashamed.
Before she knew it, Violet had already started talking about the first time she went to Momeng Palace to see him and hoped that he would withdraw the security forces.
"At the time, Ms. Chloe said that her home was surrounded by security agencies and lacked warmth, and hoped that I could move there—"
Before he could speak, Chloe, finally snapping out of her daze, hurriedly covered his mouth: "Enough, enough, you don't need to go into so much detail!"
Even if Violet hadn't finished speaking, her parents, who were usually serious but also quick to enjoy themselves, had already guessed what was going on from their behavior.
Chloe looked up and met the two men's teasing gazes.
Her face flushed crimson, and she chased them away, both embarrassed and annoyed: "What are you doing sitting here after you've finished eating! Aren't you going to sleep tonight?! Hurry up, go take a shower, and then go back to your own rooms! Aren't you tired of constantly bothering Lord Villette with all these questions?"
Mrs. Durand knew her daughter was shy, so she suppressed her laughter and pulled Mr. Durand up. They obediently went to the guest room to find clothes to prepare for washing up. But as soon as the door closed, they couldn't help but burst out laughing together.
Even the soundproof door couldn't block out their rampant laughter.
Chloe muttered a curse under her breath about those unreliable parents.
Before things had even calmed down over there, Navelette joined in the fun over here.
The naive judge grasped her hand and freed his mouth, his first words being, "Ms. Chloe, didn't you tell me you only had one room in your house?"
(End of this chapter)
The author says: Today's weather in Fontaine: Cloudy turning sunny.
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Hehe, getting caught lying will get you punished!