Silly Bride Chapter 286
Chapter 286
“Nathaniel?” Winnie was extremely shocked to see the man in the motel at the foot of the
mountain.“Why are you here? Aren’t you on a business trip abroad?” she queried.There was a look of
shock on Winnie’s face, but on the other hand, Nathaniel seemed pleasantly surprised to see her.He
walked over to her with a smile hanging on his lips. “The project has been temporarily canceled, so I
flew back here shortly after. I’ve already settled a bunch of things in advance because of the project,
and since the schedule that’s already set in stone can’t be altered, I decided to just give myself a
break.”After a brief pause, the man continued to exin, “When I thought of a holiday, the first ce
that popped into my mind was Mount Albeise. I didn’t expect to meet you here either, but I suppose
that’s fate, huh?”“Yeah.” At that point, Winnie was stillpletely unaware of the rumors that had
spread like wildfire about her uing engagement with Nathaniel.shing the man a courteous
smile, she said, “What a coincidence indeed. The only difference between us is that I’ve already
descended the mountain, whereas you still have a long way up.”“You’re right.” Nathaniel nodded, and a
thought instantly crossed his mind. But if I can spend the rest of my time here with you, I’ll dly forgo
my hiking ns.He couldn’t help asking her, “What are your ns after this? Are you nning to stay
for a little longer to do some sightseeing, or are you heading back?”Not giving her a chance to respond,
he then proposed, “I know a town nearby that has a wine cer that produces good wine. You should
go try it if you get the chance to. I can take you there if you want, and if you’re interested, we can also
go hunting together. There are a lot of moose around here.”“Is that so? It sounds great, but I think I’ll
take a rain check.”Winnie had witnessed an avnche while she was on the mountain the previous
day. Although she had been tens of miles away at the time and hadn’t been in any danger, she could
still feel the intense pressure of that moment.When the avnche urred, she instantly had a
shback to the explosion that happened on the dock.The danger and fear she experienced back then
was no different from what she felt about the avnche, but what made the former incident so
memorable was the people she had experienced it with—her lover and her friend who had jumped in to
save her with little regard for their own safety.Hence, after the avnche, Winnie knew it was time for
her to go home and take care of some matters as no one knew exactly what life had in store for
them.She couldn’t keep harboring resentment for something or someone because of an incident, nor
could she miss out on everything she should’ve cherished at that moment.With her mind made up,
Winnie politely declined Nathaniel’s invitation. “I’lle back and experience it when I get the chance,
but I’m in a bit of a rush to go back to Chanaea now.”“Are you going back to Avenport so soon? It
doesn’t seem like you’ve been here for long,” said Nathaniel, a hint of disappointment evident in his
tone.He had already seen the news about their supposed engagement and also read the Speiser
family’s response to it.Truth be told, Nathaniel was delighted to see Wilhelm deny the fact that Winnie
had ever married Xavier.I thought this would be my chance, but I didn’t expect her to go back so soon.
Besides, judging by her behavior, it doesn’t seem like she knows what has been going on in the outside
world ever since she came here.After pondering for a while, Nathaniel asked, “Winnie, is the reception
bad up there? Have you contacted anybody in the outside world recently?”“The reception is pretty bad
in the mountain. What is it? Did something happen? Does it involve me?”The woman was simply too
sharp, so Nathaniel could only sh her a wry smile ande clean about the situation. “All right.
