When Austin returned to his room, one of the bodyguards was showering while the other was watching the television. He gave them a simple greeting and entered his room right away. Since he did not have to follow Isabella around after arriving in Clearfield, he had already settled in. He simply had to wait for his turn to use the bathroom. It was already midnight. Austin sent a message to his family group chat: [Are you guys still awake? Come chat with me.]Soon, Zachary replied: [Let’s chat in private instead of this group. Don’t disturb our parents.]He also did not want to disturb Serenity. She was usually asleep by ten at night. Therefore, Austin messaged Zachary directly. He sent a voice message because he knew Zachary disliked typing as it was time-consuming. “You haven’t slept?” Austin asked, concerned. “Did your business dinner end late again?”“Aren’t you awake too? Are you on standby to prepare supper for your lady?”Zachary continued speaking softly, “W
Austin said, “Nana has chosen someone for me. Unlike Dylan, I don’t have someone else I love. Since Isabella will be my wife, it’s only natural that I protect her.“Didn’t Nana choose a picky eater as my wife because I like cooking? We’re a good match because she enjoys eating too. Besides, how can I improve my cooking skills if no one critiques my food?”Zachary chuckled. “You’re right. That was exactly what Nana thought when she selected a picky woman for you. Since Isabella brought you along on her business trip, it means she trusts you. If you take good care of her and let her notice your strengths, it should be easier for you to court her.”“I’m not in charge of anything aside from her meals. There’s no need to rush. We’ve only known each other for a few days. I haven’t even developed feelings for her.”There was no love at first sight for Austin with Isabella. After learning that she was the candidate Nana had selected for him, he unconsciously viewed her as his wife and ac
It rained the next day as well. It was not heavy and more of a drizzle.The temperature in Wiltspoon hit an unprecedented low for the year at 40° Fahrenheit.On that cold winter morning, a few strangers arrived at the Stone family’s doorstep.When the doorbell rang, Gabe the butler could not help but mutter, “Who’s here this early in the morning?”Even the employees at the manor had not started working.Due to the cold and rain, the employees assigned to work in the garden would only start at eight o’clock.Gabe gave them a day off yesterday because the rain was too heavy. He thought it was Remy who lived next door that was pressing on the doorbell. Remy was the future son-in-law of the Stone family. He often came over before sunrise to have breakfast with Ms. Elisa. When Gabe walked to the gates with an umbrella in hand, he saw five elderly men standing in a row. One of them looked sickly, but the rest looked like transcendent beings. Gabe was shocked and thought he was
“I’m fine.”The man who coughed said softly, “I think I’m exhausted from all the traveling.”“Hey, boy. Open the gates and let us in now. Can’t you see our eldest friend is about to collapse? Why do you care who we are? Do the Stones not know how to treat their guests properly?”The man who said he could demolish the door was loud. He was impatient too.He glared at Gabe and urged him to open the gates. He would have taken the gates down without his companions keeping him in check.“Dan,” one of them scolded him. Dan immediately went silent.“Boy, this man here is the person your missus has been looking for. Don’t worry. We aren’t bad people.“Please open the door and let us have a glass of water. He has a weak body.”The youngest among the five elderly men was the one who checked the sick man’s pulse. He was Dr. Carden’s teacher, the legendary doctor.The legendary doctor had already brought Laurence back to FC Manor and took care of baby Oliver there. Later, he found out
Patrick’s attempts to return and avenge Tiara had been stopped by the legendary doctor and the rest.They said there was no one to be the next matriarch even if his revenge was successful, unless he could find Tiara’s daughters. Thanks to Silver, Patrick finally received information about Tiara’s daughter.After discovering Audrey’s location, Patrick had wanted to rush over to find her. However, he was unable to do so due to his weak constitution.The legendary doctor had spent a lot of time improving his health. Patrick wanted to meet Audrey, the Fisher family's youngest miss back then, as soon as possible due to his old age. He wished to tell her everything he knew and pass on some evidence he had to her.He felt regretful for not being able to avenge Tiara.Therefore, he had to hand over this responsibility to Audrey.From what his friends told him, one of Tiara’s daughters had died in a car accident over ten years ago and she left behind two daughters. Her in-laws were crue
Clive’s son, Elias, was crying. Clive walked around the room with Elias in his arms to calm him.Alice did not even open her eyes. She asked, “Is he hungry? Or did he poop?”“I think he’s hungry. You can continue sleeping, love. I’ll coax him and give him some formula. He’ll be asleep until about nine after drinking the formula.”Alice hummed in agreement. She turned around and went back to sleep.Although they had a nanny, the nanny could only carry Elias when he was asleep. If she tried carrying him when he was awake, he would start crying within minutes.It was because he needed to smell his mother’s scent.Therefore, Alice would look after Elias during most of the day. Luckily, he was a good boy too whenever Audrey and Elisa helped out. Otherwise, Alice would have died from exhaustion.Elisa often praised Elias for knowing how to differentiate family from other people. He never cried when his family members carried him.However, he would break into tears immediately in his
