Mr. Sloan and Mrs. Sloan froze; they hadn’t expected to see Serena Sterling here! Serena, stunning and pure as she stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, turned around, her bright eyes falling on Mr. and Mrs. Sloan. She gently curled her red lips, "You’re here. I’ve been waiting for you for quite some time." Mr. and Mrs. Sloan looked at each other in confusion, "Serena... Miss Sterling, why are you waiting for us? What do you want to do?" "Exactly, we have nothing left now. Please don’t trouble us, we’re just simple country folks. Please let us return to the countryside." Mr. and Mrs. Sloan felt the countryside was better; they wanted to go back. Serena looked at them, her eyes sparkling with a captivating glow, "You don’t need to be afraid. I have no ill intentions. I just want to ask you a few questions." "Alright, Miss Sterling, ask away. We promise to tell you everything we know." The source of thɪs content is novel fire.net Serena nodded, "Actually, I just want to chat with you, to talk about your daughter Caroline Sloan’s upbringing." Mr. and Mrs. Sloan didn’t know why Serena wanted to discuss this, but they were willing to talk and dared not refuse, "Caroline is our daughter. She has been obedient and sensible since she was little. We come from a place where having daughters is seen as a financial burden, destined to be married off someday. So, we always hoped she could marry a wealthy man. However, her academic performance was outstanding, and from a young age, a benevolent person from the big city sponsored her, supporting her entire education." Cherie brought over a chair, and Serena sat down. She quickly picked up on the key point and raised her eyebrows, "A benevolent person from the big city?" "Yes, we don’t know who that benevolent person is because Caroline never mentioned their name or allowed us to bring it up." "I remember one year, that benevolent person from the big city even brought Caroline over to stay for a few days." Serena curled her red lips; she basically understood that the benevolent person from the big city must be Aunt Iris. Aunt Iris began sponsoring impoverished children in mountainous areas many years ago, which is no secret. Caroline Sloan should be one of them, and she won Aunt Iris’s favor with her intelligence and charm. That year must have been Aunt Iris’s birthday, when she brought Caroline to City of Aethelgard to enter the Crawford family, leading to a series of subsequent events. "And then?" Serena asked. "Then Caroline gradually grew up and went to the big city on her own. She rarely contacts us anymore, and when we call her, she’s unwilling to say anything. But she does send us money regularly." Serena listened attentively, "I see... Have you ever noticed anything unusual about her, or that she’s different from how she used to be?" Mr. and Mrs. Sloan quickly exchanged a glance. They both thought of Caroline’s cold, serpentine demeanor earlier, which was chilling. "Well..." Mr. and Mrs. Sloan hesitated. "You don’t want to say? That’s alright. Initially, I planned to plead for your sake to Mr. Crawford, since you’ve spent so much money, which is no small sum. Caroline shouldn’t be able to afford it... right?" Serena blinked innocently, looking at Mr. and Mrs. Sloan with pity. Upon hearing this, Mr. and Mrs. Sloan’s eyes lit up. They couldn’t care less about their daughter as long as they were well off, "We’ll tell, we’ll tell... Caroline used to be very obedient and weak, but earlier she seemed like a different person, cold and venomous, even breaking my arm." "Actually, thinking carefully, Caroline is quite peculiar. In the mountainous area, there was a dog next door that barked throughout the night, which annoyed Caroline. The next day, that dog was dead, and it had met a tragic end, stabbed to death." Serena nodded, fully understanding now. This Caroline Sloan is fake; the real Caroline must have died long ago. However, she had a question. Calculating the age, Caroline shouldn’t be just 20 years old. Back then, Caroline went with Aunt Iris to City of Aethelgard before Hayden Crawford was born. This year, Hayden Crawford is already thirty-two, so how could Caroline possibly be 20? "I have one last question, how old is Caroline Sloan this year exactly?" Serena’s bright eyes fell on Mr. and Mrs. Sloan. "Well..." Mr. and Mrs. Sloan stiffened, then quickly smiled awkwardly, "Miss Sterling, since we’ve told you everything, we won’t hide the age matter either. We lied about Caroline’s age; actually, she’s... in her thirties." "We didn’t come up with this idea; Caroline did. To be honest, Caroline is like she’s reversing the aging process, looking like a vibrant young lady even in her thirties, pretending to be 20 is no problem at all. We thought, for girls, the younger, the better, so, haha, we went along with it..." Serena understood now. Caroline Sloan, as the princess of The Merfolk Clan, reversing aging wasn’t strange, but impersonating a 20-year-old girl as a lady in her thirties, would the "Big Brother" Hayden Crawford shed tears when he learned the truth? Caroline’s age can be faked, but it can’t fool Aunt Iris. Once Aunt Iris meets her, everything will be exposed. Coincidentally, Aunt Iris has also flown to Westria, so Caroline, considering all aspects, had Consort Willow poison Aunt Iris. Now everything was clear at a glance. "Alright, thank you both. I’ve heard everything I wanted to hear. You may leave now." Black-clad security entered and pulled Mr. and Mrs. Sloan away. "Serena... Miss Sterling, don’t forget what you said earlier, you would plead our case to Mr. Crawford, don’t forget that..." The couple’s voices faded away. The room fell silent. Cherie approached Serena, "Princess, it seems now that Caroline Sloan is indeed the princess of The Merfolk Clan!" Serena nodded, "Yes, this Merfolk Clan princess was already around before both Hayden Crawford and I were born." "Should we immediately capture Caroline Sloan now?" Cherie asked. Serena looked at Cherie, "What do you think Mr. Crawford would do if we capture Caroline Sloan?" Serena went to the floor-to-ceiling window, "Though Mr. Crawford and Caroline Sloan are innocent and clean, I know Caroline holds a special place for him. They have a story, but... I don’t yet know what that story is, and Mr. Crawford doesn’t want to tell me." "Princess, what should we do now? We can’t just consider Mr. Crawford and let Caroline Sloan go." Cherie genuinely didn’t understand what madness possessed Hayden Crawford to entangle himself with Caroline Sloan. Serena looked at the blue sky and white clouds outside the window, trembling her exquisite lashes, "I promised him to give him time, but now that time has run out, I can’t wait any longer. I’m going to uncover their story myself!"