I transmigrated and got a husband and a son!-Chapter 1208: Vain vanity

"You are a boy?"

Ram was perplexed. Looking at Charlotte’s face, she looked like a girl. She also sounded like one. Her body type resembled a girl her age, and she acted like a girl. Therefore, no one would suspect that underneath that dress she had worn would tell something else.

"Oh!" Surprise suddenly cast on Charlotte’s face, turning around to hide what he was told to hide growing up. His complexion turned pale as he gazed down, his shoulders trembling, scared of what would happen now.

"Put on your clothes, kid. I’ll wait outside, so tell me once you’re done. We need to talk."

After that, he heard the door open and then closed.

Charlotte pursed his lips and slowly looked back. Ram was gone, but that didn’t mean he felt less anxious.

Growing up, Charlotte was told never to reveal his real gender. Florence told him if someone found out, their life would be in danger. Florence told him all sorts of things, and he started to believe that being born a boy was a punishment for him.

’But Uncle Ram isn’t... a bad person, is he?’ he wondered. ’I can’t escape now.’

They were in the middle of the sea! He couldn’t jump off the ship now.

Charlotte felt dejected and scared of his fate. He reluctantly put on the pair of shirt and pants, pursing his lips as he gazed at the door. But just as his lips parted, his eyes caught the little window on the side.

**

Outside, Ram leaned on the wall, deep in thought.

’This is... unexpected,’ he thought, still in disbelief at this discovery. ’Her reaction, however, tells me enough to grasp the situation.’

His face darkened as it turned taut. He had a vague idea of that kid’s situation, but he didn’t like it. Whether he was right or wrong, Ram disliked the very idea of forcing someone to live a life of deceit.

Ram patiently waited for Charlotte until ten minutes later, he noticed he was taking more time than he should. At the five-minute mark, he thought Charlotte was simply recomposing himself. However, it had been ten minutes and there was no sign of movement inside.

"Charlotte?" he knocked on the door. "Is everything alright there?"

No answer.

His brows knitted as he knocked again. "Answer me or I’ll have to open this door."

Ram waited for several seconds, giving him time to answer. But there was still no answer. Hence, he twisted the knob and pushed it. Much to his dismay, it didn’t open as if something was blocking it inside.

"Charlotte?" he called, rattling the knob and pushing the door slightly. "Goodness!"

Ram was left with no choice but to use force. He took a few steps back and with one powerful kick, the door flew open. Its hinges almost fell off with the force, but Ram immediately jumped inside. The chair that blocked the door lies around.

Looking around, his eyes fell on the open window.

He ran toward the window and peeked his head out, only to see a narrow space for someone to escape. "Damn it!"

Ram quickly raised his wrist to his mouth, ordering, "Charlotte is on the run. Find her quietly and don’t hurt her. She’s scared!"

After giving out an order to those on the ship, Ram went on to find Charlotte himself.

****

[Oxley Island]

"I should’ve poisoned that son of his when he took his first breath," Florence grumbled, laughing and crying. Her complexion was even paler now, the corner of her eyes was red, and the bag under her eyes looked darker because of her complexion.

"That bigoted father of ours... does he think just because he finally had a son, he could just take away all the years of my hard work?" Florence scoffed, now laughing continuously while shivering. "Well, that will never happen so long as I am alive. Not only his son will not get what he’s being given just because he’s a boy, but he’ll live a fool and will die a fool." fɾēewebnσveℓ.com

Hera held her breath, frozen in the spot while listening to Florence’s sentiments.

"Son?" she blurted out under her breath. "You have a brother?"

From what she heard, the Oxley favored male descendants to be heirs rather than females. Though it could be challenged, there was never in the record where a female became the head. But the late master only had two daughters, now three?

Wait a minute.

Hera’s eyes dilated as she gradually came to a conclusion. "Charlotte... that kid... is a boy?"

"Hah!" Florence slowly lifted her hate-ridden eyes to Hera. "Yes. He is Felice. Blame our father — no, blame the kid. It’s not my fault, you know that. He disciplined us to the point of abuse and you were forced to leave the island before he could marry you off to some bastard scum!"

She laughed in ridicule, seeing Hera as her sister. "I didn’t want to hurt you, my little sister. You know I care for you, right?" She shook her head, crawling her way to Hera, but barely closed their distance because of her now limp leg. "There’s no one who understands my pain other than you and no one understands your grievances other than me."

"I spent my life to be the heir he would be proud of," she continued through a weeping smile. "But that man got his nurse pregnant! And that wench dare bring his son into this world! I can’t let him ruin my entire life just because of a child who hadn’t earned anything aside from being born!"

Watching and listening to Florence, Hera knew this was nothing but the truth standing bare before her.

’So, that’s why my mother and I are named heirs?’ Hera almost laughed out loud in disbelief at this discovery. ’The late master knew my mother would want nothing to do with this, and I won’t want anything to do with the title either. Therefore, the natural course of action is... we’ll pawn it off on someone.’

And that someone would be Charlotte, the original and the only heir the late master truly acknowledged. No wonder he left out Florence from his last will. He didn’t trust Florence to breed Charlotte to be heir. Let alone, let Charlotte take over.

"In other words, we are dragged into this because this family is a total screwup." Hera clasped her hands tightly, feeling this surge of anger as she felt like the late master of the Oxley surely played with their lives just to get what he wanted even after death.

What a cunning man.