Putting her in her place.

"Nico!" Penelope's eyes lit up. She was looking at her saviour; she rushed to where Nicolai was standing and said to him, "Nico, they are trying to marry me off to a man." 

She spoke as if they were lovers, and Nicolai would rush forward to save her at all costs. Indeed, Penelope believed that Nicolai would help her; in her eyes, even if the man had refused her again and again, he must like her in some way or another. 

Compared to Ariana, she was better in many ways. Even if she was not the biological daughter of the Ashford family, she was raised by them. 

She had the elegance and the wisdom of a socialite; certainly Nicolai would choose her over that woman. One whose reputation was in the slumps compared to her reputation, Ariana, was nothing but a slut. 

"Are they?" Nicolai raised a brow with a baffling expression.