The meal had made everyone in the Langston Family quite nervous. Upon seeing Robert’s attitude toward Caleb, everyone was doubting Caleb’s position.
Because Robert did not introduce Caleb to the Langston Family and Caleb did not make his position clear, the rest of the family members did not know how they should treat him.
On the other hand, even though Heather knew his high-ranking position, she was quite indifferent as it was nothing to her and she had no interest in the military. After all, not only was she a talented businesswoman, she also liked entrepreneurs more than military men.
An outstanding entrepreneur would warrant second glances from her, but sometimes she also wondered why she had her eyes on entrepreneurs. It was as if she had decided that she wanted her future husband to be involved in business.
After the lunch, Caleb showed no signs of leaving, but Heather wanted to look for an excuse to return to her room. However, his occasional glances at her made her swallow her words back even though she was on the verge of saying them aloud.
She extremely hated the feeling as she never had to ingratiate to anyone else. Keeping in mind that Robert had to entertain Caleb even though he was not feeling well, she could not bring herself to find an excuse to leave.
The minute she thought about how Robert had to please Caleb and accompany him even though Robert was unwell, her impression toward Caleb worsened.
Heather tried to understand what Caleb thought when she exchanged several glances with him, but he would not simply reveal his true thoughts to her, so she did not find any breakthroughs.
On the other hand, Blake was unhappy that she had received special attention from Caleb. If they were really planning to have a further relationship, Blake could be oppressed by her for the rest of his life.
Caleb did not like many people around him, so Robert asked everyone to leave after Caleb quietly whispered in Robert’s ears. Heather was delighted to hear that, thinking that she could finally escape from the meaningless socialization. After all, she had no common interests with Caleb.
To her surprise, he had purposely singled her out and asked her to stay while dismissing everyone else, which made her feel rather amused.
Of course, Robert would not leave Heather alone with Caleb, so the three of them stood awkwardly together in the garden while she supported Robert’s left hand.
Caleb was standing to their right, emanating an oppressive aura with his tall figure. He was probably around 1.9 meters tall. Heather wondered what type of food he had eaten to reach such a height that it made her look like a dwarf next to him.
Even Robert seemed short when he stood next to Caleb. As humans grew older, their height would decrease—just like Robert at this moment. He did not even reach 1.8 meters and he looked rather skinny.
Heather liked the garden in the backyard that emanated a floral scent from the flowers that seemed to be constantly blooming throughout the entire year—with the red and white flowers painting a beautiful scenery. Standing amidst the flowers, the floral scent had brightened their day.
“General Moriarty, do you have any important matters to attend to in Bradfort City?”
Upon hearing Heather’s question, Caleb stopped in his tracks and Robert’s expression immediately changed. The three of them seemed to be frozen in their tracks. It was only after a while that Caleb turned his face to address her with a slight flicker in his calm eyes, making it a rather interesting scene.
“My marriage,” he replied without any hesitation.
Robert’s face darkened as he did not expect Caleb to cut to the chase. Back then, the planned marriage between the Langston Family and the Moriarty Family had already failed. Are they going to take revenge on us? With that thought in mind, Robert tightly clenched his fists as he would not allow anyone to hurt Heather.
After being influenced by Robert, she also became slightly nervous as the topic seemed to be referring to her. Just when she was undecided on whether to play dumb or not, Caleb continued to speak.
“For a man to settle down, being in the thirties is a good age, yet I’ve already passed this stage. It’s time for me to think about my marriage now.” His tone turned slightly mellow. When he was speaking about his marriage earlier, he seemed more resentful.
“More people are getting married at a later age nowadays. Perhaps, it’s not a good benchmark to settle down in one’s thirties anymore,” Heather calmly replied since it was precisely at this moment that she needed to keep her cool.
Caleb firmly curled his lips into a slight smile as he loosened his tie. In a nonchalant way, he said, “In that case, do you think that arranged marriage is a traditional idea, Miss Langston?”
As soon as she heard the words ‘arranged marriage’, her heart sank. Sure enough, my foreboding premonition is true!
On the other hand, Robert looked like he was about to collapse anytime soon.
“Are you alright, Grandpa?” She whispered into his ears as she was worried that something could happen to him.
“I’m fine.” His low voice sounded sombre.
After being assured that Robert was doing alright, Heather raised her head to look at Caleb and replied, “It seems that arranged marriage is never out of style.” Of course, she knew perfectly well the words she should say and the ones she should avoid.
Upon hearing her reply, Caleb continued to speak, “Looks like you are not opposed to it, Miss Langston.”
After she heard his words, she felt slightly uncomfortable, but she did not know why he came to such a conclusion. As she thought about it from another angle, perhaps he merely wanted her to accept his answer, so she suppressed her objection..
