Mr. CEO's Substitute Bride

Originally, Eva wanted to make things difficult for Violet, but in the end she was the one who wound up furious. After the family finished breakfast, everyone went back to their own quarters.

Those who had work went to work, those who had school went to school.

Little aunt Aurora’s place wasn’t far from Violet’s, and since they were the main branch, the old master had assigned them the best courtyard in the old residence.

The four of them—uncle, sister-in-law, and little aunt—walked back toward their own quarters chatting and laughing. Aurora was young and spoke fast, blurting things out.

She held onto Violet’s arm and said angrily, "Sis, if it were me just now, I’d have straight up flung that cup of tea away and let’s see where their second branch would put their faces!"

Violet had a gentle temperament; back at her own parents’ home she was never the competitive type, and she got along well with her two sisters-in-law. Hearing the little aunt talk like this, she smiled and said,

"How could I do that? She’s still an elder, after all."

"You treat her like an elder, but she doesn’t see herself that way. If Second Mom really considered herself an elder, she wouldn’t have deliberately made things hard for you.

And she’s putting on an act with this ’high blood pressure’ business, saying she’s dizzy. Hmph, why doesn’t she just fall down dead on the spot!"

Because of the struggle for the Family Head position, the two branches had become enemies. Her "own" son hadn’t managed to become Family Head, and Eva had never gotten over it.

"Aurora, don’t talk nonsense!" Hearing his little sister curse Second Mom, Daxton, who had been silent, finally spoke, frowning his handsome brows and scolding her sternly.

He was her own older brother, the one who’d grown up with her. Even now that he was the Family Head, Aurora wasn’t afraid of him. She immediately lifted her chin in defiance and said, "I am talking nonsense! If I were the Matriarch, I’d have kicked them out long ago!"

"Aurora, if you keep talking nonsense, be careful Grandpa hears and throws you out!"

Joseph chimed in with a laugh. In the Lancaster Family, the Matriarch position had always been passed on to the eldest grandson’s wife, and here his little sister was saying if she were Matriarch... If the old master heard that, he’d probably give her a fierce scolding.

"Hmph! If you don’t go tattle to Grandpa, how would he know I’m talking nonsense?" Aurora said it as if it were only right and proper. As the only girl in the family, she’d been spoiled rotten by her two brothers.

Joseph shot a glance at Violet, a mischievous gleam flashing in the phoenix eyes of the young man.

"Aurora, Big Sis is the Matriarch now. Aren’t you afraid she’ll overthink it if you talk like that?"

Violet...

She looked left and right at this brother-sister pair. How had their conversation ended up dragging her in?

"You two are joking around as brother and sister—what’s that got to do with me?"

"In the Lancaster Family, only the Family Head’s wife can take over as Matriarch."

Daxton smiled as he explained, which only made Violet even more confused.

"So why would I overthink anything?" Her husband was the Family Head, so of course she was the Matriarch.

Seeing Violet’s baffled expression, the three siblings exchanged a look as if they’d agreed in advance, then all laughed and dropped the subject.

Aurora was a chatterbox and quickly pulled up a new topic.

"Second Brother, you really are smart. You didn’t see it, but when you snatched that cup of tea out of Sis’s hands, Second Mom’s face went green."

Joseph sneaked a look at his big brother Daxton, then scratched his head and pretended to be clueless. "Really? I was too thirsty at the time, didn’t notice."

Aurora...

"Second Brother, so you didn’t do it on purpose!"

"Aurora, what are you saying Second Brother did on purpose?"

Joseph kept playing dumb. When he’d walked into the courtyard, he’d seen his sister-in-law kneeling in front of Eva, holding a cup of tea high above her head, while the latter pretended not to see it. In a fit of pique, he’d acted like he didn’t know it was a cup of respect tea and just drank it.

After all, he was still young, and the family never really knew what to do with him.

"So boring! I thought Second Brother was deliberately helping Sis out of a tight spot." Aurora complained in annoyance. Daxton had been walking alongside the three of them the whole time, neither joining in nor stopping them, but in his heart he knew perfectly well what had really happened.