“What did you want to tell me that you waited until you’re sure nobody else will be listening in on us?” Iris asked her brother after Ketchup left to gossip with her Uncle Dom somewhere in the mansion.
Lu Zihao splayed his long arm over the back of the couch he was sitting on while his other arm lay loosely to his side, the fingers on that hand tapping rhythmically on his thigh. His entire posture looked relaxed yet his gaze remained heavy and indecipherable on her.
She waited for him to speak, no longer feeling as nervous as before. Since he hadn’t turned violent or started beating up Jin Liwei yet, then she would just take that as a good sign that perhaps her brother might just accept the current situation without giving her too much grief.
“Do you still remember what I told you before?” he asked in Russian, finally speaking after a long silence.
She tilted her head to the side and also spoke in Russian. “Which one?”
“The one about marriage and pregnancy.”
“Yes, I remember,” she said, sighing.
“And? Did you listen? No, you didn’t. Because if you did, then you would’ve married first before letting a man impregnate you. Marriage first before pregnancy. I drilled that to you so many times, and yet look at you now.” His tone was cold and flat.
It was obvious that he was trying to intimidate her. And she would’ve felt intimidated if they spoke about this earlier at the height of her apprehension. But after stuffing her stomach with delicious food and feeling reassured by Jin Liwei, her nervousness regarding her brother was being replaced by the urge to relax and take a nap instead.
She knew what her brother was like, how dominant and protective he was of her, and how scary he could be even to her. Right now, however, she was beginning to feel irritated at him. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you’re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It’s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]
He continued to lecture her. “You assured me before that you’re always taking proper contraceptive measures, that he’s protecting you all the time even when you yourself become careless and forget. What happened then? Why are you suddenly pregnant?”
“Pregnancy occurs when a man and woman have intercourse and the man’s sperm cells fertilize the woman’s egg cell—”
“Don’t give me that attitude, young lady,” he warned.
“Don’t treat me like a child!” Iris retorted, keeping the volume of her voice low to prevent Jin Liwei who was still inside the bedroom from hearing them. “You’re still calling me ‘young lady’? I’m a grown woman, Big Brother! This body might be young but you need to remember my real age. And you should remember yours as well. What Fifth Brother? Liwei and the others should be calling you ‘Uncle’ instead.”
His eyes narrowed dangerously at her.
Her irritation at his bossiness was fueling her courage to run her mouth off against him. “What? I’m right, aren’t I? There’s a gap at the time of our d-de…” She stopped after realizing what she was about to say.
“Say it,” he said, his voice so low that it was a whisper. Yet the sound made her shiver, finally reminding her that this was still her big brother, the former crown prince of what was once the most powerful criminal organization in the world.
“I…” She was now regretting how careless she had been to start talking about this topic.
“Evelina Armanovna Vetrova, say it!”
Her heart shook after he said her full name, the name she held in her past life. It was a name filled with immense power and wealth, but at the same time, it was also a curse which damned her into a life with no freedom since the moment of her birth.
Feeling helpless, she closed her eyes and surrendered to the onslaught of vivid memories from her past life as a member of the powerful Vetrov family. This process only took a minute, but to her, it felt like a century. She felt utterly drained and exhausted afterwards. When she opened her eyes again, they were blank.
In a voice devoid of any emotion, she continued the sentence she cut off earlier. “There’s a gap at the time of our deaths and the time we were reborn into these new bodies.”
“That’s right.” His voice became colder and flatter. “You know what it means?”
She only looked at him with a blank stare, not replying to his question. He didn’t need her answer, anyway.
“It means that we’ve been dead that long.” Then his face twisted all of a sudden into something feral, something demonic. “It also means that those motherfuckers who murdered all of us and destroyed everything our family had built throughout the generations are still roaming free in the world and enjoying their fucking lives. They had enough time to destroy all evidence of their deeds, steal our wealth, and also make up complete lies about what really happened that night, about how we, the Vetrovs, disappeared.”
The blankness in her eyes cracked and revealed that his words was also affecting her. She wanted to forget. Wanted to forget so badly. But…she couldn’t. No matter how many times she rejected her identity in her past life, she had been born a Vetrov whether she liked it or not. Unless her past life’s memories were erased, she would still feel a connection to the Vetrovs even when she was now living as Long Xiulan.
Lu Zihao seemed to finally realize the sudden dark turn of their conversation. Although his expression had turned frightening just a moment ago, he only needed a few deep breaths before making it disappear from his face. The usual devilish smile was back on his lips and his posture returned to being casual.
In an attempt to make light of the situation, he smirked and said, “Indeed, you’re right. Our real ages are older than when we…passed away back then and certainly much older than our current bodies. Little Sister must be enjoying pretending to be a young, fresh girl when the truth is that you’re older than your man.”
She glared at him. “I’m not older than Liwei! What are you talking about, Big Brother? Even with my real age, I’m still younger than him by two years.”
