Dylan barely ate during breakfast as he slept poorly last night. He put all the food in a resealable bag before following Grandma May out. “Have a drumstick, Nana.”Dylan passed a drumstick to her. He turned toward Dolly, who sat before the table and had a greasy mouth from eating, and said, “Who’s that girl, Nana? She’s definitely enjoying her food.”“She’s Dolly. Her parents take care of the garden. I like her a lot.”Dylan ate the fish Grandma May cooked. He said, “You like every little girl you meet. You even tried to steal Chloe back the last time you visited the Johnsons.”Grandma May regretfully said, “Our family is just as good as the Johnsons. Even if Clo-clo were to live with us, it’d be a similar environment. Unfortunately, the Johnsons weren’t willing to let her go. I guess Ben was scared that I’d kidnap his daughter. He was at home every day when I visited and kept staring at me.”“Of course, they wouldn’t be willing. Chloe is their only great-granddaughter. If I
Dylan still wiped the chair for Grandma May. As for his own, he could not be bothered. “You’re a genius. You know everything without even stepping out of the house.”Grandma May side-eyed Dylan and said, “Stop flattering me. Tell me. What don’t you like about Imogen?”“She’s great. I never said she had a problem. I tried falling in love with her. Even now I’m trying to develop some feelings for her, but she’s the one who ended up falling in love with me. She even traveled here just to demand an explanation from me.“She said I’m toying with her. I feel wronged. I did try my best to love her, but I couldn’t,” said Dylan innocently. Even when he was speaking, he did not stop chewing his barbecue.“You chose Imogen. I admit that she’s outstanding and suits me in various aspects. I don’t hate her, but I think there isn’t enough excitement whenever I’m with her. It has been like that for some time. I can tell you for sure that I can never fall in love with her.“However, if I can
“You’re more important to me than Mom and Dad, Nana. You can definitely live a long life. Don’t you want a great-granddaughter? With the nine of us, you’ll have nine granddaughters-in-law in the future. Surely, there’ll be one from us nine.“You have to hold your great-granddaughter, raise her, and choose good in-laws for her.”Grandma May laughed. “I want to ask for an extra five hundred years of life as well, but let’s be realistic.“I’ll be content with seeing my great-granddaughter born. How can I possibly wish to live until the day she gets married?”No matter how healthy, she was already eighty years old. Meanwhile, her great-granddaughter was still nowhere in sight. She probably would not even be alive to see Rowan get married.Grandma May said, “I was just teasing you. Didn’t I say that I’d accept another girl aside from the one I chose as long as she had good character and values? The problem is whether you know her identity.“It’s been some time, yet you don’t even
Grandma May stared at Dylan in silence. Since the truth was out, he simply spoke his mind and revealed everything. The reason he returned to the manor was to tell her everything. He could not marry the woman she picked for him like his brothers did. He had someone else he wanted to pursue. After Dylan spoke, Grandma May sighed. She said, “You have a point. It’s better to end things earlier. Ms. Doyle’s feelings for you shouldn’t be that deep yet. You should talk to her and make her give up. It’s better that way. “Don’t hold her back.”After a pause, she continued, “Are you really not going to consider Ms. Doyle anymore? You don’t believe in my choice?”Dylan said, “I trust your eye for people, Nana. Ms. Doyle is great, but I don’t have romantic feelings for her. Even if I do marry her, we’ll only be husband and wife who respect one another without any love between us.“She's smart. She definitely doesn’t want a future like that either.“Love can’t be forced, Nana. There’s
Imogen would not even know that Dylan was the one who bought the souvenirs. After thinking about it, Dylan decided to go with Grandma May’s suggestion. If he were to tell Imogen that he bought the gifts, she probably would think that he had some lingering feelings for her and feel hopeful. It would be troublesome if she refused to give up. “Aren’t you heading home to eat, Nana?”Dylan looked at his watch. It was almost mealtime. Grandma May said, “I’m full from eating so much barbecue. I’ll have a simple lunch at their quarters later. She would go for a light lunch after having too much chicken and fish. “You should dine with your parents back home.”“Okay.”Since Grandma May did not want to go home yet, Dylan did not insist. The old lady enjoyed spending time with the ladies. She would not go hungry anyway. He did not have to worry about her not having anything to eat. “I’ll call the ladies over to admire the flowers here.”Grandma May took out her phone. Dylan o
Rosella also came from wealth. She had never lacked jewelry her entire life. When she married into the York family, the amount of jewelry she had received from her family was enough to stock up a jewelry store. They were kept in her safe. After Callum married Camryn, Rosella had given quite a few of her prized jewelry to her daughter-in-law. Dylan answered, “I don’t have a wife yet anyway. I just bought them for you because I saw some new designs.”“Did you buy any for your nana?”Dylan handed the velvet box to his mom and replied, “Nana doesn’t want jewelry from us, so I bought her a bouquet. Even so, she said I was wasting my money and that there’s plenty of flowers in the garden.”Rosella accepted the box. She smiled. “She may look like she doesn’t like it, but she’ll be secretly happy. If she didn’t tell you to bring the flowers back, it meant she liked them a lot. She won’t come home before showing off the flowers to everyone there.”Rosella knew Grandma May well enough
Rosella put the velvet box down. “I didn’t know he was coming back by himself. Mom told me he would be back for lunch. Since Ms. Doyle is in Wiltspoon, I thought he’d let us meet her after eating and drinking with her last night.”She no longer felt happy about the jewelry Dylan gave her.She preferred having a daughter-in-law. Dylan said, “I’ll just go back to work now.”After speaking, he got up and was about to leave. Martin said, “Your mom told the kitchen to prepare extra food. We can’t finish it even if we feed it to the dogs. You should eat before leaving.”Dylan was rendered speechless. His father just implied that they would not have asked him to stay for lunch if their dog could finish the extra food. Just because he did not bring his girlfriend home, he now stood lower than the family dog.“Okay. Let’s go and eat,” Rosella said.Dylan stood and followed his mother. He said, “I thought you really wouldn’t let me eat. I guess I’m less important than our dog now.”
