Chapter 307: ... no entirely to blame.
At Scott Villa—
Clara was on a call. And the more she listened to the person on the other end, the stiffer her expression became.
After a long moment of listening, she forced a smile.
"Fine, I understand," she said before finally ending the call.
The moment she lowered the phone from her ear, her fingers tightened around it.
It was Liam’s secretary she had been speaking to. He had informed her about everything Liam had done that day.
At first, she had been delighted when she learned that Liam had personally gone to Goldstem Productions.
Even the secretary had told her it was for her.
Liam had invested a hundred million.
And it was supposedly for her.
She would have believed it too ...
But that wasn’t the only call she had received that evening.
Maria had called as well.
And Maria had informed her that the investors of The Empress’s Grief had also gone to Goldstem Productions with the intention of forcing Producer Polson to remove Adelyn from the project.
If that had truly been their objective, then Liam couldn’t have gone there solely for her.
Clara’s expression gradually turned cold as she stared into empty space for a long moment. After a while, she picked up her phone again and dialed Maria’s number.
Only a few seconds later, the call connected.
"Ms. Scott!" Maria’s respectful voice came from the other end.
A dark glint flashed across Clara’s eyes.
"Maria," she said calmly, "I need you to find out who the investors of The Empress’s Grief are. Arrange meetings for me with the ones who might actually be useful."
Maria paused briefly. Then her firm reply came.
"Understood, Ms. Scott."
With that, Clara ended the call once more.
"Liam ..." she muttered through gritted teeth. "Why ... why do you still care about Adelyn? She isn’t your sister. I am."
"Why can’t you just care about me? Why?"
She lowered her gaze before a determined smirk slowly appeared on her lips.
"But that’s fine. Sooner or later, I’ll make you —and everyone else —care about me. Only me."
———————————————————
Back at Sanctuary Heights—
Adelyn finally returned home with Karl.
Unlike the first few times she had come here, walking back into the house felt strangely natural today.
She didn’t know why.
But for the first time, she wasn’t resisting the idea of coming here. Instead, she found herself looking forward to stepping inside.
Looking forward to wrapping the adorable little girl in her arms.
Looking forward to hearing Eira excitedly tell her everything she had done throughout the day.
"Sister-in-law, it’s still pretty early. Do you want to hang out a little longer?" Karl suddenly asked after thinking of something. "I have an interesting place in mind. I’ll take you there."
Adelyn couldn’t even be bothered to entertain him.
"I’m tired," she replied without slowing down. "Go by yourself."
Then she continued walking toward the entrance.
Karl hurried after her.
"Then I’m not going either!" he quickly said. "Sister-in-law, I’ll come with you. Wait for me!"
And with that, he rushed after her.
The moment Adelyn stepped inside, her eyes instinctively searched the room.
They soon landed on a pair of deep, abyss-like eyes that were quietly watching her.
"You’re back?" Dylan asked. He had his working laptop open on his lap, and he seemed to be working.
His gaze lingered on her for a brief second before dropping to the hand resting naturally by her side.
Adelyn hummed softly.
"Yes." Then, glancing at the laptop, she asked, "You came home early today too?"
Dylan looked at her calmly.
"No. I came home on time."
On time?
Adelyn looked back up at him before checking the time on her watch.
Only then did she realize ...
It wasn’t Dylan who had returned early.
She was the one who had come back later than usual.
She lightly bit the inside of her cheek before looking back at him.
"Oh ... So it was me."
Dylan didn’t comment further. Instead, he asked quietly, "Was today tiring?"
The question caught Adelyn completely off guard.
Perhaps ...
Because no one had ever asked her something so simple before. No matter how exhausting her days had been.
She blinked once before giving him a small smile. "It ... was alright. Nothing I couldn’t handle. Thank you for asking."
Dylan simply gave a small nod.
Then his gaze slowly shifted toward Karl, who was standing behind her.
Karl had been perfectly fine just a second ago. But the instant Dylan looked at him, his entire body stiffened.
Their eyes met.
And Karl immediately looked away.
Something about that gaze felt terribly dangerous.
It was almost as though his brother already knew everything.
But how could that be?
Sister-in-law hadn’t told him anything.
There was no way his Big Brother could have found out.
...Right?
But if he really did ...
What would happen to him?
Growing increasingly nervous, Karl unconsciously shuffled his feet before quietly edging closer behind Adelyn.
Adelyn frowned the moment she felt someone tugging lightly on her sleeve.
She turned toward him.
"What are you doing now?"
Karl lowered his voice immediately.
"Sister-in-law ... promise me something."
"What?"
"Promise me you won’t tell my brother about what happened today."
Adelyn folded her arms across her chest.
"And why should I promise you that?"
She raised an eyebrow.
"Since you know you did something wrong, shouldn’t you face the consequences?"
Karl immediately looked wronged. "But ... I’m not entirely to blame!"
"Oh? You’re not?"
He shook his head repeatedly.
"I’m not!" he said, and then quickly added, "I did it after having your permission. So, I’m partially not wrong."
Adelyn paused. "My permission?"
Karl nodded vigorously.
"Yes! You gave it to me this morning. Don’t tell me you’ve already forgotten, Sister-in-law."
If she had really forgotten about it, then he was doomed. The nervousness only grew on his face.
Adelyn replayed the morning’s events in her mind.
Although she couldn’t remember every little detail, she did remember Karl coming to ask her permission for something.
Was ...
Was that what he had been asking about?
Her lips slowly pursed together.
Seeing her expression, Karl quickly pressed on.
"You remember now, don’t you?"
She didn’t answer, but he knew she did. So, he said,
"Sister-in-law, since I acted with your permission, you’ll protect me. Right?"
Adelyn wanted to refuse outright. But looking at the hopeful way he was staring at her, she suddenly felt a stronger urge to twist his ears instead.
Just as she was about to say something—
A sweet, cherry-like voice instantly stole all of her attention.
"Mama ... you’re back."
Adelyn immediately turned toward the voice.
The next instant—
She saw an adorable little bundle rushing toward her as fast as her tiny legs could carry her. Before Adelyn could even react, two soft little arms had already wrapped tightly around her waist, holding her as though she had been waiting all day.
"Eira missed you."