“Dear, who was it?” Alice rolled over when she heard the phone ring and sat up too, leaning toward her crying son to pick him up.“Don’t pick him up, love. If you do, he won’t want to drink the formula I made for him.” Clive hurriedly stopped his wife. “The kiddo’s really fussy. Once he smells you, he’ll refuse to drink his formula.”Alice saw that Clive had already started preparing the formula, so she did not pick their son up. It was fine for him to cry a little.“Gabe called and said a few elderly men came by looking for Mom. Apparently, they’re the ones Mom’s been looking for all this while,” Clive said as he made up a bottle of formula. “I don’t know if it’s true, but I asked Gabe to receive them first. Once I’ve fed Elias, I’ll head downstairs to take a look.” “Is the person Mom’s been looking for that really capable guy who assisted your grandmother back in the day?” Alice knew all about Audrey’s family background and the grudge against the Fisher family. She also knew tha
Elias quickly became full. Clive carefully handed him over to Alice to carry before calling Julian to see if he had any news of that old assistant’s whereabouts.Julian replied a little sheepishly, “We still have nothing even after searching for so long. Mr. Stone, I suspect the person you guys are looking for isn’t among the living anymore.”There were plenty of old people in their seventies or eighties, but old people in their nineties were much rarer. The person Audrey was looking for was almost a hundred years old, which was why Julian thought he might be dead.Very little information could be found on him also because all of this had happened decades ago. This made it very difficult for them to find him. Audrey did not even remember what that person was called anymore. All she remembered was whenever she saw him as a kid, she would call him “uncle”.She did not even know his surname. How was Julian supposed to find him? The Buchams had a powerful information network, but they
Austin was extremely patient with the boys. Although they occasionally caused trouble, most of them were minor issues. They would never do something they were not allowed to do.After breakfast, Austin brought them their bags. With a boy in each hand, he left the house. It was to prevent the boys from saying he was playing favorites. Dominic was used to that scene. Initially, Austin was simply Ms. Isabella’s private chef. However, he gradually took on more responsibilities.He would take the two young masters to school. If he had time in the evening, he would also fetch them from school. Austin also made sure Louis and Phillip did their homework, supervised their hobby classes, and played with them. Sometimes, he would even teach them martial arts and train with them. Dominic felt Austin was an all-rounder. It seemed like there was nothing Austin could not do. No wonder Ms. Isabella thought highly of Austin. However, Austin was a young master of a wealthy family. He w
Louis and Phillip were downstairs having the breakfast Austin had prepared for them. The food was different every morning, and everything was delicious.Having gotten used to Austin’s cooking, Louis and Phillip could no longer stand the food provided in the school. They thought the food there was terrible. Louis was enrolled in an elementary school not far from home. As he was a first grader, he did not need to stay in the dormitories and could have his lunch and dinner at home. Phillip, who was a year younger than him, was still in preschool. He would have breakfast and dinner at home. Actually, the preschool did provide breakfast, but Phillip refused to eat in school and insisted on having breakfast at home. In order to eat the breakfast Austin made, he would get up early in the morning without the adults waking him. After putting on his clothes and washing up, he would head to Louis’s place with his bag. “Austin.”Louis suddenly asked, “Did my sister come back last n
Isabella had always thought Tati was teasing her. Therefore, she did not take her words seriously. She thought it was completely normal for Austin to treat her well as she was his boss. From Austin’s perspective, she was his source of income. Now that Isabella pondered about it deeper, she realized perhaps Austin did come to Satbury for her. It was not just to be her chef. He always said Grandma May only gave the York lads a year to pursue their fiancées. However, Austin had never left since he started working for Isabella. Even if he did, it was to accompany her on business trips. He was busy feeding and taking care of her every day and had never gone to pursue his so-called fiancée. He did not even try to gather information on her. Was he not anxious?A year would go by pretty quickly. Although it felt like it had not been long since Austin started working for Isabella, three months had passed. Time really flew. Three months had gone by in the blink of an eye. Neve
