Everyone Can Hear My Thoughts, and Now They're Panicking

Chapter 57: Chapter 57: Finally Driven to an Unrecognizable State

Jane Lancaster replied to the text and tossed her phone aside.

As the car pulled into the Lancaster estate, she saw all the household staff standing in the courtyard, their expressions as solemn as if they were at a funeral.

"Welcome home, Miss Lancaster, Master Julian." The new butler waved his hand, and everyone bowed.

Jane Lancaster: "..."

As she walked past, everyone declared loudly, "Congratulations on your recovery, Miss Lancaster! We wish you a long life!"

Whether they were sincere or not, their voices were certainly loud enough to be deafening.

Then, each of them offered her the Amulets, peace charms, and other similar items they were holding.

"Jay, they said they used to go to the temple in groups to pray for you. I think prayers are more effective when spoken aloud," Julian Lancaster said calmly.

He had even arranged for someone to bring a tray to collect all the charms.

Jane Lancaster: "..."

’My dear older brother has finally gone off the deep end. I don’t even know who he is anymore!’

’Did he really die from cancer in the end? And not from some mental illness? Did I get him mixed up with the second idiot?’

The second idiot kept his head down, not daring to utter a sound.

The Lancaster family’s servants didn’t dare to make a sound, either. Jane Lancaster looked at them one by one, but no one dared to meet her gaze, all of them respectfully lowering their heads.

Jane Lancaster said, "Big Brother, isn’t this a bit much...?"

Julian Lancaster replied, "What’s not good about it? Since they earn their living from this family, they should pray for you, their employer, to have a long life. If they don’t want to, they can leave immediately. No one’s stopping them."

Clearly, none of the Lancaster family’s servants wanted to leave. They simply bowed their heads even lower.

’Sigh... money is hard to earn, and the work is crap. These people don’t have it easy.’ Jane Lancaster couldn’t help but feel a bit of pity for the servants.

Once they were inside the villa, the real show finally began.

A portrait of their mother, June Kent, was displayed on the family shrine, which was set with an offering table, incense, and candles. A kneeling cushion was placed on the floor before it.

"Jay, go light some incense for Mother. Thank her for watching over you and helping you recover," Julian Lancaster said gently.

After the brother and sister had offered the incense, they heard Julian Lancaster say, "Take the cushion away."

"Kneel!"

Before Jane Lancaster could even react, Alvin Lancaster had silently tossed his crutch aside and knelt on the cold marble floor.

Julian Lancaster accompanied Jane Lancaster for dinner, and the table was filled with all her favorite dishes.

Alvin Lancaster remained kneeling the whole time. When Jane Lancaster grew tired and prepared to go upstairs to bed, she could still see his solitary figure kneeling there.

’This is completely insane. What century are we in, still doling out corporal punishment? No, this is domestic abuse!’

’Later, when they put me on trial, they made me kneel just like this...’

Jane Lancaster sighed. She really hated domestic abuse.

She knocked on the door to Julian Lancaster’s study. "Big Brother, if Second Brother keeps kneeling like this... what if his health suffers?"

Julian Lancaster replied, "Don’t worry. The family doctor is on standby in the guest house."

"Are you trying to speak up for him?" Julian Lancaster stared at her intently.

"No, I think it’s good for him. Maybe kneeling for a while will teach him a lesson." Jane Lancaster beat a hasty retreat. "Big Brother, I’m going to bed. Good night."

After leaving the study, she made a special trip to the living room to look in on Alvin Lancaster.

Alvin Lancaster spoke. "You went to see Big Brother..." He had seen Jane Lancaster head in the direction of the study.

Hope swelled in his chest. In the past, whenever he was punished for defying their father, it was always his sister who couldn’t bear it and would step in to plead for him.

Jane Lancaster flashed a devilish smile. "Second Brother, it gets cold at night. I’ll have Mama Knight bring you a blanket."

Alvin Lancaster’s eyes widened. Did this mean he was expected to kneel all night?

’Disappointed, are we? Feeling hurt? Trying to guilt-trip me? Not a chance!’

