Free Web NovelChapter 211: Chapter 214: Let Me Argue
Charlotte Shaw asked, "So, where are you living now?"
Renee Sinclair said casually, "I’m living in a small apartment I bought myself. I secretly bought the place with money I earned from investments. My dad doesn’t know about it, so there’s no way he can stop me from staying there."
"Do you have any money, then?" Charlotte Shaw reached for a strawberry and bit off the bright red tip in one go.
Renee Sinclair nodded. "I have money. The original owner of this body was the Sinclair family’s only daughter, after all. She saved up a ton of spending money over the years. I could not work for the rest of my life and still live comfortably."
"Mm." Charlotte Shaw relaxed a little. "That’s good. But I don’t understand why your dad is suddenly being so forceful about making you go on blind dates."
Renee Sinclair pursed her lips, looking exasperated. "Because I’m a woman. He dotes on me, sure, but he doesn’t trust me enough to hand over the Sinclair Group. He’s convinced I’ll run the entire company into the ground. That’s why he’s so desperate for me to marry a suitable man from another prominent family—to secure the Sinclair Group through a marriage alliance."
"That’s a bit much..." Charlotte Shaw frowned, finding Winston Sinclair’s logic hard to grasp. "Even outsiders like us can see you’re more than capable of managing the company. How could your own father have so little faith in you?"
Renee Sinclair shook her head. "It’s not that he doesn’t trust me; he doesn’t trust women. The Sinclair Group may not be the most powerful company in Aethelburg, but it’s still a force to be reckoned with. He thinks a woman like me is completely incapable of running the company alone, so he’s trying to force me into an arranged marriage."
"An arranged marriage..." The words left a bad taste in Charlotte Shaw’s mouth. "Your dad’s logic is bizarre. He doesn’t trust his own daughter with the company, but he’s willing to trust a strange man from another family. Isn’t he afraid that once the marriage goes through, they’ll swallow you and the company whole?"
"Sigh..." Renee Sinclair heaved another sigh. "I don’t even know what’s going through his head. Besides, the marriage candidates he’s picked out are the absolute bottom of the barrel. It’s bad enough that they’re ugly, but each one is more bizarre than the last."
Charlotte Shaw asked, "How bizarre?"
Renee Sinclair rolled her eyes, her cheeks puffed in indignation. "There was one guy, already balding despite being young, who asked me if I was a virgin the moment he met me. Said he wouldn’t have me if I wasn’t. Then there was a human cube, whose height and weight were practically identical. After devouring three steaks and two helpings of seafood fried rice, he got all serious and told me that if I wanted to marry him, I’d have to give up high heels. Because he’s not very tall, you see, and when we stand together, I absolutely cannot be taller than him!"
"Hahaha!" Charlotte Shaw’s shoulders shook with laughter. "Anymore?"
Renee Sinclair braced her hands on her knees, her face a canvas of expressions. "Of course there are!"
The mere mention of the blind dates got her fired up, and her previously listless face instantly lit up with energy.
She proceeded to drag out every last one of her bizarre suitors, roasting them one by one for Charlotte Shaw. The more Charlotte listened, the funnier it got, until she was practically melting into the sofa, weak with laughter.
"I just can’t with them. We’re all human, with two eyes and a nose, so how can they be so goddamn weird?" Renee Sinclair was so torn between anger and amusement that her expression was a contorted mess.
Charlotte Shaw was laughing so hard her face was beet red. "To think you ran into all of these oddballs. Your luck is truly one of a kind."
Renee Sinclair pressed a hand to her forehead, looking like she was trying, and failing, not to laugh.
"Hahahahaha!" Charlotte Shaw, clearly enjoying the drama, let out a brazen laugh.
Renee Sinclair watched her with a helpless expression. After a moment, she called out to her, her tone suddenly serious.
"Charlotte Shaw."
"Hm?" Charlotte Shaw turned to meet her gaze.
"You..." Renee began, wrestling with the words. "Do you... not blame me anymore?"
Charlotte Shaw knew what she meant and answered frankly, "Of course I do."
Renee Sinclair’s heart skipped a beat. "If you blame me, then why are you being so nice to me?"
Charlotte Shaw’s reply was candid. "Because you helped me. We might have had a deal, but what you’ve done for me goes far beyond the scope of any transaction."
"Take the day of the livestream, for instance. If you hadn’t been outside managing the situation and hadn’t stopped Cecilia Quincy the second she charged at me, my baby’s birth might not have gone so smoothly."
"Besides... looking at how things stand now, this whole deal is actually unfair to you."
"Huh?" Renee Sinclair’s brain seemed to be running on low power today. It was a simple sentence, but for some reason, she couldn’t grasp its meaning.
"Why do you think it’s unfair?" she asked, baffled.
Charlotte Shaw looked embarrassed. "We agreed it was a transaction. You help me get what I want, and I help you get the favorability points you need. But at this point, I can barely even keep track of everything you’ve done for me, while the favorability points you want from me... I’ve only given you a handful, barely better than nothing."
"You’ve given so much, and I’ve given so little. There’s nothing fair about our arrangement anymore. On top of that, you bought so many clothes and toys for Sandy, and several huge boxes of supplements for me. My debt to you is probably piled as high as a mountain..."
"But that doesn’t mean I don’t still blame you. I haven’t forgiven you for the things you did to me before."
"You..." Renee Sinclair had been on the verge of being touched by her words, but then Charlotte abruptly changed her tune, getting all defensive and proud.
"Wh-why won’t you forgive me?" Renee Sinclair struggled to stifle a laugh. "You just said you owe me a lot, so why can’t you forgive what I did in the past?"
"Because the good doesn’t cancel out the bad," Charlotte Shaw said, slumping back on the sofa and eyeing her lazily. "To me, a good deed is a good deed, and a bad deed is a bad deed. You can’t compare the two, and they certainly don’t cancel each other out. You’ve helped me a lot, and you’ve been wonderful to me and Sandy. I’m grateful for that, and I’m willing to be your friend."
"But that doesn’t mean we can just turn the page on what you did before. You deliberately got close to Felix Preston to come between us. You verbally attacked me multiple times to force me to leave. I remember all of it."
"I... I feel the need to defend myself a little," Renee Sinclair said in a small voice, raising her chin, though she looked guilty.
Charlotte Shaw said, "Go on, then. Defend yourself."
Renee Sinclair scratched her forehead. "When I first got close to Felix Preston, it wasn’t actually because I wanted to come between you. The system told me that the only way to get a chance to stay by his side and earn favorability points was to drive you away."
"I don’t even like Felix Preston. I only did all that so I could finish my mission and go home."
"Hmph," Charlotte Shaw scoffed, her anger suddenly flaring. "So, you had a mission to complete, and that meant you could just show up and start insulting me for no reason? I never did a single thing to you!"
"Hey, you’re still recovering from childbirth, don’t get so worked up." Renee Sinclair reached out to pat her on the knee, trying to calm her down. "I can explain that part, too."
