"Every time," he added indulgently, "I'll try to sleep early too from now on."

"Good boy." Aurelia Shaw smiled and made a gesture as if she were going to ruffle his wolfish head.

Looking at her hand hanging in midair, her eyes paused. Mm, it'd been a long time since she last patted his head.

...

Two days later, Jovana Shaw returned to the set.

What surprised Aurelia was that she'd actually gotten her face fixed.

Clara Philips really did have some tricks up her sleeve. The fact that she could hide her past and marry Balthazar Shaw already proved this woman was not simple.

"Director, I'm sorry. I wasn't feeling well the other day, and I delayed the crew's shooting schedule," Jovana said, her face full of apology.

"It's fine, it's fine. You're feeling better now, right?" Caleb waved his hand dismissively, thinking to himself: she barely has any scenes anyway. These past two days I still haven't had enough of shooting Aurelia's scenes. Sigh, now that she's back, Aurelia's scenes are going to keep NG-ing again.

...

Aurelia came out with her makeup done. Jovana had also finished her makeup and walked out from the dressing room opposite. When she saw Aurelia, she smiled. "Sis."

Her eyes seemed to say: Hah, you really thought my face was ruined? Like hell I'd let you get your way that easily. Just wait to get slapped in the face.

Aurelia hooked up a fake smile even more flawless than hers. "Your skin's great. Being young really is nice. But, there are so many accidents in this world. You'd better take good care of that face of yours. In case… some accident happens…"

A threat! Aurelia was threatening her!

Jovana clenched her fingers in anger.

Aurelia ignored her and headed for the set. "Director Caleb, we can start," she said, rubbing her brow.

Caleb walked over a bit sheepishly. As he passed by Aurelia, he lowered his voice and said, "Try to be more tolerant of her. Sigh, if it weren't for the Campbell Family's investment, I'd never have let her into the cast!"

Though, this Jovana did have some talent. It's just that for some reason, whenever she acted opposite Aurelia, her face got stiff, and she herself even thought she'd done well.

The aura Aurelia had when she was acting was something this newbie really couldn't handle. Still too young, too green. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

...

After wrapping her scene, Aurelia removed her makeup, washed up, and came out. The moment she stepped out the door, she ran into Jovana, who seemed to have come specifically to find her.

Aurelia raised a brow at her, her gaze seeming to say: What's she plotting now?

"I've got something I want to talk to you about." Jovana knew that pretending to be a good little girl in front of Aurelia wouldn't fool her, so she might as well drop the act. Besides, she'd always been sick of her anyway.

Something?

"Tomorrow night is my engagement party. Dad has a few things he wants me to tell you. Our family's matters—you don't want to talk about them here, do you?" Jovana hinted with her eyes that if Aurelia didn't want her illegitimate-daughter status exposed to others, she'd better behave and go with her.

"Sure, let's talk then." Aurelia took the lead and walked ahead, the corner of her mouth curling into a sly, icy arc where Jovana couldn't see it.

...

The car was in motion.

Jovana handed Aurelia a bottle of water. "Don't tell me you're even afraid to drink water?"

Aurelia glanced down at the bottle, took it, and said, "If you've got something to say, just say it. The two of us aren't really suited to getting along this peacefully, are we?"

After all, just a couple of days ago she'd scratched that already perfectly flawless pretty face of hers.

Jovana's eyes dimmed for a moment, then she pulled out a gentle smile. "When I get engaged, I still want you to come."

"Didn't you already give me an invitation card?" Aurelia twisted open the cap.