(Not) The Billionaire’s Replacement Bride

After finishing their lunch, Ariana decided to go to the playground with Axel. Their driver returned to the parking lot while their nanny continued to follow them. Axel cheerfully ran around, playing all the games available in the mall area. Meanwhile, Ariana and the nanny sat on a bench, watching the little boy play tirelessly.

“What was Axel like when he came to Zeroun’s residence?” Ariana suddenly inquired. Her attention remained fixed on the small child who was now busy hitting a plastic crocodile with a toy hammer.

“Um, well, that…” the nanny hesitated.

“Don’t worry. I won’t report anything. This conversation is just between us. I just want to get to know Axel better,” Ariana replied candidly.

“Back then, when Axel was brought here, I was still a household assistant. My husband and I had been working at the Zeroun’s house for a long time. We were quite surprised when Mrs. Isidora suddenly arrived and brought a young woman and a little child to the house, saying that he was the late Mr. Darrel’s son.”

Everyone in the Zeroun residence knew that Mr. Darrel was an exceptionally obedient child. I didn’t know Mr. Gerald very well because when I worked at the Zeroun residence, Mr. Gerald was already living abroad. But I was acquainted with Mr. Darrel. That’s why I was very surprised to learn that he already had a child. As far as we knew, Mr. Darrel also went abroad for his studies; no one knew he was married, let alone had a child.

As for the girl brought by Mrs. Isidora, she was a trained nanny hired from a renowned agency in the city. From what I know, to afford a babysitter like her, Mrs. Isidora had to spend a considerable amount of money.

When Axel came here, he had a hard time socializing. He was small and frail. I heard he was neglected by his late mother’s family and was only brought back from an orphanage when they found out he was a descendant of the Zeroun family. Whenever someone approached him, Axel would often become hysterical, crying loudly. He had difficulty eating; there were many foods he didn’t like. As a mother, I suspect it’s not that Axel didn’t like the food but because he wasn’t introduced to it,” his nanny continued.

Ariana remembered the time when she fed the child vegetable soup. Axel initially refused but eventually agreed to eat it after Ariana persuaded him.

“Only the babysitter could calm Axel,” Axel’s nanny said, catching Ariana’s attention again. “Back then, Mr. Gerald wasn’t as close to Den Axel. But he often kept track by asking Mr. Yosef about how Den Axel was doing. And I didn’t know, one day the babysitter was taken to the police station, fired, and I was made the nanny.” Ariana frowned deeply.

“Everything was very secretive. I heard that Den Axel had been given a lot of sedatives by that babysitter all this time.” Ariana was shocked to hear all of this. She was truly at a loss for words. “Since then, everything has been monitored by Mr. Gerald.”

Alright, now Ariana understood why Gerald was so overprotective of his family. Everything happened for a reason.

They later returned home after seeing Axel exhausted from all the games he had tried. Ariana, Axel, and his nanny arrived home with Axel asleep in Ariana’s arms. Yosef, who saw them, hurried over, intending to take Axel from Ariana’s embrace. However, Ariana refused. Instead, she whispered firmly to the old man.

“If Gerald asks. Tell him I didn’t come home. And this is an order,” she said.

Yosef was initially confused, but the elderly man smiled and nodded his head in agreement.

Ariana continued to carry Axel to his room. Slowly, she laid the small child down and changed his clothes into pajamas after gently wiping his sleeping body with a warm, damp towel. She then joined him in bed. By evening, Ariana opened her eyes once more, and she was once again surprised.

If she had been shocked before by the presence of her twin sister and her mother, this time she was taken aback by the arrival of a guest from her husband’s past. It could be none other than the graceful and beautiful woman she had seen clinging to Gerald earlier. Ariana’s gaze immediately shifted to her mother-in-law, who now stared back at her with a mocking expression. Where was her grandmother-in-law? It seemed she truly needed that woman’s help this time, although she wasn’t sure what kind of help she wanted.

Ariana kept walking, intending to ignore them and head to the kitchen to prepare dinner. However, her mother-in-law’s voice made her stop in her tracks.

“Shelma, let me introduce you. This is Ariana,” her mother-in-law said, her voice soft and gentle, a tone Ariana had heard many times before.

“Ariana?” the woman furrowed her brow, looking at Ariana. “Not Karenina?” she asked, confused. Mrs. Isidora shook her head. “No, Karenina is her twin sister. Ariana here is the elder sister.”

Still with a furrowed brow, the woman protested to Mrs. Isidora, “Auntie never told me this?” So, once again, her mother-in-law acted as an informant to Ariana’s competitors.

“Yes, initially Auntie didn’t expect all of this to unfold this way. You know Karenina left before the wedding happened. At first, Auntie thought the marriage would fail. But, as it turns out, without Auntie knowing, Karenina has a twin sister. And we had to seek her help so we wouldn’t be embarrassed,” Mrs. Isidora’s response made Ariana’s ears burn with frustration.

This woman was truly two-faced. Wasn’t she the one who had supported Ariana’s mother and her twin sister before? But why did she now sound more supportive of the graceful woman? Ariana didn’t even want to mention her name.

“Why didn’t Auntie contact Shelma? She could have come here quickly,” she protested, trying to sound playful. Ariana even sneered at the woman’s response.NôvelDrama.Org owns this.

“Yes, back then Auntie didn’t think of you. Besides, everything happened so suddenly,” Ariana snapped. What kind of defense was that? “But don’t worry, you’re here now. Gerald doesn’t need Karenina anymore. And your dad doesn’t oppose your relationship anymore. So Auntie ensures that your relationship this time will succeed,” Mrs. Isidora said again.

Ariana didn’t listen to the rest of their conversation because she had already entered the messy kitchen and closed the door behind her. What she didn’t expect was that the woman she had been looking for was there. She seemed busy with the ingredients in front of her.

“Grandma thought you were still asleep. So Grandma took the initiative to prepare our dinner,” the elderly woman said without Ariana asking.

Did Mrs. Rosaline really make dinner for them? Or was she, just like her mother-in-law, doing all this as a form of hospitality for their guests?

Well, perhaps this was the moment Ariana was truly being ousted from this place, she thought.

“Don’t think too much,” Mrs. Rosaline said suddenly. Ariana stared at her with furrowed brows. “I know what’s on your pretty little mind, Miss. But none of that will come true. I am someone who opposes my grandson’s relationship with that woman,” Mrs. Rosaline stated firmly. Ariana fell silent, struck dumb in her place.