“Nana said she would respect my decision and just told me not to regret it,” Dylan said as he ladled some soup for his mother before ladling another bowl for his father when he saw him enter. “I’ve never done anything I regret.”Although he was conflicted before and did not know if he should choose Imogen or Chameleon Fox, he knew he felt particularly happy with the latter. He also looked forward to their meetings despite arguing every single time they met, which was noticeably absent when it came to Imogen.He had forced himself to approach Imogen because she was Grandma May’s choice, but reality proved that feelings could not be forced.Rosella hummed in acknowledgment. “Just make sure you don’t regret it in the future, then.”She knew it—there was no way Grandma May would have ceded to Dylan so easily. So he was still in the dark about the truth! He had even said he never did anything he would regret. Grandma May never did anything she was unsure of.Even Rosella understood h
Serenity said, “Our mom lived in that manor when she was young. Maybe she’ll visit you in your dreams when you sleep. If she were alive, she would’ve been happy that you moved into the manor and inherited her mother’s legacy.”Serenity wished to go to Jensburg and live in Fisher Manor for a short period because it was where their mother was born and lived for several years. The position of matriarch was passed from Tiara to Liberty, skipping Audrey and their mother. Upon hearing Serenity’s words, Liberty replied, “Mom probably doesn’t remember the way home.”Her voice was filled with regret.Lisa had passed away at a young age. She was unable to find Audrey, let alone her biological parents’ house. She probably did not remember a thing.Serenity sent another voice message, saying, “Mom will be able to find the way since you’re there. Zachary had accompanied me to visit our parents’ graves. I told them you had gone to Jensburg to work and would take on the Fisher surname. I aske
“Without Mom and Fisher Enterprise as their safety nets, they’ll be cautious about investments. It’ll take time. What I want is to end this as soon as possible.”Caroline said, “Just do as I say. It’s the simplest and quickest method.”She could not be bothered to trick the Clark brothers into committing a financial crime. Their intelligence, or lack thereof, was not worth her trouble. Since they wanted to kill her, she would give them a chance to do so. If she did not die, they would be the ones in trouble. When Belinda was alive, she told Caroline not to show mercy if her brothers were disobedient and troublesome. Belinda also said she could never bring herself to harm her sons. At that time, Caroline thought Belinda was truly cruel. Well, she was not wrong. Her mother could even kill her biological sisters. Belinda had always prioritized the Fisher family. She would not spare anyone who would negatively affect Fisher Enterprise, not even her own sons. Upon recallin
“My brothers think I’m the cause of my family’s downfall. They never had any brotherly love for me to begin with and are desperate to eliminate me now. Between the two of us, I’ll be their final target.“While they can’t get any of the family’s items after killing me, they’ll be able to inherit my mom’s private assets.”Caroline sneered. “I’m going to make a will. If something happens to me, everything I own will be split into three portions. A portion goes to Darren, the other will be yours, and the remaining will be donated.”“Caroline!”“Ms. Caroline!”Liberty and Darren exclaimed at the same time. Liberty said sternly, “Don’t say such disheartening words. I don’t want your assets. You can leave them for your kids in the future.”Darren chimed in. “I’ll always be with you no matter where you go, Ms. Caroline. I’ll continue breathing as long as you’re alive. If something happens to you, I shall also leave this world.”He would stay with her, whether alive or dead. Caroline
Darren was worried. “It’s too dangerous, Ms. Caroline. You don’t know how to fight. What if…”He could not bear the consequences of Caroline being harmed. Although Caroline would not be the matriarch, he was already assigned to her and considered on active duty by the training center. His responsibility was to protect Caroline and do her bidding.If something were to happen to her, it would be on him. The training center would hold him accountable because he would tarnish the center’s reputation. “Don’t worry. I’ll be fine. Besides, you’ll be protecting me secretly. I trust you, Darren. I believe in myself too.”Caroline reassured him. “Although I’ve not learned self-defense, I did get into fights with other people throughout my younger days. I’m experienced in fighting.”After thinking about it, Liberty asked, “Do you really want to do this, Caroline? Your brothers don’t even treat you as their sister. You don’t have to put yourself at risk for them.“They might be going afte
