Chapter 113: Overconfidence
Jazmine Harrison still remembered the day Sarah Blackwood had brought her to their mansion. The way Annabel Blackwood had looked at her—as if Sarah had brought home a beggar. That was exactly how Annabel’s contemptuous gaze had made her feel back then, when she had nothing. Back when she still naively believed that Sarah Blackwood was an angel in human skin.
"Do not feel too good about it. Do you wonder why my sister helps the kinds of you?" That night, she had barged into the room Jazmine was given to stay in. Annabel couldn’t tolerate a parasite in her home. If her sister really wanted to show off her charity work, she could have bought that woman a separate place. "It was purely for charity’s sake. Do you think she helped you because she pitied you? If you think so, then you are severely wrong."
"You do not know Sarah well. She is a kind woman."
Annabel scoffed. "She is my sister. I’ve spent my life with her, and you tell me I don’t know her well enough? Since childhood, she would take in petty things like injured animals. She would take care of them and protect them. What she likes is people or things being dependent on her and seeing her as their goddess. She likes to be the virtuous one—it makes her feel better about herself. Because she knows exactly how horrible of a person she is. Everything about her is fake. Even though I appear as I am, I don’t pretend to be someone else just to please the masses."
"You don’t have the right to say that." Though naive as Jazmine was back then, at only twenty years old, she could detect some degree of animosity between the siblings. Be it looks or talents, Sarah Blackwood was far superior to Annabel. "You are just jealous of her." Annabel reminded Jazmine of Rosaline for some reason. Though she saw through Annabel’s deception, her naivety let her unable to see past Sarah’s.
"Sarah is nothing like you. She is far better than you."
Annabel was agitated. "Standing in my house and saying these things to me—you sure are one haughty clod." She had spared no effort to throw all sorts of insults at her and even shoved her away angrily. At that time, Sarah Blackwood had appeared in the room, acting as the perfect angel and saving Jazmine.
Annabel scoffed and turned away, announcing that she would not endure Jazmine’s presence in the manor. That was when Sarah had brought her to Sebastian Crowne. Thinking about it now, Jazmine wondered whether it was to spread her image as the caring, warm, charitable person to Sebastian.
Whatever the reason, she had made a decision that she would regret for the rest of her life.
During the time that followed, whenever Jazmine encountered Annabel, it wouldn’t be pleasant—no matter how hard she tried to maintain civility for Sarah’s sake. Naturally wanting to build a positive relationship, Jazmine was lenient. But Annabel always treated her with coldness and disgust.
Her insults usually revolved around her favorite terms: bumpkin, leech, and clod. She would ignore Jazmine’s greetings as if she didn’t exist. And whenever they were in the presence of Sebastian Crowne, and Annabel was forced to act civil, her responses were curt and cold.
Watching her now kowtowing before her, Jazmine scoffed and twirled the contents of her wine glass. Sebastian’s strong arm rested over her shoulders. His gaze, completely uninterested in the woman’s pitiful display, was fixated instead on Jazmine’s face—his precious Jazmine.