In the living room.

The whole family had been gathered there with Jinny curled up in Lydia's arms and sobbing uncontrollably.

"Mom, Dad, you must speak up for me. Aunt Freya set a snake on me, and it bit me."

Arthur slapped his leg in anger and exclaimed to Owen, "Dad, Freya has gone too far! Putting aside the fact that she spilled tea all over Lydia, she has now made a snake bite Jinny."

"That's right. Luckily, the snake was not venomous. Otherwise, it would have been a disaster."

Freya rolled her eyes. Well, those who point the finger were often most guilty.

Jinny was the one who tried to hurt her in the first place. Freya only taught her a lesson. Who would have known the sheltered princess would be so easily frightened and kept crying about it?

Owen glanced at everyone and said in a deep voice, "What actually happened?"

Jinny's eyes were bloodshot from all the crying. Tears and snot were still streaming down her face as she recounted the whole story with embellished segments.

"It's like this. I was kind enough to lead Aunt Freya around the gardens, but then she locked me up in a cabin and set a snake on me. If the snake was venomous, I would have died from the poison long ago."

She even showed off her bite wound. Jinny's overreaction had provoked the snake into biting her several times. There were marks on her neck as well as her arm.

Lydia's heart ached for her daughter. As she wiped her tears away, she said, "Freya, just what have we done to offend you? You start throwing your weight around from the moment we met, and now you've gone after Jinny."

Freya innocently blinked in response. This family is really good at shifting the blame onto others. They twist the facts so easily.

Bradley had been holding Freya's hand the entire time as he reassured her through the look in his eyes, telling her not to be afraid.

Freya did not plan on defending herself right away. She would listen to the lies being concocted before reacting. Anyway, she had Bradley. Even if Arthur's family wanted to kill her, they wouldn't dare do anything.

"Grandpa, if you don't believe me, you can send someone to check the cabin. There are many snakes inside."

Jinny's entire being trembled in fear when she said the word "snake". Her face was stark white. The snake wrapped around her neck had left her petrified.

Owen immediately had someone check out the cabin. Soon enough, the servants returned with a bag.

"Old Mr. Austin, there really were a lot of snakes. Please take a look."

The servant opened the bag, and a bundle of dead snakes rolled out of it. The women in the room were all screaming and shouting, except for Freya as she was the one who killed those snakes.

Arthur was beside himself with anger. "The facts are right before you, Dad. No matter what, Jinny deserves justice."

"Yes. Look at how traumatized she is. She'll be having nightmares!" Lydia was in a lot of distress, and her eyes blazed with fury as she looked at Freya.

Owen did not say anything after hearing all that. Instead, he turned to Freya and asked, "Is everything they say true?"

"I just threw away a snake. I didn't know how it ended up on Jinny," Freya said with a laugh, playing the fool. "Jinny must smell so lovely that even the snakes adore her."

"Nonsense! You did it on purpose so that the snake would bite me!" Jinny was glaring hard at Freya. Just how strong is this fool? There were so many snakes, yet she killed all of them.

"Not at all. I was also bitten." Freya raised her arm and showed off her bite wounds. "As Jinny said, we were going to walk through the gardens. Then, she led me to a cabin and locked me inside. There were a lot of snakes in there…"

"You're lying. It was you…"

Before Jinny could finish speaking, she was interrupted by Lydia as a signal for Jinny to let Lydia speak instead.

"Dad, if it is as Freya said that Jinny locked her up in the cabin full of snakes, how did Freya manage to escape?"

"Yes. There were over a dozen of them at least. Even a man can't kill that many snakes, and Freya is just a woman," Arthur said.

Arthur then glanced at Bradley, implying that Bradley was colluding with Freya on this matter.

"Arthur is right. Freya used a teacup like a ball and even killed snakes. She's quite strong," Lydia continued. Suddenly, she exclaimed, "I hear that snakes are very vengeful. Now that Freya has killed all those snakes, our family will be beset by bad luck."

"Nonsense!" Owen, who had been silent this whole time, suddenly banged his cane. "Your stories are getting even more ridiculous. We are now deciding who let the snakes in. What is with you two, Arthur, Lydia? Are you trying to curse the family?"

"No, Dad. We just thought to mention it," Lydia said in an attempt to smooth things over. Owen was a huge traditionalist and rather superstitious. What they mentioned had likely been taken to heart by him.

An idea then struck Lydia. This will definitely teach Bradley and his wife a lesson.

As Owen did take those superstitions to heart, he ordered the servants to bury the snakes before turning his attention back to the topic at hand.

"No matter whose fault it is, Jinny has been punished while Freya has too. This matter is settled."

Owen knew who was telling the truth the entire time.

This was Freya's first day at the mansion. She did not know her way around, so how could she have set those snakes on Jinny? It was clearly Arthur's side of the family who's lying and trying to scheme against Bradley and Freya.

Since the snakes were not venomous and Jinny was punished, he was unwilling to pursue the matter any further.

"How can we just let it be, Dad?" Lydia whined.

Owen slammed his hand down on the table in anger. "Arthur and Lydia, just what do you want? If we really investigate this, you might not benefit from this!"

Arthur just knew that Owen was biased.

He just did not get it. He was the true son while Bradley was adopted. Why did Owen favor Bradley?

However, he dared not say anything. He knew what was truly happening though.

"I think we can't just leave it at that either."

Bradley, who had been silent this whole time, suddenly spoke up. "Since Arthur wants the truth, let's question the person who let the snakes in."

Just then, Frederick walked into the room while dragging a servant in.

"Old Mr. Austin, Mr. Bradley, the snakes in the cabin were this man's doing."

"Just what is going on? Be honest!" Owen darkly said.

The servant looked up at Jinny before saying in a trembling voice, "I-It was Miss Jinny. She…"

"What are you saying? I did nothing!" Jinny angrily retorted out of guilt when she realized he was going to sell her out.

"Shut up. I didn't ask you," Owen barked out before turning back to the servant. "Continue."

"I-It was Miss Jinny who told me to fill the cabin with snakes. She said there were rats."