Chapter 9 The Depths

• Wanda was frozen in place. June had only mentioned that Damien had expelled her because of Cherise, but she hadn't elaborated on the reason. It turned out that she had insulted Cherise!
• Wanda pursed her lips in regret. Had she known the reason, she would never have broached the subject.
• Raymond, ever the diplomat, smiled and said, "Damien is a man of honor. Besides, Cherise is the daughter-in-law of the esteemed Lenoir family. How can we tolerate a servant disrespecting her?"
• Wanda had no comeback. All she could do was snort indignantly and remain silent.
• Meanwhile, Old Mr. Lenoir deftly changed the subject and engaged Cherise in conversation.
• Suddenly, Raymond's phone rang. His face blanched when he saw the caller ID. "I need to take this call. Please carry on without me."
• Damien's tone was icy as he responded, "Of course, Uncle Raymond."
• Shortly after Raymond's departure, Tristan sauntered in. He scanned the occupants of the living room before flopping down in a chair opposite Cherise, winking at her provocatively.
• Old Mr. Lenoir was irked by Tristan's flirtatious demeanor and reprimanded him, "She's your sister-in-law!"
• "I'm aware," Tristan replied, blinking suggestively. "I ran into them at the gates. Cherise and I had a 'deep' conversation just now."
• He emphasized the words 'deep conversation', causing Cherise's brows to furrow in confusion. She retorted, "What are you implying, Tristan? I don't understand your insinuations." She then shot Tristan a look of visible annoyance.
• Upon hearing a country girl mock her son, Wanda scolded, "How uncouth, typical of a country girl. You know nothing about respect, especially towards your elder brother!"
• "An elder brother should behave as one," Damien interjected, defending his wife.
• "I suppose you two have returned just to make us uncomfortable! One's a country bumpkin, the other's a jinx," Wanda said, her voice trailing off as she noticed Old Mr. Lenoir's changing expression.
• "Enough, both of you, that's enough," Raymond Lenoir intervened, preventing an argument that seemed on the brink of erupting.
• "Cherise, you have quite an intriguing way of speaking," Tristan said to Cherise, arching an eyebrow in what he believed was a charming gesture.
• Cherise's expression soured. Tristan was clearly exploiting Damien's blindness to make suggestive gestures at her, and she found it repugnant. She silently cursed Tristan in her mind when suddenly, a series of noisy disturbances came from outside the residence.
• The butler rushed in. "Old Mr. Lenoir…" He glanced at Tristan, who was nonchalantly helping himself to the fruit platter.
• Old Mr. Lenoir's expression darkened. "Speak!"
• The butler said nervously, "Old… Mr. Belcourt and Ms. Belcourt are outside, demanding justice…there're journalists as well..." The butler hesitated, unable to say the next words. He knew that speaking them would surely incite Old Mr. Lenoir's wrath.
• Old Mr. Lenoir glared at Tristan. "What did you do?"
• Tristan, looking puzzled, continued munching on his fruit. "The Belcourts? Who? I don't remember them, they must be fraudsters!"
• "The Belcourt family's heiress, Violet Belcourt. She… she's pregnant and claims it's your child, Young Master Tristan…"
• The living room fell into a hushed silence.
• Suddenly, Old Mr. Lenoir hurled an ashtray at Tristan. "You d*mn br@t! What have you done?!"
• "What! That's impossible? Dad, this must be the Belcourt's family's scheme to latch onto our family!" Wanda, seeing Old Mr. Lenoir's agitation, quickly defended Tristan.
• Wanda thought she knew her son well. Even if he was reckless, it was inconceivable for him to have impregnated a woman. However, the Belcourt family was also a reputable and prominent clan in Adania. Now that they had brought their daughter and reporters to the Lenoir Residence's doorstep, the situation seemed...
• "Grandpa, this is impossible!" Tristan scoffed, "It must be Violet Belcourt trying to pin someone else's child on me, making me the father!"
• "That's not quite right, Tristan. Why would Violet not find someone else to be the child's father and insist on you?" Damien spoke up, his words casting further suspicion on Tristan as the father.
• "Shut up!" Tristan glared furiously at Damien.
• Old Mr. Lenoir, infuriated, threw a cushion at Tristan.
• "Dad, we can discuss this later. Right now, the most pressing matter is to deal with the Belcourts and the reporters outside," Raymond said through gritted teeth, casting a disdainful glance at Tristan.
• "Grandpa," Damien spoke again, "Tristan is not a little kid anymore. Look at me, I'm married now. He should learn to handle his affairs. It can't always be the family cleaning up his messes."
• Tristan rolled his eyes, "To h3ll with it! If I go out there now, the Belcourt family is going to rock my sh!t up!"
• "So, you really do have a child with Violet Belcourt then, Tristan?" Damien's voice remained calm.
• Cherise, sitting quietly, didn't dare to speak. She noticed that with every sentence Damien uttered, the faces of those present grew darker. Damien then let out a slight, cold laugh, which despite very soft, seemed very loud to everyone's ears.
• A person who had been thrown out of the house, a so-called jinx, dared to mock the heir and the eldest son of the Lenoir family.
