Mr. CEO, You Look Strangely Familiar

”I’ve brought the man. What you want to do with him is up to you.”

Lillian Bancroft nodded. ”Alright.”

Just as he finished speaking, a soldier ran in. ”Reporting to the Supreme Leader! The Matriarch has led a hundred-thousand-strong army to the gates of the Imperial Palace. She demands you release the prisoner.”

”Her army is at the Palace gates?”

”Yes, sir.”

”Then where is the Matriarch herself?”

”She has already arrived.” The soldier had barely finished his sentence when the Matriarch strode through the door, a large retinue following behind her.

This was a blatant attempt to force his abdication.

When she saw Chloe Marshall, Quentin Grant, and Ethan Ellsworth were also present, she froze for a moment, then sneered. ”And here I was, wondering who you had invited. Quentin Grant may be powerful, but he’s no match for my army, is he? Didn’t you just drag him here to his death?”

Quentin Grant smiled faintly and stood up. ”The Blackguard is small in number, and I wouldn’t deploy them lightly. My apologies, but I’ve come today as a representative of my country.”

The Matriarch heard this. ”Fravia?”

”That’s right. I’m here under orders from my superiors, along with the generals of our army.”

”Your country, Fravia, certainly has some nerve, doesn’t it? It would be best for you to stay out of another nation’s internal affairs!”

”Matriarch, that’s a bit disingenuous of you. We came at the invitation of Harrowin’s Supreme Leader. You may be the Matriarch, but you are not the highest authority in Harrowin...”

The Matriarch clenched her fists. ”Lillian Bancroft, what do you plan to do with Jonathan?”

”That is none of your business. How I choose to deal with him is my affair.”

”You must remember, he is your own brother. No matter what, you cannot kill him.”

Lillian Bancroft gave a cold smile. ”My own brother? A brother who could murder his own nephew and sister-in-law? Should I, his older brother, indulge a younger brother I’ve never been close with, just so he can harm me one day?”

The Matriarch choked. ”Lillian Bancroft, you’ve conspired with foreigners to interfere in our nation’s affairs! How can you face the ancestors of the Bancroft Family?! Your actions are simply unforgivable! To do such a thing while sitting in your position... you have truly failed the Bancroft Family!”

He walked toward her, closing the distance step by step, and whispered in her ear, ”As long as I can take you and your son down, I would willingly give up this position. I wouldn’t regret it for a second.”

Hearing this, the Matriarch was practically apoplectic. ”You are utterly treasonous!”

”Say what you will. Take your people and get out of my sight, now. Otherwise, it won’t be good for you if you find you can’t leave even if you want to.”

Chloe Marshall held up a hand. ”Stop!”

The Matriarch had already noticed her. Now that Chloe had called out, she raised an eyebrow. ”And who did I think this was? Oh, it’s you.”

Chloe Marshall’s face was taut. ”Matriarch, I think you’re destined to die old and alone. You spent all your energy trying to hunt down and kill one of your sons. As if that weren’t enough, you’re still trying to undermine him at every turn. You murdered your own daughter-in-law and grandson. Quinn Sullivan shouldn’t have died, but she lost her life because you and your other son stubbornly insisted on it. Not only do you feel no remorse, you even come here to stage a coup. Have you no shame?”

”Do the affairs of the Bancroft Family require an outsider like you to meddle?”

”It’s true I’m an outsider, but I just can’t stand you. I’ve been wanting to say this for a long time. You didn’t just harm Quinn. When I was at the Imperial Palace, you tried to harm me and Dorothy again and again. Have you forgotten?”

The Matriarch snorted. ”Your words should be based on facts. What proof do you have that I harmed you?”

Chloe Marshall pulled a digital camera from her pocket and huffed, ”The surveillance footage from back then is in here. I recorded it all. I came here to give it to Silly so he can make it public. It may be a scandal for the Bancroft Family, but it’s better for something like this to be exposed. Otherwise, people might actually think Silly has no regard for family, dealing with his own mother and brother like this!”

”Chloe Marshall!”

”Present!”

”You...”

”Matriarch! This is bad!” A soldier emerged from behind her, his face drenched in a cold sweat from anxiety.

”What’s all the fuss about!” she shot a glance at the soldier, rebuking him coldly.

”The Imperial Palace has been completely surrounded by incoming forces from Fravia, which also include our own country’s troops. Our deployed force of one hundred thousand is trapped, and the remaining two hundred thousand troops cannot get in.”

Lillian Bancroft smiled. ”I said it just now. If you don’t leave now, you won’t be able to leave later.”

He looked at the person beside him. ”Send the order: Jonathan Bancroft has been captured, and the Matriarch is under arrest. If the three hundred thousand troops dare to make a move, tell them we are not to be trifled with. Have them consider the consequences. Will they surrender and hand over military authority, or will they fight and have their entire families implicated and their homes confiscated!”

”Yes, sir!”

The Matriarch was seething, pointing at Lillian Bancroft. ”You truly are ruthless! I underestimated you. To take down your own mother and brother, you’d stoop to anything, even using a foreign military to suppress and coerce your own country’s army!”

