Chapter 21 Juniper Has Returned!
At the front door, Juniper in her uniform set down her suitcase.
"I'm home."
Aurora rushed over in a flash, grabbed Juniper's hands, and examined her just as carefully as she had checked Catherine earlier, her heart aching.
"Juniper, why have you lost weight again? Is the food in Tranquil County still not good? I'll prepare some supplements for you."
Juniper shook her head. "No need, I'm fine."
She turned around, her gaze locking onto Catherine, who was surrounded by Charles, George, Richard, and Philip.
Catherine stood gracefully before her. Her delicate face bore a strong resemblance to Aurora's, but her eyes carried Marcus's sharp authority, which only made her more stunning.
Juniper thought to herself that Catherine truly looked like a Windsor family daughter—so beautiful it made one's heart skip a beat!
"Hello, I'm Juniper. This is a gift for you."
Juniper took out a small box from her suitcase. Inside was a colorful feather hair clip. Each feather seemed golden, shimmering with a dreamlike, flowing brilliance under the light—dazzling and comparable to diamonds.
"This is a feather extracted from my test subjects. It's not worth much. If you don't like it, that's fine."
After all, her test subjects were just hundreds of thousands of chickens.
When Esme heard that the hair clip was actually extracted from those chickens, she took a big step backward.
"Juniper, it's one thing that you like doing research, but how can you bring something like this home? It's so dirty!"
Catherine was somewhat surprised.
She knew about this hair clip. Last month, Research Institute No. 3 in Tranquil County had reportedly developed test subjects with chicken breeds closest to those from three thousand years ago.
Institute No. 3 was among the highest classified secret projects in all of Stellara. She hadn't expected Juniper to be the head of Institute No. 3!
The chicken feather hair clip before her could no longer be valued in monetary terms. It represented a major advancement in human research that would have far-reaching effects on the development of various fields in Stellara!
Catherine accepted the hair clip. "Thank you, Juniper. I really like this, but it's too valuable. Is it really appropriate?"
What she meant by "appropriate" was that getting this hair clip out of the research institute must have required quite a bit of paperwork.
Esme pursed her lips.
As expected from someone who hasn't seen the world—even a chicken feather hair clip is a treasure to her.
For the first time, a smile appeared on Juniper's face. She was slender with neat short hair tucked behind her ears, and two small dimples appeared on her elegant face.
"I'm glad you like it. The paperwork doesn't matter. If it weren't such a hassle for me to leave the institute, I would have been there to welcome you on the day you came home. It's so annoying—I might as well blow up the research institute someday and come home every day!"
Catherine was speechless.
Blowing up the research institute really wasn't necessary.
Coming out once was quite difficult. Each time, she'd be accompanied by a dozen special forces soldiers to protect Juniper's safety. Even Marcus needed to file a report to see her. After going back and forth like this, Juniper found it annoying and simply stopped coming home.
Juniper couldn't help herself and pulled Catherine into a hug.
Catherine smelled so nice! Completely different from those obviously smelly Charles, George, Richard, and Philip!
Charles, George, Richard, and Philip looked at Juniper with resentful jealousy.
They wanted to hug Catherine too!
But afraid Catherine would get angry, they only dared to ruffle Catherine's hair. They could only watch helplessly as Juniper held Catherine.
Esme said nothing.
Had Juniper gone crazy? She was actually hugging that Catherine!
The most beautiful and elegant daughter of the Windsor family could only be her.
"Juniper, I have something I want to tell you."
Juniper released Catherine and looked at Esme. "Why are you still wearing such ugly clothes? Those who know might think it's your preference, but those who don't might think you're from the slums. Stop being an eyesore and go take care of Grandma."
Esme was on the verge of tears!
She grabbed Juniper's sleeve. "Juniper, I really have something very important to tell you."
Juniper was so annoyed. Esme was so tactless, insisting on interrupting her bonding with Catherine.
"Fine, come to my study."
All the Windsor family children had their own private studies. Bethany and Aurora never interfered with their affairs, letting the children develop on their own.
In the study, as soon as Esme entered, she grabbed Juniper and started crying.
"Juniper, don't let Catherine fool you. She's just a slut. On her first day back, she deliberately wore ragged clothes to make Mom, Dad, and our brothers feel guilty. Today she was also getting cozy with several men on the street."
"We're supposed to be the Windsor family daughters, but she's definitely going to take everything from you and leave you with nothing!"
"Juniper, you should be our Windsor family daughter. Why should you give everything that's yours to someone else!"
"You can't do this. We should team up and kick Catherine out. Having someone like her around is an embarrassment to the Windsor family. Grandma was so upset by her that she's still lying in the hospital."
To prove what she was saying was true, she pulled out her phone and showed a video she'd taken of Lila in the hospital.
In the video, Lila was full of energy, eating a dozen oranges in a row, showing no signs of being sick at all.
Juniper raised an eyebrow and said seriously, "Grandma's appetite looks pretty good. At her age, she shouldn't eat so many sweet things. How are you taking care of Grandma? And those cakes—are those appropriate for someone her age?"
Esme was momentarily speechless.
She had specifically ordered those things to show how devoted she was to Lila!
Lila had clearly enjoyed eating them too. Juniper had never been by Lila's side—what right did she have to question her?
"Grandma was made sick by Catherine! Juniper, didn't you hear what I said? As soon as she came home, she took Mom's amethyst and won't let the chef cook with scallions and ginger!"
Juniper nodded. "So Catherine doesn't like scallions and ginger. You said she likes amethyst? I have a set too. I'll go get it for her right away!"
Finally, she knew what Catherine liked!
Esme fell silent.
Why!
Since childhood, Juniper had never been nice to her, either complaining she was too stupid and didn't study well, or finding her ugly and embarrassing, never taking her along to play.
Now why was she being so good to Catherine?
She must think she's not a real Windsor family daughter and is deliberately sucking up to Catherine to stay in the Windsor family!
Juniper happily went to find the amethyst. "Close the door when you leave. I'm going to give the amethyst to Catherine."
Esme stared at Juniper's retreating figure, her venomous gaze suddenly falling on the computer Juniper had just opened.
Half an hour later.
Catherine looked at the complete set of top-quality violet crystal before her, somewhat surprised.
She remembered this crystal set—she had cut it from rough stones at a gambling event two years ago. The auction price at the time was one hundred million dollars. She hadn't expected it to be bought by the Windsor family as a gift for Juniper.
Juniper rubbed her hands together, looking at Catherine with great anticipation. "Catherine, I heard you like amethyst. This was a gift from Mom and Dad when I got my doctorate two years ago. From now on, it's yours!"
She had thought it over and felt the hair clip was too shabby.
Better to give something substantial!
"Thank you, Juniper."
Juniper smiled even more happily than when her experimental data had a breakthrough.
Seeing them getting along so well, Bethany and Aurora both showed relieved smiles.
They knew it—Juniper was a daughter they had personally raised and taught. Of course she would love and protect Catherine just like they did!