Since it seems you’re truly unaware, I think we need to find a ce to sit and talk.”“Sure.”“Give me your
backpack. It must be heavy, right? I’ll carry it for you.”Eyeing the nearby tables, Winnie once again
declined the man, “No need. It’s only a couple of steps away.”“All right.” Nathaniel had no choice but to
retract his hand and let her be.s, he couldn’t help worrying it was too strenuous for Winnie, so he
took the initiative to reach his hand out and lift her backpack up.The entire scene was coincidentally
captured by a bespectacled man standing in a corner of the motel.Unfortunately for him, however, his
sh was on, and both Winnie and Nathaniel immediately noticed him.The two exchanged nces with
one another and furrowed their brows.Nathaniel instantly said to Winnie, “Why don’t you take a seat
over there? I’ll go and see what’s going on.”“No, I’ll go with you,” Winnie refused as she nced at the
man who was taking pictures of them in secret.Much to Nathaniel’s and Winnie’s surprise, the man
strode toward them instead of waiting for them to approach him.He wasn’t sneaking around like they
were expecting and openly passed them his business card.“Nice to meet you guys. I’m a journalist from
ABC News. I came here on a holiday, but I didn’t expect to bump into you two. May I have the honor of
interviewing you guys? I can assure you it won’t take up too much of your time,” said the man.Winnie
furrowed her brows as she mulled over the man’s words. “Thank you for your interest, but why are you
interviewing us if you’re on a holiday?”It’d be more believable if he said he was conducting street
interviews at the foot of Mount Albeise and coincidentally saw us. On the other hand, this situation is
just too strange.“You see, Ms. Vivian…” Since Winnie didn’t outright reject him, the bespectacled
journalist even pulled out his handy dandy recording pen.He then began to exin, “Previously, other
journalists reported that the Speiser family is interested in arranging a marriage with the Huxley family.
They said that you and Mr. Nathaniel are preparing for your engagement. We’ve asked for rification,
but we weren’t able to get any reliable information. I didn’t expect to bump into you and Mr. Nathaniel
here at all. Are you two really dating? When are you two nning to get engaged or perhaps get
married?”Confusion was stered all over Winnie’s face when she heard the journalist’s words. She
even lowered her gaze to look at the name that was printed on the business card.In a polite tone, she
queried, “What are you talking about, Mr. Graham? What arranged marriage? What engagement? Why
don’t I know anything about this?”The journalist felt rather speechless for a moment and chuckled in
response. “How can you not know about this, Ms. Vivian? Look, I even took a picture of you and Mr.
Nathaniel.”A crease appeared between Winnie’s brows as she looked over at Nathaniel. “What’s going
on?”Just as Nathaniel was about to speak, the journalist piped up first, “Ms. Vivian, if you’re unwilling to
answer that question, why don’t I ask you another one? Is it true that you married a Chanaean man? Is
the marriage between you two legal?” Looking at the unrelenting man in front of her, Winnie said in a
stern voice, “I’m sorry, Mr. Graham, but until I figure out exactly what’s going on, I will not be answering
any of your questions.”“Why?” The journalist attempted to probe further. “Is it that hard to answer a
couple of questions? Could it be that Wilhelm Speiser is lying?”At that, Winnie’s frown grew deeper.
“What does this have to do with Wilhelm?”“Mr. Wilhelm publicly denied the fact that you were ever
married in Chanaea. He also said that you have the freedom of marriage. There are people who are
specting that you two are doing this for your uing marriage into the Huxley family. Do you have
anyments? Or perhaps you’d like to set the facts straight?”Winnie truly didn’t know what had
happened while she was gone, but the journalist kept hounding her, and his questions wereC0pyright ? 2024 N?v)(elDrama.Org.
deliberately phrased in a way that was leading her to answer in a certain manner.It wasn’t an interview
but rather a scheme to lure her into acknowledging matters she hadn’t even heard of, and Winnie did
not like this feeling at all.Having had enough of the journalist’s unscrupulous behavior, Winnie scolded,
“Please abide by your professional ethics, Mr. Graham. I didn’t agree to your interview, nor did I answer
any of your questions. Please stop your baseless assumptions and spections!”At that, Nathaniel
took a step forward to put some space between Winnie and the journalist. “I believe it’s time for you to
leave, Mr. Graham. Otherwise, I’ll call the police.”The argument between the three of them had caught
the attention of the motel’s receptionist, and she was already holding onto the phone at the front
desk.As soon as Nathaniel gave her the order, she would immediately call the police.It was then the
journalist finally realized he had been too hasty and had almost angered the two people in front of
