Rebirth of Shadows

CHAPTER 8 Gabriel Stone

"Brother!"

The crisp call of the girl disrupted the lingering warmth in the air. Immediately, a proud girl in a light pink dress stormed over, her face adorned with a few freckles, anger flashing in her eyes. She grabbed the other person's arm and angrily exclaimed, "Doesn't that woman Aurora have any regard for you?! It's one thing to tolerate her behavior as the eldest daughter of the Luminance Family, but now that you two are getting married, she dares to be late? In my opinion, you should just dump her. See how arrogant she remains then? After all, there are plenty of unmarried heiresses in Metropia City. Why marry someone like her?"

"Serena, don't speak like that. The marriage between LF Family and Stonecrest Dynasty was arranged by Grandfather... Aurora is your 'sister-in-law'." Gabriel, with his gentle and radiant demeanor, cast a soft gaze over at his sister, Serena Stone, and his voice carried a hint of laziness.

Just with that gentle gaze, the girl, who moments ago had been arrogant and proud, suddenly felt a chill down her spine. She cautiously let go of her hand and took a step back.

While others only saw Stonecrest 3rd son as gentle and approachable, she, as his sister, knew it was just a facade.

With Serena's retreat, Gabriel withdrew his gaze and delicately toyed with the leaves beside him. His gentle voice sounded, "Luminance Family just explained that Aurora got into a car accident on her way here and needs some time to freshen up before she can arrive. The wedding will only be delayed by half an hour. Please be patient... If you're feeling idle, go upstairs and help me host the guests."

The last sentence served as a reminder from Gabriel to his own sister. Compared to that meager bit of family affection, this self-important yet brainless sister seemed utterly useless. If she could be traded for a political resource, the family would gladly oblige.

"I refuse to call that b***h 'sister'!" Serena disdainfully curled her lips, still maintaining the proud demeanor of an aristocratic heiress, cursing venomously, "Hmph! To get into an accident on her wedding day, serves her right! Aurora is a jinx! Why wasn't she killed in the accident?"

Recalling Aurora's face, which was mediocre yet slightly charming, Gabriel quirked his lips but made no reply.

The engagement between LF Family and Stonecrest Dynasty can be traced back to the year Aurora was born twenty years ago. Three years ago, Luminance Family patriarch Victor Knight passed away. Just before his death, he left behind a publicly available will: all LF family assets were to be handed over to his granddaughter Aurora, and the position of LF family head was to be passed down to her as well. On the day of her marriage, she would officially inherit the LF family assets, with no one else having the right to inherit them.

This publicly available will officially put the then-seventeen-year-old Aurora in the spotlight, with countless eyes on this usually low-key eldest daughter of the Luminance Family. Whether large or small, all families showed great interest in her. Even when Aurora was in school, she faced various forms of eager pursuit, with even the Stonecrest's arch-rival, the Garcia Family, secretly approaching her... This time, it completely angered Stonecrest, demanding that the two marry as soon as possible.

However, at that time, Grandfather Victor had just passed away, and Aurora wasn't of legal marriage age. So, she used the excuse of her grandfather's recent death as a reason not to marry immediately, saying she would consider marriage three years later. She rejected all suitors and quietly appeased Stonecrest's anger.

Three years later, today, Aurora has reached the legal age for marriage. At Stonecrest's insistence, she finally put on her wedding dress and married Gabriel, the third son...

The wedding day coincided with Aurora's inheritance of the LF family assets. This temptation has made many prominent families eager: Victor Knight was domineering during his lifetime, but after his death, there was no one to succeed him. The vast LF family assets had become a piece of fat in the mouths of other prominent families. As long as they could swallow half of the LF assets, no, even just a tenth, it would be enough to elevate their own status!

As for Aurora... Haha, how could a mere twenty-year-old girl support the vast Luminance Family estate?

And as for Stonecrest, if it weren't for the economic crisis and the serious problems arising from the government project of the Stonecrest 2nd son, which implicated the entire family, requiring a large sum of money to fill the deficit and avoid affecting the entire Stonecrest layout in the surrounding areas, Gabriel himself wouldn't have been so eager to marry Aurora... The so-called governmental family is nothing but superficial glamour.

Governmental families lack money, while business families lack power. This is the reason for the alliance between business families and governmental ones.