Irene's POV
I stared at my plate of food like it had personally offended me. Five minutes ago, I'd been loading it up with everything that looked remotely edible, excited to taste all the fancy rich people food. Now? Charlotte's words kept replaying in my head like a broken record, and suddenly everything looked unappetizing.
Girls like you don't belong in places like this.
I hated that she still had this power over me. I hated that after everything, after marrying Yin and living in his mansion and wearing this stupidly expensive dress, one conversation with Charlotte could make me feel like that scared scholarship student again.
Yin had excused himself about ten minutes ago to discuss business with the host. Something about trade routes and partnerships that went completely over my head. So here I was, sitting in a corner like the wallflower I'd always been, watching everyone else dance and laugh and belong.
