My Dreamy Old Husband
Chapter 1119

Sophia was also beginning to understand Anne. She was nothing more than a naive little girl whosaw the world through rose-colored glasses, and her delusions belied her sheltered upbringing.She'd never had to endure life's many cruel punches, and she was clueless as to how viciousmankind could be—she didn’t know how ruthless it was out there in the real world.

Sophia hadn't wanted to be too hard on her, but as of now, she had to be cruel to be kind. “So, MissOsborne, it seems as if you're set on marrying my father.”

Anne was determined. “You have no right to interfere with our plans to get married.”

With a low chuckle, Sophia cast a fleeting glance at Sandra, who was practically buzzing withanticipation, and sneered, “Anne, I think it's time you get that brain of yours checked.”

At this, Anne was outraged. “Sophia, I suggest you watch that mouth of yours. I'm older than you,and you should show me some respect! You rude little wench! Just wait till your father and I getmarried, I'l—"

Sophia cut her off mercilessly, ready to burst the girl's bubbles. “Oh dear, Miss Osborne, it seems asif you're far too naive to understand what's going on. You speak as if you are Young Lady Yard, and Ibet you've thought about how you'd be a princess if we were in ancient times. But think about it,Anne, what happened to the rest of the Yards? The Yards were a clan before this, and now look atwhat's left of them! Have you ever wondered why they were so desperate to claim you back as theirown even after you've taken on a different surname?”

She did not wait for Anne to respond. “Are you really that stupid, Anne? Your Aunt Anna and hersons killed off the entire clan! That was her whole family—people who shared the same blood as her—but your aunt spared none of them!”

Anne began to falter. “Shut up!” she cried, panicked.

But Sophia did not shut up in spite of Anne's obvious distress and continued sardonically, “Didn“tyou know that your aunt is renowned as a bloodthirsty tyrant? She killed off the uncles and sisterswho helped her climb up the family throne, and she spared none of those who came from thebranch family—that's the reason why she and her sons are the only ones left! My dear lady, do youunderstand what I mean by “branch family?”

Anne was clearly in shock. She refused to believe in these ugly lies. She was a princess, and shewanted nothing to do with any of these, but Sophia’s voice grew menacing as she went on to say,“Much like yourself, the branch family consisted of those who were collateral descendants and hadno rightful claim on the Yard family fortune! As far as your aunt is concerned, you are not of directdescent, and that means you're worthless! She and her sons are lineal descendants of the Yardfamily, and only they have a rightful claim to the family name. You, on the other hand, are just anobody! Do you really think your aunt brought you back so that you could be the young lady of thefamily? I'm sorry to say that she only sees you as a pet dog!”

Then, Sophia leaned forward with a malicious smirk on her face, and pointed a finger toward Anne."If these were the ancient times, you would be the type of “princess’ who got married off to someold fart in another reigning family, and once he died, you'd be forced to marry someone else in thesame family—you'd just be traded around from one man to another like a wh*re! Right now, you'rejust a lowly dog in the Yard family, and your aunt could just as easily get rid of you as she did withthe others. What's sadder still is that you actually believe you have far more value than that. Youthought you could fit in with the rest of them, but you can't change the fact that you are nothingmore than a b*tch of collateral descent!"

Anne was sobbing by now. She covered her ears with her hands and screamed, “Go away! Stoptalking! I won't hear it!"

However, Sophia was relentless as she drove her point forward. “Your aunt and her sons hold 61%altogether in Ronney Group, thereby securing control over the board of directors and gainingpower within the family. The three of them hold 20% of shares each, and the remaining 1% is heldby General.” She paused, looking at Anne with a thoughtful gaze. “Do you know who General is?He's Anna Yard's cat! Her cat owns 1% of the shares in Ronney Group, and how many do you hold?None! My dear Miss Osborne, you can’t even begin to compete with their cat!”

There was no use trying to block out Sophia's words. By the end of it all, Anne could feel herself fallapart in shock and despair; her dreams of becoming a real-life princess were shattered before hereyes.

She remembered being over the moon when she first heard that she was a long-lost relative of theYard family. She had thought that she was royalty!

But today, Sophia had destroyed everything she fantasized about.

She was no better than Anna Yard's cat. Even General was a shareholder in Ronney Group, whileAnne had nothing! She had no place in the Yard family at all!

Anne sobbed piteously on the bed as she felt her pride and faith fade away.

The fact that she was not of lineal descent of the Yard family had made her lose out to a cat!

And Anna Yard had become the powerful woman she was by eradicating the whole branch family—the people who, like Anne, had no direct claim on the Yard family fortune.

Xena Osborne had once told her to not get too close to her Aunt Anna, and had cautioned her notto go after any part of the Yards’ fortune. Other than association, the Osbornes would ask fornothing more from the Yards.

Sophia continued attacking Anne despite the latter's heavy sobbing. “Your aunt single-handedlybuilt the foundation for the Yard family, and your cousins are the ones benefiting from it. Can youimagine how difficult it must have been for them to eradicate the entire Yard clan, and the pricethey had to pay in order to wield power over Ronney Group? The honor and glory are theirs, andtheirs alone—you have no right to any of it. You are nothing but a tool in the Yard family’s shed.You're no different from a princess in the ancient times who were married off against her own will,be it for in-breeding or intermarriage purposes. Do you really think you get to have a say on whoyou wish to marry? Wake up and smell the hummus, Anne Osborne!”

Anne was trembling under the sheets, feeling as if she'd just been gutted. She stammeredpathetically, “Stop it, stop it! I-l won't hear any of it! I'm going to marry Cooper!”

Sandra recovered from the initial shock that came with Sophia's speech and quickly came to Anne'sdefense as she countered Sophia fiercely, “Don’t you dare fill Anne's head with your filthy lies! Doyou take her for a moron? How can she be from a branch of the Yard family? She is a directdescendant! You're the only one here who's not of direct descent, and outcasts like you can't standto see our kind better off than yours ever will be! Guards, take her away immediately!”

The bodyguards moved to usher Sophia out of the room. While Anne held no shares under hername, she was still a young lady of the Yard family.

These bodyguards were confidants to Anna Yard, and they had followed her orders to kill off manyof the Yard clan. Anna had to be ruthless to gain all that she had now; she had been unforgivingtoward her uncles and siblings, killing all of them when they so much as disagreed with her. She hadbeen amiable since her reconciliation with Louis Osborne, but if he or Xena were caught schemingagainst her, there was no doubt she would be just as merciless toward them.

After all, what was kinship compared to profit and power?

She'd rather have her cat hold 1% of the shares than let her own father and sisters have anything todo with the conglomerate—that alone was enough to speak volumes of her character.

Fortunately, Louis and Xena were both smart enough to not go after what wasn't theirs in the firstplace. The Yards might be family, but Ronney Group indeed had nothing to do with the Osbornes inthe slightest.

Anne was still far too young and naive to understand any of this. She would survive if she chose toremain an airhead for the rest of her days as Young Lady Yard, but if she so much as even asked forshares in the conglomerate, there was a very high chance that she would end up dead the next day.Miss Edwards, on the other hand, seemed a lot sharper.

As such, it was no surprise that Anna was fond of her.