Chapter 452: Chapter 452: Can I See Your Birthmark?
Those were the only two options left.
The onlookers whispered among themselves, their gazes constantly darting between Yvonne Lancaster and Chairman Lancaster.
Someone suddenly spoke up. "Actually, if we remove Theodore from the entire equation, I have a theory..."
The surrounding people all looked over.
The person spoke cryptically, "The Lancaster Family’s past is well hidden now, but in reality, many people know about it. Yvonne is also an illegitimate daughter, and the current Old Mrs. Lancaster is a mistress who managed to climb the ranks.
"As the eldest daughter of the first wife, Miranda’s situation is incredibly similar to Stella York’s. Think about it. Chairman Lancaster and the mistress’s daughter are the real family here. Wouldn’t Miranda be a thorn in their side?
"The person originally meant to marry Ethan Sloan was Yvonne. She despised Ethan for being a scumbag, so she pushed Miranda into it instead. If you want to tell me that Miranda was favored in the Lancaster Family, I wouldn’t believe it for a second.
"If she were truly favored, she wouldn’t have been married off to that scumbag. And after he cheated on her, no one from her powerful and influential family stepped up for her. They just let her die in the Sloan Family’s home.
"In my opinion, it was that mistress Old Mrs. Lancaster, the illegitimate daughter Yvonne, and the scumbag father Chairman Lancaster who conspired to kill Miranda! Now they’re acting like they treated their daughter so well. Who are they trying to disgust?"
Chairman Lancaster’s expression changed drastically!
Estelle Lockwood blinked, looking at Nathaniel Sloan, and mouthed, "Did you hire them?"
Nathaniel nodded nonchalantly. "Of course." No one else dared to bring up the Lancaster Family’s dirty laundry, so he would do it himself.
"Since Chairman Lancaster and Old Mrs. Lancaster wished nothing more than for this daughter to die, would they treat her son well? That’s impossible...
"So, it’s highly likely that Theodore isn’t Miranda’s son, right?
"Otherwise, how else do you explain Miranda not leaving her inheritance to Theodore?"
It was a deadly dilemma. Did the Lancaster Family want to kill Miranda, or was Theodore not her son?
Estelle smiled and nodded. "Chairman Lancaster, make your choice."
Chairman Lancaster gnashed his teeth while Theodore narrowed his eyes. How could they choose between these two? Neither option was acceptable!
A lump formed in Chairman Lancaster’s throat. He opened his mouth, ultimately deciding to bite the bullet and insist that Miranda knew the truth.
"We... how could we not tell Miranda..." Chairman Lancaster sighed. "Miranda is Theodore’s biological mother. No matter how cruel we might be, we would never treat her like that. Of course Miranda knew the child didn’t die and was right here in the Lancaster Family.
"But she was an adult, after all. Even as her father, I couldn’t possibly know every thought in her head... Therefore, we have no idea why she left her inheritance to Nathaniel instead of her own flesh and blood.
"Perhaps Miranda discovered the injustice Nathaniel suffered and wanted to compensate him, so she left it to him?"
Yvonne also let out a hypocritical sigh. "That’s right. I know I’m an illegitimate daughter, and my sister never liked me, but we’re still family at the end of the day. How could we be so heartless?
"My sister knew of Theodore’s existence... Perhaps because she felt displeased that Theodore was being raised by my side, she chose to leave him nothing...
"It’s all my fault. I’m the one who ruined things for Theodore!"
With Yvonne framing it this way, Theodore suddenly became the pitiful child. Rejected by his own biological mother because of the grievances of the older generation—how tragic.
Theodore breathed a slight sigh of relief, exchanging a glance with Yvonne and nodding discreetly.
Estelle raised an eyebrow and clicked her tongue. When someone decided to cast away all shame, they truly became invincible. She hadn’t expected Yvonne to still be capable of such sophistry at this stage. However, Estelle’s eyes darted playfully as she said, "So, Ms. Yvonne Lancaster, what you mean is that Miranda knew the truth. She knew about Theodore’s existence, right?"
