After that, Mango and Nathaniel had returned to Longford County in a fluster.
Why were they in such a rush?
It was because they were nearly discovered by Magnolia because of Mango's erratic breathing!
They were so close to being exposed!
They might have been discovered if Nathaniel had not reacted in the nick of the time.
What had happened was a great humiliation to Magnolia, and no one else should know about it, especially the younger generations like Mango. Nevertheless, they had discovered it by chance.
On the other hand, Mango had yet to recover from what had just happened, so she curled up in anguish and grief. At the same time, she felt her anger flare when she thought of the helpless cries from Magnolia.
How could a daughter of the Xiao family be bullied this way?
That was her aunt!
On the other hand, Nathaniel noticed how upset Mango was. However, he didn't try to give her any advice and poured her a glass of warm water
instead.
"Drink some water and calm down. We need to carefully go through what happened today."
Mango gazed at the familiar figure before her and stifled a cry.
"I didn't expect my aunt's life to be that harsh. I thought she was kidnapped and eventually became one of the mistresses of the king of Angolla willingly. She even gave birth to Lebanon! I thought that she was living a good life and things were completely under control, but I didn't know that she had to suffer too much humiliation. It all makes sense to me now! No wonder she couldn't return home to see grandpa, and no wonder she ignored Lebanon and even drove him out of Angolla. It turned out that she had no choice after all. If that's the case, did she harm Barack against her own will as well?"
Mango could not hold back the tears streaming down her cheeks as she said this.
After all, Magnolia was her aunt!
How could an elegant lady like her live lowly in a place that no one else knew about?
Perhaps only women could understand each other's sorrows.
Hence, Mango clearly understood her aunt's feelings.
Meanwhile, Nathaniel sighed and pulled Mango into his embrace. He said softly, "Everyone has their difficulties, but I think they too have their limitations. Even though I don't know where Magnolia draws the line, I believe she will never go beyond that."
"A limit? Does a person without dignity even have her limits??"
Mango looked up at Nathaniel with her teary eyes, so he couldn't help but feel heartbroken.
"Yes. She will draw the line when the other party mentions Barack and Lebanon."
Mango could not help but recall Magnolia's actions not too long ago.
Magnolia had been willingly become the man's plaything for many years for the sake of Barack, and she had even knelt down to beg that man for the sake of Lebanon. It was obvious that both Barack and Lebanon were the ones she held dear.
Nathaniel saw that Mango seemed to have figured it out, so he continued in a low voice, "Although I don't know who that man is, from the looks of it just now, Barack is still alive. Otherwise, how could he control Magnolia? He wouldn't be that confident even if he had captured Lebanon. Furthermore, Magnolia wouldn't have given up so quickly as well."
After hearing that, Mango nodded her head in agreement.
She took a sip of warm water and instantly felt better.
"Who is that man then?"
Mango's eyes were filled with anger and hatred when she asked this.
She had to avenge her aunt for the great humiliation the latter had suffered!
Nathaniel replied softly, "I don't know because we couldn't even see his face clearly. Perhaps only Magnolia knows his identity."
"But she won't tell us, and we can't ask her directly."
Magnolia would know they had witnessed what happened to her if they asked her about this.
When Nathaniel heard this, he became silent instantly.
On the other hand, Mango was deep in thought.
"That man must be someone important because he's related to Augustus, and he knows Angolla well. Maybe he's from Angolla after all."
Nathaniel went stunned when he heard Mango's words.
"All this while, I thought that Bernard was the mastermind, but now it seems that Bernard is useless. On the contrary, we might need to look into Augustus."
"What do you have in mind then?"
Mango's eyes immediately lit up when she heard Nathaniel's suggestions.
"If that man is related to Angolla, then maybe Augustus is also from Angolla. Furthermore, he might be holding a powerful position there."
Mango was stunned for a moment upon hearing Nathaniel's speculation. Then, a thought suddenly flashed through her mind.
"Ah, I've got it!"
"What is it?"
Mango grabbed Nathaniel's arm and exclaimed, "Augustus had seemed familiar to me when I saw him, but I've clearly never met him before. Why is that so?"
"Is it because of Maverick? Ah! They are father and son!"
Nathaniel shared his speculation, but Mango shook her head in disagreement.
"No, although they are father and son, Maverick doesn't look anything like Augustus at all. On the contrary, he looks like Nanny Zhang. It was natural for a son to look like his mother, but Maverick and Augustus don't even look similar! Nathan, that's your assumption because you haven't seen Augustus before, but I've seen him. Augustus and Maverick really don't look alike at all, but there is someone who resembles him."
Nathaniel was stunned when he heard that.
"Who is it?"
"Lebanon Fang!"
Nathaniel was stunned to hear Mango's reply once again.
"Come again?"
Mango knew that it was a strange revelation, but at that point, she realized that the two of them really had a lot of similarities.
"Augustus looks like Lebanon! To be exact, Lebanon's eyes and nose are very similar to Augustus', while his mouth is very similar to his mother's."
Mango's heart sank as she spoke. She knew what was running through Nathaniel's mind as she had the same thought as well.
She glanced at Nathaniel and whispered, "Could it be that Augustus is the ruler of Angolla?"
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: The Sweet Rival (Mango Shen and Nathaniel Ye)