"What ... What did you say?!" Thalia asked skeptically, afraid she had misheard.
"Goodness ... So you didn't know?" Laura asked casually in return. It was obvious she was deliberately acting that way to rile Thalia up.
"I-Is it true ... that Malvin is going to ..." Thalia stammered.
"I heard it from my son-in-law. You know my son-in-law has plenty of connections overseas. So he was able to get the news sooner," Laura explained with a sly, triumphant smile.
Seeing Thalia's panicked face rapidly turn pale was a source of great entertainment for Laura at a time like this. Laura felt she had the upper hand because her bait had been taken.
"Goodness ...! I've taken up far too much of your valuable time. In that case, I'll go home now," Laura said, turning around to leave.
"W-Wait!!" Thalia hurriedly stopped her. "How ... How is Selina doing now?" she asked.
Thalia had no other choice. If Malvin really was returning this soon, then she had no choice but to build a relationship with Laura. And the only way to do that was through an engagement between Raka and Selina.
'Hmph. You should have acted like this from the beginning,' Laura thought cynically.
"Well, how should I put it ..." Laura replied vaguely.
"Sit down here first. I want to hear how Selina is doing," Thalia requested, changing her tone to sound more polite.
"Ahhh ... Selina ..." Laura replied, putting on a sorrowful expression. She also walked back over and sat in her previous seat. "She's truly disappointed and heartbroken. So much so that, as her mother, it pains me terribly to see her ... ."
At a private venue, a group of young women had gathered for their regular get-together.
"It's been a while since I've seen Selina join us."
"Selina's been busy lately."
"That's right. She was busy getting ready for her birthday party these past few days, wasn't she?"
"I suppose so. The gifts Selina got from her sisters and brothers-in-law must already be piling up."
Several girls traded comments about Selina. Selina herself was there among them.
"Nothing really catches my attention. All those things look the same to me," Selina responded.
It wasn't that Selina was being arrogant. She was simply used to luxury goods, so she wasn't particularly interested even when she received gifts that were far from modest.
"Haha. I bet everything looks boring to you, huh?" chimed in one of the girls who had been quiet until then.
The atmosphere suddenly fell silent. Everyone there realized the remark was meant sarcastically toward Selina, so not one of them wanted to respond.
"By the way," the girl continued, breaking the silence. "I heard your older sibling is coming back, right?" she asked the girl sitting nearby.
"Ah, yes, that's right. My older sibling came back yesterday. They returned ahead of their boss to prepare for their superior's arrival later."
"Then Malvin will be coming back soon too, right?"
"That's right. He's been overseas for far too long, so this time he plans to return and live here."
"He's truly incredible. In just a few years, he managed to elevate the Lore name to the highest tier."
"What's so incredible about that? I heard the person who contributed the most to his success was his right-hand man."
"I heard that too. Apparently, his right-hand man is pretty handsome as well."
"Really?"
"From what I've heard, he's tall and heavily built. Just being near him can make your body feel frozen. The icy aura he gives off is downright piercing."
"Hey. We shouldn't be talking about someone based on nothing but rumors. We can just ask Selina directly," said the same girl, once again speaking in a sarcastic and cynical tone.
"Aren't you the one who knows the most about that right-hand man out of all of us, Selina? Isn't that right?" she pressed, now directing the question at Selina.