’Who told you to be so obedient and just keep kneeling? There are no cameras in the living room, and Big Brother isn’t watching you constantly. Don’t you know enough to sneak off to bed? You’re an idiot. You deserve this!’

She turned and left with a smile.

Alvin Lancaster: "..."

He would never defy his big brother’s orders and make him angry.

In the middle of the night, wrapped in the blanket Mama Knight had brought him, Alvin Lancaster finally couldn’t take it anymore. He stealthily got up and climbed onto a nearby recliner to rest for a while.

A little while later, he picked up his crutch, snuck into the elevator, went to his room on the second floor, and crawled into bed, falling fast asleep.

——

Jane Lancaster assumed that after being forced to kneel in punishment all night, Alvin Lancaster’s hatred for her must have reached its absolute peak.

After waking up, she eagerly opened her mission panel to check the favorability rating. She zoomed in, and then zoomed in again—it was still a glaringly green 0.000001%!

During breakfast, Jane Lancaster stared incessantly at Alvin Lancaster’s feet.

’If I really run out of options, maybe I should try breaking his other leg?’

Alvin Lancaster had been feeling a bit nervous, afraid his big brother would be furious if he discovered he’d snuck back to his room to sleep.

But his big brother seemed perfectly normal. Why did his sister look so angry?

And why on earth did she want to break his leg?

How could his sister be like that!

Feeling wronged, he hunched his shoulders and practically buried his head in his plate.

"Sit up straight when you’re eating." Julian Lancaster frowned, his gaze flicking down for a moment before he looked away.

After a moment, he said, "You two, get ready. You’re coming with me to a banquet tonight."

An elder of the Holt family was celebrating their seventieth birthday and had invited many guests; the Lancaster family was on the guest list.

Such occasions were essential for socializing. The Lancaster family had turned away all visitors while Jane was recuperating, so now that she was better, it was naturally time to circulate among their peers again.

Right before they were about to leave, Jane Lancaster received a gift.

"Congratulations on your recovery, my princess. May you live a long and healthy life, and may we be together forever." The message on the card was handwritten, surprisingly, and signed with Caleb Lowell’s name.

"Young Master Lowell picked out the gift himself yesterday and wrote the card by hand," the courier said. "He had me leave for the airport at dawn to catch the earliest flight to deliver it."

Jane Lancaster called him, but he didn’t pick up.

"Young Master Lowell was likely working very late again last night," the courier explained.

Jane Lancaster didn’t seem to mind. She took a photo of the gift and sent it to him with a message: "Thank you, Zion~"

Not only that, but she also put together a nine-photo collage and posted it on her social media feed.

After her persistent fishing, it wasn’t long before someone took the bait.

——

Chloe Dave was scrolling through her social media feed when she saw the post and couldn’t help but scoff.

’That’s enough. This woman is so shameless. She’s messing around with her attending physician, yet she still has the nerve to flaunt her relationship with Caleb so publicly.’

’She’s the reason three people are still laid up in the hospital, and here she is, all happy to be attending a banquet and making her official return to the social scene.’

"Dave, what’s wrong?" Vincent Holt leaned in.

He was the youngest grandson of the Holt family, and it was his grandmother’s big birthday today. The old woman doted on her youngest grandson, so she had even put him in charge of organizing the party.

Of course, though he was nominally in charge, his subordinates were the ones doing the actual work. His main responsibilities were to liven things up and book a band—playing the part of the doting descendant.

Since there wasn’t much for him to do at the moment, he wandered over to chat with Chloe.

Vincent Holt’s number one idol was Caleb Lowell, number two was Julian Lancaster, and right after them was Dave.

The two of them had grown up together; they’d been friends since they were toddlers.

"Jane Lancaster is showing off again. She just won’t go away," Chloe Dave said, annoyed.

’This can’t continue. The more entangled they become, the more it will damage Zion’s professional image.’

’Chloe never believed for a second that Caleb Lowell would actually marry Jane Lancaster. They stopped being a good match a long time ago. If Jane had any self-awareness, she would’ve been the one to let go.’