CHAPTER 50: CHAPTER 50: YVETTE ASTON ESCAPES TO MONTVILLE TO HIDE

Compared to Meridia, Montville lacks a bit of sophistication but has a touch more indulgence.

In this bustling and extravagant city, the sense of unfamiliarity nearly suffocates Yvette Aston like river water.

Yvette curls up in the corner, trembling all over.

Montville is not Meridia; Meridia has no winter but is still piercingly cold, while Montville indeed has winter.

At night, snowflakes dance in the air, and pedestrians hurry by.

Yvette leans against the floor-to-ceiling window, watching the heavy snow outside.

As a child, she loved snowy days because Meridia has no winter, so Yvette especially yearned to see snowfall.

"Yvette, this year brother will take you to Norwall to see the snow."

She remembers the winter of the year before her identity was uncovered, Stellan Aston had arranged the trip, picking her straight from school, offering her a tremendous surprise.

As a child, Stellan adored her; a brother’s complete care for his sister, Stellan provided it all to her.

Back then, Yvette thought it was justified, but now it all seems like a debt she needs to repay.

These years, Yvette swallowed the plots and harms orchestrated by The Aston Family against Charlotte Summers, all because of the warmth she had undeservingly received in the first twenty years of her life.

Charlotte hated her, and she could understand.

"Brother checked the weather in advance; our plane will land right when the snow starts."

That year, Stellan indulgently ruffled Yvette’s hair and brought her to Norwall to see the snowy scenery.

She was wrapped in a thick down jacket; though the weather was cold, her heart was warm.

Now awake from the dream, the current life is the reality she must face.

"Yvette!"

"Wake up, Yvette!"

Yvette had fallen asleep leaning against the window, startled by the calling, and hugged herself in panic.

"What are you afraid of? I’m not going to eat you," said the woman squatting before Yvette, wearing a mini skirt and smoky eyes on a snowy day.

Yvette sighed with relief. "How do you know I’m here..."

"Near the train station, this is the only place safe enough for someone to sleep— in front of the ATM," the woman laughed, pulling a cigarette from her bag and lighting it up. "You called me yesterday, I thought I was hearing things. I told you to find me after you were released, why are you only coming now?"

Yvette felt a bit embarrassed. "I spent a few days at home with the kids."

"Alright then, come with me."

The woman, Holly Ziegler, was Yvette’s prison mate.

She was also the one released early.

Back then, she fell for the wrong man; he had a wife and lived off her, they said he built his fortune thanks to her family’s support, and yet he went out and kept a mistress.

Later, when the man’s wife found out, she demanded Holly repay the money; Holly refused, so the man and his wife sued her for extortion.

The man was also clever, toying with Holly’s youth for three years.

"I heard you say on the phone you want to make money?" Holly scanned Yvette, seeing her tremble, perceiving her as too weak. "Someone like you can’t handle our line of work."

"I’m fine; I can endure hardship," Yvette shook her head. "I can serve as a waitress, carrying drinks and tea."

Holly looked at Yvette, took a deep drag from her cigarette, and laughed until she bent over. "Yvette, you don’t really think... I’m just a waitress, right? What kind of waitress earns ten to twenty thousand a month?"

Yvette hesitated for a moment, then understood Holly’s meaning. "I... I can’t."

"You said you need money yourself," Holly pulled Yvette into a taxi. "If you really lack money, would you still care about these things?"

Holly leaned against the taxi window, casually throwing the cigarette butt outside.

Yvette instinctively wanted to stop her, feeling it was wrong to litter.

Holly saw Yvette’s intention, laughed without malice. "Still thinking you’re The Aston Family’s young lady?"

Yvette paused for a while, then slowly curled up in the corner.

Indeed, her pride and alleged nobility should have been returned to The Aston Family.

She was meant to be among the mud.

Stellan and Jayden indeed wanted her to rot in the mud.

"We don’t support idlers there; don’t say I didn’t warn you. You’re good-looking, in great shape, with a dance background, those are your assets. If you truly wish to dive in, no one can succeed better than you; the money comes fast," Holly spoke earnestly, sighing.

"It’s all up to you. If you’re still that stubborn, those wealthy folks aren’t here to serve you."

Yvette kept her head down, staying silent.

"Yvette, you’ve been in prison for five years, right? You’re the most obedient, the most diligent to reform, yet each sentence reduction never had you included. Even fools can see you’ve been framed; someone deliberately trampled on you. You want to earn money cleanly? Is it possible? If it were, you wouldn’t have contacted me, right? Am I wrong?"

Holly used to be not so smart; she learned from those lousy men, growing increasingly clever.

Seeing Yvette fall silent again, a trace of pity passed through Holly’s eyes, but what good was her pity? She herself was like a clay Bodhisattva crossing the river, unable to protect even herself.

"I wish I could help you... situating a conscience, yet lacking the capability," Holly remarked with a sarcastic smile.

She had showered in the rain, genuinely wanting to hold an umbrella for Yvette, yet did she qualify?

"I... I’ll try," Yvette’s voice was somewhat hoarse.