The room went silent.
Mr Vale looked as though he had just heard wrong. He slowly turned toward Elara and raised a brow. "Unfair?" he repeated.
Elara didn't look away, and this made his eyes narrow immediately. "Elara Veyne, I don't believe this concerns you," he said sternly.
"Maybe not," Elara replied at once, her lips pressing together tightly.
"Then perhaps you should stop commenting on matters you don't understand," he said, his gaze growing colder. "Especially after everything the Vale family has done for you."
Elara's fingers tightened slightly on her thighs.
This was it.
She had thought terminating the Vale sponsorship would free her from the feeling of owing anyone anything. But she had forgotten that some things could never simply be erased. The sponsorship had already happened. No matter who she became in the future, there would always be people who remembered where she started and who had helped her get there.
