Chapter 80: The brothers were all biased toward Noelle.

"Damon, I know you're angry, and I feel guilty about what Leia has suffered," Eli was the first to speak, breaking the silence.

Damon sat opposite Eli, his handsome face now gloomy. He said coldly, "I don't need your belated apology, Eli. I only need you to tell me why you went to Leia's class and told everyone about our family's private affairs. Don't you know that this will cause Leia to live amidst rumors from now on? Are you out of your mind or something? Can't you just shut up if you don't have a brain?" Damon always spoke meanly. He didn't care about how others felt when he was angry.

Seeing that Damon scolded Eli until he didn't dare to speak, Noelle felt aggrieved and sorry for him.

So, Noelle resolutely put down the cupcake in her hand and said in a crisp voice, "Damon! Don't scold Eli like that! Eli did this because—"

Unexpectedly, before she could finish her sentence, Damon turned around and snapped at her angrily, "I wasn't asking you. Go eat your cake!" Damon was still a little angry with Noelle. He had planned to make a scene at school today and make a statement for Leia in front of the students to let everyone know how the Anderson family felt about Leia. But when Noelle showed up, Damon's plans were ruined by her. Now, Damon felt annoyed when he thought about it.

"Am I out of my mind just now? How did I get dragged away by Noelle?" Damon realized that ever since Noelle cheered him on at his last competition, and ever since he learned that Noelle was the legendary racer Emberling, everything had gone off the rails. He used to dislike her so much. Before Noelle returned to the Anderson family, he was determined to give her a hard time. But it wasn't long before he found himself somewhat bewitched by her. For example, he would always do things out of character whenever he was around her. This irritated Damon.

Noelle pouted, unhappy at being yelled at by Damon. But she didn't care and was about to retort when Eli stopped her.

"Alright, I'll handle this. Don't interrupt."

"Eli, can you do it?" Noelle was doubtful. She felt that Eli's momentum was not as strong as Damon's.

Eli realized Noelle was looking down upon him. His expression darkened as he picked up a donut and stuffed it into Noelle's mouth. Then, he said fiercely, "Go eat your cake honestly, and stop talking nonsense."

"Boohoo…" Noelle looked aggrieved.

Eli covered Noelle's mouth, took a deep breath, and said to Damon seriously, "Damon, I had no choice but to reveal Noelle's identity. You're not at school, and you don't know, but someone has been spreading rumors recently, saying that Noelle is the illegitimate child of the Anderson family, and they even dug up the fact that she got enrolled through informal channels. Noelle didn't participate in group activities before school started, so she was out of touch with her classmates. Now, because of these rumors, everyone is excluding her."

If I don't stand up for her and clarify, will she still be able to survive in school?

Upon hearing this, Damon frowned, "What did you say? Rumors that Noelle is an illegitimate child? Who the hell made up this rumor? Is there something wrong with them?" Damon thought furiously.

Eli said, "Yes! When Noelle told me about this, I immediately asked someone to verify it. This rumor does exist, and it is spreading viciously."

Damon fell silent. After a while, he turned to Noelle, who was eating donuts, and asked, "Noelle, where did you hear these rumors?"

"Everyone in class is talking about it." Noelle pouted as she turned to Leia and said, "This afternoon in class, a classmate specifically told me that a person with a dishonorable background will always be dishonorable. Leia was there at the time, right, Leia?" Noelle suddenly turned her attack on Leia, making Leia tremble.

"Why is this bitch mentioning me?" Leia thought furiously.

"Leia, are you also aware of the rumor about Noelle being an illegitimate child?" Eli frowned at Leia. His gaze became noticeably sharper. Leia's recent behavior had left Eli feeling quite dissatisfied. Eli had always thought Leia was kind-hearted, but some of her recent actions contradicted that perception.

Damon remained silent but looked at Leia, clearly waiting for her answer.

Leia never expected things to turn out this way. Given Damon's impulsive and irritable nature, when he lost his temper, no amount of persuasion could sway him. Logically, he should have already caused a scene with Eli at school, and the two would have parted on bad terms. But unexpectedly, they could sit down face to face and calmly explain the situation. Thinking of this, Leia's resentment toward Noelle grew.

That stupid bitch! It's all because she suddenly appeared and dragged Damon away. Otherwise, things wouldn't have turned out like this. But what bothered Leia the most was that Damon's attitude toward Noelle had changed. Didn't he used to hate her to death? He even threatened to kill Noelle for me. But this time, not only did Damon not want to kill her, but he was even quite indulgent toward her! The more Leia thought about it, the more absurd she felt. "During these days of school activities, could something have happened that I didn't know about!"

"Leia, say something?" Seeing that Leia didn't say a word, Eli couldn't help but think of those rumors and her coming to school with Damon. Although Eli didn't want these things to have anything to do with her emotionally, his reason told him that Leia must have been involved in this matter.

Leia was panicking now. She put her hands on her knees, rubbed her skirt hard, and shook her head, murmuring, "No, I don't know."

"Are you sure you don't know?" Eli didn't believe it. "Just now, Noelle said that a classmate told her a person with a dishonorable background will always be dishonorable. Didn't you hear it? Aren't you curious why the classmate said that to her?"

When Eli questioned her, Leia felt both suffocated and wronged. I was the one who was wronged today, she thought. Why are they all questioning me? Eli would never do this if it were the past.

Leia didn't know how to respond, so she looked at Damon pitifully, hoping that Damon would speak for her. "Damon…"

However, as soon as she turned to look at Damon, she saw a hint of scrutiny in Damon's eyes as he looked at her and asked, "Leia, are you aware that Noelle is rumored to be an illegitimate child?"

Leia's heart skipped a beat. When Eli questioned me like that, shouldn't Damon have stood up for me and cared for my feelings! Since when did he care so much about Noelle? The more Leia thought about it, the angrier she got. Holding her breath, she refused to admit it and said, "I don't know. I don't know anything." With that, Leia looked at Noelle with red eyes again and asked with a choked voice, "Noelle, what do you mean? Are you trying to say that I knew others were spreading rumors about you being an illegitimate child but deliberately didn't help you clarify? Am I such a bad person in your eyes?"