I Faked My Death—Now I Have to Tame the Crazy Men I Left Behind-Chapter 105 - 103: Piercing the Palm
The butler didn’t dare to reply.
But his expression said it all.
Hayes Hughes’s question had truly startled him.
The Hughes family, from top to bottom, seemed to have the word "gentleman" carved into their very bones.
But only the Second Young Master was truly a gentleman through and through.
This Second Young Master was gentle and refined, seemingly without a sharp edge. He was humble and polite, a stickler for rules—a true gentleman, and a rare one at that.
Any one of these traits would be a virtue, let alone having all of them embodied in one person.
And yet... he had been born into a place like the Hughes family.
The butler sighed. When the Second Young Master was very young, the Old Master had remarked that he would grow up to be a kind, warm-hearted person.
A pity he was unfit to be a Hughes.
What the Hughes family needed was an ambitious man. A leader who could support this massive, century-old clan.
He was like a sheet of white paper that had fallen into a mire. Aware of the ways of the world without being worldly, he had experienced cunning yet remained innocent.
More than twenty years had passed, yet he remained unchanged.
If Silas Grant had asked this question, the butler would have found it perfectly normal.
But coming from Hayes Hughes, it was indeed a surprise.
Then again, on second thought, it was to be expected. He was, after all, a child raised by the Hughes family.
He was plenty smart.
With just a look, Hayes Hughes understood. He knew the butler couldn’t speak plainly about certain matters and didn’t press him.
The front hall and tea room were empty. He lifted his gaze toward the third floor.
"Is Grandfather in the study?"
The butler nodded. Hayes Hughes started walking but was stopped at the elevator door.
The butler shot him a look.
He couldn’t force it.
"You know the Old Master’s temper. It’s the Mid-Autumn Festival today. You absolutely must not provoke him at a time like this..."
"The First Young Master is a perfect example."
Hayes Hughes understood his good intentions. "I know, but some things have to be made clear."
It wasn’t that he was unaware of his grandfather’s methods.
The moment Mia Grant said she’d received an invitation from his grandfather, he knew the old man was going to make a move against her...
After leaving the hospital room, he had immediately investigated Mia Grant’s movements over the past few days.
Even if someone had tampered with things, any action taken was bound to leave a trace.
And just as he’d expected, he found something.
The driver of the ride-share Mia Grant had taken first went missing, and was then discovered in a river on the outskirts of Jynsia by a fisherman...
The death was too suspicious, yet all the evidence pointed to suicide.
He refused to accept that explanation.
If it were suicide, why would a large sum of money have suddenly appeared in his account three days before his death, money he hadn’t even had time to transfer or divide?
Following the trail of clues, he found the person who had transferred the money. A stranger to most, perhaps, but someone Hayes was very familiar with.
It was an old associate who had been with his grandfather for decades.
At this point, the picture was clear.
That money was meant to buy Mia Grant’s life.
Hayes Hughes knew very well that stepping up to protect Mia Grant now might only intensify his grandfather’s rage.
But if he did nothing, his grandfather would surely find another opportunity to strike.
Since the outcome was the same either way, he might as well take a gamble.
After all, he couldn’t just stand by and do nothing.
"Even if a thousand things are wrong, it’s my fault. It has nothing to do with her. She’s just a kid."
"I’ll admit my mistakes. There’s no reason to drag her into this."
The butler sucked in a sharp breath, grabbed his arm, and yanked him back from the elevator.
"It’s a good thing you said that to me. If you’d said it to the Old Master, I swear, Miss Grant would absolutely not live to see tonight’s moon."
"..."
Hayes Hughes furrowed his brow.
"Before you came back, the First Young Master said those exact same words to the Old Master, and then..."
The butler raised his hand and gestured to his own palm. "Right here... a fountain pen, stabbed straight through."
The butler sighed. "The First Young Master was kneeling on the study floor at the time. He didn’t make a single sound."
"You didn’t see the scene... ugh."
"The Old Master said that in consideration of the holiday, he wouldn’t make a big scene. He just wanted to give the First Young Master a small reminder. But if you do the same, I’m afraid today won’t end peacefully."
The butler’s hand trembled as he recalled the scene from that morning, as if his own palm had been the one pierced.
’Who says there’s no such thing as empathy in this world?’
The First Young Master had returned in a hurry and gone straight to the Old Master to apologize the moment he’d walked in.
The Old Master didn’t care that he had secretly returned to Jynsia, nor did he care what he’d done to Ms. Hughes and the others.
What angered him was Silas Grant’s attitude.
Normally, the First Young Master was shrewd and tactful, and he understood the Old Master’s temper better than anyone.
He should have known what to say and do, and when... But in the end, he still chose to say the very things he shouldn’t have.
At the time, the Old Master had looked at the First Young Master with a smile, paused his writing, and asked, "Such pretty words. For a moment there, I was even thinking, why not just let you two have your way?"
"But you’re not the only one in our Hughes family."
"If I really did let you have your way, what about Hayes?"
"I’d like to let you compete fairly, but I feel it’s inappropriate. I’m still alive, and you two brothers are already at each other’s throats."
"If I were to die, would you really end up killing each other over a woman?"
"I’m only doing this for your own good."
"Grandfather."
The Old Master raised a hand, signaling for him to be quiet.
"This ends here. I don’t want to see blood today."
"Mia is just a kid. She doesn’t understand anything. I was the one who forced it. I’m the one at fault."
"..."
The Old Master rose in silence and walked over to the kneeling figure.
Silas Grant, who hadn’t slept all night, looked utterly disheveled. His hair, usually combed back exquisitely, now hung down along with his proud head.
"Hand."
The Old Master spoke.
Without a word, Silas Grant lifted his right hand and placed it on the square table beside him.
A sickening squelch.
The nib of the pen pierced his flesh, and the metallic scent of blood filled the air.
The butler’s shoulders trembled slightly, as if he could still hear the sound of blood flowing and dripping. Yet Silas Grant’s figure didn’t waver in the slightest, as if he felt no pain, not even batting an eye.
It was as if he was already used to it.
But when he spoke, his voice trembled faintly. "I will bear the consequences."
"One more word of nonsense, and I won’t mind chopping off her fingers tonight and sending them to you." The Old Master shot him a cold glance, then rose and left the study.
"First... First Young Master..."
Silas Grant looked up, a hint of a smile in his dark eyes behind his glasses. He slowly, deliberately, raised his hand, pulled the fountain pen from his palm, and tossed it onto the table.
"Would you mind making a call to Jynsia for me?"
"...I’m afraid I can’t."
Silas Grant smiled and nodded, not making things difficult for him.
He stood up, his hanging hand still dripping blood.
"I’ll call the family doctor for you!"
Silas Grant paid him no mind, glancing out the window. "It’s the Mid-Autumn Festival. Thankfully, she’s not alone."
"You... why must you do this?"
"You think it’s childish, don’t you?" 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚
"I used to think so, too."
The man accepted the handkerchief with a light chuckle, slowly and deliberately wiping the blood from his fingers with an air of refined elegance.
"But now... loving her is nothing to be ashamed of."
