Lord Howard had quite a few unrelated people by his side before he died. Could it be that he had something left unsaid that he couldn’t speak openly about, so he used that sentence to try to tell Alice Bennett something?

Charlotte Green frowned.

Alice Bennett wrote: Did you ever suspect it too?

Charlotte Green nodded.

Alice Bennett wrote: A few years ago, when you fell into Edward Carter’s hands, what was the reason?

Charlotte Green gestured: My background.

As Alice Bennett expected.

Charlotte Green gestured: It wasn’t just because of the prince’s last words. The fourth prince also had many doubts about Young Lord Carter’s background. He sent me to investigate, and of course, I wanted to look into it as well.

Alice Bennett wrote: And what did you find?

Charlotte Green shook his head—he hadn’t found anything.

Alice Bennett leaned against the bedside, lost in thought.

Charlotte Green signed: Does master suspect that Young Lord Carter is the prince’s child?

Alice Bennett mused, “It’s just a suspicion... but honestly, it doesn’t make sense.”

Just connecting the two of them based on Lord Howard’s single phrase “three or four” is too far-fetched.

Besides, Edward Carter was born the year the late emperor passed away. That year, Lord Howard had just turned fifteen. Pregnancy takes ten months, so counting back, Lord Howard would have been only fourteen...

Alice Bennett couldn’t help but laugh—how could that be possible?

Charlotte Green, guessing what Alice Bennett was thinking, earnestly gestured: Fourteen isn’t necessarily impossible.

Alice Bennett gave an awkward smile, not wanting to discuss this kind of thing about his adoptive father with Charlotte Green. After a moment, he wrote: At that time, the prince was still the most favored sixth prince, personally raised by the late emperor, and very likely to inherit the throne. The late emperor would never have let him have a child out of nowhere before his official marriage. Besides, would Princess Anguo and Lord Carter really raise a son for Lord Howard? And raise him so carefully?

Charlotte Green nodded and gestured: Impossible. The emperor is wary even of Samuel Grant, so how could he possibly allow the older Young Lord Carter to remain?

Alice Bennett sighed. The idea of Lord Howard’s own child doesn’t add up either, so what’s really going on?

“Three or four blood relatives”—was that just something said in passing, or did it have a deeper meaning?

Charlotte Green pondered the words “three or four,” then guessed and gestured: Could that “four” be referring to you, master?

Alice Bennett laughed and wrote: I’m a year older than Edward Carter! Are you saying the prince was sleeping with someone at thirteen? What are you thinking! Our The Bennett Residence may be gone, but I was truly born to my own parents.

Charlotte Green lowered his head and laughed.

“Then who could it be...”

Charlotte Green suggested: If master wants to know, I can keep investigating. I’m not in a hurry to go south.

“No.” Alice Bennett shook his head. “He just mentioned you to me. If you fall into his hands again, he definitely won’t let you go.”

Charlotte Green was helpless. Alice Bennett thought for a moment, then said, “Or... after the Longevity Festival, the two of us can switch. You go with them to Qian’an, and I’ll stay in the capital.”

Charlotte Green frowned and gestured: Didn’t master say that after this, we’d have nothing more to do with all this?

Alice Bennett fell silent. If those three children are safe, he’ll have repaid Lord Howard’s kindness in raising him. In the years to come, could he finally...

Charlotte Green didn’t want Alice Bennett to get stuck in the mire again, and quickly gestured: The two young masters are only ten years old.

Alice Bennett gave a bitter smile—true enough.

Ever since Lord Howard died, this life hasn’t belonged to him. Where would he find the freedom to think about anything else?

Chapter 7: Shall I sing you a song?

Charlotte Green grew up with Alice Bennett from childhood. He didn’t know all of Alice Bennett’s thoughts, but could always guess a bit. He looked up at Alice Bennett and signed: Is master worried about Young Lord Carter?

Is that why you’re forcing Edward Carter’s background onto Lord Howard, to convince yourself to stay?

Alice Bennett said nothing.

Back then, when Lord Howard was framed, Lord Carter played a part in it. Alice Bennett shouldn’t be worrying about Edward Carter.

Charlotte Green thought for a moment, then gestured: When the incident happened, Young Lord Carter was only in his teens and didn’t get involved. Master, you don’t need to feel guilty toward the prince.

Alice Bennett rubbed his brow and said softly, “I know the difference.”

At that time, although Charlotte Green had also been bought into The Carter Residence, he was always outside the second gate feeding the horses, so he didn’t know much about what happened between Alice Bennett and Edward Carter inside. He thought for a moment and asked directly: Did master ever have feelings for Young Lord Carter back then?

Alice Bennett choked a little.

“No...” Alice Bennett smiled. “Don’t tell me you believe those rumors too? There’s nothing like that.”

Charlotte Green looked at Alice Bennett in confusion, completely at a loss.

So there were never any feelings—then why worry about Edward Carter now?

“He...”

Alice Bennett rested his arm under his head against the bed, and said slowly, “Back then... although we were classmates for a few years, in all three years, we barely spoke.”

“I didn’t want to cause trouble for the prince, so I never interacted with those people. Except for occasionally bickering with the fourth prince James Grant, I never got involved with anyone else.”

“The fifth prince Julia Grant is ruthless and scheming, always trying to trip me up with dirty tricks. I look down on him... Edward Carter is Julia Grant’s cousin, and since they’re on the same side, I naturally kept my distance.”

The fifth prince Julia Grant’s mother, Consort Yu, is Lord Carter’s own sister.

Alice Bennett rubbed his sore neck. “Thinking back, I was confused too. He and I weren’t related, nor did we have the kind of friendship I had with James Grant. Why would he go to such lengths to buy me?”