"Welcome back, Miss Leila!" The servant finally recovered and quickly greeted her, helping her get a new pair of indoor slippers. Others also peered out from where they were and greeted her whenever Leila passed by them. Some of them Leila couldn't recognize because they were new. She nodded at them politely before heading to her room on the second floor. There was an elevator to get there, but Leila's father had made it compulsory to use the stairs as exercise unless in a hurry. Since her father wasn't home, Leila took the elevator directly.
Julianne heaved a sigh of relief after Leila's departure and took out her phone, preparing to call her mother to tell her that she had failed to persuade Leila to stay behind.
Leila, on the other hand, went directly to the old butler's room instead of her own. She knocked on the door patiently, and a polite voice responded from inside.
"Who is there?"
"It's Leila."
The door was opened, and a servant in uniform politely bowed, then signaled her to enter as she informed, "Maya is waiting inside."
Leila nodded and stepped in, seeing an old woman with mostly gray hair sitting on a wicker chair.
"Maya," she called out happily, walking towards the old woman.
Maya signaled her maid, who helped her up as she wanted to bow, but Leila quickly stopped her.
"Maya, you still haven't let go of formalities."
"Young Lady, I am glad you are back."
Leila smiled as she sat on the bench beside Maya. "Indeed, I am back."
"Have you informed your father?" Maya asked, patting Leila's head with her wrinkled hand.
Leila made a secretive shush with her index finger on her plump pink lips. "I haven't told him yet; it's going to be a secret."
Maya chuckled slightly. "He will be very surprised."
"Indeed."
Maya's status was quite special as she was the one who had raised Chief Faisal since he was young when his parents had divorced. She also showed goodwill to Leila and practically treated her as her granddaughter, except she was too formal.
"How has your life outside been? Did you meet new people?"
Leila shook her head, her shoulders slumping slightly as she whispered, "No, I didn't. But I learned about human nature."
Maya smiled gently, as she always did, and reached out to take Leila's hand and said understandingly. "It's alright, darling. You will be good now."
Leila quickly recovered, and her expression turned sunny again. She accompanied Maya for a few more minutes before going to her room.
Leila's room was the second largest bedroom in the whole mansion, about 400 square meters. The floor was covered in a soft, pink carpet that felt like silk beneath her feet. The walls were painted in a soothing shade of pink, giving the room a princess vibe, thanks to her father. There was also a large sofa, two armchairs where she used to relax, and her king-sized bed with a tufted headboard fitted to the wall. The wall was adorned with a framed picture of her then-favorite K-pop idol. There was also a mini refrigerator, a fireplace, and a huge walk-in closet where various luxury dresses and bags were kept.
Leila was too tired to look around her new yet familiar room. She only pulled open the curtains, dropped her bag on the floor, and jumped onto the bed, drifting into an afternoon slumber.
Meanwhile, in the living room, Julianne had changed into a casual dress as she sat on the sofa, her legs elegantly crossed while she logged into the school forum. She was surprised when she saw the major post pinned by the admin. It was a picture of Leila smiling at someone, sitting beside a window, her pale blonde hair cascading down her back, the breeze playing with it. Her emerald eyes seemed to shine with an attractive light, showing her interest in whoever she was talking to. Within a few hours of being posted, the picture had already hit thousands of likes and became the main topic.
"Time to select a new school beauty?"
Below was a picture of Leila and the current school beauty, Jessica. Jessica had fiery red hair, was around 170 cm tall, and her face was stunning. However, when placed next to Leila, she was completely outshined. Instantly, many students supported the post with comments like "Time to select."
Julianne's chest tightened in anger. Why did Leila always have to shine wherever she went? Why?! She had just recently changed schools but was suddenly made the new school belle. Why was that?!
A servant who had just come in to place a bowl of red cherries on the coffee table was frightened by Julianne's hideous appearance, which seemed like that of a snake about to swallow someone. The servant paled immediately and stepped back, causing Julianne to snap back to reality and her eyes to turn kind again as she smiled at the servant.
Goosebumps rose stealthily on the servant's neck as she retreated, her heart thumping in her chest. The others were surprised by her scared appearance and asked what happened, but she only shook her head.
Julianne picked up a cherry and was about to sink her white teeth into it when suddenly, an idea dawned on her. Her eyes lit up. She placed the cherry back and smirked, navigating the school app to create a new account, "School Beauty," and then uploaded one of Leila's pictures she had on her phone as her profile picture.
She then sent a friend request to Jessica, and thankfully, the latter was online. Within a few minutes, she received the notification.
[Rose In The Garden accepted your friend request, you can now message each other.]
Julianne's eyes shone with viciousness as she typed a message.
School Beauty: [Hi]
Within a few seconds, she received a reply from Rose In The Garden: [Hi]
School Beauty: [Do you know who this is?]
Rose In The Garden: [No.]
School Beauty: [This is Leila.]
Rose In The Garden: [???]
School Beauty: [I heard you were once the most beautiful girl in the school? Are the students blind or was their sense of beauty so poor to choose someone like you with no boobs or ass as the former school beauty? You have really degraded the title so much that I am a little unwilling to even look at it.]
After hitting send, Julianne waited patiently.
Inside a luxurious-decorated bedroom, a good-looking redhead sat on a king-sized bed. She was wearing a red bathrobe that made her already pale skin appear paler. Beside her were servants feeding her while she tapped on her diamond-encrusted phone with her well-manicured fingers.
She licked her red lips to remove the dessert crumbs, and seeing this, one of the servants hurriedly wiped her mouth with a tissue, gentle and careful, as if she would break if they were a bit rough.
Actually, she wouldn't break, but she would snap.
The girl's hand suddenly paused, hovering over the new message she just received. Her gaze scanned to read it, and slowly, her eyes widened in shock, her fingers trembling with anger.
"Sh-she... how dare she?!"
Jessica looked down at her chest, which was as flat as an airport runway, and screamed again, flinging her hands as she pushed away the maids, smashed her phone, and yelled, "Go and call the butler here for me!"
The servants, scared, hurriedly ran out of the room, leaving her clutching her chest in anger.
Jessica had always been sensitive about her chest. It pained her so much that she had no assets, even her butt was flat. She was so sensitive to it that all her servants were also flat-chested. Now, a b*tch that came out of nowhere dared to mock her about it after stealing her title!
Her father's name shall be written backward if she didn't get her revenge!
Julianne received no reply again, but she was sure that her message had done its work. She just had to wait for the drama to play out tomorrow. After all, with Jessica's explosive temper, it would be strange if she didn't seek revenge.
The smile on Julianne's lips deepened, showing the two lovely dimples on her cheeks as she licked her lips.
"Did something good happen?" A soft female voice sounded as a coyly dressed woman in a black bodycon and wearing a black jacket came in. She was petite but slender, with curly ash hair framing her small oval face and brown eyes that spoke of innocence yet maturity. Even though she was in her early thirties, one would have mistaken her for someone in her twenties. Her figure was great, slender and curvaceous. It was a pity Julianne didn't inherit everything from her mother, otherwise, she would be beyond beautiful.
"Welcome back, Madam," the servants greeted. She was Julianne's mother, Eve Moore.