”It’s all thanks to the lessons you taught me, old hag. You taught me that there’s no such thing as kinship between us.”

The Matriarch’s eyes rolled back, and she collapsed.

She had clearly fainted from rage.

”Take her away and place her under heavy guard.”

A few soldiers carried her away. The guards stationed at the door looked at each other, unsure whose orders to follow.

Quentin Grant began to applaud, CLAP CLAP CLAP. A small smile played on his lips. ”Truly the leader of a nation, with the bearing of a great general. I imagine you can seize military authority without losing a single soldier. Now I understand the purpose of your request for aid. It was mainly for deterrence. That is indeed a clever tactic.”

”War is the worst-case scenario. It is the common people who suffer from the flames of battle.”

Ethan Ellsworth strongly agreed with him. ”Well said. If you can avoid using force, you should.”

Quentin Grant sighed dramatically. ”We came all this way, and all we got out of it was a small, uninhabited island. That’s not even enough to cover the fuel for the trip.”

Lillian Bancroft looked at him. ”This is a matter of foreign policy between Harrowin and Fravia. Although that small island has little value, Harrowin is a small nation and still needs to rely on Fravia.”

”Just wait. They’ll surrender within a few hours, guaranteed.”

Lillian Bancroft nodded. ”It’s time to eat. You all go ahead. I have to step out for a bit.”

Chloe Marshall could see how upset he was and said, ”Why don’t you eat with us?”

”You eat first. I’ll eat when I get back.”

Quentin Grant nodded. ”Alright, go on then.”

He left the room and walked all the way to the Matriarch’s residence.

Seeing him arrive, the old nanny who had always served the Matriarch turned pale with fright.

”Supreme Leader, what brings you here?”

”What? Am I not allowed?” He shot her a cold glance, then continued, ”Nanny, you’ve been with the old hag for many years, haven’t you?”

”Yes, for more than twenty years.”

”Then I’d like to ask you something, Nanny. I wonder if you’re able to answer.”

”I wonder what the Supreme Leader... wishes to know?” The old nanny already had a faint premonition.

Lillian Bancroft snorted. ”Nothing special. Just some old, forgotten business. I mainly want to know why, when I’m two years older than Jonathan Bancroft and he’s my own brother, the old hag has disliked me since I was a child. And why, after I turned seven, did she send people to hunt down me and my wet nurse?”

”That... that sort of thing... I... how could I possibly know?”

Her stammering only proved that she not only knew, but knew everything.

”Old Nanny, don’t play games with me. I’m not falling for it. And I know you never married and couldn’t have children of your own. But I also know you still have your maiden family, don’t you? And quite a large family at that, right?”

The old nanny’s face went white, her lips trembling. She understood Lillian Bancroft’s meaning perfectly.

”Speak!

His sharp command made her whole body tremble. The old nanny raised a hand to wipe her eyes and sighed. ”My life is indeed worthless, but what have my brothers and their families done wrong? Fine. I will tell you.”

Lillian Bancroft gave a subordinate a look, and someone immediately brought over two chairs.

The old nanny sat down and began to speak. ”You are not the Matriarch’s biological son at all.”

Hearing this, Lillian Bancroft instantly understood everything.

”Not only are you not her son, but neither is Jonathan Bancroft.”

This latter sentence shocked him. He had some basis to believe he wasn’t her son, since the old hag had disliked him since childhood and even tried to have him killed.

But Jonathan Bancroft... her attitude toward him was exactly like that of a doting mother toward her biological child.

’How could he not be her son...’

”Everyone who knew about this has already been silenced. I’m the only one left. I have failed the Madam’s trust.” After speaking, she dabbed at her eyes, tearing up.

”Then why does she treat him so well?”

”Because the Madam herself is infertile. She could only raise a puppet to rule while she held the real power. Although Jonathan is young and capable, he ultimately has to listen to the Madam in all things, so he has almost no decision-making power. As for you, she tried to kill you simply because your wet nurse was too good to you. In the process of trying to kill the wet nurse, the nurse discovered she was poisoning you and took you away with her.”

”Where is our birth mother?”

”She was dealt with by the Madam long ago and buried in the West Suburbs. She died shortly after Jonathan was born.”

Lillian Bancroft’s mind was in turmoil. ’Didn’t my father do anything about it?’

”He loved the Madam too much, so he turned a blind eye.”

Hearing this, he now had a clear measure of the situation.

”I, this old woman, have told you all this. I can no longer go on living. I have failed the Madam. But for some reason, now that I’ve said it, I feel much better.” She stood up. ”The Madam should be waking up soon. I’ll go in and check on her.”

Lillian Bancroft nodded.

The old nanny walked unsteadily inside. Just as she entered, she found the Matriarch was awake.

”Nanny, what happened to me?”

”Madam, you fainted. Would you like some water?”

The Matriarch nodded. ”Help me up first.”

The old nanny helped her up, propping her against two pillows, and then poured her a glass of water.

”Madam, the Supreme Leader is in the courtyard.”

”What... what is he here for?”

”He came... to find out why you’ve always treated him so poorly, and why you’ve hunted him for so many years...”