Seeing the half-smiling, half-not look in Cecilia Vaughn's eyes, Fiona Vaughn's heart skipped a beat, feeling a prickle of unease.
She always felt that compared to three years ago... this cheap elder sister of hers seemed a bit different.
After all, having lived in the Vaughn Family since middle school, Fiona certainly knew that Cecilia had never hired a French teacher.
French wasn't part of the standard curriculum.
Moreover, from her impression, Cecilia had never spoken French.
...
Thinking of this, Fiona steadied herself, no longer feeling flustered.
A sweet smile curved on her face, showing a look of modesty.
"Last year, I acted as a female lead who was a French translator, so I naturally learned a bit."
"Reciting fluently is Chloe exaggerating, but I do think I'm better at it than my sister who doesn't understand a word of French."
Chloe Alden glanced at Cecilia Vaughn, proudly agreeing.
"Fiona, you've even got a basic French certificate, why be modest to these country bumpkins."
"Oh, don't say that, I just attempted the exam casually, French isn't hard to learn."
Fiona pretended to smile coyly, conveniently grabbing an original menu from the side of the dining table.
"I heard the Chinese menu here is a watered-down version, missing many dishes..."
"Sister, why don't I order for you?"
It is well known that high-end restaurants emphasize elegance, and prestigious families value foreign language education, so the upper society prefers to choose original menus.
In a sense, it's a symbol of status.
Now that Fiona offered to order in French for Cecilia, wasn't she indirectly suggesting that Cecilia was inexperienced and couldn't even manage to order in French?!
...
Calling her 'sister' so affectionately.
Without knowing, you'd think they were so close.
Cecilia's almond-shaped eyes flashed with a faint glow, as if casually pointing to several renowned dishes on the original menu.
"These few, do you want to order them?"
Fiona had merely boasted mindlessly, never expecting Cecilia to actually have her place an order, and immediately looked awkward!
In truth, she was a novice, and the French translator role was entirely dubbed by professionals.
At the time, the producers insisted on giving her a dedicated image, claiming she passed the basic French exam for the drama, but everyone knew she read scripts with phonetic annotations!
...
Yet the words were out, and it was too late to take them back. Embarrassed, Fiona took the menu.
Glancing at the obscure dish names in French, she hesitantly muttered.
"This... Nav... arin... agneau..."
Reading halfway, even Fiona felt unable to continue, especially when noticing the sarcastic curve of Cecilia's lips, she suddenly put down the menu.
She stuttered awkwardly for a moment and had to cover up with a lie.
"I... well... it has been a year, and I'm not very familiar with these terms."
...
Mona Summers immediately burst into laughter upon seeing this.
"Oh, some people pretend they're knowledgeable, yet have the nerve to mock others for being ignorant."
Seeing Fiona's face flush red, Chloe Alden instantly defended her.
"If she can't read it, she can't read it, at least Fiona can barely recognize the menu characters, unlike someone who can't read a single big letter!"
Faced with Chloe's obnoxious logic, Cecilia suddenly curved a smile.
...
Chloe frowned, "Why are you laughing? Don't tell me you actually know French?"
Cecilia calmly glanced at Chloe and Fiona, then gracefully took the French menu and introduced it to Mona.
"That dish earlier was Navarin d'agneau, lamb stew with vegetables. Mona, you like lamb, so you can have more later."
"This dish is Coq au vin, chicken braised with red wine, it's very distinctive, you should try it too."
"Oh, and this dish, Truffe, white truffle, especially the Alba white truffle from Ithenia, known as the gold of the dining table, quite expensive yet extremely delicious, don't miss it."
The melodious female voice was like a gentle stream, warm and fluent, and Mona couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.
"Goodness, Cecilia, you're so talented, your French is so beautiful!"
"Compared to someone playing a French translator in a drama, you're a thousand times more suitable for the role!"
...
Fiona's previously beautiful face flushed like liver and her expression deepened in gloom, it was a good thing she had sunglasses to hide it!
This woman, why was she still stealing her limelight?!
Fiona couldn't help but recall how in high school, Cecilia was always the campus belle overshadowing her, and her jealousy grew even stronger.
Humph, truly a reincarnated vixen!
At this moment, Fiona completely forgot that if she and Chloe hadn't tried to belittle Cecilia for being unsophisticated, this joke wouldn't have happened.
...
Chloe looked even more displeased and protested indignantly.
"Cecilia, you clearly know French, but pretended you didn't just to humiliate me and Fiona?!"
"You're really despicable! If it weren't for Fiona forgetting her French after a year, how would you have had the chance to show off here?"
Cecilia was genuinely amused this time.
It seemed that the term "blame the blister" was perfectly executed on a willful lady like Chloe.
And although Fiona was furious, she still had some rationality left.
Having made a fool of herself earlier, she didn't want to stay in the hall, feeling certain someone had recognized her.
"Enough, Chloe, stop talking, let's go."
If forgetting French after a year was normal, then Cecilia recalling it clearly after three years in prison was precisely a slap in her face, wasn't it?
Internally blaming Chloe as a lousy teammate, Fiona didn't show it on her face at all.
Chloe stomped her foot out of anger, finally dragged away by the desperately concealing Fiona.
...
With those two eyesores gone, the world finally returned to peace.
Cecilia and Mona chatted while enjoying the delicious food.
After drinking a glass of lime juice, the hall screen, previously playing romantic French opera, had unknowingly switched to a melancholic French love song.
In the music video, under the blazing sun, the heroine stumbled as she chased her boyfriend's car, only to see him embracing a new lover and kissing, mercilessly leaving her behind.
Cecilia understood French. The lyrics were simple, yet incredibly sorrowful.
——I love you so much, why do you love her...
——Having given everything, is this the only outcome?
Cecilia's hand holding the glass trembled slightly, her eyes lowered, revealing a hint of melancholy.
"I need to go to the restroom."
...
Cinderella Hall, restroom.
Cecilia stood in front of the wash basin, sighed softly, and finally splashed some cold water on her face, trying to clear her mind.
During those three years in prison, she had long stopped loving the man who betrayed her, but hearing that love song, her heart still felt somewhat heavy.
As Cecilia was deep in thought, unexpectedly, a gentle voice called from behind.
"Sister?"