Chapter 1456: Chapter 1428: Winning the Prize and Returning

Wendy was being pushed by the Young Aunt in a little cart, continually uttering protests in squeaks and grunts, while from time to time, she haphazardly pointed with her hand. The Young Aunt, who had just gotten over being unaccustomed to the new environment, patiently soothe her little charge.

“Wendy, wait a moment, Mother will be out soon. Your mother is winning glory for the country; Wendy will also grow up to be someone like Mom,” she said.

“She just needs to be herself in the future, there’s no need for her to follow in my footsteps.”

Kiara stepped out from backstage and immediately spotted her daughter waiting in the VIP room. Seeing her mother, Wendy’s earlier restlessness transformed into an angelic smile.

“Wendy’s been fussing this whole time downstairs. Professor Nong asked me to wait here with her–Dr. Clark, how did the competition go?” The Young Aunt, thanks to Kiara, was traveling abroad for the first time and was experiencing the world. Although she didn’t understand the competition Kiara was in, she thought that since it involved going abroad, Kiara must be representing everyone. The well-meaning Young Aunt was quite concerned about the outcome.

Kiara casually handed the trophy in her hand to Wendy. The palm-sized crystal trophy was very delicate, resembling an openwork heart supported by wings underneath, signifying the liberation of the spirit – beautiful and impressive. The Young Aunt didn’t understand the inscription and asked.

“What does this say?”

“Gold Medal Doctor.”

“So we won?” The Young Aunt was overjoyed.

Kiara nodded. Not only had she taken first place, but she was also voted the best overall.

The final psychological drama ended with a big score advantage over Molly, marking Kiara’s first impressive showing in this level of international competition. However, compared to these accolades, Kiara felt more accomplished in having broken through Molly’s psychological defenses.

Even if she couldn’t make Molly crumble in one go, she could prevent Molly from troubling Aka in the future. What Kiara didn’t anticipate, though, was the impact this event had on Molly, which was greater than Kiara had imagined – but that’s a story for later.

Upon hearing that Kiara had won a big prize, the Young Aunt was grinning from ear to ear.

“That’s wonderful, Dr. Clark, you’ve really brought honor to our country. Your in-laws must be incredibly happy to know this.”

Kiara smiled faintly as she picked up Wendy and kissed her daughter’s fragrant little face. Compared to all those so-called honors, she preferred spending time with her family.

Wendy grasped the trophy Kiara gave her tightly with both hands; the crystal material was slightly heavy for a child just a few months old. The Young Aunt watched anxiously from the side and kept muttering.

“Dear child, that’s not a toy. Hand it to me quickly, don’t let it get broken. Dr. Clark, how can you give such a valuable thing to a child to play with?”

“Honor and pain are things of yesterday and are all in the past; the future is just beginning. How can one move towards tomorrow if they hold on to the past and never let go?” Kiara looked into the distance, speaking of Molly and Aka.

The Young Aunt was confused, Dr. Clark was always great, but sometimes she would suddenly spit out a few phrases that no one could understand.

Taking advantage of Kiara’s distraction, the Young Aunt struggled to swap the trophy out of Wendy’s hands with something else. The future and all didn’t make sense to the Young Aunt; she knew that anything that brought glory to the country had to be properly preserved.

Farmbright came in, and Kiara asked him,

“Where are the others?”

“Aka went offstage and was dragged away by Zoel, probably to cool her off. You did well this time,” Farmbright was crystal clear about Kiara’s takedown of Molly, and had underestimated the girl – she was not only capable of the one-on-one battle but could also launch an attack that took down everyone.

Kiara, knowing that Zoel was accompanying Aka, didn’t worry about the matter. She responded to the Eldest Brother’s praise with just a brief twitch of her lips.

“It’s not easy to get your approval; hasn’t Camden come back yet?”

Having been busy with the competition, Kiara had had no time to be distracted, but now that she had emerged completely victorious, she naturally wanted to inquire about her man’s affairs.

When her child in Kiara’s arms heard Mother ‘Mother’ mention Father’s name, the little one nodded along, “Daddy!”

“He’s still not back, he’s probably eloped with some floozy by now–Junior Leader, if you ask me, you should just kick him to the curb. You’ve won this competition and now you’ve got international fame, what handsome young man can’t you find? Dump him and go overseas with Senior Brother~”

Kiara rolled her eyes, “Do you have to be so pragmatic?”

Was this him seeing her true capabilities and wanting to pull her away to share half of his workload?

Edward Farmbright chuckled, “If it wasn’t for Old Man fighting for you, you wouldn’t have made it here. The world is so big, don’t you want to go out and see it?”

If Kiara could come out, he, Edward Farmbright, felt he could reduce his workload by at least a third. This girl’s talent for setting traps was second only to Old Man’s, even fiercer than the third oldest. How had he not discovered such a great labor until now?

He thought to himself that after a bit more polishing, she was surely going to be the future mainstay of the Farmstead!

“Not interested.”

“Don’t reject it so quickly, look at this thing here. Your man skips out on such an important competition for you, and for some floozy, he even abandons you and the child–what’s that? Shameless, right?”

Edward Farmbright said whatever it took to incite Kiara. Her performance today not only won over the Judge but also impressed Senior Brother with her (trapping) talent. The more he looked, the more he liked, the more he wanted to poach her, the more he–

“Shameless!” Mario Yuno came back just in time to hear Green Tea Senior Jackson bad-mouthing him.

Wendy happily spread her chubby arms like lotus roots when she saw daddy coming home.

“Willa, daddy has blood on him, can’t hug you right now. Let’s head home and change clothes first,” said Mario Yuno, and only then did everyone notice the blood stains on his clothes.

“What happened? Are you injured anywhere?!” Kiara’s eyebrows almost shot up.

“No worries, it’s someone else’s. I got into a fight outside, and it’s them who got hurt–not me. How was your competition, daughter-in-law?”

After he had dealt with things, he had rushed back without even having the chance to change his clothes.

“It’s over.” Kiara pointed to the trophy in Young Aunt’s hands, and Mario Yuno instantly knew that his daughter-in-law had won big.

“I’m sorry for being late.”

Kiara felt something was off about him; Mario’s demeanor was usually not so downcast.

Normally, if Camden heard she won a prize, he’d be so proud his tail would practically fly into the sky–even more excited than her. Why was he so low-spirited?

Even Edward Farmbright noticed something was wrong with Mario however, he tactfully refrained from bickering or inquiring into what had happened to Mario outside. The group returned to the hotel. Initially, they had planned a victory celebration for Kiara, but since Aka was in a bad mood after running off with Zoel Cohen, and Mario was inexplicably morose, the celebration was postponed.

In the hotel room, Kiara put the child down and silently took out a set of clothes from the suitcase to hand to Mario Yuno.

“Kiara, I saw her.”