When Austin reached the door, he stopped and turned to say, “Ms. Isabella, I only care about my future wife. Other young women are simply strangers to me.“I’m polite to other women when I need to be. If they’re unimportant, I’ll ignore them. Even if that woman is my boss, I won’t cross any lines. If I do, there must be a reason behind it.“Get some rest, Ms. Isabella. You might have a headache when you wake up tomorrow. I’ll prepare a warm honey drink for you in the morning.”After speaking, Austin left. Isabella turned to look at where he last stood. What did his words mean?He said he only cared about his future wife.Aside from this lady, he would not step out of line with any other young woman, even if she were his boss. What did he mean by crossing lines?Was it showing concern? Did he mean that if his boss was a young woman but not his fiancée, he would simply do what was required of him without any personal feelings involved? Was that what he meant?If so, was
Isabella was cold sometimes, but that was not her true personality. She was a reasonable person. Austin was not worried that he would be mistreated as a live-in son-in-law. “Ms. Isabella.”Isabella looked toward him and waited for him to speak. He asked, “This may be abrupt, but may I ask what your ideal type is?”Isabella was stunned. Why did the question come to her? What was the type of man she liked?‘Someone like Austin,’ she thought. After a moment of silence, she said, “I like men who are capable, responsible, and have correct values. Even if his family isn’t as financially well-off as mine, I don’t mind so long as he’s honest, competent, and sincere about his feelings for me.“Of course, it’ll be great if we have the same social status. That way, we’ll have similar perspectives and more common topics. If we get married, we’ll be joining forces instead of it being a one-way financial aid.”“Although you can accept someone who isn’t from a similar family backgrou
After a moment of silence, Isabella said, “It’s okay. I know I was forcing it.”There was no point in asking Austin if he did not want to reveal anything. If he wanted to tell her, he would do so without her asking. However, her curiosity spiked with his silence. She was eager to know who his fiancée was. He was already so protective of his fiancée even though he had not met her before. It made Isabella jealous. It was her first time feeling that kind of emotion throughout her life. Although it was not a strong feeling, she still felt it. “You weren’t forcing me to tell you. You were simply curious. Most people have a curious side. It’s only natural for you to be inquisitive as well.”Austin said gently, “It’s not just you. Those who knew that my nana had chosen fiancées for my brothers and me were also curious about who the ladies were.“To be honest, we didn’t even know Nana had been choosing fiancées for us since a few years ago until she handed their pictures to us
“You can drink it now. It’ll turn cold if left aside for longer.”Isabella took the ginger ale and drank it with elegance. She put it down after drinking half of it. “I’m drunk, but only slightly. I can walk, and my brain is still alert. I know what I’m doing and saying.“I’ve had enough ginger ale.”She did not want to consume too much liquid late at night. “Which family is your fiancée from, Austin? Where is she? Do you mind telling me?”Isabella was insistent on getting answers. Austin had never told her when she had asked him about it before. He kept saying he would focus on working and that he was not in a rush to get married. After all, he was only in his twenties; Zachary only got married at thirty years old. If he was unsuccessful in wooing his fiancée that year, he did not mind waiting for a few more years. Isabella suddenly felt jealous of Austin’s fiancée, having had his heart without even doing anything. She wondered what Austin’s fiancée had done to cat
Austin stared into Isabella’s eyes. He could detect some feelings in her gaze, but it was not obvious enough. What she felt for him was still mostly admiration. It was not the right time for him to confess yet. He would continue to wait. “You’re the best and most outstanding lady in my heart, Ms. Isabella. I admire you more.”Austin added gently, “You give off a strict and cold aura sometimes, but you’re always a nice person in my eyes.”Isabella had treated him well ever since he became her private chef. It only got better after she discovered he was a young master of the Yorks. Austin believed her when she said she viewed him as a friend because her actions reflected it as well. However, he was not content with being just friends. He wanted to be her husband. He wanted her to trust him and love him forever. He would also reciprocate her feelings and trust. Isabella smiled. “Even my parents are scared and avoid me when I’m in a serious mode. Louis and Phillip w
Austin responded, “Don’t worry, Ms. Edith. I’ll take good care of Ms. Isabella.”Edith had come in a hurry and left just as quickly. The hidden meaning in her cousin’s words was not lost on Isabella, but she did not comment on it.She allowed Austin to accompany her into the house. The lights were still on inside, but the first floor was empty. Everyone else had already gone to bed.Since Isabella had not returned yet, the housekeeper had left the lights on for her.The house was warm, so once inside, Isabella took off Austin’s coat and handed it back to him.Austin accepted the coat and followed her to the sofa. After she had sat down, he asked gently, “Ms. Isabella, would you like some ginger ale for a hangover remedy?”Isabella rubbed her temples and said, “Yes, please. I don’t want to wake up with a splitting headache tomorrow.”Austin immediately went to prepare it for her.Isabella leaned back on the sofa and closed her eyes to rest. After some time, she heard Austin’s