?Chapter 1581:

Carl’s eyes stayed on the ornate boxes being carried across the room, his thoughts clearly elsewhere. Since returning from the restaurant, something had been weighing on him. Corrine couldn’t quite ce it, so she called again, her voice calm, “Grandpa?”

Snapped from his reverie, Carl blinked. “What?”

“I made you some coffee.” She nudged the cup toward him.

He epted it without much attention, sipping slowly. Then he nced at her. “Corrine, how do you really feel about being engaged to Nate?”

Without hesitation, she reached for an orange, her slim fingers moving carefully as she peeled it, section by section. “If I had a problem with it, I wouldn’t have agreed in the first ce.” That was undeniably true.

Still, even with the engagement party behind them and the gifts received, Carl couldn’t shake the gnawing thought of calling the whole thing off. Especially after hearing Evelyn’s thoughts, the urge had only grown stronger. Just then, Lnd approached with a document in hand. “Miss Hond, here’s the list of engagement gifts received today. Please review it.”

Corrine set the fruit aside and took the paper, scanning through it quickly.

“Except the hairpin, keep everything else in the storage room.”

“Understood,” Lnd replied before turning to ry the instruction to the staff.

“If you don’t need me for anything else, Grandpa, I’ll head to my room now.”

“Go ahead.”

Carl watched her leave, the box containing the hairpin nestled in her hands. A weary sigh escaped him.fnda03 This text is hosted at Find_Novel(./fnda03

“Mr. Jules Ford is back,” a servant announced from the doorway.

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Carl nced up just in time to see Jules wave in greeting and bolt up the stairs toward Corrine’s room.

“You little rascal! Always barging into your cousin’s room. Haven’t you learned any manners?” Carl mmed his cane against the floor.

Jules didn’t flinch. “I always knock first.”

With that, he gave a perfunctory knock and pushed the door open before Corrine could respond.

Carl stared after him, bbergasted. That knock had been nothing but a formality.

In the solitude of the room, Corrine sat at the desk, donning white gloves as she gingerly extracted the hairpin from its box. She flicked on the deskmp, its focused beam casting a glow over the polished metal as she studied its fine details. Behind her, the door creaked open.

“Here, the item you requested.” Approaching the desk nonchntly, Jules tossed a wooden box onto it.

Captivated by the hairpin, Corrine didn’t look up immediately, prompting Jules to lean forward for a closer inspection. “What’s so captivating about this hairpin?” Jules had been tasked during the meal to retrieve the other hairpin from her apartment. Despite examining it during his journey back, nothing had struck him as unusual.

“Did you notice the tiara I secured in the safe?” Setting the hairpin aside, Corrine removed her gloves and moved to pour herself a ss of water.

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