Chapter 5: End of the First Round

But before Mrs. Talkington could even rush to the bed, her foot suddenly tripped, coming down hard. She had no idea what she tripped over, and she yelped as she fell.

"Mom!"

"Honey!"

The Talkington family members all cried out in unison.

Penelope Talkington quickly moved over to help Mrs. Talkington up. Mrs. Talkington had knocked her forehead against the edge of the bed.

Luckily, the bed was soft, so she had only raised a bump on her forehead instead of splitting it open. The tumble had left Mrs. Talkington dumbfounded, she was unable to utter her usual scathing remarks.

Mr. Talkington examined the scene carefully, spotted a clothes rod on the ground, one end stuck in a small cabinet drawer, leaving it elevated at an angle. Due to the clothes rod being of similar color to the carpet, it was virtually undetectable without careful scrutiny.

Perfect for tripping Mrs. Talkington over and making a fool of herself.

"Mom, Mom, please be okay," Penelope Talkington was putting on a show of worry and concern.

Pointing at Victoria, Mr. Talkington scolded her sharply, "Look at you, Victoria Talkington! You owe the Talkington family so much, yet you devised such a trick to harm your foster-mother. What are your intentions?"

Victoria couldn't help but laugh, looks like the villain is playing the victim card first.

With an eyebrow raised in mocking, she retorted, "The rod was here on the ground, yet I managed to walk past it multiple times without tripping. It was her impatience that caused Mrs. Talkington to fall. As a well-known philanthropist, Dad should not worry about trivial matters. You should avoid making a fuss over such a small thing and invite ridicule."

"You…" Mr. Talkington was lost for words when Victoria rebutted.

Victoria wasn't always this quick-witted either.

Everything was forced out by Mrs. Talkington and her daughter. If she behaved like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered, she would have been riddled with wounds by now.

With years of constant battle, she had learned and grown to be sharp.

Seeing his father put in his place, Penelope Talkington's elder brother took over that should have been in a jovial way: "Little sister, it is your fault. Upon hearing that you are in trouble, we, the entire family, have rushed here to rescue you. You shouldn't bite the hand that feeds."

Upon hearing such a disingenuous concern, Victoria was almost about to burst into laughter. She lazily yawned, "If sleeping is considered a problem, then everyone around the world would be in trouble at least once a day wont they?"

"Hehe, sleeping?" At the mention of 'sleeping', the young man named Wang grinned in a malicious way, "I guess you were not sleeping alone, were you?"

Victoria had already recognized this piglet. However, she pretended not to know him and asked in surprise, "Who is he?"

"This is Mr. Wang." Penelope's brother introduced courteously while patting Wang on the shoulder, "Mr. Wang also came out of concern for you, little sister."

Victoria continued her exaggerated surprise, "Has biotechnology progressed that far now? That animals no longer worry about their meats being too fat for the dining table, but instead care about humans?"

"You! I will slap your mouth!" Upon hearing Victoria insult him as a livestock animal again, Wang was infuriated and wanted to hit Victoria.

But he was so agitated that he forgot his wrist was fractured.

Before Wang had a chance to throw his punch, he was already howling in pain. He backed down, hopping around on one foot.

Ignoring Victoria, Penelope's brother rushed to soothe Wang, "Mr. Wang, take a deep breath, quietly, be quiet!"

Having finished a round swiftly, Victoria had dealt with all of her enemies.

At that time, Victoria smirked, if that man had been present, things might not have gone so smoothly. She had come to regard all extraordinarily handsome men as burdens.

Having come to this conclusion, Victoria felt even more pleased about her brilliant move in boxing him into the cupboard.

Mrs. Talkington had finally recovered. With Penelope helping her stay seated on the ground, she pointed at Victoria, swearing, "This little wench, don't get cocky… Just wait until the whole city knows—how you failed to seduce Mr. Wang, even broke his hand!"

As Wang heard this, he cried out, "Right, you tried to seduce me! I, I am a man of integrity, when I rejected you, you attacked me!"

Mr. Talkington pretentiously shook his head, "Oh Victoria, we understand if you like Mr. Wang. You could have told us; we would have helped make introductions. Even if Mr. Wang was not interested in you, you shouldn't have done such an indecent act."

"Me, seduce him?" Victoria almost choked on her laughter.

Even a blind man could see that a beautiful maiden would try to seduce a man who looked like a train wreck.

"There must be surveillance in the hotel corridor, right?" Victoria smiled serenely.

The Talkingtons' expressions tensed up at once. Victoria persisted, "There is, right?"

Seeing their expressions grow even more tense, she sighed in relief, "Great, so when Mr. Wang sues me for attempted seduction, there would be concrete evidence. "

She chuckled innocently, "Mr. Wang, best of luck with your lawsuit."

Seeing everyone break out in a cold sweat, Victoria's brow twitched, dazzling them with a coy smile, "If he lost the lawsuit, despite the surveillance footage, would Mr. Wang be accused of libel due to insufficient evidence or would he be jailed for trying to force a minor?"

"You are of legal age!" The moment that truth was voiced, the Talkingtons turned into a pack of wild dogs, all pointing fingers at Victoria and shouting in unison.

"Who said that?" Victoria asked seriously, "Have mother and father forgotten? My birth certificate states that I was born at 11:59 PM. As far as I can remember, it was around ten o'clock when Mr. Wang was harassing me."

Victoria then let out a pained sigh, "Everyone is so indifferent to Victoria. I'm so upset."

Hank Clegg, who was in the closet, couldn't help frowning as he heard Victoria speak. He carefully recalled, he had carried her into the room...after the clock had struck twelve.

For the past twenty-odd years, he had always acted uprightly and openly. When villains saw him, all they did was to cower in fear and run away peeing in their pants.

He had never done something like hiding in a closet before.

But thinking about the girl's precious reputation and her experiences...

Hank Clegg decided to trust her this time, waiting for the critical moment to help.

"I don't care when you became of legal age," Mrs. Talkington had become somewhat afraid now, but she remembered that Victoria had been carried here by another man. She spoke up, "Speak! Where's your wild man? Just because you hide him doesn't mean we don't know!"

"Yes, yes!" Penelope's brother and Wang both nodded fervently.

Especially Wang, he was so frustrated thinking about the tall and handsome man that he was almost screaming. He was unsure of that man's identity, but he had merely blocked one of Wang's punches, and it had resulted in his wrist fracture.

Wang planned to find that man, break all the bones in his body, and leave him begging on Main Street!