Chapter 695: Her Resentment

Is it an illusion caused by excessive pressure?

Cecilia Vaughn never imagined that one day, in a foreign land, the fleeting glimpse of someone on the bridge could resemble Wendy Sutton so closely!

Cecilia Vaughn, unable to care about anything at the moment, almost wanted to run wildly, but coincidentally there was a painter packing up, half-selling and half-giving away today’s sketches, with many passersby buying, blocking Cecilia Vaughn’s way for a while.

The bridge’s shadow concealed the silhouette of the ship, and Cecilia Vaughn could no longer see the woman in the wheelchair on the ship.

Under the vast golden sunset, Cecilia Vaughn suddenly felt like she was living through a different lifetime, wanting to cry bitterly, but not knowing what to cry for, or why to cry.

...

How long has it been since she last saw her mother?

A year, two years, ten years?

When you look at old photos, you feel like your mother is yesterday’s reflection, still youthful and beautiful, unable to imagine what appearance she might have after ten years.

During that maritime disaster, Cecilia Vaughn was still young, Evan Vaughn was even younger, still in elementary school. Due to his heart condition, the family couldn’t even tell Evan about Wendy Sutton’s accidental death in the disaster, only conspiring together to deceive the thin, small boy by saying his mother had gone on vacation and might not return for several months.

How long would those months be?

Back then, Evan found it unacceptable. In his small body, his mind was filled with memories of his mother playing with him and his sister.

He couldn’t imagine his mother suddenly leaving to unwind.

Even at such a young age, he realized something was off at home, because back then Gregory Vaughn, the unreliable father, often wouldn’t come home, using business engagements as an excuse, sometimes accompanied by various female companions.

Occasionally, Evan would be taken to such events because his grandfather said only sons were fit to inherit the Vaughn family business.

Thinking about it now, it still seems ridiculous to Cecilia Vaughn.

What kind of business could the Vaughn Family have?

It was clearly the kingdom built single-handedly by her maternal grandfather, and just because Gregory Vaughn married into the family and Wendy Sutton was too soft-hearted did the children’s last name end up being Vaughn.

Radiant Group was also her grandfather’s business; what did the Vaughn Family have to do with it?

...

If it weren’t for being called Cecilia Vaughn for so many years, Cecilia herself wouldn’t bother to change her name, and she truly considered changing it to Sutton.

Cecilia Vaughn also sought Evan Vaughn’s opinion on this matter.

Now, having completely fallen out with that scoundrel Gregory Vaughn, she asked Evan if he wanted to change his last name to their mother’s. To Cecilia’s surprise, Evan was very laid-back and didn’t care about such a trivial matter.

Finally, Cecilia asked her grandmother, who thought for a moment and said something profound: as long as the companies from Sutton Manor remained with herself and her brother, whose surname they held didn’t really matter.

At the time, Adrian Law was also present, and his attitude on this matter greatly surprised Cecilia Vaughn.

Because Adrian Law suggested that if they had two children later, no matter if Cecilia preferred the boy or the girl, she could choose any to have either her surname or her mother’s surname, and having the child named Sutton was also fine.

Adrian Law didn’t mind such matters either. Previously, he directly confronted Frank Law during a family event, stating that if Frank was partial to Tyson Law and that faux-innocent mother and son duo, he could renounce the Law Family and take his mother’s surname, Law.

...

Perhaps this deep bond with Adrian Law in this world is destined by the heavens.

In terms of family background, they share some similarities.

Cecilia Vaughn took a deep sigh.

The ship sailed very quickly and in the blink of an eye, it disappeared from Cecilia Vaughn’s view.

Although she isn’t nearsighted, her vision is far from being as sharp as an eagle’s, able to clearly discern features from such a distance.

Yet in that fleeting proximity, she felt a sudden awareness, that the woman’s silhouette was so akin.

The profile wasn’t vividly etched into her vision, but the demeanor and the aura were at least fifty to sixty percent similar to her mother.

...

Funny to say, Cecilia Vaughn previously didn’t consider it a flight of fancy to deem her mother’s survival possibility unrealistic after her prolonged disappearance.

But when such a possibility truly appeared, she began to doubt whether she was experiencing an illusion.

...

Cecilia Vaughn lowered her head in a daze, finally succumbing to her emotions and crouching down on the ground in disbelief.

The sky remained boundlessly radiant, the glow dyeing the horizon with a beautiful ripple, the water under the bridge reflecting the sky as if it were a stunning painting.

Yet Cecilia Vaughn couldn’t find a glimmer of joy in the interplay of light and shadow.

Adrian Law realized something was wrong when he saw Cecilia Vaughn running around aimlessly.

But after glancing down the bridge, he couldn’t discern any clues.

Adrian Law reached out with concern, wanting to pull Cecilia Vaughn up.

"Cecilia, what’s wrong? Why do you look so pale?"

"Adrian..."

Cecilia Vaughn didn’t want to look up.

Her weakness, even with someone she shares a pillow with, sometimes she’s ashamed to let others see.

Already in her twenties, she shouldn’t be collapsing over something nearly akin to imagination. Yet when she glimpsed her mother’s profile in that instant, she yearned for it to be real, not merely fabricated by herself.

...

The girl’s voice was low, filled with fragility, even slightly choked.

Adrian Law’s expression immediately changed, disregarding the eyes of others, and directly took off his coat, enveloping Cecilia Vaughn in his embrace.

"Cecilia, what’s wrong with you? Did the previous case upset you?"

"No..."

Chloe Alden’s death stirred a series of dramas, though horrifying and distressing, yet not comparable in significance to her mother’s silhouette at this moment.

After all, she is merely a mortal who would desire a mother’s affection.

Moreover, Wendy Sutton was so good to her, so very good.

The only grievance Cecilia Vaughn held against Wendy Sutton was her excessive love for Gregory Vaughn, loving him to the bones, humbling herself into dust, refusing to divorce even with nothing left.

This was what aggravated Cecilia Vaughn most.

If back then, Wendy Sutton could have been as tutored today to face her husband’s infidelity with strength and abandon him, turning beautifully to start a new life, wouldn’t that have been great?

Cecilia Vaughn thought, one could rise again, the things taken by a scumbag would be won back one day, openly and generously.

But sinking into the quagmire, perhaps for a lifetime, there’d be no chance for recovery.

...

Cecilia Vaughn felt Evan Vaughn’s personality was softened, possibly related to her mother’s influence.

But now, there was no grievance left.

Only an overwhelming yearning remains.