Yvonne had a sneaking suspicion that this was a trap, but caught between a rock and a hard place, she could only grit her teeth and nod. "Right!"
"Oh..." Estelle dragged out the syllable. "Then what about this video recording?"
A recording? There was a video recording?!
Chairman Lancaster choked, feeling as though something was slipping entirely out of his control. He instinctively looked up—
Suddenly, across a span of twenty-seven years, he saw his own daughter’s face!
The crowd was also startled, freezing in shock.
***
The Miranda in the video looked very weak, but she was in good spirits and even appeared somewhat happy. It was clearly a hospital room. She must have recorded it with a camera. There was a timestamp at the bottom, indicating it was from twenty-seven years ago.
The young Miss Miranda Lancaster had rarely, if ever, appeared in the public eye. No one knew exactly when it started, but eventually, the Lancaster Family only had Yvonne. Yvonne had replaced her status as the eldest daughter, taking over the title of "Miss Lancaster" in everyone’s mouths. Meanwhile, Miranda seemed to have vanished, trapped to her death in the Sloan Family’s home.
Now, seeing the Lancaster Family in this state, the crowd couldn’t help but sigh in lamentation while stealing side glances at the Lancasters. Sure enough, every single one of them was deathly pale. Especially Yvonne—the veins on her forehead were bulging as if she were desperately suppressing something.
Miranda had pointed the camera at herself. In selfie mode, she chuckled softly as she cradled her newborn baby. Her tone was gentle as she introduced her child, recounting amusing anecdotes from her pregnancy and mentioning that she hadn’t come up with a name yet, but that she definitely wouldn’t take the decision lightly. Finally, she showed everyone the birthmark on her child’s body.
Behind the baby’s ear was a circular birthmark.
Everyone abruptly turned their gaze toward Theodore!
Theodore stiffened all over, his lips pressed into a tight line. Fortunately, his hair covered the back of his ear, so nothing was visible.
However, that didn’t stop the barrage of questions from the onlookers.
"Chairman Lancaster, does Theodore have a birthmark behind his ear?"
"You just said Young Mr. Lancaster’s birthmark was on his hand."
"This video was clearly filmed right after Miranda gave birth and woke up. At that time, the baby hadn’t been ’taken away’ by the Lancaster Family yet, and Laura Jennings hadn’t had the chance to swap the children."
"So this baby is Miranda’s biological son."
"Since there’s video evidence proving that Miranda’s biological son has a birthmark behind his ear, wouldn’t everything be solved if Young Mr. Lancaster just showed everyone his ear?"
Theodore clenched his jaw tightly as cold sweat rolled down his face.
Nathaniel cast a fleeting glance over him and suddenly smiled. "Don’t have the guts?"
"Nathaniel, you—"
Nathaniel interrupted nonchalantly, "Young Mr. Lancaster might not have the guts, but I do." The man slightly raised his hand. "Though I don’t know why the ’biological son of Miranda’ acknowledged by the Lancaster Family doesn’t have this birthmark, while I—the initial illegitimate son and the supposed irrelevant outsider—have a birthmark completely identical to the one on Miranda’s son...
"Chairman Lancaster, perhaps you can provide an explanation?"
Everyone held their breath, not daring to make a sound. The birthmark was located in the most hidden spot behind the ear. It was very small and partially obscured by hair; without a close look, it would be unnoticeable.
But as Nathaniel took off his glasses and tilted his head slightly, the crowd shockingly discovered—
A birthmark! There really was a birthmark! In the exact same spot, with the exact same color!
Chairman Lancaster felt his vision go dark as waves of dizziness crashed through his brain!
"Coincidence... This is just a coincidence..."
Nathaniel calmly withdrew his hand and put his glasses back on. "The birthmark on my body might be a coincidence, but on Miranda’s biological son, it’s an absolute certainty.
"Young Mr. Lancaster, if you please.
"Will you let everyone see the birthmark behind your ear?"