Chapter 416

Seeing this, and thinking about everything her mother had done for her before she died, how much she had wanted her to stay away from the Bishop family, Penelope felt she should listen to her.

In the end, she logged out without posting anything.

Let it go. Let them believe that Edith’s daughter had no connection to the Bishop family.

Penelope got up, went downstairs for a bite to eat, and then returned to her room. She noticed a cardboard box in the corner and remembered it was the package Mr. David Anderson had mailed her. She hadn’t opened it yet.

She pulled the large box out and cut it open with a pair of scissors. It was filled with a variety of things: some of her childhood toys and clothes, a few of her diaries, and some trinkets she had collected.

Penelope took out a photo album and sat on the floor, flipping through it.

Most of the photos in the album were taken by Mr. David Anderson. He had bought a camera specifically for it and would always snap a picture of her when she wasn’t looking like when she was savoring a delicious meal, when she was concentrating on her homework, or when she was having fun at the park, among many others.

As she was looking through them, Theodore came back. He sat down behind her and looked at the album with her.

“You were so cute as a child.”

Penelope gave a proud humph. “Of course. Everyone loved me when I was little.”

Theodore turned and kissed her ear, then his eyes fell on a photo of her when she was about eight or nine. He let out a small sound of surprise.

“Why do I feel like I’ve seen you somewhere before?”

“Impossible. I was still in my hometown at this age.”

“It feels so familiar.”

“You must be misremembering.”

Penelope didn’t think much of it and continued flipping, showing Theodore a picture of her climbing a tree.

“Timothy’s kite got stuck in the tree, so I climbed up to get it for him, and Mr. David Anderson secretly took a picture. I was actually pretty scared at the time. That tree was really tall…”

As Penelope spoke, Theodore’s eyes landed on something in the box, and he froze.

A hair tie, with a peony flower attached to it…

Was this a coincidence?

But as Theodore looked again at the photo of the eight-or-nine-year-old Penelope a memory suddenly. surfaced a stormy day, a soaking wet little girl standing outside the Bishop family’s gate, pounding on it with all her might.

Worried that the people inside wouldn’t hear, he had even told a passing servant about her.

He then saw the little girl being led inside, but not into the main house. He didn’t know where she went after that. Even through the curtain of rain, he had seen her face clearly.

It was her… It was her!

“Look at this picture, I was in ninth grade here…”

“Your name is Penelope Laurier.”

“Huh?”

That sudden, out-of-place statement made Penelope turn her head and ask with a laugh, “What else would it be?”

But Theodore couldn’t smile. Her name was Penelope, and Donald’s ex-wife was named Edith Laurier. The recurring conflicts between Penelope and the Bishop family Couldn’t be without reason.

“Are you hiding something from me?” His voice had taken on a cold edge.

Penelope didn’t notice the change in tone, but she did feel a pang of guilt.

“I… I’m not.”

“What is your relationship… with Donald?”

“Us?” Penelope’s heart started to pound. Did he know?

No, that was impossible. She had hidden it too well.

“We… have no relationship.”

“Is that so?”

“Of course.”

Penelope swallowed nervously. Because Lorraine had died at the Bishop estate, Mrs. Stapleton and Theodore despised everyone in the Bishop family. If they knew about her connection to them, would they despise her too?

So, she couldn’t tell him.

“I don’t know Donald well. We have no relationship at all.”