him.He immediately apologized to Winnie, but Winnie did not ept it. Not only did she ask him to
leave, but she also made him delete the picture he had taken of them.After the journalist left, Winnie
instantly found a table in the restaurant to sit at.“Tell me.” She looked at the man sitting in front of her
with a stern gaze. “What the h*ll is going on?”Nathaniel strung his words together and exined
everything that had happened thus far.When she heard everything, Winnie couldn’t help but scoff. “As
expected, it’s Helen.”Nathaniel was surprised by her response. “Judging by your reaction, did you
already know she’d do this?”“No, of course not,” said Winnie. “But I’m not surprised by the fact that she
was the one who started it. Wilhelm must’ve gotten on her bad side. Still, I didn’t expect she’de up
with such a story. It’spletely absurd! Does she intend to take revenge on my brother like this? By
attacking us with a baseless rumor?”Smiling sheepishly, Nathaniel chimed in, “It… isn’t entirely
baseless.”Winnie looked at the man, confused. “What do you mean? Don’t tell me you’re the one who
leaked the news?”After that, she did not hesitate to make her opinion on the matter clear. “My beloved
business partner, Nathaniel Huxley, I’ve told you that I prefer Chanaean men. Plus, you already know
that I married Xavier in Chanaea. He’s my lover.”“Oh, my dear Ms. Vivian, of course, I know.” Nathaniel
smiled, masking the hint of disappointment in his expression. After a brief pause, he added, “I must say
you’ve misunderstood me as I didn’t leak any information at all. The truth is, our families did try to hook
us up in the past. My mother always knew that I wanted an Aplothian woman as my soulmate, but back
then, I didn’t know you were the Speiser family’s adopted daughter, nor did I know you were my
coborator, Ms. Gator, so I rejected my mother’s suggestion without hesitation. Hence, Helen’s story
isn’tpletely baseless.”Winnie’s brows furrowed. “I didn’t know any of that.”“I know. It’s probably
because I refused to meet you, so your family didn’t tell you about it.”“That’s possible.” Winnie
nodded.Then, she said to Nathaniel earnestly, “I apologize for misunderstanding you earlier. I hope you
can forgive me.”“No worries, but…” The man pondered for a moment before saying, “The news has
already spread to a global scale, and the discussion in Chanaea is particrly heated. Although our
engagement is false, your brother’s statement is true. Perhaps you should check on Xavier. You’ve
been cut off from the rest of the world for the past few days, and I’m sure he must’ve called you a lot
during this period. To be honest, when I first saw the news, I tried calling you as well, but either your
phone was out of the service area or the call was left unanswered.”“Oh, right! You reminded me.”
Winnie instantly fished her phone out of her backpack. “I have to give him a call.”shing a smile at the
woman, Nathaniel said, “Okay, go ahead. I’ll go get you a cup of coffee. The usual, right?”Winnie’s
phone had shut down, and she was looking for her power bank. Hence, she didn’t look up while
responding, “Yeah, thanks.”“You don’t have to be so courteous with me,” said Nathaniel as he stood
up.However, by the time he returned with the coffee, Winnie was no longer at the table.She had left him
a note, telling him that both her phone and power bank were dead, so she was going back to her room
to charge her phone.While they were talking earlier, the bespectacled journalist had already uploaded
the picture he’d taken to social media.It turned out that he hadn’t deleted every copy of the picture from
his phone and had kept a copy on cloud storage.He had a social media ount in Chanaea and had
umted quite a huge following.The scandal between Winnie and the CEO of Fairchild Corporation
had been trending. The journalist knew that, and he knew that he’d be able to reap the benefits of the
situation.Hence, he quickly turned the picture into a video and an article before publishing them on his
tform in Chanaea.It didn’t take long for Xavier to see what the journalist had published, and his mind
went nk when he saw it.All of a sudden, he recalled what Josiah previously asked him.Did she take
the picture herself, or was it taken by another? Did she go alone, or did someone else go with her?
Who is that person?Xavier’s curiosity was piqued when he saw the picture of Winnie and Nathaniel that
the journalist had taken when he bumped into the two.Did they really go together?At that thought,
Xavier picked up his phone, intending to give Winnie a call.However, he truly hated the anxiousness
that would torment him whenever he had to wait for someone to answer the call or when the call went
to voicemail.Thus, he decided against calling her and instead sent a text message to Louis.Xavier had
received his health report from the hospital, and it stated that his body was fine for the time being.
Hence, he wanted Louis to book him the earliest flight to Yartran so he could look for Winnie himself.At
that precise moment, his phone rang, the screen indicating that it was a call from Winnie.