The butler was never a good liar. At this moment, Heather halted her steps. This matter shouldn’t be rushed, so she went back to sit on the couch. Nevertheless, she felt flustered and uneasy because she had a hunch that a crisis was approaching the Langston Family due to Robert’s actions.
“Sit down,” Heather ordered the butler.
The butler took a seat across Heather. Seeing Heather’s serious look, the butler had an ominous feeling that he was about to be interrogated.
“Was it Grandpa’s order to renovate the house?” Heather asked in an unsettled tone.
The butler knew this wasn’t a simple matter when he heard Heather’s tone, and he didn’t know how to respond to Heather because no matter what he said, she would surely catch him tripping.
“I know you won’t lie to me, so please tell me the truth.” Heather threw the butler a faint smile, one that was as cunning as a preying fox’s.
“Miss Heather, it was indeed Old Master Langston’s order,” the butler replied honestly as he didn’t dare to bluff Heather.
“Then, can you tell me why Grandpa wanted to renovate the house all of a sudden?” Heather thought it was rather unnecessary since the house was still pretty new.
“I’m not too sure either.” The butler’s eyes flickered. In fact, he had the same question before this, but he didn’t dare to question Robert.
The butler felt uneasy as Heather continued staring at him. No one would be able to bear being stared at with such a gaze. Perceiving that the butler wasn’t lying, Heather reckoned Robert did not tell anyone the real intention of him doing so. This made her more anxious to get the truth from Robert as soon as possible.
“Did something happen in the Langston Family lately?” Heather asked the butler, thinking that he should understand the intention behind her question.
The butler lifted his head to look at Heather. This time, he really didn’t know how to reply to Heather. Numerous things had occurred recently, but Robert had instructed him to not tell Heather.
“What is it? Do you find it inconvenient to tell me?” Heather wore a cold smile which sent a chill down the butler’s spine. Seeing Heather’s expression, the butler didn’t have the guts to carry on with the conversation.
He turned away as he didn’t dare to face Heather. Knowing Heather’s finesse, the butler knew for sure that he was dead meat. But at the same time, he wondered why she would take things so seriously out of the blue.
“Look at me,” Heather commanded.
In the butler’s eyes, Heather was actually very similar to Robert. It was difficult to deal with them when they got serious. As the butler was forced to look at Heather, his mind was so messy that he didn’t even have the courage to speak up.
“Are you keeping something from me?” Heather gradually lured the butler into telling her the truth as she knew nothing would be able to escape from her sharp eyes.
“Not at all,” the butler denied it immediately, raising Heather’s suspicion even more.
“Are you sure?” Heather asked again. She knew the butler was lying because she could see how flustered he was.
“Miss Heather, what exactly would you like to know?” the butler asked helplessly. He was actually regretting not avoiding Heather earlier.
“I want to know what happened in the Langston Family recently. Is there something that you can’t tell me?” Heather’s tone was hostile. She hated to be kept in the dark, especially by her family.
“Miss Heather, I really don’t know how to answer that. Nothing out of the ordinary has happened in the family recently. Everything is fine.” The butler’s deliberate emphasis made it seem like he was trying to cover something up.
“Great. I’ve understood your meaning.” Heather gazed at the butler with a half-smile. She was torturing the butler mentally as he was the only one that she could approach.
This was because her tricks wouldn’t work on Robert, and as for the other members of the family, she had no interest in getting into a conversation with them. Back then, she spent a great deal of effort to become close with Everly, but the outcome was far from her expectation as she had even found out about her little secret. Currently, Heather had a visceral dislike for the Langstons.
Besides Robert, the only person whom Heather felt close to in the entire Langston Family was the butler. More often than once, Heather respected the butler as an elder. But that wasn’t the case now. All Heather wanted was to obtain the information from him. Nevertheless, she was rather disappointed with the butler’s reaction as she didn’t expect that even he wouldn’t side with her at this moment.
“I guess I can only ask Grandpa then.” Heather sighed. She didn’t want to disturb Robert’s peace, but she desperately needed an answer now.
Heather’s fear was becoming more intense as she had never thought that there would be a day Robert could be this irrational. She had heard of many stories about Robert’s difficulties throughout the years. If Robert was the one bringing the problems to himself, then Heather thought her sacrifices in the past few years would be meaningless.
“Please don’t go looking for Old Master Langston. His health has been very bad recently, so please don’t disturb him anymore, Miss Heather,” the butler pleaded in agony. The last thing he wanted was to see Robert and Heather turning on each other as they did now.
“What did you say? Why didn’t you tell me earlier that Grandpa’s health is becoming worse?” Heather stood up from the couch agitatedly, wanting to see Robert right now.
“Miss Heather, please don’t go to Old Master Langston. I’m begging you.” The butler grasped Heather from behind. In fact, he had never stepped out of line like he did now.
