Knowing that he couldn’t change Caspian’s mind, John relented and said helplessly, “Alright. In that case, I’ll spend the night at
the villa with you.”
“Why would you stay at the villa? Didn’t they arrange
accommodations for you?” Caspian asked with a frown.
“You’re Lord Caspian and the chief commander! I’m obligated to watch out for your safety!” John declared with conviction.
“No need. I have Sylvia, Macy, and the armored battalion with me. You don’t have to worry about my safety. You should return to
South Aridlands to supervise the battle situation there,” Caspian instructed.
“Oh, alright. Make sure you keep yourself safe, sir!”
Truth be told, John didn’t think it was all that appropriate for him to stay at Caspian’s villa either. What if Caspian wanted to
spend some
alone time with Willow?
John certainly didn’t want to get in their way.
Soon, John set off for South Aridlands, and Caspian returned to Riverside Villa with over a thousand special forces soldiers in
tow.
The Stewarts trudged back to Stewart Residence in despondence.
“I never thought Caspian would turn out to be a big shot! Why didn’t we realize it sooner?” Marilyn exclaimed regretfully.
Although Fabian had died at Caspian’s hands, Marilyn had to force herself to forget about that. After all, Caspian was the
Diatoranian God of War. As long as they ingratiated themselves to him, they could
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“Don’t be upset, Grandma,” Alicia consoled her. “Caspian did too good of a job hiding his real identity. We can’t be blamed for not
realizing it sooner.”
“How can I not be upset? If our family had a good relationship with Caspian, who would dare to offend us? They’d be bowing at
our feet instead! As long as we can mend our relationship with Willow, we’ll be set for life!” Marilyn said.
“Knowing what Caspian’s like, he’s never going to forgive us—not unless we win Willow over. But Willow is also disappointed in
us, so we can’t do anything,” Donald said.
“Willow’s so heartless! We’re still her family. How can she not show us some respect?” Alicia ranted.
“That’s right! Now that she knows her husband is a big shot, she’s turning her back on all of us! Even though I didn’t give birth to
her myself, I did raise her!” Kate growled through gritted teeth.
All the Stewarts resented Willow.
“I told you guys to stop ridiculing Willow and Caspian, but you guys refused to heed my words,” Carl reminded. “Well, look what
that has led to. They refuse to forgive all of you! Things wouldn’t have turned out like this if you guys had only just treated them
better in the past.”
“What’s the point of criticizing us now, huh, Carl? Are you so happy that we now have to fawn over them?” Marilyn snapped.
“I’m just telling the truth, Mom. What you guys did was wrong, but even now, you still don’t realize your mistake. You’re trying to
blame Willow for this situation instead. Don’t you feel even an ounce of
remorse?” Carl asked.
“What mistake? We didn’t do anything wrong. It’s all Caspian’s fault.
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YIBy uIuTIC INS IS THSTII) II II༦ IIa༥ J-ot vī༥ -o -JUut III9 background sooner, we wouldn’t have made life difficult for him. He’s to
blame for hiding his identity for no good reason!” Marilyn rotorted.
Rendered speechless by the family’s attitude, Carl couldn
bothered to try and talk some sense into them anymore.
“This is partly your fault too, Carl. Willow’s your daughter, and y also to blame for the fact that she has turned her back on the
family. Look at how she has turned out! How dare she defy her family?”
Donald criticized.
“That’s right! If you had raised Willow properly, she wouldn’t have turned out like this,” Marilyn added in agreement.
Carl was exasperated. The Stewarts had said such mean and cruel things to Willow, and they were now shoving all the blame for
the situation onto him.
He didn’t feel like arguing with them, so he kept quiet.
“It doesn’t seem like Willow’s going to forgive us, so we don’t need to hold back either,” Kate piped up.
“What do you mean by that, Kate? Willow doesn’t care about us anymore,” Donald said.
“She thinks she and Caspian can do whatever they want just because he’s an important figure, right? Well, I’ve thought of a way
to make her suffer,” Kate declared viciously.
“What’s your idea?” Marilyn asked.
“Well, I think it’s extremely likely that Caspian’s the chief commander
of South Aridlands!” Kate said.
Everyone was thunderstruck.
Kate continued, “Right now, everyone in Southlake City resents the
much. In
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cowardly chief commander, I’m sure many people will come forward to rebuke him!
“When the time comes, Caspian’s reputation will be ruined, and
Willow will also be the subject of everyone’s contempt!”
After hearing what she said, everyone understood what she was suggesting.
“It has to be Caspian! It’s not surprising that a loser like him made such a cowardly move. He must’ve called for the retreat of the
maritime troops!”
“That’s right. He holds an even higher rank than General Anderson, so it can’t be anyone else.”
“I think you all have a point! It’s definitely Caspian!”
“Exactly! Caspian has always been a good-for-nothing. I wonder how he even got promoted to his position!”
“So what if he’s a big shot? Can he withstand the public outrage against him? The power of the people is not to be
underestimated!”
“We should make Caspian and Willow the target of the public’s outrage!”
The Stewarts were thrilled. They had finally stumbled across a way to deal with Caspian and Willow.
“You’re playing with fire here. Aren’t you going to even stop and consider the consequences of your actions?” Carl cried out
anxiously.
“What’s there for us to fear?” Marilyn snorted.
“Considering who Caspian is, surely there’s a valid reason why he made such a decision. You guys need to watch out, or you
might get arrested for stirring up rumors!” Carl advised.
“What a joke! No matter how powerful Caspian is, he wouldn’t dare to get us arrested over something like this!” Kate said.
“That’s right! Since they’re not going to forgive us anyway, we don’t need to bother playing nice with them either!” Alicia declared
wickedly.
Over at Riverside Villa, Willow and Zoey were in the living room watching television when they heard a commotion outside.
When they stepped out to take a look, they saw a long line of tanks and armored vehicles filling up the road.
They were ecstatic. It had to be Caspian who had come!
At the very next moment, a sea of soldiers got off the vehicles and formed two neat rows on the sides of the road.
Then, Caspian stepped out of an SUV.
Willow was taken aback. She didn’t expect Caspian to come home during such a critical time. She felt a stir in her heart.
Sylvia, Macy, and the others saluted Caspian as he entered the villa’s compound without saying anything.
As he approached Willow, her breath got caught in her throat, and her body tensed up.
They had only been apart for a few days, but for some reason, seeing him now made her emotional.