The way Charles and Emily just did their own thing, acting like nobody else at the table even existed, made the Bet Family feel unsettled. Especially Andrew, Lucas, and Lydia, they felt like they’d just put on a one-man show.


    The only one who looked unfazed was Xavier, who was here for the show, watching the family drama unfold with a smirk.


    ‘Man, the Bet family’s drama is even juicier than anything that ever happened in my family, Xavier thought, thoroughly


    entertained.


    In the harmonious atmosphere between Charles and Emily, Lydia cut in, “Emily, I remember you used to love seafood. Mom asked the maid to make this just for you. Give it a try!”


    Lydia ced a piece of seafood onto Emily’s te. Emily used to love seafood, but Lydia had noticed that ever since they sat down, she hadn’t touched any of it.


    In fact, whenever Emily’s gaze happened to fall on the seafood, her eyes were full of obvious disgust and aversion.


    Lydia didn’t care why Emily’s tastes had changed. All she knew was that Emily hated it, so she made a point of adding severa more pieces of seafood to her te.


    Emily’s face, which had been smiling and chatting with Charles, immediately darkened. She gripped her fork tightly, her face growing paler by the second.


    Emily had loved seafood once, but things changed, and just the smell of it made her skin crawl and her stomach churn.


    In Emily’s memory, there was a man with a ck smiling mask who seemed to have just eaten seafood, and the stench of it clung to him as he walked toward her, like he was dragging her to hell. She would never forget that smell.


    Emily’s hand holding the fork trembled. She pushed her te a bit farther away, taking a deep breath to finally suppress the urge to throw up. “Sorry, I don’t like seafood,” she said.


    Lydia spoke up, sounding aggrieved. “Emily, do you dislike me? I’m sorry. I didn’t know you disliked me this much…”


    Her eyes suddenly turned red with tears. “Lucas, why don’t you serve Emily instead? I’m fine. I promise I won’tpete with her for the food.”


    Lucas kept his eyes on Emily, and it was obvious to him that her disgust and nausea toward the seafood were real. Seeing that, he felt a weird heaviness in his chest, and he didn’t even catch what Lydia was saying.


    Lucas heard Lydia call his name and replied without thinking, “Huh? Oh, okay.”


    Lydia’s face went stiff, and she almost bit her own tongue in shock. ‘Is this idiot brain-dead or what? Has hepletely lost it? she thought. She clenched her jaw, swallowing her anger, but tears started streaming down her face.


    Emma immediately pulled Lydia into her arms, her heart aching for her daughter. She smacked Lucas on the back of the head. “You brat! Lydia’s your sister. How could you treat her like that?”


    Lucas was at a total loss. ‘What did I do?’ he wondered, baffled.


    Andrew shot Lucas a frosty re. Then he turned to Emily, frowning. “Emily, it’s not easy for our whole family to get together like this. Don’t make a scene. Apologize to Lydia.”


    Emily’s face was still a bit pale from holding back her nausea, but honestly, scenes like that didn’t even surprise her


    anymore.


    inwardly.


    ?


    Emily looked unfazed, but Charles lost his patience. “That’s enough!” he barked, then flung his fork onto the table, smashing a te.


    The food from the te went flying, and Gale, Emma, Andrew, and Lucas all rushed to shield Lydia without a second thought,pletely ignoring Emily on the other side of the table.


    But in reality, the food had made it past the edge of the te. They were overreacting for nothing. Charles’s face turned stormy at that.