"How rude of you to interrupt your elders!" Marietta said angrily. What she hates the most is when someone interrupts her, and she actually thought that Aaron wouldn't date to talk in such an indifferent manner as she is one of the elders in the family.
"Interrupt? You are right, I am interrupting you both." Aaron said, however, the tone in his voice didn't change. "However, you are the first one to say that we should finish this meeting as soon as possible, am I right?"
What Aaron is trying to her is that if she wants to finish the meeting early and go back to her original schedule, she should not be trying to make an argument to Martha.
"I wouldn't be talking this much if cousin-in-law Martha didn't start this argument." Knowing what are is getting at, she immediately puts the blame on Martha.
"Elder Marietta, please don't put the blame on Elder Martha, you are the one who started all the arguments that happened so far. Elder Martha was only trying to remind uncle James to be more professional as he is the eldest son of my grandfather." Anna joined the conversation as she cannot stand the way Marietta is acting.
Marietta is only making Anna be more determined to eliminate all pests out of the Coleman family. With a person like Marietta running around as she pleases using the Coleman name, the Coleman family itself will be stained because of her.
"In addition to that, Elder Martha is not being biased towards my back-from-the-dead father, I'm pretty sure that Elder Martha will give the same treatment to him. Even as his son, I do apologize on my father's behalf, however, from the stories that I've heard, my father shows great performance that represents our name despite his childish acts from time to time."
When Arion heard his son's long explanation, he has no idea what to react to that. It's either he should be happy or be sad about what he just. Base on his understanding, his son is defending him in some way and at the same time, his son is also saying harsh words towards him
There are only a few people in the room who could understand the real meaning behind his words. Some of those few people are greatly offended by what he just said.
Aaron is practically saying that even though his father is childish at least he is doing something that the Coleman family can actually be proud of, unlike the eldest son of Marcus who can only produce good performances and the upcoming few days those performances are all ruined. All in all, James can't even compare to his father.
James who understood Aaron's words just stayed silent and silently imagining ruining her brother's family step by step. 'Just wait for a few more days, James. Everything will be alright when the right time comes.' James inwardly reminding himself.
"Since all is done, then we can finally start the reason why we are all here." Anna happily said, but her eyes are darted in her uncle James' direction. A piercing cold pair of eyes is sending shivers down to James' spines.
"Not too long ago, my dear sister and I went on a trip. A trip here in the Old Mansion without grandfather's permission." Aaron only said two sentences and the expression on everyone's face says that they don't know what Aaron is getting at.
"Young man, are you being serious? You two called all of us here to hear your adventure? Goodness, gracious. See. This is why I told you, cousin Marcus, to pay more attention and educate your grandchildren more." Marietta expected Marcus to scold his grandchildren, however, Marcus gave her a glare instead.
"Martha, the twins are not done talking yet, so can you please shut that annoying mouth of yours? And as far as I know the twins, they are telling us this because there is a reason behind it. If you can't stand listening to them, then you have my permission to go back where you came from." Marietta is only married to the Coleman family, and yet she acts like she owns the place which is Marcus cannot tolerate.
Marietta flinched. She could not say a word back to Marcus. She does have the urge to go back to her home and just mingle with her friends, however, if she does that, the other members of the family will lose their respect for her.
Without much of a choice, she chose to stay silent for a while, and when she noticed that there is a mistake in the twins' words and actions, she will voice her opinion out.
"Continuing on," Anna spoke. "My brother and I looked around the mansion, and we found a room that is full of history of our family, and there we saw the one thing that our family's most important treasure."
Everyone in the room is not oblivious of what the twins are talking about. Just mention their family treasure is already getting their attention especially the schemer ones.
"You went to that room? By accident?" Martha asked in a firm tone. She wants to make sure that the twins are telling them the truth because only the elders in the family have the right to know how to access the room that has important information about their family.
"Yes. By accident." Aaron replied. Judging by how Martha questions him and his sister, he can tell that accessing that room is strictly forbidden, and the only ones who are allowed to enter are few people.
"And by curiosity, I took our treasure out of its case. I do apologize for that, grandfather. However, if I had not done it, then someone else would have taken it away." As soon as Anna finished that sentence, her line of sight is on her uncle James's direction.
James noticed that and a bad feeling suddenly struck him. He has this urge to stop the twins from saying anything further, but how can he do that? Martha and his father will definitely not let him have his way.
'Why do I feel so terrified of what they're gonna say?' James inwardly asked.
"Someone? Please do explain to us what do you mean by that, Anna." Marcus who's been calm since the beginning is now emitting such coldness. Since the day learned that jewel has gone missing, he has been stressing out to find where it is and who took it.
Since the twins are not confirming that they are the ones who took the jewel, Marcus is not gonna accuse the twins. He wants to hear more information from them.
"Scare of being found out by that someone, my brother and I hid and forgot to put the jewel back to its place. As we stayed hidden, we overheard that person's conversation with its companion. Their dirty schemes on wanting to take over the Coleman family all for themselves." As the times are passing on, Martha noticed the change in Anna's tone. It was a mix of sadness and hatred.
Martha is guessing that the person Anna is talking about might be someone who is close to her.
"After they left, Anna and I decided to keep the jewel under our care," Aaron spoke, then he turned around and faces his grandfather. "Grandfather, we are both deeply sorry for hiding the truth from you and letting you search all over the place. However, we do not regret what we did. If we had told you the truth, you wouldn't believe us and tell the person that we are accusing him which could cause him to change his plans."
Marcus doesn't even know what to say. He is angry and he wants the twins to see his anger, however, right now is not the right time to punish the twins. Just like what he wanted before, he wants to know more.
"Marcus, you knew that the jewel has gone missing and you didn't even bother to tell any of the elders?" In a time like that, Martha wants Marcus to at least let her know that there is a huge problem going on. She wants him to at least know that she is still living to help him to any of his problems.
"Yes, and I apologize for that, Martha." Marcus sincerely apologized. "If you two knew about this all along, why didn't you tell me right away? Why would you believe that I wouldn't believe a word you two are going to say?" Marcus asked.
"We were bewildered by what happened that he forgot to record their conversation as evidence. We have waited this long because we were gathering evidence to show all of you the pests in our family." Aaron did not even blink as he is explaining himself to his grandfather. With that, the people in the room who is not siding with James suddenly took a liking to him.
Aaron and Anna are halfway through on getting those people on their side.