Chapter 1127: Chapter 1127: Living a Proper, Peaceful Life—Marriage and Children

When Leah woke up from her dream, it was just past three in the morning. The Squire Manor was far from the bustling area, nestled within a tranquil villa cluster. Everything was silent, not even the chirping of birds could be heard. Perhaps winter was approaching, and they were all hibernating.

She casually threw on a coat and walked to the balcony, looking at the whitening sky in the East. These days, she didn’t know why, but she always dreamt of some inexplicable scenes. A tall man’s silhouette frequently appeared in her dreams, with a deep, magnetic voice. She kept chasing him, but she could never catch up. When she didn’t dream of the man, she would dream of herself holding a wailing baby.

Perhaps the environment in the Golden Triangle was too harsh. For the past five years, she had either been recuperating or being constantly pursued and hunted. Her nerves were perpetually tense. After arriving in the South Seas, life suddenly became leisurely and relaxed, leading to such dreams.

Delphine said, the things you think during the day are the things you dream about at night. Perhaps it’s related to her past experiences.

Every time Leah asked about past events, Griffith Squire would get in a bad mood. Over time, she stopped asking. For the past five years, she had lived a life licking blood off the blade with Griffith Squire, and the past to her seemed to have turned to dust and ashes, no longer important.

After waking up in the middle of the night, Leah couldn’t fall back asleep. So she decided to go downstairs to get something to eat. Just as she descended, Griffith Squire returned, with Cornelius Turner following behind.

Cornelius Turner’s voice was somewhat hoarse and indistinct in the night: "Sent people specifically to the Golden Triangle to investigate my and Eamon’s affairs. The people over there in the Imperial City must be suspicious."

Leah paused mid-step, remaining still.

Griffith Squire entered the living room, took some red wine from the wine cabinet, poured two glasses, and stood by the sofa, taking a sip. He said leisurely, "Did someone notice your trip back home before the New Year, following the trail to uncover your identity?"

"Probably, I didn’t expect them to still be investigating things from back then." Cornelius Turner’s expression darkened slightly, his voice hoarse as he spoke, "I just wanted to pay respects to Eamon and send him home."

Griffith Squire patted his shoulder, saying deeply, "Eamon’s matter is something my sister and I owe you, but even if the Imperial City discovers something, don’t panic. Now that I’ve gone legit here in the South Seas, when things stabilize in a couple of years, you can come over too, live a proper and stable life, marry and have children, leave an heir for your family."

Now that he had secured his position in the South Seas, even if Richard Shaw discovered his and Leah’s identities, it wouldn’t matter. It’s been five years, and he was no longer the Griffith Squire of the past. He could take on a retired major general with crippled legs, and the Shaw Family should be the ones to worry. Once the matters of the past were exposed, they’d be the first to suffer.

"Boss, if it weren’t for you saving us brothers back then, we would have died long ago. You and Miss Bessie owe us nothing," Cornelius Turner said. "The people here in the South Seas are all materialistic and greedy; they only fear you because of our power in the Golden Triangle. It’s best that I remain there."

Griffith Squire smirked, his handsome face revealing a sliver of contemplation. He said calmly, "In two years, it won’t be impossible to keep watch. As for the brothers who follow us, I have my arrangements."

Griffith Squire always intended to collaborate with the government. If an agreement was reached, maybe the brothers following him could become legitimate soldiers, freeing themselves from their current ambiguous state.

The two conversed quietly, and Leah stood motionless by the staircase. It was the first time she realized Cornelius Turner had a brother, and it seemed he died because of the siblings. But why hadn’t Cornelius mentioned this over the years?

Leah suddenly realized that her past might not be some melodramatic tale of abandoning wife and children, but perhaps it was mingled with blood and hatred.

Feeling a slight suffocation at her chest, she suddenly no longer wanted to know about the past. Seeing that Griffith hadn’t noticed her, she silently returned upstairs.

With the arrival of winter, Chinese New Year’s Eve was approaching quickly. In previous years, they spent it fearfully in the Golden Triangle, but this year, they were in the South Seas. Even Griffith Squire seemed much happier, shedding his cold and sinister smile, inviting Cornelius, Uncle Hao, and other close confidants to join the festivities. He even spent a fortune to hire a fireworks master from the United Kingdom to perform.

On New Year’s Eve, Leah originally intended to have Delphine come over for the New Year, but Ignatius Leclair stuck to her like glue, couldn’t be shaken off, and forcibly kept Delphine at the Leclair House for the celebrations.

Leah’s accumulated anger over the past six months toward this so-called Crown Prince of the South Seas reached its peak. Those with power and influence should be different from the likes of them, children of hardship. They loved or hated distinctly, liking someone was just that. Ignatius Leclair was like a mentally split patient, passionately fond one moment, cold and indifferent the next. It’s fortunate Delphine was so indifferent, for if it were someone else, they would have either been driven mad or driven to suicide.

Thankfully, Delphine was quite indifferent about it. After entangling with Ignatius Leclair for years, she wasn’t particularly attached to him and planned to escape his control during Bessie Leclair’s wedding on the eighth day of the new lunar month. Leah wholeheartedly agreed, after all, three-legged toads are hard to find, but two-legged men are everywhere.

After the New Year’s Eve dinner, Leah sat in the courtyard, looking up at the fireworks. This grand display in the South Seas captured national attention, even the livestream was being watched by Richard Shaw far away in the Imperial City.

The man was returning to the Shaw Family’s house for the first time in six years for the New Year. Casimir Shaw wanted to watch the evening entertainment on New Year’s Eve, and thus the elderly lady led a grand entourage of the family’s juniors to the event site, taking the little great-grandchild with them.

Richard Shaw sat alone in the courtyard. The man rarely stayed at the Shaw Mansion. Every blade of grass and tree there, every piece of furniture and balcony, could at any moment transform into her image. She might suddenly reach out to tap his shoulder, appearing from the bedroom, the balcony, or any corner, pouting her lips, and coquettishly calling him, "Wooden-Head Shaw."

He frequently found himself in a daze, anxiously searching around, only to find the quiet old house, the flowers and plants waiting year after year to wither, and nothing else.

Later, Richard Shaw seldom returned. Occasionally visiting the elderly lady but wouldn’t stay over.

Those nights, filled with subtle scents, would grow like wild grass in a summer night, smothering him until he couldn’t breathe.

The man didn’t know how long he sat in the courtyard on that winter’s New Year’s Eve. After Shou conversed the departing well-wishers, he brought news from the Golden Triangle, speaking lowly, "Major General, Cornelius went to the South Seas to spend the New Year with the Squire siblings. Among those who went was a middle-aged uncle in his late forties. That man has been in the Imperial City for over ten years; it was around the year your wife met misfortune that he disappeared."

Richard Shaw’s handsome, cold face suddenly stiffened, gripping the Buddha beads on his wrist tightly. If Eamon Turner and Cornelius Turner being long-lost brothers was a coincidence, then what purpose does Griffith Squire’s people frequently visiting the Imperial City serve?

"On the eighth day of the lunar new year, a trip to the South Seas," the man stated with lowered eyes, his voice deep and commanding.