Caroline’s cheeks were red. She told Liberty, “I really hate these parties.”“I don’t like them either, but it can’t be helped.”Even if they chose not to take over as matriarch, they still had their businesses; attending events was inevitable. Caroline patted Liberty’s shoulder. She smiled. “I won’t be doing these with you in the future. Everyone puts on a facade and speaks without sincerity. I hate these pretentious events the most.”“I won’t let your hopes down,” said Liberty. Darren brought two cups of honey water. He passed the cups to Caroline and Liberty and said, “Drink some honey water. It’ll make you two feel better.”“I’m not drunk.”Caroline muttered, yet she still accepted the cup. “Your face is already red from drinking. You’re drunk, just not knocked out.”Liberty also felt slightly drunk but still alert, like Caroline. She could still reason. Since they had drunk alcohol, they became more talkative and kept chatting. “Darren.”After finishing the ho
Although Hunter said that, he knew only Caroline possessed the cruelty all the Fisher matriarchs had. Belinda was biased toward Caroline in the later stages because she realized Caroline was the only one who had the competence and ruthlessness of the eldest daughter. Unfortunately, the daughter whom she loved and wanted to protect did not share the same goals as she did. Sometimes, Hunter would think, ‘If the butler hadn’t switched our daughters and Caroline had grown up in the Fisher family, would she have been capable enough to hold her own against the powerful families of Wiltspoon?’One thing was for sure—even if Caroline could not go up against them, she would not be treating her parents and brothers like how she was now. “That Fletcher guy is unpredictable. We don’t know how capable he is,” said Justin. Jason said, “No matter how capable he is, he’s alone. Everyone has weaknesses. We can definitely think of a way to tackle him. Even if we can’t eliminate him, I still h
If they had known that their biological sister would be so treacherous, even going so far as to turn against her own family and side with the Wiltspoonians, they would have stopped their mother from bringing her back in the first place.Celine was so much better. Although Celine had been carefully nurtured by their mother, her abilities were limited; similar to theirs.If Celine had not died and had taken over instead, their mother would not have had to die, their father would not have castrated himself and become an old eunuch, and the Fisher legacy would not have to be handed over to outsiders. They would have only risen in position and power within Fisher Enterprise and commanded respect and influence; not in the miserable state they were in now and treated like strays, chased away wherever they go and unable to return home.Their mother was forced to take her own life, while their father’s health deteriorated after his castration. They had lost so much.The vast majority of t
The price for one life was another life. If they killed Caroline and Liberty, they would likely be caught within days. Then, they would face legal punishment, possibly the death penalty. What would be the point of that?What they wanted was control over the Fisher family, but if they were sentenced to death, the Fisher family assets would only go to others. “Adrian, a life for a life. If we kill someone, we won’t be able to escape—what’s the point of that? What if our plan fails, and instead of them dying, we end up dead? They have powerful backers and connections. It won’t be easy for us to harm them.”Adrian said, “Mom succeeded. We’re her sons. She raised us with care since we were young. Are we really inferior to her?”Jason muttered softly, “We are inferior to her. Not just her, we’re even inferior to Caroline.”Adrian glared at his brother, feeling that he was boosting the opposition’s morale while undermining their own.Hunter finally spoke up, “Your brother is right.
Truth be told, Hunter understood in his heart that they were actually only doing this because Caroline was his biological daughter and they thought Caroline would become the Fishers’ matriarch. Then, he would become the Fisher family patriarch and become even more powerful than before.Hunter had not told his relatives back home about the internal issues within the Fisher family. There was no point in telling them as they would not be able to help anyway. He was also afraid that if he spoke up, the relatives and friends now surrounding him would drift away. He enjoyed the lively life he had now.“Master, the three young masters have returned,” one of the housekeepers informed Hunter. Hunter had asked the housekeepers to address him as “Master.” With Belinda no longer suppressing him, he wanted to savor the feeling of being the patriarch. “What are they back for this time?” Hunter frowned and added, “I told them not to go back to Jensburg, to stay and put roots down here, but