Cliveโs 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, โIs he hungry? Or did he poop?โโI think heโs hungry. You can continue sleeping, love. Iโll coax him and give him some formula. Heโll be asleep until about nine after drinking the formula.โAlice 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 motherโs 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
โDear, who was it?โ Alice rolled over when she heard the phone ring and sat up too, leaning toward her crying son to pick him up.โDonโt pick him up, love. If you do, he wonโt want to drink the formula I made for him.โ Clive hurriedly stopped his wife. โThe kiddoโs really fussy. Once he smells you, heโll refuse to drink his formula.โAlice 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.โGabe called and said a few elderly men came by looking for Mom. Apparently, theyโre the ones Momโs been looking for all this while,โ Clive said as he made up a bottle of formula. โI donโt know if itโs true, but I asked Gabe to receive them first. Once Iโve fed Elias, Iโll head downstairs to take a look.โ โIs the person Momโs been looking for that really capable guy who assisted your grandmother back in the day?โ Alice knew all about Audreyโs 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 assistantโs whereabouts.Julian replied a little sheepishly, โWe still have nothing even after searching for so long. Mr. Stone, I suspect the person you guys are looking for isnโt among the living anymore.โThere 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 โuncleโ.She did not even know his surname. How was Julian supposed to find him? The Buchams had a powerful information network, but they
Alice laughed. โOf course. If we manage to get on Quinnโs good side, itโll be just the same as getting on Julianโs good side.โAs the eldest daughter-in-law of the Stones, Alice had no need to curry favor with anyone, but she still wanted to forge ties with Julianโs wife. There would always be a need for the Buchams at some point.For example, they had only managed to get the Buchams to help now through Zacharyโs connection. The rich madams of the upper class mostly had ulterior motives for keeping in touch, apart from the rare few who were truly friends. The rest were just using one another.โHurry downstairs and see if the old people who came are scammers.โ Alice then turned to coax her son softly. โElias will fall asleep really quickly. Iโll sleep a little longer with him. Thereโs no need to wake me for breakfast. You have to eat something before you head to the office.โโOkay.โ Clive leaned close to kiss his beloved wife on the cheek before tenderly touching his sonโs face. He
His face was full of wrinkles and only looked somewhat similar to the portrait Audrey had drawn of him from memory. It was no wonder Julian had not been able to find him. Audrey had not been able to remember what he looked like very clearly, so although the portrait was lifelike and drawn well, it was of no use since he was drawn in the wrong likeness. Was he Tiaraโs outstanding assistant?โMay I know your names?โโThatโs not important. Itโs been decades since anyone asked for our names, so we donโt quite remember them anymore,โ the legendary doctor said. โYou can just call me Doc. Mr. Stone, Iโve been a doctor for decades and have been labeled โthe genius doctorโ among others. Lilian Carden is my disciple. You must have heard of her.โHe introduced himself first. At Cliveโs age, it was very unlikely for him to know of the legendary doctor, but he must have heard of his disciple Dr. Carden, who successfully treated Camrynโs eyes.โMr. Stone, we donโt like beating around the bush ei
Doc explained on Patrickโs behalf the real reasons he had been unable to avenge Tiara for the past few decades. Patrick was agitated as his tears streamed down his face out of guilt toward his matriarch and he began to cough violently.Doc hurriedly took out the medication he took with him everywhere, shook two pills out of the bottle, and made Patrick swallow them as he said, โDonโt get so excited, Patrick. We havenโt even gotten to meet your little miss Audrey yet.โThe others also kept comforting Patrick and told him not to get overly excited. Once he took the pills and had some water, Patrick calmed down. Clive was very nervous too, worried about the old manโs health.He had never met Doc before but knew of his abilities and how Dr. Carden was his eldest disciple. Dr. Carden had helped Camryn recover her eyesight and Doc was pretty much the Johnsonsโ in-law, while the Stones were also in-laws with the Johnsons. Due to this convoluted form of kinship, they could not be neglectful
The two of them were on the call, but Zachary said he was not talking to Clive. Guessing that Zachary was dealing with Sonny at the moment, Clive good-naturedly did not lose his temper.โYou can talk now,โ Zachary finally said to Clive. If Clive had not known that his cousin was still sleeping at this hour, he would not have called Zachary. Just listen to his toneโas if he was reporting to Zachary.Holding back his temper, Clive said, โThe legendary doctor has brought my grandmotherโs assistant with him to visit with a few other old men. They might be the men who dominated the scene back then. Tell Seren about this and if you can make it, come over with her.โโLegendary doctor?โ Zachary frowned. โAre you sure?โโNo, Iโm not. I asked Remy to come over to confirm because heโs seen him before, but I donโt think they would lie. I donโt think anyone would easily dare to impersonate them. Their disciplesโ network spans the whole world.โSilver specialized in intelligence. His disciple h
