"Grandpa and Grandma's sanatorium is quite far from here. You've just arrived in the United Realmon States and don't know your way around. Edmund already has the car waiting, so let's head over now."
Serena didn't even look up at her, her expression bored. "I have plans with a friend. You guys go on ahead."
"A friend?" Isabella paused, then shot Edmund a knowing glance, as if she instantly deciphered Serena's intentions.
Wasn't she just trying to show off in front of Edmund to prove she was capable?
She couldn't help but laugh. "Serena, stop joking around. This is your first time in the United Realmon States. What friends could you possibly have here?"
"Do I need to report all my friends to you?" Serena lifted her gaze, giving her a frosty look.
Isabella shrank back, acting completely startled. "I-I'm just worried about you. This is your first time abroad, and the United Realmon States isn't like Elyndor... It gets chaotic at night. You don't know the area, and you don't speak the language. I just don't feel safe letting you go alone."
"No need." Serena shot her an indifferent glance before looking away.
Her devastatingly beautiful face was incredibly cold and distant.
She hoisted her canvas bag and walked straight past Isabella.
As she brushed past Edmund, she paused, her voice crisp and cool. "I'll make my own way to the sanatorium later. Don't trouble yourself."
"Serena, this isn't the time to throw a tantrum." Isabella played the part of the perfect older sister to the hilt. "If-if you really don't want to share a car with me, then Edmund can drop you off at Grandpa and Grandma's first, and I'll catch a cab behind you."
"Don't gamble with your safety just to spite me. The United Realmon States really isn't what you think it is..."
Screech-
Isabella hadn't even finished her pathetic act of playing the victim.
Suddenly, a sleek blue Bugatti Veyron pulled up right in front of Serena.
The door swung open.
A towering bodyguard dressed in black and wearing dark sunglasses stepped out and bowed respectfully.
Isabella's sweet, gentle smile
practically fractured. The snide remark of 'don't embarrass us abroad died on her tongue before she could even utterit.
Every word she had prepared came to an abrupt, screeching halt.
Serena climbed right into the car.
The bodyguard shut the door respectfully before circling back to the driver's seat.
The Bugatti Veyron roared off, leaving them in the dust.
Isabella stared intently at the retreating sports car, her facial expression an absolute, colorful trainwreck.
That... that was a limited-edition Bugatti!
Something money alone couldn't even guarantee you could buy!
Even the luxury car their grandparents had sent Edmund to pick her up in was only worth a few hundred thousand dollars.
But that Bugatti was easily worth millions upon millions of dollars!
How did this country bumpkin have connections in the United Realmon States?
Why did she always have to deliberately overshadow her in everything she did?
Seeing Edmund staring unblinkingly
in the direction Serena had vanished,
Isabella felt as though she
been
publicly slapped across the facer
Fury boiled over in her chest, her fingernails pressing so tightly into her palms she
nearly choked on her own rage.
She forcefully swallowed her anger.
By the time she turned back to Edmund her beautiful eyes were welling with tears, making her look heartbroken and on the verge of crying.
"Edmund, please don't blame my sister. She just returned to the family and doesn't really know you yet. Please forgive her rudeness."
Isabella knew that her grandfather valued etiquette and rules above all else, as did Edmund.
Moreover, any poison she dripped in Edmund's ear about Serena would be passed along word-for-word to her grandparents.