“Let go of me! I want to go see Grandpa!” Guilt-stricken, Heather couldn’t calm down at all.
“Please don’t. Old Master Langston has ordered to refrain you from going to him,” the butler said in a quandary. This wasn’t his intention, but since it was Robert’s order, he could only obey.
“Why? Why doesn’t Grandpa want to see me?” Heather refused to believe. Robert doted on her so much, so how was it possible that he didn’t want to see her at this point when he was being tortured by his illness?
“Please stop asking, Miss Heather. Old Master Langston really doesn’t want to see you.” The butler had no choice but to put it in a harsh way as he couldn’t allow Heather to do as she pleased.
“Give me a reason.” Heather broke away from the butler and stopped insisting on seeing Robert as her rationality had temporarily overcome her impulse.
“Old Master Langston has exhorted me to not let you go and see him,” the butler answered carefully, but Heather was very dissatisfied with his answer.
Turning around, Heather was planning to break into Robert’s room. She knew Robert must be upstairs in his room at this time.
“Miss Heather, please don’t! Old Master Langston doesn’t want you to see him in his current state.” The butler was close to kneeling down before Heather. He knew Robert was the one Heather cared for the most, and no one could predict what Heather would do next.
“I have to go. I want to see Grandpa,” Heather said in distress. At this moment, she felt extremely unfilial as she had not even noticed that her grandfather was terribly sick.
“Miss Heather, please obey Old Master Langston’s order and don’t provoke him. He can’t afford to be angry in his current condition,” the butler urged Heather from behind. He was very worried that he wouldn’t be able to stop her.
With that, Heather suddenly felt like her legs were a thousand times heavier as she couldn’t take a step forward anymore. Biting her lips, she didn’t know how to express how she was feeling at this moment.
Just then, she recalled a promise Robert made with her when she was still a kid. “Heather, I don’t want you to see me being weak. Can you promise me to not be at my sickbed in the future?”
Heather held back her tears as she recalled their agreement. It was only then did she realize that Robert was very sick and he might not survive the illness this time. She resented herself to the core for having a conflict with him some time ago.
“Fine. I promise to not see Grandpa, but I’d like to hear his voice.” Heather agreed to not see Robert’s pathetic look as he was being tormented by his illness, but she longed to hear his voice and talk with him once more.
“I…” The butler was in a dilemma. Although the request didn’t seem to go against Robert’s order, he was worried that it would anger him.
“Please.” Heather didn’t dare to look at the butler. She was afraid that she wouldn’t be able to hold back her tears.
Heather was not as strong as she had imagined. In fact, she could easily cry since she had been a crybaby ever since she was young. If it wasn’t for Robert’s dedicated guidance, she wouldn’t be who she was now.
The butler nodded as he knew he wouldn’t be able to stop Heather. Moreover, her request wasn’t too much, so he decided to just let her be.
Heather began to walk up the stairs. Every step she took was heavy. She had not thought that this day would arrive this fast, and neither did she know the reason why Robert’s health deteriorated all of a sudden. Because of that, she even suspected she was the cause of his illness. The closer she walked to the room, the more she reprimanded herself. She abhorred herself for being wilful.
When she arrived at Robert’s room, she stared at the door, knowing that she could only stay outside the room. She reached out her hand and knocked on the door.
“Who is it?” Robert’s shaky voice emerged.
“Grandpa, it’s me,” Heather answered from the outside with a voice loud enough for Robert to hear. “I’m not coming in, Grandpa. I’m just going to stand out here to talk to you.” Heather couldn’t live without Robert––she just can’t. At this point in time, she resented God for delivering such a heavy blow to her once again.
“You’re still as disobedient as ever, Heather,” Robert croaked in resignation. He even felt exhausted just by speaking. His current state was similar to that of a disabled person, so naturally, he wouldn’t want Heather to see him in this state.
“I’m sorry, Grandpa. I’ve made you worry.” Standing outside the room, Heather was guilt-stricken. She had no way to help Robert recover, and she felt helpless because she couldn’t control life and death.
“My greatest distress is that I can’t see you get married.” As a matter of fact, Robert had regrets too; he didn’t want to pass on just yet, for he had yet to see Heather in a beautiful white bridal gown.
“Grandpa, I’ve already found a suitable candidate. Will you be able to come to my wedding?” At this moment, Heather could no longer think rationally. She was even willing to throw a wedding for the sake of Robert.
“Silly girl, you and Matthias have not confirmed your relationship yet. How can you rush into marriage? You guys don’t know each other well enough yet.” Although Robert was rather fond of Matthias, he was still not convinced enough to let Heather marry him yet.
“Grandpa, I know you’re worried that the complications between the Langston Family and the Locke Family would affect my relationship with Matthias. To be honest, I’m not that fond of him either.” Tears streamed down Heather’s face silently. She didn’t want to be entangled with Matthias anymore because Robert wouldn’t be able to hold out any longer.