Zachary laughed. โAlright, as long as you donโt compete with your Aunt Ser for favor, youโll actually feel really happy because there are so many people who love you. Hurry up and go wash up. When youโre done, bring your bag downstairs and eat something. Later, the driver will send you to preschool. Aunt Ser and Uncle Zak have something to do, so we canโt send you.โSonny pouted once more but ultimately did not say anything and silently went off to wash up.Zachary returned to the master bedroom and woke Serenity to tell her about Doc appearing with Patrick. Serenity immediately got changed and freshened up as fast as she could, before rushing downstairs and dragging her husband with her.At the Stonesโ residence, Clive had just woken his parents up. After learning that Dr. Cardenโs teacher was among the ancients visiting, Audrey immediately made to go downstairs but was stopped by her husband.โAudrey, you havenโt changed yet. Since theyโve come here, they can wait downstairs. You
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. Isabellaโs 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 Austinโs 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 Louisโs place with his bag. โAustin.โLouis suddenly asked, โDid 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 Austinโs 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 fiancรฉes. 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 fiancรฉe. 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, โMs. Isabella, I only care about my future wife. Other young women are simply strangers to me.โIโm polite to other women when I need to be. If theyโre unimportant, Iโll ignore them. Even if that woman is my boss, I wonโt cross any lines. If I do, there must be a reason behind it.โGet some rest, Ms. Isabella. You might have a headache when you wake up tomorrow. Iโll prepare a warm honey drink for you in the morning.โAfter 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 fiancรฉe, 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. โMs. Isabella.โIsabella looked toward him and waited for him to speak. He asked, โThis may be abrupt, but may I ask what your ideal type is?โIsabella was stunned. Why did the question come to her? What was the type of man she liked?โSomeone like Austin,โ she thought. After a moment of silence, she said, โI like men who are capable, responsible, and have correct values. Even if his family isnโt as financially well-off as mine, I donโt mind so long as heโs honest, competent, and sincere about his feelings for me.โOf course, itโll be great if we have the same social status. That way, weโll have similar perspectives and more common topics. If we get married, weโll be joining forces instead of it being a one-way financial aid.โโAlthough you can accept someone who isnโt from a similar family backgrou
After a moment of silence, Isabella said, โItโs okay. I know I was forcing it.โThere 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 fiancรฉe was. He was already so protective of his fiancรฉe 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. โYou werenโt forcing me to tell you. You were simply curious. Most people have a curious side. Itโs only natural for you to be inquisitive as well.โAustin said gently, โItโs not just you. Those who knew that my nana had chosen fiancรฉes for my brothers and me were also curious about who the ladies were.โTo be honest, we didnโt even know Nana had been choosing fiancรฉes for us since a few years ago until she handed their pictures to us
โYou can drink it now. Itโll turn cold if left aside for longer.โIsabella took the ginger ale and drank it with elegance. She put it down after drinking half of it. โIโm drunk, but only slightly. I can walk, and my brain is still alert. I know what Iโm doing and saying.โIโve had enough ginger ale.โShe did not want to consume too much liquid late at night. โWhich family is your fiancรฉe from, Austin? Where is she? Do you mind telling me?โIsabella 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 fiancรฉe that year, he did not mind waiting for a few more years. Isabella suddenly felt jealous of Austinโs fiancรฉe, having had his heart without even doing anything. She wondered what Austinโs fiancรฉe had done to cat
Austin stared into Isabellaโs 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. โYouโre the best and most outstanding lady in my heart, Ms. Isabella. I admire you more.โAustin added gently, โYou give off a strict and cold aura sometimes, but youโre always a nice person in my eyes.โIsabella 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. โEven my parents are scared and avoid me when Iโm in a serious mode. Louis and Phillip w
Austin responded, โDonโt worry, Ms. Edith. Iโll take good care of Ms. Isabella.โEdith had come in a hurry and left just as quickly. The hidden meaning in her cousinโs 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 Austinโs 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, โMs. Isabella, would you like some ginger ale for a hangover remedy?โIsabella rubbed her temples and said, โYes, please. I donโt want to wake up with a splitting headache tomorrow.โAustin immediately went to prepare it for her.Isabella leaned back on the sofa and closed her eyes to rest. After some time, she heard Austinโs