NABC Chapter 312 - 310: Her Fox Tail
Chapter 312 - 310: Her Fox Tail
No two people in this world are exactly the same.
Even if their looks are identical, you can always find a tell in their personality.
And at first, after Mia Grant fell into the water and came down with a high fever, her entire demeanor had changed upon waking. Even the maids around her noticed.
But no one paid it any mind.
Because to the Grant family, she had already gone from being the spoiled and willful little princess of the past to an insignificant, even irksome, presence.
She was no longer important, so even if someone did notice she was different, they wouldn’t care.
Silas Grant was the same way at first, until that night in the basement.
Before that, he truly wasn’t familiar with this fake sister. In the past ten-odd years, the sum of their conversations amounted to nothing more than a few perfunctory, polite greetings.
Previously, when this fake sister saw him, she would try to flatter him obsequiously despite her fear, eagerly trying to curry favor with him. Perhaps it was her own idea, or perhaps it was at Yuna Hughes’s instigation.
Later on, when this sister saw him, she would only watch him furtively from a distance. Her gaze held its usual timidity, but it was now filled with more scrutiny.
As if she were looking at a stranger.
At the dinner table, she sat in a corner seat. He glanced at her and asked why she wasn’t eating.
Like a startled fawn, she instinctively picked up her knife and fork, but she didn’t even notice she was holding them backward.
A moment later, she seemed to realize her mistake. She snuck a peek around, and only after confirming no one had noticed did she secretly switch them back.
After dinner, Yuna Hughes sent her to brew tea and then serve it to everyone.
"Sorry, I don’t really drink tea," he said, smiling at her.
"Oh." She blinked and forced a smile—not a fawning or flattering one, but a perfunctory, hasty one. "Then what would you... Brother... like to drink? I’ll go get it."
He didn’t answer, just kept watching her with a placid smile.
She had no choice but to guess. "Coffee?"
After a long moment, he let her off the hook. "Just a glass of warm water, please. Thank you," he said gently.
She nodded and picked up the water pitcher from the table.
Not far away, Yuna Hughes broke a teacup and called her over to clean it up.
She hurriedly handed the glass of water to him. "Here you go, Brother."
Then she ran over with a handkerchief to help Yuna Hughes wipe her blouse.
She used her left hand for everything.
Silas Grant had long since considered whether the sister before him was the same one who had been around for the past few years.
He had no feelings for the previous fake sister to begin with; the flowers he tended were more worthy of his attention.
So, from beginning to end, he never cared about the so-called cause and effect.
For instance, where did the fake sister go? And who was this new sister?
To him, none of it was important.
To be precise, nothing concerning the Grant family was important.
He was very busy and didn’t have the energy to care about a stranger.
He just hadn’t expected her to be so bad at hiding her true colors, and it was starting to get on his nerves.
「—」
A sharp sting on her lips made Mia Grant cry out, her brow furrowed in pain.
The two of them pulled apart. Mia Grant stared wide-eyed at the man before her, her gaze wary and guarded, as if she were looking at a stranger.
A warm palm came down, covering her eyes.
He sighed softly. "You shouldn’t look at me like that."
"You can’t just dismiss what’s between us over something so trivial."
Mia Grant blinked, her lashes fluttering against his palm, restless and lost.
After a long moment, she spoke. "I am Mia Grant."
"Mm, I know," he readily agreed, playing along.
"..." But Mia Grant’s heart sank. Her voice was faint and uncertain. "I really am."
This time, a soft chuckle sounded by her ear. "You need to say it with more conviction. I don’t even doubt you, so you can’t either."
"..."
Mia Grant pulled away from his hand and looked up, stunned. A torrent of thoughts flooded her mind, her expression incredibly complex.
Silas Grant gave her the feeling that even if she claimed to be his ancestor right now, he would just smile and agree.
Whatever she said, whatever she wanted—she could be Mia Grant, Macy Wallace, Mila Lee, or anyone else.
He had more than enough ways to back up her lies.
At the same time, he didn’t care who she really was.
’How could this be?’
Mia Grant’s gaze drifted, her mind a complete mess.
"So, is it true?"
She had no choice but to address the elephant in the room. "You knew from the very beginning?"
"Yes." Silas Grant stared at her, giving a firm answer.
"Why?" Mia Grant frowned, trying to back away, only to be pulled back into his arms.
Unable to break free, she asked in frustration, "How could you tell?"
"Many small details."
Mia Grant was astonished. Her lips moved, and after a moment of silence, she asked:
"Why didn’t you expose me?"
He stroked her back, soothing her agitated state. "To be honest, at first, I just didn’t care. I didn’t care who you were, and I didn’t care about her."
"Later, there was no need to. After all, after getting to know you, it’s you I’ve come to like."
"But aren’t you curious?"
"I had my questions, and I did investigate," Silas Grant admitted. "But there was no progress, so naturally, I didn’t persist."
"I also understand that it must have been an unpleasant time for you."
"So I shouldn’t take away your right to start over."
"As for Kian Keller and me, perhaps you could trust me a little more. I don’t have any shady dealings with them."
He leaned close to her ear and lowered his voice. "More than you, I hope they’re all kept in the dark by you."
Mia Grant froze.
Before she could speak, Silas Grant straightened up and added, "Felix Sinclair made such a big move, and Simon Adler tipped you off. Do you really think I wouldn’t know about something happening right under my nose?"
"..."
Mia Grant’s head was spinning. She was still in a daze by the time she sat down at the dinner table and picked up her chopsticks.
She looked at her right hand, fell silent for a moment, then put the chopsticks down and picked them up again with her left hand.
Hayes Hughes’s brow twitched. He instinctively looked at Silas Grant across the table, who didn’t seem surprised, as if he had anticipated this all along.
Mia Grant picked up a piece of fish and put it in her mouth. "Actually, the reason I like fish wasn’t because it’s delicious, at first."
"It was because it was cheap."
"I really like meat, but it’s expensive. Vegetables can be pricey sometimes, too."
"After work, I liked to go to the supermarket and buy the fish that wasn’t so fresh. It would usually last me two days."
Mia Grant took a sip of soup and continued, "It’s been a while since I’ve used chopsticks with my left hand. It feels a little strange."
Eating like this was difficult, but she didn’t want to switch back.
"The fish is delicious. Thank you."
Hayes Hughes’s heart skipped a beat.
She had said... ’Thank you.’
Not ’Second Brother.’
"What else was there to say? Oh, right." Mia Grant picked up some more food. "That time I jumped into the sea, I did it on purpose. I didn’t want to die at all."
"There might be a lot of people in this world who deserve to die. But I’m not one of them."
"I was already prepared never to come back."
"I can live a good life without you all."
"As for why I came back... it’s because the fish really is delicious."