Chapter 192 When Sydney first arrived at the orphanage, it was summer. She wore a delicate princess dress with thin straps. The other children's birthmarks were always unsightly-large, irregular moles or oddly shaped blemishes. Only hers was different. On her shoulder lay a pale pink, butterfly-shaped mark. It was beautiful, as if the universe itself had blessed her. Even a birthmark could become her ornament. Back then, Penelope had destroyed everything Sydney had. She had hated her so fiercely that she had wished she could carve that very birthmark from Sydney's skin.
Sydney tugged her clothes back into place and glared at Penelope. "What are you doing here, showing up in the middle of the night acting insane?" "It's you!" Penelope's bloodshot eyes burned with raw, nearly deranged jealousy and resentment. "It really is you. It's truly you! Why is it you?!" Penelope could not comprehend it. Why did every good thing in the world orbit Sydney? She was born into a good family, both parents were police officers, and she was raised like a little princess.
Even when adopted by their enemies, she had Julian protecting her for nine years, still holding her in the palm of his hand. Later, she married Caleb just as she wished and even entered an important research project. Now, she was still married to Caleb yet secretly having an affair with Julian. The great Sterling heir was reduced to playing the role of a hidden lover for her. These two were the most outstanding men in Jouleston, yet there was only Sydney in their eyes. Penelope did not even dare imagine the height of Sydney's fortune.
If Caleb learned that Sydney had once been that wretched little orphan, she would be elevated as if the universe itself had smiled upon her. Sydney could hardly imagine anyone envying her so intensely. Her parents had been police officers, but she had spent most of her childhood eating at neighbors' houses while her parents devoted themselves entirely to work. After being taken in by Eloise, she had suffered beatings, scoldings, and kneeling punishments. After Julian abandoned her, the following eight years had been even harsher. And then there was her marriage to Caleb.
Yet Sydney understood exactly what Penelope was implying. Her expression remained cool. "Yes, it's me. I never sought you out, yet here you are coming after me?" When she first realized that Penelope had bullied her at the orphanage, she had thought about seeking justice for her younger self. But she had decided it was not worth the effort. Her lab project kept her busy, and she would not waste her energy entangled in such nonsense. She had never expected Penelope to actually confront her. The moment Sydney admitted it, Penelope's eyes nearly split with fury. She lunged, but Sydney dodged.
Losing control, Penelope screamed, "Why must you always go against me? You already have so much! Can't you just give Cal to me?!" Sydney truly thought she was deranged. "Am I going against you or are you the one intent on being a mistress? Penelope, if you want to lose your mind, do it in a psychiatric hospital!" 1/2 She turned on her heel, ready to enter the building. Penelope chased after her with a grotesque grin. "I'm the mistress? If I hadn't married Lucas, he would have married me!
There would have been no place for you at all!" "But you didn't marry him, did you?" Sydney regarded her irrational state. "Penelope, I don't know what went wrong between you and Caleb. But if you have issues, take them to him. I'm not part of your little play." Sydney had noticed yesterday that Caleb's attitude toward Penelope had changed. But she had not realized things had crumbled so badly that Penelope would come all the way to confront her. It was almost laughable. She, the legal wife, was now expected to mediate the quarrels between the mistress and her husband. 2/2