The Underestimated Heiress Wife

CHAPTER 7: The Shrouded Other Side

The bedroom door on the upper floor had just closed while Leonardo was still rooted in his position. Instead of reflecting on his foolishness, the shame burning his chest instead re-triggered his stubbornness. Leo clenched his fist, refusing to accept this crushing defeat just like that in front of Veronica.

He turned his body, staring at his father and grandmother with a hardening jaw. "Even though he is a close relative, it is still improper! Her status now is a married woman. She should not be chatting that familiarly with another man in a public place."

Helena Kingsman snorted cynically. Instead of being influenced by her grandson's self-defense, the old woman instead stared at Leo with an exceedingly sharp look of disdain.

"Another man? You call Nathaniel Valerius merely 'another man'?" Helena tapped her walking stick once against the floor, her voice sounding cold without a single ripple of joking. "Don't make Grandmother laugh with your sudden morality, Leonardo. This way of your speaking... sounds like a husband who is burning with jealousy because his wife is being approached by a man far greater than him."

"Jealous?!" Leo widened his eyes, protesting with a firm and fast tone. "Grandmother, that is ridiculous! I have absolutely no feelings for that woman, how could I be jealous? I am only talking about boundaries!"

"Boundaries?" Arthur Kingsman chimed in, stepping closer with an expression no less cynical than his mother's. "Then how about your own boundaries, Leonardo?"

Leo was stunned. "Father, what do you mean?"

"What is wrong with Veronica chatting with a comrade who has already been considered an older brother since childhood? They even spoke in a public place, inside a crowded cafe," Arthur pressed, staring at his son from top to bottom with a demeaning look. "Meanwhile you? You are an actor who freely embraces and touches your co-stars in front of the camera, then returns home pocketing rumors of intimacy with Michelle."

"That is work professionalism, Father! The entertainment world is just like that," Leo refuted quickly, trying to defend himself.

"Don't use the word professionalism in matters of relationships!" barked Arthur, cutting off Leo's sentence without mercy. "You think touching another woman in the name of work is right, while your wife who only chats normally in an open space you call wrong? You are truly selfish and narrow-minded, Leonardo."

Arthur's words struck Leo's ego heavily. The actor was instantly silenced, losing all words to argue. The silence in the family room felt terrifying, leaving behind an extraordinary shame that currently crept all the way to the back of his neck. He was completely defeated—both logically and in position in the eyes of his family.

Without being capable of uttering even a single word more, Leo turned around and took wide strides leaving the family room. He walked up the stairs with mixed feelings of anger, shame, and a completely torn self-esteem.

As soon as he opened the main bedroom door, the fragrant aroma of soap instantly welcomed his sense of smell. Veronica had just finished clearing herself. Her slightly wet hair was left loose, giving a fresh impression that contrasted with the cold atmosphere between them.

Vero glanced at Leo who had just entered with a pitch-black face. The corner of her lips lifted, forming a thin smile that was extraordinarily bland—a silent mockery that knew exactly the course of the trial on the lower floor earlier.

Without intending to greet or ask, Vero stepped casually toward the long sofa in the corner of the bedroom. She laid her body down there, pulled up a thin blanket, then began to focus on playing on her phone as if Leo's presence in that room was nothing more than a display piece.

Leo stood near the bed, staring at Veronica's back with a gaze full of hatred. This woman had just dropped his self-esteem overnight. However, behind that burning hatred, a large question suddenly slipped in and disturbed his head's contents.

How could an ordinary woman whose capital was merely a small cafe like her, be that familiar with Nathaniel Valerius?

The Kingsman family even had to beg and queue for months merely to obtain attention from the owner of Valerius Corp. Yet Veronica? A man of Nathaniel's class instead spared time in the intervals of his busyness merely to deliver documents and chat casually with her.

Leo narrowed his eyes, staring at the figure of Veronica who was still absorbed with her phone. For the first time, he felt there was something wrong, a grand puzzle from his wife that he was unable to solve.