Free Web NovelChapter 197: Standing up (1)
"Your room has a good view. I’m a bit jealous but you are deserving of it since this is your big return. You can see from here where the garden I used to annoy you in is. Oh! Where the maids used to take our clothes to dry. Do you remember?" Victor asked, imagining others down there.
"Unfortunately, I do. Your excitement is starting to be suffocating. Try not to look too excited or your mother might try other methods to poison me to put an end to watching you acting like a puppy around me. I have plans to see Scarlet soon and I want to be alive when I do," said Ian.
"Oh, my mother is going to try to kill you regardless, which is why it would have been a good idea for you to bring some food from your home here. We can leave before dinner to buy things you can store here. You do not plan to spend the night here," Victor realised from Ian’s smile. "Right. That makes more sense."
It should have been obvious from Ian not bringing any clothes.
"Silly me," Victor said, disappointed that it would not go on longer, but he understood why. "It wouldn’t be good for you to sleep where someone wants to kill you. So, I will enjoy the moment you are here. Also, thank you for not agreeing to go without me. Now that you are here, I expect father to show how little he cares for me."
Victor just didn’t expect it to happen so soon. His mother was blind to think that Hank would leave all that he had to a sick son just to have to look for another heir should something happen to him. It wasn’t guaranteed that Victor should marry now and have a son before something bad happened to him.
"Well, I would hate to be alone with him and his peers. You need to stand up to him as well. Not only your mother has to see that you have grown to not need to follow their lead. Our father needs a rude awakening and we are in luck it falls within my talents," Ian smiled.
Victor wished to go up against his father but it had already taken a lot in him to go up against his mother. While Layla played the victim and made Victor feel sorry for her to get him to listen to her again, Hank’s methods were far worse since he was the lord of the estate.
Hopefully, with Ian present it should be easier for Victor to do so.
Ian looked out the windows to where the cottage should be. "I want to speak to any of the old servants. You said it was the butler who answered your questions, right?"
"Yes, but he doesn’t know what happened to her. Not even her friend knew. The other servants would be too afraid to speak up about what they think happened. We must ask my mother and father," said Victor.
"We must," Ian agreed, starting to plot. "I have a good moment for when you should share what your mother did. We should have a family dinner and send most of the servants away." freёwebnovel.com
"You’re going to poison them?" Victor asked.
"Eventually, but not then. As your dear older brother, I can’t let your mother get away with poisoning you and not knowing how it feels to be sick because of her actions. She should get a taste of it. I can’t share all my plans with you," Ian said as his trust in Victor wasn’t all the way there. "Just stay out of the way." freeωebnovēl.c૦m
Victor’s shoulders dropped due to disappointment. He was looking forward to planning with Ian but there was still a wall between them. Rather than try to convince Ian that he wasn’t going to spoil his plans, Victor decided to just watch from the sidelines and wait until Ian needed him.
"You should also know that Scarlet’s ex-husband once reached out to me and then my mother. It was a call that didn’t last long. He was inviting me for drinks and during the call he wanted to know if I had any intention of courting Scarlet. I am sorry for only remembering this now," Victor apologised.
It should have been one of the first things he told Ian but it had slipped his mind.
"Well, to get me away from Scarlet it would work well in his favour to offer his support to your mother. I am not bothered by what that man does. He isn’t the kind of person I think you should have as a friend," Ian said, not wanting Jake’s stupidity to rub off on Victor.
"I wouldn’t! Even before you got with Scarlet, he wasn’t someone I would occupy my time with. Honestly, he’s become a laughingstock among our peers. The tides in this town are changing with Jack being the one having bad things said about him in the paper. Scarlet should never have been ridiculed," said Victor.
"No, she shouldn’t," Ian agreed. The more Jack bothered Scarlet, Ian was going to cash in on what someone owed him to have the papers keep going after Jack.
"Now that I mention him, I haven’t seen the woman Beth as of late. I didn’t want any trouble so I never mentioned it but before Jack, she had approached one of my friends. She got what she wanted."
"Maybe or maybe she is realising that the other side wasn’t so sweet. Come, I want to see the cottage," Ian said, stepping away from the window.
He wanted to avoid seeing the cottage at first because of the memories it would bring back, but now he wanted to see what survived over the years. It was the place that carried most of his memories with Noelle so he should ignore the bad and focus on the good.
"You need to start studying again and prove that you are as smart as you say you are. Stop focusing on me and pay attention to your health. When this is all done, you will be the new Lord Kingsley. Though I am the older son, it is more suited for you. Prepare for it," Ian urged Victor.
Once more, Victor thought that Ian should take it. Any other family would have the older son becoming the heir. "But you-"
"I have plans for my life, Victor. I have never once dreamed of being the heir here and quite frankly, one day when I have a family, I would not like them to live here. It would be pointless for the lord to not be in his estate so, take it," said Ian.
"Do you plan to marry Scarlet one day?" Victor questioned as if it would be another good reason for Ian to turn down becoming a lord. Scarlet already had a grand estate and a title.
"If she wishes to marry again, yes. If not, I am satisfied with what we have now,’ Ian answered.
Scarlet might have fears of marriage. Ian didn’t need them to say vows for him to have Scarlet know what he felt for her. He was going to love her regardless.
