I Faked My Death—Now I Have to Tame the Crazy Men I Left Behind

Chapter 271 - 269: Meeting Kian Keller’s Mother

Mia Grant and Kian Keller spent a carefree week at the hot spring resort.

With the New Year approaching, Mia Grant still hadn’t decided where to go.

She could stay here indefinitely, but Kian Keller...

She had casually mentioned the upcoming New Year, but his reaction was flat. He didn’t seem to have any intention of leaving.

But with his family situation, it was absolutely impossible for him not to go home for the Spring Festival. She just couldn’t bring herself to say it outright, otherwise he might think she was trying to kick him out.

He was already extremely "sensitive" right now, so she’d better hold back and not go dancing in his minefield.

However, even if she didn’t say anything, someone else would.

During their meal, Kian Keller’s phone rang. He just glanced at it and didn’t answer.

After he silenced it, the surroundings fell quiet.

Just when they thought that was the end of it, Aaron’s phone started ringing.

Mia Grant pretended not to notice anything and focused on her food.

If he didn’t answer his phone, he couldn’t be reached. Naturally, someone would be showing up at their door soon.

It was Mia Grant’s first time meeting Kian Keller’s mother.

She was completely different from what she had imagined.

As Mrs. Grant, Yuna Hughes came across as more shrewish.

Mrs. Sinclair still carried a trace of a rich young lady’s arrogance.

But this Mrs. Keller before her was graceful and poised in her movements, her words were soft and slow, her eyes gentle—a perfect match for Mia’s image of a high-society matriarch.

A person like that possessed an invisible, innate sense of pressure.

Mia Grant was also very cautious.

Mrs. Keller noticed her restraint and, smiling, set down her teacup. "You make good tea. Ethan’s tea is also very good. Did he teach you?"

"I suppose so," Mia Grant said after a moment’s thought. "I saw he enjoyed fiddling with all this, so I picked up a thing or two. I’m not as skilled as he is."

Mrs. Keller asked, "It must be quite boring being with him, isn’t it?"

Mia Grant didn’t speak, but the other woman understood and continued, "It’s probably because he grew up in a temple from a very young age. It made his personality somber and overly mature. He’s a very dull person."

"He can’t find any common ground with people his own age. They say every three years marks a generation gap, and there are two or three of those between you two. It’s normal to feel bored on a daily basis."

"Actually, I’ve known about you two for a long time."

Mrs. Keller liked to look people in the eye when she spoke. Mia Grant’s gaze had nowhere to run, so she could only meet her stare in silence.

"I don’t care who he ends up marrying. That sort of thing isn’t for me to worry about anyway."

"I just never expected he would like you this much."

"At first, the elders in the family just thought he was showing you extra consideration on account of Silas Grant."

"But I knew it was different."

"So, they never thought to stand in your way."

"By the time they wanted to intervene, it was already too late."

"He’s a very deep thinker and rarely gives anyone face. Even in his daily interactions with me, his own mother, he’s no different than he is with a stranger."

"It’s clear he’s serious about you."

"After they realized something might be budding between you, the family elders became very concerned about your background."

"But they felt it was a stroke of luck that when he was at his most invested, you had an accident."

"They thought that would be the end of it. But then you came back. Your return gave the elders a real headache for quite some time."

"Then why didn’t they ever come looking for me?" Mia Grant asked.

"Because of his leg."

"As much as they were unwilling to admit it, they had no choice but to acknowledge that you were his only hope."

"After he became willing to cooperate with his treatment, the elders didn’t know how to deal with you. Then came a turning point. When the news of your engagement to the Sinclair Family’s eldest son came out, they were probably the happiest people of all."

Mia Grant listened quietly, but she couldn’t seem to find the point.

The woman had sought her out today for a reason; she definitely had a purpose.

It was just that, judging from her words, she didn’t seem to be on the same side as the other Keller Family elders.

"What are you trying to say?"

"As a mother, it doesn’t really matter to me who my daughter-in-law is. It’s just that your appearance has, for me, seemed to reveal a different side of Ethan."

"However, speaking from my position as Mrs. Keller, I must say that you are not the right person for him."

"I know you’ve suffered some grievances with the Hughes Family in Portia recently. It seems there’s no difference between the Hughes Family and the Keller Family."

"It’s just that the Keller Family’s methods are gentler."

"We won’t force you to leave the way that old gentleman did."

"The choice is in your hands."

"Being well-matched in social status—it sounds like a feudal remnant from the last century."

"But if you think about it carefully, it’s very important for you, too."

"Perhaps it’s because you’ve been with the Grant Family for so long, but I always feel that deep down, you aren’t as confident as you appear on the surface."

"So, when you’re sitting in my position, watched by everyone and under pressure from all sides, the insecurity hidden in your bones will be exposed, little by little, over time."

"You either shatter your bones and lose yourself."

"Or, you become hideously ugly and get abandoned."

"There are no other outcomes but these two."

"Perhaps there’s a third," Mia Grant ventured.

Mrs. Keller shook her head gently. "I am the example right in front of you."

"..."

Mia Grant didn’t know Mrs. Keller’s background, but from the sound of it, she hadn’t been the best choice for Kian Keller’s father back then, either.

As if she knew what Mia was thinking, Mrs. Keller smiled and said, "Not just back then. I’m still not the best choice now."

"Before I met him, although I came from an ordinary background, I was the top scorer in the college entrance exams in my hometown. I sailed through my bachelor’s to my doctorate on a full scholarship. I was that brilliant student with a bright future that teachers always loved to boast about."

"Later, I met his father at work. He held a high-ranking position, while I was just an ordinary subordinate under him who had achieved a little something."

"To you young people, love can conquer all obstacles. But back then, in my eyes, love makes a person feel deeply insecure."

"That kind of insecurity will also bring out your innate, base nature."

"It will make a person become extremely rude, barbaric, and ugly."

"Even after his family took me under their wing and my parents started a small business back home, eventually becoming the richest people in the area, it still couldn’t change my position in the eyes of his family."

"Likewise, for me, it made no difference either."

"Businesspeople and politicians are different."

"The Keller Family elders hope he will follow in their footsteps one day."

"If you become the wife of a businessman, your story might become a celebrated romance. Your origins would be a dazzling part of it."

"But as the wife of a man at the center of power, your life and his become tightly bound together."

"And you, when mentioned by outsiders, will only ever be an ordinary person."

"So, to stay by the side of a man like that, you need a strong heart. Sometimes, you even need to join the outsiders in blaming your own insignificant self."

"..."

Mia Grant finally understood what she was trying to say.

Realizing this, she curled her lip into a smile. "Thank you for your advice. I completely agree with what you’ve said."

"In the future, I may have many identities and titles. But becoming ’Mrs. So-and-so’ is not part of my plans."

"If I must live on the words of others, then I should be known as Mr. Grant."