"What should we do?" Violet Zimmerman anxiously asked, her eyes a little red, "Will Evander look down on me?"

"Silly, no matter how much he looks down on you, you’re still his mother!" Joseph Lancaster raised his hand to wipe the tears from Violet’s eyes.

"But!" Violet started to speak again, but Joseph interrupted her, saying decisively, "No buts. He’s your son; looking down on you is the same as looking down on himself!"

Violet sighed and leaned on Joseph’s shoulder, muttering to herself as she looked ahead, "Maybe we should just tell him the truth, so he won’t always be hostile towards you."

Seeing Violet’s sentimental demeanor, Joseph’s phoenix eyes held a clear smile. At over fifty, the man smiled very much like his "nephew," Evander Lancaster.

"You, stop worrying. You’ve just started enjoying some good days."

Violet grabbed Joseph’s hand on her shoulder and said plaintively, "Joseph, I don’t want Evander to misunderstand you. After all, he’s also your..."

"Sigh, let’s not tell him after all." Before Violet could finish, Joseph sighed, looking ahead with a dazed gaze, "The truth is too cruel. Let’s not destroy the beautiful image of my brother in his mind."

"But he will always misunderstand you!"

Violet turned her head, looking up at her uncle. Clearly two years older than Joseph, she still seemed like a little woman in front of him.

"Let him misunderstand then, I don’t want to disappoint him." Joseph also lowered his eyes to look at the woman in front of him. He knew better than anyone how much suffering this woman had endured when she was young.

After giving birth to Evander, she... could no longer conceive.

And all of this was thanks to his elder brother, the family head of the Lancaster Family.

In public, he seemed to adore his wife, and many women in the family were both envious and jealous of her. But behind closed doors, he showed a different face, perversely tyrannical...

Violet sighed again, looking ahead, "Perhaps Evander will find out about our relationship the day he moves out. It’s all my fault, being too dependent on you to know how to refuse. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be so rebellious, deliberately bringing that girl home to upset me, knowing I wouldn’t agree to her entering the family."

"Violet, why are you still so old-fashioned? Love is free now. Although that girl’s words and actions are a bit improper, as long as Evander likes her, that’s enough. You shouldn’t force it too much."

"How can that be? The Lancaster Family has its rules!" Violet turned back, unhappily facing Joseph. Meeting his smiling phoenix eyes, she leaned on his shoulder again and continued, "Many people in the family are waiting to see our branch make a joke, and I can’t let them have their way!"

"You, always keeping up appearances at your own cost!" Joseph affectionately poked Violet’s forehead, "Being some family matriarch is just a title. You should shed this burden early, live separately, and have less to worry about!"

"How can that be! When I married in, I promised the great-grandmother that as long as I’m in the Lancaster Family, it won’t fall apart!"

"You! Just born to endure hardships!" Joseph said helplessly.

In the room, the two of them were having a heated conversation, and outside the door, the eldest daughter-in-law, Mina Drake, quietly returned to the room where the children were sleeping.

...

Sophia Hamilton had just entered the house when her mother, Juliana Lancaster, anxiously asked.

"Sophia, is Evander’s mother satisfied with you?"

"It’s okay," Sophia responded noncommittally. Although she refused to admit her relationship with Evander Lancaster, she still felt uncomfortable because he hadn’t personally taken her home.