Elaine released Stella unwillingly and took a step backward and quickly held Stella's hands tightly,
looking sad.
Stella stroke her hair, looked at her red swollen eyes and asked softly, "You looked skinnier. Have you
not eaten anything these few days?"
"No appetite… But I had some before coming here."
Stella let out a quiet sigh not knowing what to say to her. "Let's go," she finally said, holding her hand.
Elaine looked up and realized Darnell had disappeared from around her.
They arrived in the main hall and saw Hilbert's portrait placed in the center, looking amiable.
Elaine's nose tingled when she saw the portrait. She followed behind Clarence and Stella to pay her
respect to Hilbert, muttering, "Great-grandpa, I'll be obedient and listen to dad from now on and won't
ever make him angry again."
She then took her last bow and bid goodbye.
After that, they headed towards the room beside the hall and heard noises coming from outside.
Stella turned around and saw someone walking in slowly across the crowd.
It was Caesar James.
The James families were startled by his sudden appearance. Some were even frightened as everyone
thought he died ten years ago.
Caesar ignored the gazes of people around and walked straight to Elaine, smiling, "Elaine."
Elaine stared at him and felt terrified. She quickly took a step backward and hid behind Stella.
Caesar pushed his glasses into place. His smile widened when he looked towards Stella, "Ms. Radomil
and Mr. Conrad are here too."
"Compared to us, you seem to be less welcome here," Clarence said casually.
"No one is welcome to a ceremony like this," Caesar replied.
He then went in front of Hilbert's portrait and pay his respect slovenly.
His behavior was extremely rude in others' eyes.
The elders frowned upon his rudeness, "How could you…"
Caesar couldn't care less. He took out a napkin, wiped his fingers and turned to them, "Only the living
cares about rules, not the dead."
His words infuriated the man who spoke just now. He trembled holding his walking stick. Elaine hurried
up to help. She looked at Caesar and shouted, "You are too over the line, uncle!"
Caesar smiled, "You are still too young to understand it, Elaine. You'll agree with me when you grow
older."
"Since you dislike following the rules and have no respect for the dead, why waste time attending the
funeral?" Stella denounced.
Caesar looked to her, "Such a good question Ms. Radomil. I'm here today not for the funeral; it's just
time for me to come back after leaving the James family for so long."
Stella opened her mouth but her words were stopped by a pull from Clarence.
"Don't waste your breath on him," he whispered.
Caesar was eagerly waiting for someone to start a fight with him. The fiercer the fight, the happier he
got.
Franklin came from the room beside the hall, his face darkened when he saw Caesar, "What are you
doing here?"
Caesar greeted him with a smile, "Long time no see, Franklin."
Franklin swept a glance at the surrounding people, many of them were whispering about the sudden
appearance of Caesar today.
He frowned slightly as his face darkened.
After a moment, he said, "Let's talk in the room beside."
Caesar disagreed, "No, we can talk here. I believe everyone here wants to know how I came back alive
from death."
He looked at Clarence as he spoke, "Or who is this man standing right here, what is his identity and
why do he and Darnell resemble each other."
Knowing what he was about to say, Franklin shouted angrily, "Stop the nonsense!"
Caesar was calm, "I'm just filling up the blanks for everyone here. Every single word I uttered is true.
Franklin, are you trying to stop me from telling the truth, hoping that this secret will be buried together
with Hilbert?"
With such a scene created by Caesar, the crowd filling the main hall became bigger, almost all the
members of the James arrived.
Caesar turned to him, "What I'm about to tell is a secret incident that happened twenty years ago."
"I believe everyone here is well aware that Dolores, the daughter of the previous Master of Riverside,
Bancroft, willingly removed herself from the James family tree and disowned herself from the family for
the sake of her forbidden love. As the Master of Riverside, Bancroft was supposed to be the role model
but what had he done?"
"He discovered after sending someone to investigate at City N that his daughter's forbidden love was
nothing but an affair with a married man, and she even gave birth to a son out of wedlock. To make the
Conrad's accept that bastard, he plotted a car accident and caused the eldest son who is the initial heir
of the Conrad to spend his entire life in a wheelchair."
Stella held Clarence's hand in silence.
Caesar continued, "Due to his selfishness, not only did he violate the rules of the James family for the
sake of a person who had been removed from the family tree; he also caused harm to the innocent and
destroyed our family name. I wish to ask, is such a person qualified to be the Master of Riverside?"
Someone in the crowd voiced up, "But… Bancroft is dead. The current Master is…"
Caesar enraged, "He is dead, so we should just forget about what he had done?"
One of the elders said, "Yes he was wrong and if you would like to seek justice, you may go to Darnell.
This is your grandpa's funeral. It's inappropriate of you to speak about this now…"
"I'm sure he's well aware of what Bancroft did twenty years ago. I think he kept it hidden intentionally.
The James had committed such severe crime. None of them is innocent!"
"That's enough! What is the meaning of telling all this here? Stop making a scene!" Franklin yelled out.
Caesar laughed, "Oh Franklin, I almost forgot that you were one of the many who committed the crime
too. So I have a question, does the family rules and moral teachings you always speak about actually
mean anything to you? Since you were able to do such a shameless act that put shame on the family,
are you not ashamed?"
"You are angry now just because you are no exception, kicked out after being a disgrace to the family."
Caesar turned his head following the voice, his grin widened and he said casually, "Don't use me as a
shield, Mr. Conrad. We are talking about you. How do you feel about snatching away things that
belonged to your brother from another mother? Stepping on his broken legs and living his life, how
does it feel?"
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