He Got Engaged to His First Love On the Day I Died-Chapter 32: I Didn’t Do It

"It wasn’t me. I know how precious this screen is, why would I do something like that?" Wanda Lynch’s gaze fell upon the housekeeper and the staff. "You all tell him, did I break it? Mrs. Wallace, you’re the head housekeeper. You tell him."

Mrs. Wallace didn’t dare to look up, much less speak.

She hunched her shoulders and took a step back.

Wanda Lynch’s voice grew even more hysterical and aggrieved. "Mrs. Wallace, isn’t it true that Natalie said she didn’t want to see things from the wedding, so she smashed it in a fit of anger? I even tried to stop her.

"I told her, ’This is a testament to your marriage, a symbol of your love. You can’t just smash something so important because of a little argument.’ You all saw it, didn’t you?"

All the staff were deathly silent.

Theodore Grant looked coldly at the housekeeper and asked, "Who broke it, Wanda Lynch or Natalie Morgan? On the phone, you just said the screen was smashed. Who actually did it?"

"It was... it was..." The housekeeper’s body trembled with fear.

"Who was it?"

Theodore Grant’s voice sounded like a death knell.

The housekeeper’s eyes wavered as she looked at Wanda Lynch.

Wanda shot her a vicious glare.

The housekeeper closed her eyes, then turned and pointed a finger at Natalie Morgan. "It was... it was the madam."

Natalie Morgan’s pupils contracted sharply.

She could understand why the housekeeper and the staff were afraid of Wanda Lynch’s retaliation and didn’t dare say who broke it.

’But why are they pinning the blame on me?’

"Do you have anything to say for yourself?" Theodore Grant strode over to Natalie Morgan and grabbed her wrist. "Just because this was a wedding gift from Mom, you decided to smash it? Do you have any idea what this thing represents?"

Natalie Morgan shook her head.

She didn’t know what it represented.

All she knew was that she hadn’t done it.

"I didn’t do this. Are you all determined to frame me?"

"Is everyone here blind?" The man shook his head, a flash of disappointment on his face. "Since you broke it, you can pay for it."

There was no way Natalie Morgan could afford to pay for something with a seven-figure price tag.

If she had done it, she would have willingly accepted the responsibility and paid.

But she hadn’t.

"I told you, I didn’t do it." Her lips pressed into a thin line as her eyes widened.

At the side, Wanda Lynch, afraid that Theodore Grant might soften, chimed in, "Theodore, where would Natalie get the money to pay for it? Why don’t we just have her apologize to Mrs. Grant tomorrow? She was just angry at you for a moment. Mrs. Grant won’t hold it against her."

"She still has the nerve to see my mother." Theodore Grant dragged Natalie Morgan in front of the smashed screen. "Since you don’t have the money to pay for it, fix it. If I don’t see it in one piece by tomorrow, you’ll face the consequences."

Natalie Morgan was thrown heavily to the floor.

The palm of her hand was cut by shards from the embroidery’s thin glass frame.

She hissed in pain.

Blood dripped from her palm onto the exquisite embroidery, staining the green and white magnolias the color of blood.

Pain spread through every inch of her body.

Her heart grew cold, piece by piece.

"Oh, dear, Natalie, your blood..." Wanda Lynch, leaning on her crutch, limped over to her. She picked up the ruined embroidery with a look of pity. "...This embroidery is completely ruined now."

Theodore Grant’s expression was grim. He shot Natalie Morgan one cold, merciless glance before heading upstairs.

Wanda Lynch threw the stained embroidery back down in front of Natalie Morgan.

"Natalie Morgan, you still think you can fight me? I could destroy you in a heartbeat." She let out two arrogant, wild laughs. "Which of the staff here would dare to speak the truth? They have to say whatever I tell them to say. Even Mrs. Wallace has to obediently do my bidding."

Wanda Lynch bent down, continuing to taunt her. "In this house, whenever I’m unhappy, you’re the first one to suffer. Isn’t that fun?"

Natalie Morgan didn’t speak, but her fingers slowly curled into fists. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Having vented her anger, Wanda Lynch felt a sense of satisfaction. "I need to go change into a beautiful dress. I’m accompanying Theodore to a banquet later."

A servant pushed a wheelchair over.

Wanda Lynch tossed her crutch aside and went upstairs in the wheelchair.

The housekeeper felt guilty. She took a deep breath before daring to approach Natalie Morgan. "I’m sorry, Madam. I’m so, so sorry."

"You don’t have to apologize to me. It’s your right to assess the situation and act accordingly."

Her words were light and faint, devoid of their usual kindness and filled with a sense of distance.

The housekeeper clutched the hem of her clothes sadly, then turned and trotted over with the first-aid kit, holding it out to Natalie Morgan. "Madam, let me help you treat your wound."

"That won’t be necessary, Mrs. Wallace."

In this house, Wanda Lynch was the one with all the power.

Aside from her title as Mrs. Grant, Natalie was essentially lower than a servant.

She cleaned the wound with alcohol.

The cut wasn’t too deep, but the pain was still bone-piercing.

After roughly wrapping it with a few layers of gauze,

she picked up the broken screen from the floor, found a bag for it, and carried it out the door.

She had been with Helena Sullivan when this screen was custom-ordered.

She knew where it could be repaired.

Looking at the shattered frame and stained embroidery,

Natalie Morgan felt another piece of her already hollow heart get carved away.

The workshop that specialized in restoring handicrafts had already closed for the day.

She pleaded with the security guard for a long time before finally getting the contact number for the person in charge.

The person in charge was quite nice and agreed to come over and take a look.

After clutching the embroidery and standing in the cold wind for two hours, Natalie Morgan finally met the manager.

"Please take a look. Can this still be repaired?"

Natalie Morgan handed the embroidery over.

The manager looked at the blood-stained embroidery and hesitated for a moment. "It can be repaired, but... it’s a huge undertaking. It’ll take at least ten days to half a month, and that’s with overtime. The price for the restoration won’t be cheap, either."

"About how much would it cost?"

"At least tens of thousands." High-end handicrafts like this have always been expensive.

Natalie Morgan didn’t have much money.

She didn’t know if she could afford it. "Excuse me, roughly how many tens of thousands?"

"Around fifty thousand."

Fifty thousand.

To Natalie Morgan, this was no small sum.

She took the embroidery back. "In that case... I’ll have to think about it. I’m sorry to have troubled you to come all this way."

"It’s alright. The price isn’t cheap, after all. Take some time to consider it."

"Okay. Yes."

After bidding farewell to the manager, Natalie Morgan sat on the curb, holding the embroidery and staring blankly at the night sky.

After a long while, she opened her phone and checked her bank balance.

She had just paid for her mother’s hospital fees; her remaining balance was not even fifty thousand.

It was fated. She couldn’t get this embroidery repaired.

Natalie Morgan returned home, clutching the ruined embroidery.

The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. ’I didn’t even break this thing, so why am I being blamed for it?’

Finding an empty cabinet, she put the embroidery away for the time being.

That night, Theodore Grant didn’t come home.

When Wanda Lynch returned, she threw things all over the floor in another fit of rage.

According to the servants’ gossip, Wanda Lynch had been on the receiving end of some rather snide remarks from several prominent wives in their high-society circle at the banquet.

To make matters worse, Theodore Grant hadn’t spoken up for her.

She was seething with pent-up anger.

And as if to add insult to injury, a few of Theodore Grant’s good-for-nothing friends had called him out for drinks after the banquet, leaving Wanda Lynch behind once again.

That’s why she came back acting like a madwoman.

"Where is that bitch Natalie Morgan? Get her out here to wait on me."