The hair on Heather’s forehead gently swayed with the breeze as she appraised the guest before she retracted her gaze. The guest meaningfully and playfully looked at her, making her feel as though he had locked her with his gaze.
After momentarily meeting her gaze, he turned his eyes to another direction as he walked slowly toward them. However, she kept her gaze on him until he spoke in a low voice that was quite unfamiliar to her.
However, he was a familiar face to her because they had just met at the golf course yesterday. Today, he unexpectedly appeared at the Langston Residence as a precious guest of her family.
Heather did not understand the twists and turns of the events, but she was rather vigilant about it and it was reflected in the defensive approach in her eyes.
“Old Master Langston,” he broke the silence and started the conversation with Robert. She was not used to the way he accurately pronounced each word that made him sound like a professional news reporter. He seemed stern to her.
With a smile on his face, Robert welcomed the man and introduced him to Heather. “Heather, this is General Moriaty.”
Upon hearing that, Heather’s heart sank as she did not expect that the guest they had been awaiting was someone from the army. Before she could react, he quickly spoke.
“You don’t need to address me this way. My position in Leisfeld is that of a general, but we are in Solaria now,” Caleb explained to her.
She was even more shocked upon hearing him mentioning Leisfeld. After all, the military had been governing that country. Even though he looked young, he was already a general. If he was promoted to a higher position, he could be the commander of the military.
Upon hearing that, Heather understood why she felt the cold and cruel aura from him. Compared to Solaria, Leisfeld was quite unstable all year round and there were a few military skirmishes. She imagined that Caleb must have plenty of blood on his hands. After all, for a soldier to rise up the ranks in the military, he had to be tainted with blood.
When he clarified his position, he was admiring the shock in her eyes. People usually would be taken aback after they heard his current position, but she quickly suppressed her shock and merely looked at him calmly.
She thought, Seeing the position that he holds, why does he come to Bradfort City? More importantly, why is he here at our place?
“General Moriarty, welcome.” Heather stretched her hand to gracefully greet him.
When she was in Europe, she already had the opportunity to meet dukes who were even more high-class than Caleb from other countries. She wasn’t extremely shocked because to her, he was merely someone who held an extraordinary position.
When he saw Heather offering a handshake, he also stretched out with his hand to briefly greet her. He had a natural royal aura, so she guessed that he must have been born in a rich or prestigious family. For someone like him to reach such a high-ranked position in the military, he must have a powerful background to back him up.
Robert invited Caleb to take a seat and she was directly arranged to sit opposite him. Once she raised her head, she would immediately see his face. She was not used to the arrangement because she was only interested in business, not politics.
She did not expect the Langston Family had the need to familiarize themselves with the politics of another country, even though they did not have any businesses in Leisfeld. Are we going to expand our business there? If we really want to expand our business, we would not start with Leisfeld anyway since there are many bigger countries to explore. Who would be interested in such an unstable country like Leisfeld?
Unless we are entering the arms trade. Heather’s heart skipped a beat when she thought about that. Based on Robert’s character, he would not want to get into such a business. Meanwhile, Caleb thoughtfully looked at her. It was obvious that her mind was spinning fast at this moment as she thought of the possibilities, which made him curious about what was on her mind.
After he had finally arrived, the servants asked everyone in the Langston Family to welcome him. The first person who did so was Blake, who gave him a warm welcome. However, Caleb did not even spare a second gaze at him, which amounted to not giving Blake enough respect.
With a smile on his face, Blake retracted his hands. Initially, he wanted to shake hands with Caleb, but the latter had completely ignored him. Robert flashed a warning look at Blake to notify the latter not to continue embarrassing the family.
This time around, Caleb was here for Heather, so Robert had to tread carefully since he was determined not to sacrifice her happiness at this point.
Even though Caleb had an unfriendly attitude toward Blake, Blake was rather interested in him, albeit his annoyance at the way the man behaved. It stemmed from Caleb shooting occasional glances at Heather.
In no time, everyone from the Langston Family arrived—except Heather’s parents. Disappointment quickly flashed in her eyes and Caleb meticulously caught it.
He had previously investigated her background. After glancing at everyone around the table, he immediately had his answer. Unexpectedly, her relationship with her parents had worsened to this point. His gaze turned slightly colder when he thought about his own parents.
Last night, Robert had already instructed his butler to prepare fancy dishes today. Because of that, food was being served one after another in a grandiose manner.
