Chapter 1116: Chapter 1119

Sophia was also beginning to understand Anne. She was nothing more than a naive little girl who saw 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 vicious mankind 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, Miss Osborne, 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 with anticipation, 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 get married, I’ll —”

Sophia cut her off mercilessly, ready to burst the girl’s bubbles. “Oh dear, Miss Osborne, it seems as if you’re far too naive to understand what’s going on. You speak as if you are Young Lady Yard, and I bet 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 at what’s left of them! Have you ever wondered why they were so desperate to claim you back as their own 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 her sons 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’t you know that your aunt is renowned as a bloodthirsty tyrant? She killed off the uncles and sisters who helped her climb up the family throne, and she spared none of those who came from the branch family—

that’s the reason why she and her sons are the only ones left! My dear lady, do you understand what I mean by ‘branch family’?”

Anne was clearly in shock. She refused to believe in these ugly lies. She was a princess, and she wanted 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 had no rightful claim on the Yard family fortune! As far as your aunt is concerned, you are not of direct descent, and that means you’re worthless! She and her sons are lineal descendants of the Yard family, and only they have a rightful claim to the family name. You, on the other hand, are just a nobody! Do you really think your aunt brought you back so that you could be the young lady of the family? 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 some old fart in another reigning family, and once he died, you’d be forced to marry someone else in the same family—

you’d just be traded around from one man to another like a wh*re! Right now, you’re just a lowly dog in the Yard family, and your aunt could just as easily get rid of you as she did with the others. What’s sadder still is that you actually believe you have far more value than that. You thought you could fit in with the rest of them, but you can’t change the fact that you are nothing more than a b*tch of collateral descent!”

Anne was sobbing by now. She covered her ears with her hands and screamed, “Go away! Stop talking!

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 gaining power within the family. The three of them hold 20% of shares each, and the remaining 1% is held by 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 fall apart in shock and despair; her dreams of becoming a real-life princess were shattered before her eyes.

She remembered being over the moon when she first heard that she was a long-lost relative of the Yard 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, while Anne 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 not to go after any part of the Yards’ fortune. Other than association, the Osbornes would ask for nothing more from the Yards.

Sophia continued attacking Anne despite the latter’s heavy sobbing. “Your aunt single-handedly built the foundation for the Yard family, and your cousins are the ones benefiting from it. Can you imagine how difficult it must have been for them to eradicate the entire Yard clan, and the price they had to pay in order to wield power over Ronney Group? The honor and glory are theirs, and theirs 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 who you 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 stammered pathetically, “Stop it, stop it! I-I 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’s defense as she countered Sophia fiercely, “Don’t you dare fill Anne’s head with your filthy lies! Do you take her for a moron? How can she be from a branch of the Yard family? She is a direct descendant!

You’re the only one here who’s not of direct descent, and outcasts like you can’t stand to 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 her name, 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 many of the Yard clan. Anna had to be ruthless to gain all that she had now; she had been unforgiving toward her uncles and siblings, killing all of them when they so much as disagreed with her. She had been amiable since her reconciliation with Louis Osborne, but if he or Xena were caught scheming against 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 to do 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 first place.

The Yards might be family, but Ronney Group indeed had nothing to do with the Osbornes in the slightest.

Anne was still far too young and naive to understand any of this. She would survive if she chose to remain an airhead for the rest of her days as Young Lady Yard, but if she so much as even asked for shares 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.