Chapter 65: Chapter 65: The Heartthrob Female Lead, So Terrifying
Unfortunately, everyone seemed to be dazzled by the afterglow of the "little sun," leaving her aunt to experience the deep frustration of being the only sober person in a crowd of drunks.
Now that Cassandra Lynch was pulling her old tricks again, Wanda Chamberlain was suppressing a mountain of rage, wishing she could march right over and rip that hypocritical mask from her face—and her mouth with it.
Arabella Donovan watched from the sidelines, utterly amazed. She was finally getting a better understanding of the power wielded by this playboy protagonist.
’I must have woken up on the wrong side of reality. I’m seeing a true green-tea, black-lotus protagonist in the flesh! Compared to her, Claire Bishop’s little white-lotus act is child’s play. In just a few sentences, she’s managed to wash her hands of everything. If it’s ever proven that Eloise was switched with her at birth, she’ll still play the part of the pure, innocent, pitiful little victim.’
’And most importantly, she has that built-in "sickly and weak" buff. After a speech like that, if her aunt keeps interrogating her, won’t it look like she’s bullying a patient? Classic. So, so classic. Is this the power of a universally beloved female lead? This is terrifying!’
Eloise Donovan couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow, studying Cassandra Lynch’s face seriously for the first time.
As for how she and Arabella had instantly recognized the girl with Mrs. Sherwood and her son as Cassandra Lynch from upstairs...
For one, although the banquet was held at the Lynch residence, the second floor was a private area. Only someone personally escorted up by Zane Lynch, as they had been, or a member of the host family, like Cassandra Lynch, would be there. For another, it was her face.
Cassandra Lynch had a congenital heart disease. She couldn’t engage in strenuous exercise, her complexion was paler than most, and her build was much more slender and delicate than the average person’s.
Her delicate face, often tinged with a hint of sorrow from her illness, was framed by skin made flawless from years of pampering in the Lynch household. While not as strikingly gorgeous as Eloise Donovan, she had a gentle, unassuming beauty—the grace of a fragile willow in the wind—that easily stirred a person’s protective instincts.
No wonder so many men were willing to be fish in her pond. Humans are visual creatures at heart.
Neither Mrs. Lynch nor Mrs. Sherwood spoke. Instead, they turned to look at Felix Lynch and Ryan Sullivan, the men who could be considered the decision-makers in the room.
Felix Lynch didn’t say whether he believed her or not. He only asked Eloise Donovan, "Have you two had a DNA test?"
"Serena had a DNA test with my adoptive parents. She is indeed my adoptive parents’ child. As for me..."
Everyone’s hearts leaped into their throats. Eloise Donovan lowered her gaze slightly. "My parents have already passed away, so I didn’t do one."
Of course, this was a lie. Although Holly Wagner had died a few years prior, she had been arrested as a human trafficker, and the police had preserved her DNA to help find more of the children she had unfortunately abducted.
Initially, Eloise Donovan hadn’t done the test simply because she couldn’t accept the truth of her origins. Later on, she held off because of things Arabella Donovan had said.
In any case, by a twist of fate, she had never actually done a DNA test with Holly Wagner. Saying this now was just a way to lower Cassandra Lynch’s guard.
Sure enough, upon hearing that Eloise Donovan had not done a DNA test with Holly Wagner, Cassandra Lynch’s expression visibly relaxed.
She knew that a DNA test on the Lynch Family’s side was also impossible, because Gideon Lynch and Rona Sullivan had also passed away long ago without leaving any DNA samples behind.
Felix Lynch and Ryan Sullivan exchanged a look. Felix frowned and said, "Gideon and Rona’s passing was sudden, so I’m afraid... It seems if we really want to confirm this, the only way is a kinship test."
But a kinship test wasn’t so simple. For the best results, it should be done with a sibling of the parent who is the same gender as the person being tested. But in Gideon Lynch’s case, his brother, Felix Lynch, was male. And for Rona Sullivan, her brother, Ryan Sullivan, was also male.
The available siblings on both sides were a different gender from Eloise Donovan, which meant the test results could have uncontrollable margins of error.
The situation seemed to have hit another impasse. Arabella Donovan, however, was a little baffled. She quickly flipped through the "book" in her mind, making sure she hadn’t misremembered.
’That’s not right. Eloise’s parents donated bone marrow years ago, right at Mr. Rhodes’s family hospital. My aunt and Mr. Rhodes’s mother are sisters, so there’s no way my uncle’s family doesn’t know about this. Have they forgotten, or are they planning something else?’
"What?" The members of the Donovan Family, crammed into a small corner of a downstairs room to eavesdrop, gasped in shock before quickly clamping their hands over their mouths to continue listening.
The only one who knew what the Lynch family was planning, Caspian Rhodes, thought with no small amount of emotion about the two DNA samples still lying in his family’s hospital, waiting for the day they would see the light.
Perhaps Mr. Lynch and Miss Sullivan, all those years ago, had some premonition that this day would come, and that’s why they decided to donate bone marrow together.
Or perhaps, this was simply fate’s reward for good-hearted people.
After hearing all this, Cassandra Lynch’s anxious heart finally settled completely.
She knew very well that without ironclad proof, no matter what suspicions everyone present might harbor, no one would dare to pull her down from her position as Miss Lynch.
Eloise Donovan, on the other hand, was silent for a long moment after hearing them speak. Then, she suddenly asked, "Can I see a picture of her?"
Everyone present knew who "her" was.
Felix Lynch turned to his wife. Felicity Lister understood immediately. "I’ll go get it."
Rona Sullivan and Gideon Lynch had both been people who loved to travel and make friends. In the few short years from when they started dating to their marriage and their fatal accident, they had filled several photo albums.
After their passing, however, these photos became precious mementos, which Felicity Lister kept safely tucked away.
The album Felicity Lister selected mainly contained photos from after their wedding. In addition to their wedding photos, there were also several maternity pictures of Rona Sullivan from different stages of her pregnancy.
Throughout this process, Gideon Lynch was never absent. He was always by her side, eagerly anticipating the arrival of the fruit of their love.
Eloise Donovan’s gaze first fell on their wedding photo. In it, the couple wore simple, plain white shirts, sitting side-by-side with expressions of the purest joy on their faces.
Rona Sullivan did indeed look a lot like her, though she seemed more cheerful and quick to laugh. When she smiled, her eyes curved into crescents, bright and sweet, making it impossible for anyone looking at her not to smile back.
Gideon Lynch resembled Felix Lynch a little, but he wasn’t as serious. He looked like an innocent young man without a care in the world, flashing a perfect eight-toothed grin when he smiled.
After Rona Sullivan became pregnant, this young man seemed to grow up in an instant, gradually becoming a reliable pillar for his wife and child to lean on.
The last photo in the album was taken in the Lynch Family’s back garden when Rona Sullivan was more than eight months pregnant. She was wearing a white gauze dress, sitting on a light-colored garden chair, a gentle smile on her lips as she looked down and caressed her high, round belly.
The afternoon sun shone down on her, enveloping her in a faint halo of light, making the scene hazy and dreamlike.
Gideon Lynch was half-squatting beside her, his head tilted and pressed against her stomach. His face was filled with adoration and gratitude for his wife, and with curiosity and anticipation for their future child.
