Reborn with Nothing but My Farm and Vengeance in the Apocalypse

Chapter 533: Chapter 533: A Man’s Jealousy

Hearing Melody Summers’s words, Simon Lancaster, for some unknown reason, began to laugh like a neurotic fool. "Ha, haha... HAHAHA..."

Melody Summers: "..."

Melody Summers frowned at him, completely baffled. She had no idea what had gotten into him.

’Did I hit him too hard just now? Did I give Simon a concussion?!’

A strange smile played on Simon Lancaster’s face, but the gaze he fixed on Melody Summers was so cold it could freeze water. He said in a low voice, "...Do you know why I helped Sylvia teach you a lesson in our last life?"

Without even thinking, Melody Summers blurted out, "Because you’re a scumbag!"

"What other reason could there be? There’s something wrong with the Lancaster Family’s upbringing, to have raised three venomous, wicked creatures like you!"

Hearing this, Simon Lancaster let out another foolish laugh. He ignored Melody Summers’s taunts and said, speaking as if to himself, "...Because... I just can’t stand the way you are!"

"Why?! Why can’t you just be gentle and obedient like Sylvia, quiet and sensible? Why do you have to act so clever all the time?!"

"Do you have any idea how disgusting it is when you act so clever?! You’re nothing like what a younger sister should be!"

"Other people’s younger sisters just act cute with their brothers, but you have to be a smart-ass about everything, always so competitive! Do you think you’re so incredible?!"

Simon Lancaster’s expression was somewhat hysterical, but Melody Summers just found it all baffling.

She frowned and said, "Me? Competitive? ...When have I ever been competitive? I think you’ve lost your mind!"

Under Melody Summers’s confused gaze, Simon Lancaster continued, "You still dare say you’re not competitive... Don’t you remember, in our last life, right after you returned to the Lancaster Family, Father had you draw up a proposal..."

Hearing this, Melody Summers searched her memory and realized that had indeed happened.

At that time, the abnormal heat waves had just begun, and the Lancaster family’s company hadn’t gone bankrupt yet. One day, Robert Lancaster, perhaps on a whim, had called Melody Summers into his study and asked her to prepare a proposal.

Melody Summers hadn’t understood why at the time, but she still diligently completed the proposal as Robert Lancaster had requested.

Melody Summers never found out if the proposal was adopted, but Robert Lancaster seemed very satisfied. He praised her for her talent and was even planning to arrange for her to help out at the family company.

Unfortunately, the company fell into a bankruptcy crisis not long after, so the matter was naturally dropped.

Melody Summers didn’t understand why Simon Lancaster had suddenly brought this up. She listened as he continued, "You had clearly never been involved in company management. You were clearly just an unsophisticated woman raised in the countryside who had never seen the world. So why were you able to create such a flawless proposal... Even Father praised you, saying you were truly worthy of being a Lancaster..."

Back then, after seeing the proposal Melody Summers had made, Robert Lancaster couldn’t stop praising it. He had even said to Simon Lancaster, "It’s a shame your sister was switched at birth... If she had been raised in this family from a young age, personally groomed and trained, she could probably already be holding her own by now!"

"Look at this proposal. It’s comprehensive, with almost no oversights, and it even finds creative solutions for several difficult problems... Simon, it’s not that I’m trying to criticize you, but when you were her age, you were far inferior to her..."

Although Robert Lancaster’s words were just casual conversation, they pierced Simon Lancaster’s heart like a vicious thorn.

Before, the Lancaster Family only had three children. Silas Lancaster was an incompetent loafer. Even with half a dozen tutors chasing after him to study since he was a child, his grades were still unbelievably terrible.

And while Sylvia Lancaster was clever, her excellence was limited to artistic talents like piano and painting. When it came to the company’s business, she was completely clueless.

As the eldest son, Simon Lancaster’s ability to manage the company was far superior to his two younger siblings, so for all those years, he had been the sole heir to The Lancaster Enterprises.

But Robert Lancaster’s praise for Melody Summers gave Simon Lancaster his first sense of crisis in over twenty years of life.

The reason Simon Lancaster had brought his biological sister, Melody Summers, back to the family in the first place was not only to further his relationship with Sylvia Lancaster, but also because he had hoped to gain another sister who was as naive, ignorant, sweet, and docile as Sylvia.

But who would have thought that he would end up bringing home a potential competitor—someone who... made him look utterly useless by comparison!

’The thought that he—a student of a prestigious overseas business school, personally taught and groomed by business elites—couldn’t even compare to a sister raised in the countryside made uncontrollable resentment fester in Simon Lancaster’s heart!’

Later, when Robert Lancaster suggested that Melody Summers join the company, Simon Lancaster grew even more anxious.

That was why he indulged Sylvia Lancaster at every turn, allowing her to frame and suppress Melody Summers in front of their parents.

Sometimes, when he felt Sylvia Lancaster’s methods were too childish, too much like child’s play, he would even give her indirect hints and pointers, enabling her to create bigger trouble for Melody Summers.

Simon Lancaster hoped that by doing this, he could keep Melody Summers trapped in pointless battles for their parents’ affection for the rest of her life, leaving her with no energy to think about company matters.

At this moment, looking into Simon Lancaster’s resentful eyes, Melody Summers suddenly felt a sense of release.

After two lifetimes, she finally understood the source of Simon Lancaster’s hostility toward her. Not only was she not angry, she actually felt like laughing.

’All I can say is that a man’s jealousy is truly a terrifying thing. Though both of their jealousies stemmed from a conflict of interest, Simon Lancaster was far more insidious and vicious than Sylvia Lancaster.’

In Melody Summers’s eyes, the Simon Lancaster before her was like a maggot in a sewer. She didn’t even want to waste another breath on him—after all, a person can’t communicate with a maggot, nor can a person defeat a maggot’s logic with human reasoning.

Seeing that Melody Summers wasn’t speaking, Simon Lancaster sneered and said pointedly, "...If you weren’t so determined to act clever... if you could just be quiet and sensible like Sylvia and Silas..."

"Perhaps... for the sake of our blood relationship, I could have treated you well, just like I treat Sylvia and Silas..."

"Shut up!" Melody Summers, her patience gone, cut Simon Lancaster off. "Who are you calling sister? Are you even worthy?! Don’t disgust me, you sewer maggot!"

’He was still trying to pull that manipulative crap on her, even now?!’

Melody Summers brandished the iron rod in her hand and viciously struck Simon Lancaster’s back a few more times!

Amidst Simon Lancaster’s agonized howls, Melody Summers sneered and taunted, "Since you dote on Silas and Sylvia so much, why aren’t you worried that they’ve been missing for so many days?"

The pain made Simon Lancaster see stars, but he still caught the key point in Melody Summers’s words—

He looked up at Melody Summers, his face a mask of astonishment, and asked, "How did you know they were missing?!"