Chapter 10 Hinged On The Attitude Of Bethany

• Shortly after, we arrived at the gates of the residential area.
• I went to park the car while Bethany and her parents went upstairs first.
• As I reached the door with Bethany's luggage in hand, Helen's voice drifted out of the house and into my ears just then. “Your father is right, Bethany. What future could you have by staying with Marcel? All of Glenport knows that he has never touched you. Even if you were to get a divorce with him now, you'd still be pure and unsullied. There'd be no lack of wealthy heirs pursuing you. You'd definitely be able to find someone a hundred or even a thousand times better than him. Why must you limit yourself to him?”
• A stab of pain shot through my heart. In truth, it was not the first time I had heard such words.
• Pretending not to have heard anything, I pushed open the door and stepped into the house.
• The instant Helen saw me, she snorted coldly. Not only was there nary a trace of shame on her face, but she even flexed her dominance by shooting daggers at me.
• “How slow when you were just retrieving a suitcase! You're truly downright useless! Can you stop being a loser and not have Bethany embarrassed because of you?” she hissed through gritted teeth.
• “What did I do?” I could not help countering.
• “If it weren't for you dragging her down, she might have been able to secure a major business deal after talking with Mr. Cox for a while longer today. Then, our family could've at least moved into a bigger house. Because of your presence, Mr. Cox's mood was ruined, and the negotiations fell through. Do you know that?”
• At her accusation, I frowned slightly.
• Even the blame for that is on me now? Are you all unaware of that Yoel guy's intentions? So, in your words, I should be a coward and allow my wife to hook up with another man in exchange for a so-called business deal?
• I forcefully suppressed the fury within me. “Mom—”
• “Don't call me that! We aren't that close!” Helen cut me off right away.
• My face flushed bright red in rage. “Yoel has ulterior motives toward Bethany, a-and you all know that. He wasn't interested in discussing business with her. Instead, he wanted to take advantage of her!”
• “So what? Socializing is inevitable when doing business out there. Others have their husbands socializing outside, but you useless piece of trash have your wife doing it to support you. Yet, you've still got the nerve to criticize her?” Helen retorted loudly.
• Panicked, I stammered, “I... I'm not criticizing her—”
• “That's enough!” Bethany roared in a low voice, shooting me a glare. “I'm tired!”
• Subsequently, she pushed open the door to her room and went in. Meanwhile, Helen scowled at me and snarled, “Didn't you hear that? Bethany is tired. Hurry up and wash her clothes! Also, there's a stack of tableware in the kitchen since you didn't come back the whole of yesterday. Go and clean everything up!”
• I clenched my jaw hard. Ultimately, I still relented and cleaned the entire house from top to bottom.
• Throughout the past three years, I was already accustomed to all that.
• I cared not a whit for the Xenos family's treatment of me. My only concern was Bethany's attitude toward me.
• Now that I had obtained the goddess of health's inheritance and had the ability to decide whether someone lived or died, it would be a piece of cake for me to rise up the ranks.
• In other words, I could totally transform the Xenos family into a prominent family in Glenport.
• The question, however, was whether the Xenos family was worthy of me doing so.
• Everything hinged on Bethany's attitude toward me.
• If she had no feelings for me, it would be time for us to close the chapter on our marriage of three years.
• But if otherwise, I would shoulder the responsibility of a husband.
• Since she had remained by my side all this time, I would never forsake her either.
• After cleaning the entire house, I went into the bedroom.
• There were two beds in the room. The spacious one belonged to Bethany, while the small one, less than a meter in width, was mine.
• Bethany was spacing out while sitting at the dressing table, seemingly pondering about something with a sorrowful expression on her face.
• When she heard me coming in, she promptly turned her head away and dashed off the tears at the corners of her eyes.
• Naturally, all that did not escape my attention. Dread swamped me. What exactly happened to her?
• Having been with her for the past three years, I understood her all too well. She was a headstrong woman. Despite being dubbed the most beautiful lady in Glenport, she was unwilling to exploit her beauty to accomplish anything but insisted on relying on her own capabilities.
• From being a low-level employee in the family company, she toiled her way to her current position of managing a subsidiary company belonging to the family. It was all the result of her hard work.
• For such a long time, she persisted without shedding a tear, regardless of the difficulties and hardships.
• What's wrong this time? Why did she become so sad after returning from the business trip? And what exactly happened in the course of it?
• Unbidden, Yoel and the phone call that night flashed across my mind. At once, my heart sank.
• Don't tell me Yoel was speaking the truth, and she has really lost her innocence to him?
• My hands inexorably clenched into fists even as my heart ached painfully.