Meanwhile, Estelle finished the share transfer and returned to Imperial Crest.
Nathaniel opened the door for her, a smile playing on his lips. "Chairman Lockwood, after you."
Estelle raised an eyebrow. "You’re quite the smooth talker, Nathaniel."
Nathaniel said evenly, "Right now, you hold the most shares in the Sloan Group. By right, you are the chairman."
"I’m not interested in the Sloan Group." Estelle curled her lips. "Actually, the fact that Ethan Sloan handed over the shares to me so readily shows that they plan to abandon the Sloan Group."
"Oh?"
Estelle rested her chin in her hand. "It might sound a bit shocking to say this... but I still feel like Ethan has a backup plan. Including Theodore. Even though they act like they value the Sloan Group highly, if you really want to figure out what a person is thinking...
"You can’t just listen to what they say; you have to watch what they do.
"They keep saying the Sloan Group is important, that it has to be left to Theodore, and that they won’t allow me to ruin its reputation. But in reality, when I asked for ten percent of the shares, Ethan actually just gave them to me... No matter how I look at it, it doesn’t seem normal."
Nathaniel nodded. "So, what do you think the Sloan family is plotting?"
Estelle shook her head. "I can’t figure it out either."
BEEP BEEP. Just then, both of their phones suddenly rang.
Estelle spoke first. "A senior in the industry just invited me to her brand’s fiftieth-anniversary celebration banquet."
To her surprise, Nathaniel raised an eyebrow. "What a coincidence."
Estelle leaned over to look at the text message he had received and clicked her tongue. "I didn’t expect you to know Ms. Winters too."
Nathaniel replied, "The one who knows her isn’t ’Nathaniel Sloan,’ but ’Mr. Lynch.’"
Estelle understood. "So Ms. Winters doesn’t know that you and the previous Mr. Lynch are two different people?"
"Right. She probably thinks I’m still..." Nathaniel suddenly paused.
The previous Mr. Lynch was Miranda Lancaster. The person Ms. Winters knew was Miranda. She might not have known Mr. Lynch’s true identity, but they definitely knew each other.
Perhaps Miranda had used the identity of Mr. Lynch to befriend her. But no matter what, this message was sent to "Mr. Lynch." Either way, Nathaniel had to make a trip there.
Estelle nodded gently. "Maybe they really did know each other... Ms. Winters is a friend of my grandfather’s, and from those letters, we also discovered that my grandfather and Miss Miranda Lancaster were friends.
"A friend of a friend is a friend. It’s completely normal. The three of them might have all known each other."
This senior, named Jane Winters, had a very traditional Innerland name. However, she wasn’t actually from Innerland. She was from Britain. People from Britain didn’t look drastically different from Innerlanders, though their nose bridges tended to be a bit higher, and their eyes were not black. But she had grown up in Innerland since she was young, so she gave herself the name Jane Winters.
Speaking of eye colors...
Estelle went to look in the mirror. "Nathaniel, come take a look."
The man gently looked up, his clear gaze meeting her eyes.
Under the sunlight, Estelle’s eyes shimmered with a beautiful, dazzling glint of blue, but in the next instant, they shifted back to brown.
Nathaniel lightly touched her eyelid. "They do seem a bit blue."
Estelle nodded. "It’s only become noticeable in recent years. I went to see a doctor about it. They said it’s nothing to worry about, probably just a recessive gene."
Different races around the world had different eye colors. Most people in Innerland had black, dark brown, or brown eyes, while blue and green eyes were more common in Europea. But there were always exceptions.
Estelle didn’t dwell on it too much. "The banquet is tomorrow. I need to think about what gift to get Ms. Winters."
Ms. Winters owned a luxury brand, and this year happened to be its fiftieth anniversary. The golden jubilee celebration would feature a massive, brand-wide banquet. That event would be quite formal, requiring invitations to numerous industry insiders, celebrities, and the like. However, tomorrow’s banquet was a private gathering hosted by Ms. Winters herself. Invitations were only sent out to close friends and select peers in her circle for a more intimate celebration.
Given Ms. Winters’s status, no one would dare decline her invitation.
Estelle ultimately chose a folding fan. The surface of the fan was made of silk, adorned with landscapes and flora painted in traditional Innerland ink wash techniques.
Aside from Ms. Winters, there was another matter that caught Nathaniel’s attention.
Someone from the Yeats family in Capital City had arrived.
One was the current Young Mr. Yeats, and the other was a young lady from a branch family.
The former Family Head, Old Mr. Yeats, didn’t manage affairs much these days. He had handed the entire Yeats family over to his son, the current Family Head, Mr. Yeats. Knowing that his son would eventually take over the family, Mr. Yeats delegated some of the less critical matters to Young Mr. Yeats.
Over the years, Young Mr. Yeats had often traveled around publicly. It was unclear what his business in Crestfall was this time.
As for the young lady from the branch family...
Estelle tilted her head. "Is this Miss Yeats from the branch family also attending the banquet tomorrow?"
"Yes. Since the Yeats are in Crestfall, if Ms. Winters didn’t invite them, it would be seen as a slight to their family."
One still had to show respect to the Yeats family of Capital City. Even though Jane Winters was the founder of a luxury brand, she still had to defer to an established, century-old aristocratic family.
Estelle murmured in understanding. She didn’t care much about the Yeats family, but she was still curious. "If the one who came is Young Mr. Yeats, why is the accompanying lady from a branch family rather than the main line?"
Nathaniel was privy to some inside information regarding the Yeats. "Because there is only one girl in this entire generation of the Yeats family."
Estelle was shocked. "Huh?"
Wealthy families lacked many things, but children were rarely one of them.
But Nathaniel shook his head. "Starting from Old Mr. Yeats’s generation, the men of the Yeats family have been extremely devoted. They’ve only ever had one wife. The bad habits of keeping mistresses and having affairs that plague other wealthy families don’t exist in the Yeats family.
"Old Mr. Yeats only has one child, and Mr. Yeats also only has one child. There are no girls in the main branch of the Yeats family.
"In this generation, the branch families also only produced one girl—that Miss Yeats. Old Mr. Yeats wanted a granddaughter so badly that he had her raised in the main estate from a young age. Although she belongs to a branch family, her status is practically indistinguishable from that of the main branch."
So that was it.
It looked like tomorrow’s banquet was going to be quite lively.
After all, the apple of the Yeats family’s eye would be in attendance. When the time came... it was hard to say whether the guests were there to celebrate Ms. Winters’s success or to curry favor with the treasured Miss Yeats.
Meanwhile, at the Winters family home.
Jane Winters was already seventy-five years old. Although she was advancing in age, her spirit and vitality only seemed to grow stronger.
Her butler, who had been by her side for decades, sighed. "With this Miss Yeats coming, what was supposed to be your celebration banquet..."
Jane shook her head. "Let it be. We cannot afford to disrespect the Yeats family of Capital City. By the way, Estelle will be coming tomorrow, won’t she?"
The butler smiled. "Of course."
Jane reminisced, "Her grandfather and I can be considered friends of many years. It’s a pity I’ve been abroad all these years... Oh right, what about Lynch? Has he replied?"
"Mr. Lynch will be coming as well," the butler replied.
Jane chuckled. "That’s good. It’s been over twenty years since I last saw Lynch. An old friend... I’m really looking forward to it."