"Wanting a dowry means I’m selling myself?" I let out a laugh, bitter and cold. "Then your daughter must have fetched a pretty penny, hasn’t she?"
“So your daughter is a prized gem, but I’m just some worthless object?”
“You used to say you treated me like your own daughter. What a farce. What a disgusting joke.”
Amelia shot to her feet, her body trembling as though I’d struck her with a slap. Her eyes brimmed with tears, but all they held was fury as she glared at me, her hatred cutting deep.
"Aurelia, not only are you rude and disrespectful, but as a woman, your heart is as vicious as they come. And to think my brother treated you with nothing but devotion. What a waste; you two should just break up!"
I shook my head, my exasperation boiling over.
Never had I witnessed anyone play the victim so shamelessly. How dare she, a woman herself, stand there and say that?
I pushed my bowl aside, rising from my seat, my resolve unshaken.
"And what about my perspective?" I shot back.
"It was perfectly fine for you to demand 288,000, but when I ask for a mere 88,000, I’m suddenly greedy? Who’s the real one with the insatiable appetite here?"