Married To My Billionaire Stepbrother - Chapter 320

Chapter 320: Fallen Into The Trap
“How dare you talk like this instead of apologizing for ruining Rina’s dress?” Another friend of Charlotte stepped forward. “Do you know how expensive it is?”

Natalie could see that this one was another spoiled daughter from some rich family. “No, I don’t, and neither do I wish to know,” Natalie replied calmly. “But it would be better if you take your friend to clean up so her dress won’t end up with any stains.”

“First, you ruined my dress, and now you are—”

“My sympathy goes as far as worrying about your clothes. Beyond that, I don’t care,” Natalie replied. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to eat.”

Natalie sat in her chair and was about to resume eating when an angry Rina pushed the dish aside, causing it to fall to the ground.

Everyone was taken aback by this, while Briena and Charlotte wore evil smirks, pleased to see Natalie being humiliated in front of everyone. Now, they eagerly waited for Natalie to retaliate with anger. They knew how she hadn’t hesitated to trash Briena’s expensive car in a fit of rage before. This would be a great opportunity to have her sent back home by proving she misbehaved at the royal banquet, ruining her reputation and bringing shame to her country.

But contrary to their expectations, Natalie remained calm, as if nothing had happened. Instead, she simply stood up and went to get another dish for herself. Her composure surprised everyone.

Rina and the other friend exchanged glances before going after Natalie. The moment Natalie picked up another dish, Rina flipped it with her hand, causing it to crash onto the ground.

Natalie looked at her, her gaze calm and her demeanor composed.

“What are you acting so smug about?” Rina asked. “You don’t even have the decency to apologize. You lack even a single manner, yet you dare to eat here at this prestigious royal banquet of our country? Everything here belongs to us—the people of Belvorn—whom you are blatantly disrespecting in front of everyone.”

“So?” Natalie asked calmly, though a ghost of a smirk whisked across her lips.

“So, there is nothing for you to eat here,” Rina answered smugly.

“I see! Is this how your country treats its guests? Accusing them of something they haven’t done and stopping them from eating despite having so much food? This is surprising to me and makes me question the manners of the people here,” Natalie countered, her tone calm and composed.

Charlotte noticed the smirk on Natalie’s lips and realized that instead of feeling humiliated, she seemed to be enjoying herself. Before she could intervene and stop her friends, Rina spoke again.

“And you think you’re amazing just because you were invited by the Queen? You’re not the only one invited just to entertain her. For people like you who come to busk, offering you dinner is nothing but charity,” Rina stated.

The entire banquet hall fell into silence the moment Rina uttered those words.

A faint wicked glint appeared in Natalie’s eyes.

Rina’s words weren’t just offensive to Natalie—they were an insult to every guest present. All these artists, prideful to their very core and notoriously difficult to please, had just been disrespected in one sweeping statement. And Rina had managed to offend them all at once.

Charlotte reached Rina and grabbed her hand. “Rina, you should stop.” Charlotte had not expected Natalie to turn the situation around like this.

Briena gritted her teeth. She had clearly set Rina up.

Rina noticed Charlotte’s worried expression and looked around the silent hall. Suddenly, all the guests began smashing their dishes onto the floor.

“Have you all lost your minds?” Rina exclaimed angrily.

One of the men among the guests spoke. “So, the royal family has invited us here as their personal entertainers only to treat us this way? You don’t even think we deserve to eat at this banquet? Is this how your country’s manners dictate you treat guests?”

Charlotte stepped forward immediately and said, “That’s not what she meant—”

“Though we artists are not as wealthy as your royal family, we don’t accept charity,” one man said as he pulled out some money and placed it on the table. Every other guest followed suit.

“Since we have all paid for our food, please be a good host of this restaurant and clean up. We’d like to enjoy the meal we have paid for,” another guest said.

Natalie’s smirk widened. She pulled out some money from her bag, placed it on the table, and turned to Rina. “Please clean my table as well. It would be better if you cleaned it yourself so there won’t be any delay in our meals.”

Everyone burst into laughter.

Rina gritted her teeth. “You! It’s all your fault! You ruined this banquet!”

Natalie raised a brow. “What did I even do? From the start, you were the one messing with me, while all I did was keep my calm despite you insulting me and snatching my food away. As if that wasn’t enough, you even insulted every single artist here. And now, you’re blaming me? I suggest you apologize.”

“I won’t! What will you do about it?” Rina shouted angrily. “Are you going to back out of your performance? Do you think you’re the only perfumer invited? You can return to your country right away. I won’t apologize. Someone else will take your place!”

Briena and Charlotte felt delighted to hear this. Briena thought it would be humiliating for Natalie once she returned home, ruining her image. At the same time, Charlotte’s wish of keeping Natalie from meeting the Queen was about to come true. But…

“Sure,” Natalie agreed.

“Then cancel mine as well if it’s so easy to dismiss one artist and replace them with another,” one artist said. “Find someone else to play the zither in my place.”

With that, all the other artists from different fields followed suit, refusing to perform.

Charlotte panicked. She hadn’t expected this. If all the artists canceled their performances, it would be a complete disaster—and she would have to take responsibility for it. Until now, she had maintained a great image, but today, it was about to be ruined because of her brainless friends.

How was she going to face her grandmother, the Queen, and especially her grandfather, Howard?