Chapter 175: Sylvia Drake

Chapter 175: Chapter 175: Sylvia Drake

Vivian understood perfectly. Now that she knew Felix Faulkner’s background, she wasn’t so worried anymore.

So what if Felix had backing?

If, as Ms. Shaw had said, Master Drake was a man with a strong sense of social responsibility, then the person collaborating with Felix wasn’t necessarily Master Drake himself.

If it wasn’t the head of the Drake Family, then it was likely just a partnership based purely on mutual interests.

Felix was by no means a smart man. Vivian had already gathered that much from his previous interactions with Annie, which had thrown the Faulkner Family into complete chaos.

A man like Felix was nothing to be afraid of.

Just as she was thinking this, a young woman walked in from outside the banquet hall. Her presence was so striking that she instantly drew the attention of many people in the room.

"Sara, welcome!" Felix looked extremely pleased to see her and took the initiative to greet her.

She walked over politely, and upon reaching him, responded with poised elegance, "Mr. Faulkner!"

The two of them quickly began conversing in English. Vivian listened from the sidelines for a moment and realized they were just exchanging standard pleasantries.

This girl, "Sara Drake," had to be one of the Drakes that Felix was clinging to!

She was certainly bright and beautiful. Her eyes were surprisingly blue, and her hair was blonde. Although her skin tone still resembled an Asian’s, she had somewhat of a Western look to her.

However, upon closer inspection, Vivian suddenly realized she was mistaken.

Sara’s wavy blonde hair was clearly the result of a dye job—black roots were already showing near her scalp.

Not only that, but her blue eyes were merely the effect of colored contact lenses. She was actually quite far from being a genuine "blonde, blue-eyed" Western beauty.

She clearly had plain Asian features but was trying so hard to look like a foreigner. It was truly...

Vivian didn’t even know what to say. The extent to which these people worshipped foreign aesthetics was simply unbelievable!

"Julian, do you still remember me?"

Miss Drake had now moved over to Julian. Looking at him with feigned surprise, she greeted him in somewhat rusty Chinese.

Julian cast a flat glance at Miss Drake. His eyes held nothing but unfamiliarity. After a long moment, he said indifferently, "I don’t recall. Who are you?"

"..." Miss Drake looked a bit hurt.

She was very pretty. Her bone structure, in particular, bore a slight resemblance to that of Western women. Because of this, after dyeing her hair and putting on colored contacts, many people mistook her for mixed-race.

Although she wasn’t, she had always been proud of her looks. Back abroad, the boys in her social circle had practically revolved around her.

The rare few who had acted aloof were merely playing hard to get. Once Miss Drake saw through their tactics, any favorable impression she might have had of them vanished completely.

Naturally, it never crossed her mind that Julian wouldn’t remember her!

"I’m Sylvia Drake."

Sylvia looked at Julian, maintaining a graceful smile. "I visited your house when we were kids. Back then, you... we used to play together. I even called you Julian. Don’t you remember?"

Sylvia probably wanted to add that Julian’s mother had treated her quite well back then, and that their playing together as childhood friends was likely initiated by his mother.

However, Sylvia also knew better than to bring up Julian’s mother in front of him, so she forcefully swallowed her words.

When they were young, Sylvia had been awestruck the very first time she laid eyes on Julian.

She had known since childhood that she was as beautiful as a doll, but she hadn’t realized there was a boy in the world who was just as good-looking as she was.

They said birds of a feather flocked together. Sylvia had always believed that, given her stunning beauty, only someone equally attractive could ever be worthy of her.

At the same time, his status had to be noble enough to match the Drake Family.

It wasn’t that she hadn’t met men like that abroad. Quite a few scions of prominent foreign families had pursued her, but Sylvia knew that most of them were really just after the Drake Family’s influence.

They weren’t pursuing her for who she was.

Sylvia wanted to find someone who genuinely liked her—someone who liked her more than her background.

Her thoughts turned to Julian.

Therefore, when she returned to the country this time and Felix approached the Drake Family, Sylvia convinced her parents to agree to his request. They helped him out and provided him with manpower.

This allowed Felix to slip past Julian’s men, leave his overseas estate, and safely board President Zane’s private jet.

This was the power of the Drake Family.

A power that even Julian had to respect.

Sylvia continued chattering away in Julian’s ear until he finally grew irritated. He cut her off abruptly. "I don’t remember."

"..." Sylvia’s pride took a severe hit. She felt incredibly awkward and was just about to say something to save face when Vivian and Ms. Shaw, having finished discussing the Drake Family, walked back over.

Sylvia saw Vivian, and it was obvious that Vivian saw her too.

Their eyes met for a split second, and Sylvia immediately froze.

Hm?

Noticing Sylvia’s stunned reaction, Vivian felt puzzled. She suddenly recalled that Felix had frozen in the exact same way when he first saw her. Bemused, she cast a questioning glance at Ms. Shaw.

"Ms. Shaw, is there something wrong with my makeup today? Why is Miss Drake staring at me so strangely?"

Hearing this, Ms. Shaw carefully inspected Vivian. Finding absolutely nothing wrong with her face, she shook her head. "There doesn’t seem to be anything wrong.

"Madam, I’m not sure why she’s reacting like that."

If her makeup was fine, the issue had to be something else. Could it be her appearance?

Vivian thought it highly unlikely that she was so hideous that it would shock both Felix and Sylvia.

Back at Aethelburg University, she had even been nominated on the forums for "Department Beauty." Although she hadn’t won the title in the end—it went to the daughter of some official—Vivian had never let it bother her.

She had never cared about such empty titles, but she hadn’t expected the gap between domestic and foreign beauty standards to be so massive!

Did Vivian, who was practically a hair’s breadth away from being the "Department Beauty," really warrant such expressions from Felix and Sylvia?

Vivian couldn’t understand it.

She slowly stepped forward and looked at Sylvia. On a whim, she asked in English, "Miss, do you know me?"