• At that moment, Wanda could only ignore her displeasure towards Damien. Everyone feared the old man's wrath since he was the head of the family.
• "If the shareholders find out that not only did Tristan get someone pregnant, but also shirks responsibility, his position as CEO could be at risk. After all, the image of a company's CEO can significantly impact its operation and growth."
• Wanda, filled with resentment, stood up and walked over to Tristan. Damien's few words had cornered them with no way out.
• She now suspected that the Belcourt family's emergence was orchestrated by Damien. Why did they have to come precisely when Damien was at home?
• Old Mr. Lenoir, furious, pointed at Wanda and bellowed, "Let him deal with it himself. Anyone who dares to intervene will be banished from this family!"
• Damien's lips curled slightly – this was what he had anticipated. Old Mr. Lenoir cared about reputation more than anything else. Now with the Belcourts making a scene demanding explanations, it was undoubtedly a blow to the Lenoir family's prestigious status.
• Cherise watched the unfolding drama with unease. She looked at the Grandpa, noticing his eyes darkly fixed on Damien.
• Meanwhile, Damien was leisurely taking sips of his red wine.
• Wanda nudged Tristan, signaling him to go and address the issue with the Belcourts.
• After whispering something to Old Mr. Lenoir, the butler left. Old Mr. Lenoir watched Damien with a sneer, "You think I don't know about the pregnancy? You were clever to choose the timing of your return with your newly wedded wife. The Belcourt family has brought the girl and the reporters to the Lenoir Residence. Damien, don't play tricks on me. To me, and to the Lenoir family, you will never have a place."
• Hearing this, Cherise turned pale. Coming from a rural background, she was used to seeing grandparents doting on their grandchildren. She had never seen a family like the Lenoir family, where dislike for a family member was so apparent.
• Tristan, not adept at hiding his true feelings in front of reporters and media, loudly cursed the Belcourt family and Violet Belcourt for scheming against him.
• Things had indeed worsened.
• "Fine, go, leave through the back gate. I'll pretend you didn't come here tonight!" Old Mr. Lenoir rose to his feet angrily, casting a cold glance at Damien. "Don't let me catch you tarnishing the family's reputation like this ever again." With that, he headed towards the exit with a sweep of his sleeve.
• While he was storming away, Damien spoke, "If he hadn't done these things, I really wouldn't know where to begin."
• Hearing this, the Old Mr. Lenoir's anger intensified, the fury in his chest growing stronger.
• However, Damien remained seated in his wheelchair. He smirked, making him appear cold and arrogant.
• Cherise consulted a servant about the directions to the back gate before pushing Damien out of the house.
• The reporters had been sent away, and given the Lenoir family's influence, it was unlikely that any scandalous news would surface tomorrow. However, the quarrel between the Belcourt and Lenoir families was intensifying.
• Damien remained silent as they left the house.
• Initially, Cherise thought the back gate would be easy to find.
• Unfortunately, the paths at the back of Lenoir Residence were complicated and winding. Furthermore, all kinds of flowers of various colors decorated the path. Soon, Cherise realized she had completely lost her way.
• "I think we're lost."
• Cherise looked at the stone path in despair, thinking that she had been returning to the same path a dozen times. Then, she sighed in frustration. "I should have asked a servant to lead the way."
• "The servants will never do such a thing for you."
• Cherise pursed her lips, "How could that be? You are..."
• She was about to retort further when she overheard a conversation, "The devil of the Lenoir family is back!"
• The speaker's voice was hushed, as if afraid of being overheard.
• Cherise froze. The only ones who hadn't been living in the Lenoir family house and had returned today were them...
• Damien smiled wryly, "Let's not hurry off just yet. Let's listen to the gossip about the family."
• Today, Damien's return coincided with the heir of the Lenoirs impregnating the heiress of the Belcourts, making the servants particularly chatty.
• "I heard... that one, when he was nine, caused the death of his parents."
• "Yes, yes, yes, and at thirteen, he set a fire that killed his sister and two servants who took care of him... Talk about bad luck for those servants. He himself ended up blind and with a lame leg."
• "Such misfortune. But he also ended up blind and with a limp."
• "The other elders in the family said the child was the embodiment of a demon and later sent him away from the family to fend for himself."
• "It's only because of Old Mr. Lenoir's kind heart that he didn't really let him fend for himself. Someone still looks after him over there. I heard the salary there is three times higher than here."
• "What good is triple the salary? Being near a demon, it's a wonder if you can live safely, let alone earn money."
• As the voices of the two servants faded, Cherise was left gaping in shock. Her gentle husband in her eyes was the demon others spoke of.
• She couldn't reconcile the image of Damien with the word 'demon.'
• His voice carried a mix of loneliness and pride, "They're not wrong. If it wasn't for our marriage, I wouldn't even have the right to drink water here."
• As he spoke, he laughed. But in Cherise's eyes, it was a laugh filled with endless loneliness.
• Having lost his loved ones and then cast out of his home, he had lived a solitary life for many years.
• He must have been very lonely...
• Cherise's hands shook slightly as she held Damien's wheelchair.