The Heiress They Lost Came Back Overpowered

Yvonne Lowell patted Leno’s curly hair. "You’ve gotten so much taller."

She hadn’t seen him in over a year, and now the fifteen-year-old kid had shot up to over 180 cm, making him half a head taller than her.

"Uh-huh! I’ve grown twelve centimeters since we last saw each other!" Leno said, beaming.

’If the old butler from the Prefecture saw this, he’d probably burst into tears, dabbing his eyes with a handkerchief and saying, "It’s been so long since I’ve seen the young master smile so happily..."’

Lyle pouted and muttered under his breath, "What a suck-up. Total hypocrite. He never smiles that brightly for me."

Leno’s smile didn’t fade as he shot his brother a sidelong glance. "What are you talking about? How can you compare to Little Auntie? Besides, I’m going to tell Father and Mother exactly how rude you were to her when we get home."

"Damn it! You little brat, you’re asking for it..."

Lyle threw an arm around his brother’s neck, eager to give him a long-overdue lesson in respect right then and there.

’The nerve,’ Leno thought. ’Comparing himself to my Little Auntie.’

Leo Grant didn’t spare the bickering brothers a single glance, instead turning to introduce the other two men to Yvonne Lowell.

"The guy with the glasses next to me is Simon Fisher. He’s of Aurelian descent, living here in Continent R, and he’s the director of his family’s hospital. He’s the one who did the paternity test for Auntie Dahlia and William Lynch."

A gentle smile played on Simon Fisher’s lips as he gave Yvonne Lowell a slight nod.

Leo Grant then jutted his chin toward the man of mixed heritage sitting one seat away from him.

"The blond with the blue eyes is Evan Donovan. A real mutt. His family is loaded—they’re mainly in the oil business."

"There’s not much else worth mentioning, but they do have one major thing in common: they’re all older than me."

Simon Fisher and Evan Donovan: ’...’ ’So, this is how you talk us up to people, huh? We’re not saying another word until our lawyers get here!’

Leo Grant: ’You wish. I don’t mention you guys to anyone. It’s too embarrassing.’

"Hey, we’re the same age! I’m only a month older than you! Simon’s obviously the oldest one, right?!"

Evan Donovan shot him a glare before breaking into a grin and waving at Yvonne Lowell. "Hey there, sister-in-law."

Yvonne Lowell raised an eyebrow. From the way they bantered, she could tell they were all good friends.

’Compared to her brother and Boss Crawford, maybe Leo’s roasts weren’t quite as vicious? Though only by about twenty percent.’

’The heir to a medical empire, an oil tycoon, and a governor’s son thrown in for good measure... Tsk, tsk...’

Meanwhile, Simon Fisher, having taken a double critical hit from his two best friends, felt the gentle, refined mask he’d been wearing since he got out of the car finally crack.

The man who had just greeted Yvonne Lowell with such reserve opened his mouth, and out came a thick, folksy accent.

"Can’t you two say somethin’ nice about me? We’re all grown men here, why ya still tryin’ to tear a fella down? I’m only a year older’n you two, don’t gimme that age anxiety crap!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the room fell into a stunned silence.

Yvonne Lowell blinked at the man beside her, her eyes asking, ’Is your friend always like this?’

Leo Grant somehow understood the question in her eyes. He leaned close to her ear and whispered, "He likes to act all cool and aloof, but he’s actually a chatterbox. As for the accent... I have no idea what that’s about."

"Why’s everyone so quiet all of a sudden? Did I hit a nerve or somethin’?"

Simon Fisher looked to his left at Evan Donovan’s strange expression, then to his right at Leo Grant, who was whispering in his girlfriend’s ear.

Evan Donovan cleared his throat. "That surgery you did before you came here... where was the patient from?"

Since Lyle had insisted the four of them arrive together, the other three had gone to the hospital as a group to pick Simon Fisher up.

He’d been in surgery, and it had run more than half an hour later than expected.

Combined with the fact that he hadn’t said a single word in the car, this was the first time they’d heard him speak all day.

"Northeast Aurelia. That ol’ fella came all this way lookin’ for me ’cause of my reputation. Why?" Simon Fisher slapped his thigh.

"Oh yeah, that fella also told me the sweet ’n’ sour pork and goose stew from his neck of the woods are to die for. How ’bout we go visit his hometown someday?"

Well, that solved the mystery.

They had always heard the saying that no one could leave Northeast Aurelia with their standard Aurelian accent intact. They just never imagined the Northeastern accent itself had started crossing national borders.

"Maybe some other time," Evan Donovan replied, subtly changing the subject. "By the way, why does Leno call Yvonne ’Little Auntie’?"

’If he didn’t change the subject now, he might get assimilated by Simon’s accent in the next second.’

"You wanna know? Fine, I’ll do you the favor of telling you," Lyle spoke up first.

His tone was as arrogant and nonchalant as ever, but his expression had grown much more serious.

As Yvonne listened to Lyle’s story, her own memories of the event began to surface.

At the time, the old man had sent her to a mountain forest on the border of Continent R to look for medicinal herbs. She hadn’t found any herbs yet when she stumbled upon a kidnapped kid.

The kid looked to be about seven or eight. Though his face was filthy and bruised, and his expensive little suit was torn, he was perfectly calm, just sitting there on the ground without crying or making a fuss.

Yvonne Lowell found herself intrigued by the boy. Seeing that it was still early in the day, she settled onto a nearby tree branch to watch the show.

She later overheard the kidnappers talking. They had only meant to grab some rich kid for a quick ransom, but they’d accidentally nabbed the Governor’s son. The entire region was in an uproar over his disappearance.

So, they decided to go all in. Since there was no turning back, they might as well just kill the boy, cross the mountains, and flee to another country to lay low.

Just as they were about to make their move, Yvonne swiftly took care of all of them.

She then untied the little chick on the ground and turned to leave, only to have him grab her pant leg.

"Miss, can you take me home? I’m scared."

Yvonne couldn’t help the twitch at the corner of her mouth. ’Funny, you didn’t seem scared when they had a gun pointed at your head.’

In the end, though, Yvonne took him home. For one, she was a sucker for a pretty face. For another, the little chick said he’d give her money, and she was short on cash.

Everyone at the Prefecture was in utter disbelief when she arrived. The Governor had his people turning Continent R upside down and had even paid a fortune on the dark web looking for his son, only for a teenage girl to bring him home??

Her trip down memory lane ended as Lyle finished his story.

Lyle shrugged. "Anyway, that’s pretty much the gist of it. At first, our old man had a crazy idea and wanted Leno to accept her as his godmother. Yvonne refused, so after my father pestered her relentlessly, she became his sworn sister instead."

Leno said quietly, "You got it wrong, brother. Dad originally wanted Little Auntie to be godmother to both of us."