Chapter 2 Grandfather's Birthday

Coming out of the hospital, a sudden thunderclap crashed down from above, and the rain that had been brewing for days poured down.

Victoria stood in the heavy rain, carrying a small bag, looking especially desolate.

Her biological parents had already contacted Victoria before, so she came straight out of the hospital with her belongings, glanced in the direction of the Smith mansion, and smiled faintly: "The Smith family, goodbye forever."

Her phone rang at an inopportune moment. Victoria answered, and before she could say anything, she heard cursing from the other end.

"Does the Smith family have no shame at all? Before, I just thought they were biased, but I realize they were just heartless!"

"But this is good too. Without blood ties holding you back, you can live more freely."

"A bunch of brainless idiots, do they really think blood transfusions can cure Emily's illness? If it weren't for you, Emily would have died long ago. And that Oliver, does he really think he's so clever? If you hadn't been mediating, the Smith family would have been done for ages ago. So infuriating!"

Listening to Clara Brown's rambling curses on the phone, Victoria felt an inexplicable warmth in her heart and smiled faintly: "Yeah, we're even now."

"How can you be so calm about this?" Clara sighed on the other end, but quickly changed the subject: "So, what are you planning to do now?"

"My biological parents sent someone to pick me up."

Victoria's eyes fell on a BMW not far away, matching the license plate number from the text message: "They're here."

"Are you really going back? Is that necessary?" Clara was genuinely worried that Victoria was jumping out of the frying pan into the fire.

"I need to go back."

Victoria replied flatly: "They're here, gotta go."

Since childhood, Victoria had always been indifferent to family affection. Going back to see them was just to give herself closure.

The BMW quickly drove over and stopped in front of Victoria. The car door opened, first a black umbrella appeared, then a man got out, tall and handsome.

The man held the umbrella and walked to Victoria's side: "Are you Victoria?"

Victoria glanced at the man. He looked familiar somehow, but she couldn't remember where she'd seen him. She nodded obediently: "I'm Victoria."

The man's smile widened: "Hello, I'm Michael, your cousin. Grandfather sent me to pick you up."

Cousin, Michael Windsor.

Victoria memorized the name and smiled back at Michael: "Michael, sorry for the trouble."

Michael thought the young girl in front of him looked delicate and beautiful, even more so than the elders had described. Although she was dressed simply, with that face alone, she could outshine countless entertainment stars.

"Let's go, Grandfather is waiting for you at home." Michael stepped forward but noticed that Victoria had no luggage.

"Victoria, where's your luggage?"

Victoria smiled slightly and patted her backpack: "It's all here."

After all those years with the Smith family, this was all she had?

Michael instinctively felt that Victoria hadn't had it easy all these years.

"There's another person in the car, a friend of our family. Our families go way back."

"Noisy."

The man sitting beside her suddenly spoke, his voice not loud but carrying a hint of impatience.

Hitching a ride and still so entitled?

Victoria glanced at the man and instinctively moved aside. She didn't want to provoke him.

Michael, rebuked, sheepishly shut his mouth.

The car drove smoothly along the road. Inside, it was eerily quiet, with only the sound of raindrops hitting the windows.

Michael was a chatterbox, but he was silenced by the powerful auras of these two people.

Victoria kept her eyes fixed outside. She recognized that at the end of this road was Emerald City's most luxurious villa district, Palisades Blue.

The people living there were either rich or powerful.

Before getting in the car, Michael had said they were going home.

But weren't her biological parents teachers in a small town? How could they afford to live here?

Victoria felt something was off.

While she watched out the window, the man beside her was watching her.

The man clearly sensed Victoria's deliberate distance and coldness, but he didn't mind. Over the years, too many women had thrown themselves at him. He wasn't interested in that.

But this one in front of him was different. The man's eyes darkened—how he wished she could be like those other women, throwing herself at him with joy when she saw him.

After all these years, she probably didn't remember him anymore, and she was completely different from when she was little.

Victoria felt the man's gaze. She didn't like being looked at this way. She turned her head to meet his eyes directly, with a questioning look.

The man's lips curved slightly upward, and he suddenly extended his hand: "I'm Caspian Howard."

"I'm Victoria."

Victoria didn't shake his hand, just replied flatly out of politeness.

Hearing the conversation behind him, Michael almost drove the car into the ditch beside the road. These two had brought the atmosphere in the car to absolute zero.

Caspian wasn't angry. He just looked at Victoria carefully, his lips slightly upturned, his eyes holding a hint of tenderness.

Victoria was very sensitive to such emotions. She didn't understand why this man, meeting her for the first time, looked at her with a strange feeling of reunion after a long separation.

She turned her face away, avoiding those dark eyes. Victoria didn't want to invite trouble.

After this brief exchange, the car returned to its previous silence, and the atmosphere became somewhat oppressive.

Michael felt that spending too much time with these two might make him depressed.

He silently sped up, wanting to end this suffering quickly.

The car soon stopped at the entrance of Palisades Blue. Whether by luck or not, the pouring rain outside had also stopped. This rain came and went quickly, just like Victoria's ill-fated relationship with the Smith family.

The three of them walked side by side. Suddenly, Michael slapped his forehead hard and looked at Victoria apologetically: "All this way, I knew I forgot something. Victoria, I'm sorry, I forgot to tell you that today is Grandfather's birthday. Oh man, I should have bought some gifts on the way!"

The more he spoke, the more annoyed he became. Michael now wished he could pull his own head off. How embarrassing!

Victoria looked at Michael's distressed expression. It didn't seem like an act.

He probably didn't forget to mention it on purpose.

"Are there a lot of people?"