Chapter 490 - The Imposing Man (1/2)
Alaric felt that Sophia's eyes were on him so he turned to his cousin and frowned.
”Do you want to say something?” he asked Sophia. The girl gasped and quickly shook her head.
”Uhmm ... no, I was just reminded of something, but it absolutely nothing important,” Sophia answered. She tried to sound relaxed as she turned her attention to the wine she was holding. ”Let's drink ... this special champagne is made from grapes harvested in the year of your birth. It's 100 years old too, and special.”
Ned nodded. A sommelier immediately brought a wine bottle opener and opened the cork. The sommelier then graciously poured a little into a glass to be tasted by the host. After Ned nodded in satisfaction, he poured for each of them into their glass.
Portia led them into a toast by raising her glass, ”For the next 100 years.”
”For our new leader,” Sophia added.
”For the future.” Ned nodded.
Alaric nodded slightly, ”Thank you.”
Portia looked at her adopted son wistfully while finishing her glass. This was the first time she had met Alaric since he recovered and she felt that many things had changed. One of them was that Alaric now almost never smiled. It was regrettable because if he smiled, he would look very similar to his mother.
Portia could only sigh. Maybe Alaric needed some more time to revive his cold heart. His body had healed as before, only his heart did not.
They continued the conversation about their plans. It would be in a new year party where Ned and Portia would announce their new heir and show the world their open support for him to become the new clan leader.
During lunchtime Sophia became distracted. She kept thinking about the name Aleksis, Caspar's daughter. Was that child really dead? Ha, what a coincidence. Sophia hated her. That caused Alexei to be given Death and now her brother lived as a regular human.
Although she and Alexei often fought, blood was still thicker than water. Sophia actually loved her brother very much and would often come secretly to Switzerland and watched Alexei from afar. Her brother now lived alone in a mansion on a hilltop with many servants.
Sophia once stopped by and pretended to be a lost tourist, but Alexei didn't recognize her at all. The feeling of losing her only remaining family was stifling Sophia's heart, and her grudge against Caspar's family burned again.
Hmm ... from their conversation, it was clear that Alaric did not know that Aleksis was Caspar's daughter, Ned and Portia was also not aware of this information. Sophia must thank Caspar for being very protective and not publicly announcing his children.
Lauriel also certainly did not know Alaric was his son because if he knew, there was no way he would help Caspar kill his own biological child. Sophia felt the need to investigate Alaric and Aleksis' past and learn why those two did not know what had happened to each other.
Ha ha ha. It's good that I hand over my family's business to Alaric , Sophia thought happily, Now I have time to investigate Caspar's family. There must be information that I can use against them ...
”The lunch was great, thank you for inviting me,” Sophia rose to her feet after finishing her dessert. ”I have something important to do. It's time to say goodbye.”
”Hmm ...” Alaric nodded.