“I’m neutral about it,” Heather responded with a smile to feign nonchalance.
Robert wanted to add a statement, but he did not open his mouth in the end. Since everything had reached this point, he did not want to further complicate things.
After they had finished with their walk around the garden, she no longer felt happy—no matter how nice the flowers had smelled. Not wanting her to hang out with Caleb anymore, Robert found an excuse to return to the living room. Once they were back indoors, he assumed that Caleb would not find any more excuse to continue with his stay.
Sure enough, after they had returned to the living room, he did not create further excuses to extend his stay. Instead, he left almost immediately. It was only after he had left that both Heather and Robert heaved a sigh of relief, as if a heavy burden had been lifted off their chests.
She followed him into his study after staying in the living room for a while. He decided to be frank with her about what had exactly happened. After all, judging from her intelligence, he felt that it was no longer necessary to continue to hide it from her.
Heather did not like such a situation and the study contained an oppressive aura that made her feel suffocated. Robert beat around the bush for a long time—he wanted to open up to her a few times, but he suppressed his urge in the end. In fact, she would rather that he revealed everything in a straightforward manner as she felt helpless upon seeing him deferring the topic.
“Heather, what are your thoughts on General Moriarty?” After thinking for a long time, he finally blurted out such a question.
She did not understand what he actually meant by asking that question, which made her feel rather awkward. She did not understand why he asked her such a question and it seemed quite blunt.
Nevertheless, Heather replied with honesty, “Not too good. He has a harsh air around him and I can almost smell the blood that dirtied his hands.” In conclusion, she did not like anything about him and even wondered whether he was a violent person.
“You don’t like him at all?” Robert asked again.
She shook her head. Her expression had clearly revealed everything—it was almost impossible for her to fall for Caleb. Robert had no idea what kind of reply he expected from her, but he was determined not to sacrifice her happiness.
“The arranged marriage that he mentioned earlier was with our family too?” Heather immediately voiced her question. As there were only both of them in the room, they could completely speak their minds.
“Yes,” he replied firmly as he thought about how the Langston Family had promised the Moriarty Family back then. I guess we can’t break all ties because of that incident.
“Is it with me?” She pointed at herself incredulously. After all, she had never expected to be related to something that was impossible.
“That’s right,” Robert replied arduously. He wanted to explain everything to her, but he did not know where to begin.
“It’s impossible,” Heather firmly said. It was impossible for her to have an arranged marriage with another man, let alone with Caleb, who did not leave a good impression on her at all.
“Don’t worry. Unless you are willing to do so, I won’t force you.” Robert sided with her as he did not think that Caleb was a good match for her anyway.
“Grandpa, is there something about this that I don’t know about?” As observant as she had always been, Heather could tell that there were hidden conspiracies in this event on top of being sure that there were many twists and turns about this too.
Robert wanted to speak, but he immediately stopped. How should I explain it to her? I haven’t even thought about what to say.
“I have to begin with the grudges in my generation.” He sighed. I’m so embarrassed to admit that our grudges even implicate our next generation.
“With the Moriarty Family?” She had a feeling that the connection between the Langston Family and Moriarty Family was not that simple. She had no idea whether it was good or bad, but she suspected that there were many secrets that she had no idea about.
“You can put it that way. Back then, the Moriarty Family was our family friend.” Robert recalled what had happened back then when the Moriarty Family had not even migrated to Leisfeld.
“Family friend?” Heather looked at him inquisitively as she could not imagine how they were once so close with each other.
He nodded seriously. “The Moriarty Family migrated to Leisfeld back then. They are not locals there.”
With that being mentioned, she became even more confused. He’s an immigrant in that country, but he manages to become a general in their military. I wonder what kind of extraordinary talent he has.
“Let’s head to the hospital first, Grandpa.” She did not want to continue to listen to him and he looked pale, so she wanted to bring him to the hospital.
Robert waved his hands in dismissal. “There’s no need. I understand my own body well.” Even though his body condition deteriorated and he was not as healthy as he used to be, he knew that he had not reached his limit.
“Grandpa, I would like to return to my room first.” Heather wanted to return to her room to calm herself down and she did not want to listen to the rest of the story. After all, there were many things that happened one after another recently.
It’s difficult for her too. Robert nodded heavily. It’s also fine not to tell her everything now. I just hope that Caleb doesn’t quickly take any action and buy me some time instead. This will be better for Heather to deal with it too.
The conversation had made him realize something new about her. It turns out that her reaction is different from what I’ve imagined.
Even Heather herself did not expect that she would choose not to continue listening to him. If this had happened in the past, she would want to understand Caleb, who suddenly appeared in their lives. In fact, when he arrived, she thought of using her own methods to investigate this man who emitted a certain danger around him.
