THE FAKE LADY AND THE PASTRY SHOP 

Having settled everything, I peacefully fell asleep.

Before dawn broke, I suddenly realized something was wrong in the room.

I opened my eyes alertly: “Who is it?”

Just as I sat up, I was pulled into a strong embrace.

The familiar scent of mint hit my nose. I froze.

Maximilian?

“It’s good that you’re okay.”

His usually cold voice now carried a rare trace of trembling and panic.

He hugged my waist tightly, whispering: “I arrived late…”

My forehead filled with black lines: “Your Grace, barging into a lady’s bedroom in the middle of the night, how is your behavior any different from a pervert?”

He seemingly just realized his actions, hastily letting go and awkwardly explaining: “I was busy at the court all afternoon. When I returned and heard you went to the Count’s manor, I rushed there. As soon as I arrived at the gate, I heard a commotion inside. They were calling your name… I thought…”

He hesitated. Without thinking, I knew what those people were screaming about.

They probably thought their scheme was a spectacular success, so they purposely made a scene for outsiders to hear!

“But luckily I was wrong. The person inside wasn’t you, it was the Countess.”

Thinking of Lucas’s handiwork, I resolutely chose to stay silent.

The atmosphere fell into a long silence. I was just about to chase Maximilian away when the sound of weapons clashing echoed from the courtyard outside.

Lucas’s urgent voice rang out from the door: “Celine, wake up quickly!”

Maximilian and I exchanged glances, understanding each other, and stepped to the door to check.

In the tiny courtyard, dozens of assassins were crammed together.

One of them spoke: “Capture her alive!”

Hearing this, Maximilian’s face instantly darkened.

“They failed to ruin your reputation tonight, so now they want to take advantage of the dark to capture you and force a crime on you?”

He quickly deduced the mastermind behind this, which surprised me a bit.

“How do you know who it is?”

He frowned: “So you’ve known all along?”

I was speechless.

“It’s not the first time they’ve used such despicable tricks. It’s hard not to guess.”

His face looked terrible, and I didn’t know where he got such immense anger. He suddenly opened the door and lunged straight into the battle.

Maximilian’s combat skills were outstanding. With his help, the crowd outside was quickly beaten to a pulp.

When morning came, Maximilian called his men to shackle all of them and take them away.

Looking at the messy, ruined courtyard, I held my head in distress. I had just cleaned it up!

For two consecutive days, I didn’t open the shop.

After cleaning the house again, I leisurely stayed home waiting for little Mia.

People from the Count’s manor also completely stopped coming to bother me.

Firstly, the thugs they sent previously were all captured by Maximilian. Secondly, the Commander of the Royal Guard had already presented a memorial to the King, impeaching the Count. Their entire family, including the Vane family, was currently living in fear of being investigated.

Caught between these two forces, just two days later, the Count’s case was settled.

The next time I opened my stall, every street and alley was enthusiastically discussing how the entire Count’s family had been thrown into prison.

“Life is truly unpredictable…”

A pair of high-end leather boots suddenly appeared in my line of sight.

The crowd’s discussion immediately shifted: “It seems the Duke hangs around here every day. It really has nothing to do with the Count’s daughter.”

“What Count’s daughter! She’s a criminal now. Don’t offend this pastry seller, she’s very lucky! Thankfully she didn’t return to the Vane family back then, or she’d be implicated now.”

“Speaking of which, I used to think the Vane family were just commoners, who would have thought they…”

The whispers continued incessantly. I looked up at Maximilian standing in front of the counter.

“If Your Grace has no business here, could you please step aside? You’re blocking my business.”

“Who says I have no business?”

He thought for a moment and fabricated a reason: “I want to buy pastries.”

I turned back and called out:

“Mia, come here and help Mommy pack some tarts for the Duke.”

Maximilian suddenly froze. Looking at the little girl running out from the back, his face turned pale white.

“…Who is this?”

“I told you already, my daughter.”

“I’m asking who you had her with!”

He stared at me, intense emotions surging in his deep eyes.

Mia was frightened and quickly hid in my arms: “Mommy, this man is so scary.”

Maximilian’s eyelashes trembled. He looked at Mia in disbelief, then back at me.

I didn’t know if it was an illusion, but his eyes seemed to turn red. A flash of light quickly crossed them, but he suppressed it the next second.

He gritted his teeth: “You win!”

From that day on, he never appeared again.

I renovated the pastry shop’s storefront, hired a manager, and set out to inspect the other branches.

Actually, besides the pastry chain, the Celine brand also included restaurants.

To be honest, since the Celine Restaurant in the capital began operating independently, I had never visited it once. It was all entrusted to trusted managers.

I took Mia to the Celine Restaurant for lunch. Just as we sat down, enemies crossed paths on a narrow road—I bumped into Chloe, whom I hadn’t seen in a while.

Beside her was her brother, Viscount Charles, and a rather beautiful woman. That woman was holding a child.

As soon as Chloe saw me, her toxic habit flared up again.

“I heard Duke Maximilian has been visiting you a lot lately. Looks like it’s true. You even look like you have money to spend at the Celine Restaurant now.”

Seeing this, the restaurant manager was about to step in and help me out, but I gave him a look, signaling him to stand down.

I turned to look at Chloe: “Are you jealous? Shall I ask the Duke to invite you here for a meal too?”

“You!”

“Does this lady think spending other people’s money is something to be proud of?”

The woman holding the child spoke up with a self-righteous tone: “Instead of feeling ashamed, you take pride in it and insult others. You truly make people despise you.”

I glanced at her. If I wasn’t mistaken, this person was probably Lady Gwen’s adopted sister.