Before Caleb took his cutleries, no one from the Langston Family had dared to tuck in. The children in the family merely looked at the delicious dishes in front of them longingly. Since they were easily hungry and sensitive to the smell and sight of the food, they wanted to immediately enjoy the delicious food.
Heather shot occasional glances at him, wondering what went through his mind since he made no move to start eating. Instead, he merely glanced at everyone around him several times. Thinking that the awkward atmosphere did not look pleased, Robert, who was seated to Caleb’s right, invited him to tuck in with a smile.
“General Moriarty, have a bite while everything is still warm.” It was only after Robert spoke that Caleb finally took his cutleries.
She could not tell what he had been thinking and she felt that he was here to flex his power, so she did not have a good impression of him.
It was only after Caleb had taken a bite that the rest finally dared to tuck in, but Heather still remained immobile.
She would shoot occasional glances at Robert as if she was asking him, What is General Moriaty doing here?
The silence around the dinner table was terrifying. It had never been this quiet during mealtimes at the Langston Residence. Perhaps Caleb had such hostility to him that even the playful children did not dare to utter a word—even though they would usually chatter around as they were unafraid of Robert.
Heather finally picked up her cutleries when Caleb looked at her. It was obvious that he wanted her to dig in as well.
He emanated a power that would make others buckle to him and she hated the aura because she felt that she was suffocating under his force.
Robert also noticed that Caleb would occasionally ‘greet’ her with his eyes and it was the last thing that Robert would like to see.
The more Caleb was interested in Heather, the more uneasy Robert became. He wondered whether Caleb wanted revenge or something else, but it was definitely not good news no matter what Caleb wanted.
Everyone had their own thoughts as they ate. Blake had naturally noticed Caleb’s interest in Heather and it irritated him. He came to know Caleb’s position last night and for him, it was not a good thing that such a powerful person had his eyes on her.
Blake questioningly appraised Heather—he did not understand what qualities she wielded to attract men. As time went by, the men who were attracted to her became better, even though she was cold and had a bit of a temper herself. Do excellent men have a tendency to be masochistic?
He recalled the way she had been pressuring him as they were growing up together. Heather has always been a strong and dominant woman. Whoever marries her might not have a peaceful life.
Of course, Blake would not fall for a woman like Heather, so he did not understand what exactly these men liked about her. Obviously, her looks were not the most outstanding in their family. Even Everly was much prettier than her, considering that she was already attractive at such a young age.
With these thoughts in his mind, he looked sideways at Everly, who was sitting opposite him. Everyone did not notice her beauty because they were distracted by Heather. Objectively speaking of appearances, Everly was indeed more beautiful than Heather. However, Heather had a stronger aura than Everly.
Blake noticed something special as he stared at Everly—she was shooting furtive looks at Caleb. A sudden thought then popped into Blake’s mind. I used to think that Everly was still a young girl. It seems that it’s time for her to experience romance now.
Perhaps, I can align forces with her. He had always been giving Heather a hard time on his own. As a result, he forgot that many people in the Langston Family had been rather unhappy with her and he was not the only one.
This is an opportunity for me. Apart from that, Everly is quite a soft person. If I exploit some of her skills, she will definitely be useful to me. With that thought in mind, Blake revealed a smile on his face. Just as he was pleased with his findings, he noticed that Heather had been looking at him with a questioning look when he returned to his senses.
Perhaps she was wondering what he had been happy about. Upon seeing that, he quickly retracted his glance. He could have looked weird as he smiled in her direction earlier. No wonder she is wondering why I’m smiling at her.
Upon seeing the different family members plotting against each other, Robert did not want Caleb to notice it. However, based on Caleb’s sharp eyes, he would probably have understood what was going on by just a few glances.
The Langston Family was indeed facing a problem. Because of the competition between Heather and Blake, the family was separated into two different groups. Even though they looked harmonious on the surface, some of them sided with Blake while others merely relished in the drama unfolding in front of them. After all, there were those who enjoyed the family dramas without thinking that it was actually quite problematic.
Apart from Blake, the rest of them did not dare to express their displeasure toward Heather. Everyone had started to become fearful of her some time ago and the resentment began to accumulate over time
Caleb could tell that Heather was not popular in her family. Indeed, she stood out from the rest in the Langston Family. Everyone else in her family was well-dressed whereas she merely wore a plain white dress with minimal makeup on her face.
Even so, she looked beautiful, but she had the air of a powerful queen. Her natural elegance made her stand out among those present. For someone like her, she would not be inconspicuous even if she was in a crowd with plain clothes. On the contrary, she would make others seem dull, which made her much better than the people who were well-dressed but rotten on the inside.
