Chapter 136: Terrible Suspicions

The sky had darkened, and Ryan returned to the old mansion. Grace had been hospitalized due to illness, with the butler accompanying her throughout, leaving the empty manor with only him as the master.

"Second Young Master."

The servant greeted respectfully upon seeing him return.

Without a word, Ryan walked up to the second floor on his own and arrived in front of the room Vivian had mentioned. The door was tightly closed, and he stood silently for a moment, taking a deep breath before memories came flooding back.

This was Ben's room, from the time before Ben had moved out to live alone. Then one day, for reasons unknown, his mother suddenly sent Ben away from home. He had asked his mother about it, but she didn't say anything.

Now it seemed... perhaps she had reached the end of her patience with that unbearable past, finally to the point where she couldn't bear to even see the child.

This was his own mother's child with his eldest brother. At the thought, Ryan suddenly closed his eyes, feeling as if his throat was being choked, what a ridiculous and chaotic relationship.

"Second Young Master, you can't go in here," a servant approached and said cautiously with a bow.

Ryan sneered inwardly, can't go in? After everything that has happened, how long do they plan to keep covering this up?

"Give me the key," Ryan spoke indifferently, his words carrying an undeniable authority.

"This..."

"I won't repeat myself. If you won't bring it, I'll go find it myself," with that, Ryan started to walk away.

The servant was taken aback, then hurriedly responded, "I'll get it, I'll get it."

After obtaining the key, Ryan opened the door and went in. It was pitch black inside, with a heavy smell hitting him. He turned on the light, and the room immediately brightened. The first thing that caught his eye was the photo of Ben on the wall.

However, the photo frame was very new, with no trace of dust, indicating that someone had been in to take care of it.

"Second Young Master."

At this moment, an aged voice sounded behind him. He turned around to see the butler standing straight at the door, staring at him with a calm expression. Then, the butler walked in step by step and murmured, "I occasionally come in to clean this room."

"You know everything?" Ryan realized the butler seemed to be implying something.

"I've been with Madam for over thirty years, I know her best."

"Why didn't you stop this from happening?" In an instant, Ryan suddenly punched the wall behind him, making a muffled sound, his breathing becoming rapid, his voice trembling, "Absurd, utterly absurd!"

The butler also slapped himself across the face, "Because I really couldn't bear to see Madam in so much pain. At that time, the eldest young master was the only light in Madam's life, how could I bear to destroy it?"

Hearing this, Ryan's gaze immediately became complicated, "What are you saying?"

A hint of bitterness appeared at the corner of the butler's mouth as he walked to the desk and gestured for the man in front of him to come over. Ryan walked over and saw him pull open the drawer of the desk, revealing a large photo album. The butler directly opened the last page of the album, took out a small photo from an inconspicuous corner, and placed it on the table.

In the photo, a man and a woman were intimately embracing, smiling sweetly at the camera.

However, those two familiar faces now became a nightmare in Ryan's heart, and in an instant, his heart was intensely pained.

"Why are you showing me this?"

The butler let out a heavy sigh, "The second young master doesn't know, how difficult every day was for Madam back then. The master was never home, not caring about her at all. Madam swallowed a lot of bitterness and even once tried to cut her wrists. It was the eldest young master who saved her... Later, Madam decided, for the sake of the second young master, to live on strongly."

Hearing this, Ryan sneered, "Was it really for me or for my eldest brother?"

As he spoke, his gaze inadvertently fell on a yellow envelope in the drawer. He picked it up, opened it, and inside was a yellowed postcard, signed at the end with M&Z.

Those were the last initials of Daniel and Grace's nicknames.

M&Z?

A flash of lightning crossed Ryan's mind, and he felt inexplicably familiar with these two letters, as if he had seen them somewhere before?

He picked up the postcard and examined it closely. It was from Daniel to his mother, and in his deep emotions, Daniel even used such a sentence: "I can't live without you."

And this sentence was also familiar to Ryan.

"Second Young Master..." The old butler's desolate voice sounded again in his ear, "I'm not saying this to defend Madam, nor am I asking for your forgiveness, I just want to tell you about that little-known past, it was the darkest and most difficult time in Madam's life. I hope the young master can slightly understand Madam's painful and helpless state of mind at the time, not to be too harsh on her, she now lives every day in regret and self-blame, unable to face anyone from Golden Group."

The butler's loyalty to Grace was genuine, and tears uncontrollably welled up in his eyes.

Ryan fell into silence, not responding for a while, and then walked out of the study on his own.

He suddenly remembered something and turned back, asking, "Where is Ben now?"

The butler behind him was taken aback upon hearing this name. At that time, Ben had been promoted to a higher grade, and Grace had arranged for him to attend an international school in Oxford.

"At the International Second Middle School in Oxford."

Ryan nodded without saying a word and left.

Ava was waiting for him outside the manor. As an outsider, she was not convenient to go in, so she waited outside.

Seeing him come out, Ava walked up. Before she could speak, Ryan took the lead and said, "Let's go to Oxford."

"Go to Oxford?" Ava was taken aback.

"To pick up Ben." Ryan opened the car door and got in the car on his own.

All the way, even with soothing light music playing, the atmosphere in the car was very oppressive. Ryan drove with a solemn expression, and then suddenly spoke,

"Ava." He called her name.

Ava looked at him.

"Do you have any impression of the letters M&Z? I always feel like I've seen them somewhere, but I can't remember."

M&Z?

Ava tried to think as he said, and soon had an answer, "Was it the M&Z on that note in Japan last time?"

Ryan suddenly reacted, yes, that was the signature on the last letter of his eldest brother before his death! Also M&Z.

And the content of that last letter was - "I know it's you, what you want, as you wish, I don't regret it, I can't live without you, take good care of him, farewell forever."

In an instant, Ryan remembered everything.

"I know it's you"

"As you wish"

He suddenly realized the unusual nature of these two sentences in the letter.

A terrible thought suddenly appeared in his mind.

Could it be that his eldest brother's death was related to his own mother?

Was that "as you wish" in accordance with Grace's will - did his mother want him to die?

For a while, his heart was in turmoil, and he stepped on the brakes in a hurry, stopping, leaning against the steering wheel, his face pale, breathing heavily.

The second half of the trip to Oxford was continued by Ava, with Ryan sitting in the passenger seat, occasionally glancing at Ava who was driving attentively, and then closing his eyes to concentrate.

This was the first time Ryan had ridden in a car driven by a woman, and it was Ava at the wheel, but somehow, he felt inexplicably stable, and his originally restless emotions gradually returned to calm.

From time to time, he would open his eyes, and what he saw was her perfect profile, Ryan's throat moved, and he suddenly wanted to ask her,

"Ava, can you still accept such a Golden Group, such a Ryan? Do you really not mind at all?"

The chaos of Golden Group made Ryan feel dirty himself.

He wanted to ask, but he held back, because he admitted that he was afraid of the outcome.

"We're here."