Laurence's expression darkened, and he turned to Tony. "How is Noelle not worthy of me? So what if she's my bodyguard? To me, she's not just my bodyguard. She's my childhood friend.
"She only lowered herself to be my bodyguard because she wanted to protect me, out of concern for me."
Tony exchanged glances with the rest before he eased his expression and said, “Even if Noelle is your childhood friend, she is an orphan and not worthy of you in terms of status.
"The lady of the house has to be from a family of equal standing as ours, or at the very least, come from a rich family. Does either of those apply to Noelle?
"You mustn't let emotions dictate your decisions. This concerns the future of the entire Longbottom family. If the future missus's status is too low, she won't have any dignity or standing within the family. Once people look down on her, they'll be looking down on you too.
"And if the missus were to attend social engagements, she'll still be looked down on, mocked, and shunned. That would be an embarrassment to our entire family."
"That's right, Tony's right."
"You have to reconsider. You mustn't let your emotions get in the way. You shouldn't marry her just because you grew up with her. She doesn't come from a powerful family, and she's absolutely not worthy of you. No one will bow to her."
While these people were picking out Noelle's flaws, Noelle continued standing by Laurence's side. Her expression never changed once, as if she were not their topic of discussion.
Jane and Lilian had both said that she just needed to ask herself whether she loved Laurence or not. If she did, she should accept his feelings. Otherwise, she should make it clear to him.
She did not have to take anything else into consideration or worry about others' reactions. Unless Laurence's biological parents came back to life to object, no one else, and the least of all the elders of the Longbottom family, had the right to do so.
At first, Noelle worried that the others would not accept it either, feeling that she was not worthy of Laurence.
However, after Jane and Lilian counselled her, she thought it through.
As long as Laurence thought she was worthy, then she was. What others thought had no bearing on it at all.
It was not as if she was spending the rest of her life with those people. She was spending the rest of her life with Laurence.
It was enough that Laurence loved, doted on, and respected her. She did not care what anybody else thought. If anyone disrespected her in the future, she would stand up for herself and let everybody know the consequences of crossing her.
Once the elders finally piped down, Laurence retorted, "Noelle might be an orphan, but am I not an orphan too? My parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts, and siblings are all dead.
"Who among my closest family members is still around?? None of them are. So I'm an orphan too. Noelle and I are the same, so neither of us can look down on the other for it."
The group spluttered for a moment before Matteo protested, “But you're our family head. You might be an orphan now, but you still have the rest of the family. You could say we're your family now."
"That's just mere talk. It's not the truth. Even if I'm your head now, I'm still an orphan, and you guys aren't my family. You don't think of me as family either."
Everyone fell silent once more.
"If after Noelle marries me, anyone dares to look down on Noelle during any social engagement and mock her, they're making an enemy out of me, and I'll give them a tight slap on the spot to teach them how to be a human. I'll see then if they still dare to look down on her."
Noelle thought to herself that she would not dare trouble Laurence to step in. She herself could very well slap the living soul out of the person.
She had accompanied Laurence to many business banquets before. Of course, every single time, Laurence had been wearing a mask and a false face, so no one saw his real face, and not many women approached him.
However, no one dared look down on Laurence or on her, knowing that her self- defense skills were top-notch and that she was Laurence's personal bodyguard. Seeing her was equivalent to seeing Laurence.
Before Laurence revealed his true face to the public, Havenmill's populace relied on Noelle to confirm Laurence's identity.