Chapter 3 3

Chapter 3

My mother was the legitimate daughter of the prominent Bryant family in Graiby. Our ancestors once followed the emperor into battle, serving as military generals. After peace was restored to the land, they retired to their hometown, but the emperor's favor still lingered.

My father, on the other hand, was just a scholar in scholar's robes back then, and my mother married beneath her status to be with him.

In less than two hours, my brother's belongings were moved to my courtyard.

I asked, "Samuel, tell me, why do you often get into fights and arguments at school?"

My brother glanced at me cautiously and said, "It's Victor. He always finds people to bully me. They even say... they say that you are dying, sister."

Victor, my stepmother's son.

Not long after my mother passed away, my stepmother brought her children into the Bryant family's home. Her husband had been dead for over five years by then. Coincidentally, her father had once done a great favor for the Bryant family many years ago, so my father married her under the pretense of overseeing the household affairs and taking care of my brother and me.

After my spirit left my body, I overheard a conversation between Nora and my stepmother, revealing that they were both my father's biological children. If Nora and Victor were my father's children, then my mother's death and the death of my stepmother's husband might not have been accidents.

Nora was only two years younger than me, and Victor was the same age as my brother.

Father, you better hope I don't find out that you betrayed my mother and even participated in her murder.

"Sister, I will go to school. I won't fight with him," my brother said, his nature kind and resilient. Despite being misled by our stepmother for so long, he was still a good child.

"No need to tolerate it." I stroked the jade hairpin my mother had given me. "You are the eldest son of the Bryant family. He is just a stepson, practically a servant. How can he compare to you?"

"David, assign two guards to accompany my brother. If anyone causes trouble, they should intervene."

"Understood, sister. I will make sure Victor is beaten to the ground," my brother replied excitedly.

On his first day back at school, my brother got into a fight with Victor. To be precise, my brother and the guards beat up Victor and his cronies.

Victor returned home, crying and insisting that our father and stepmother punish my brother. But they didn't expect me to show up in the main hall.

"What, while I was in a coma, did my stepmother allow Victor to bully my brother?" I deliberately emphasized "Victor" to highlight that he was not of our bloodline.

My stepmother was stunned and quickly made Victor kneel. "What happened today? Why were you beaten?" She tried to guide Victor to blame my brother.

Victor recounted the events in a shrill voice.

Father frowned and asked me, "Did you have the guards follow Samuel and join him in beating Victor?"

"It's Victor. He is a stepson and cannot enter the Bryant family's ancestral hall or change his surname to Bryant." I sneered at my father. "Isn't that right, Father?"

"He repeatedly found people to bully and mock Samuel. Did you not know, or did you pretend not to know?" My voice carried a hint of sarcasm.

Seeing my anger, my stepmother quickly made Victor kowtow. "How could you be so unruly!" She then hurriedly said to me, "They are just children, Haylen. Don't be angry and harm your health."

"Is my stepmother cursing me?" I stood up, my gaze as piercing as a blade. "From now on, no one in the Bryant family is allowed to call him Victor."

Father remained silent, his eyes fixed on me.

I knew he was seeing my mother through me.

That night, Victor was punished by being made to kneel in the ancestral hall.

My stepmother was cunning. This way, the rumor that I was cruel to my stepbrother would spread.