Pampered By My Three Brothers: The Return Of The Neglected Heiress - Chapter 493

Chapter 493: A war freak
The first dinner of the Bennet family with Zoren went smoothly. There wasn’t much to note, aside from Allison asking Zoren a few questions to show her interest. Slater also chimed in every once in a while, but his comments were mostly irrelevant and best ignored for the sake of one’s sanity.

Haines contributed to the conversation, and surprisingly, Atlas did as well. They tried to avoid discussing business as much as possible, but there were moments when they couldn’t help it. Charles, on the other hand, focused more on his daughter.

Overall, the dinner was uneventful. Meaning, it was better than she hoped for. Ignoring Slater, it was okay.

Afterward, Penny sent Zoren off before retiring to bed.

“This still hurts a bit,” she mumbled, applying cream to her palm. “Good thing this cream helps. It hurt so much this morning.”

She scratched her leg again, which had been stinging since she woke up. She hadn’t noticed it earlier or had the time to check. Now, dressed in a comfortable nightgown, she lifted her skirt to take a look.

“Huh?” She furrowed her brows in confusion.

There, on the side of her thigh, was a small red lesion with a faint bruise. “When did I get this?”

Leaning closer to inspect, she saw a tiny dot in the middle of the red area, as if she’d been pricked by something. She had been in the hospital all day—how could she have been stung by an insect?

“Never mind that,” she shook her head. “I must’ve gotten it when I rushed to the stage…”

Clack.

She paused at the faint sound coming from the window. It sounded like something had hit it.

Clack!

“Huh?” Penny slowly turned toward the window. Rising from the bed, she approached it cautiously. Just before she reached it, another small pebble hit the glass. “Who in the world…”

Peeking outside to see who was throwing rocks at her window, her brows furrowed deeper. “Second Brother?”

Through the window, she could see the noticeable cut on the corner of Hugo’s mouth. Confused and concerned, Penny opened the window.

“Second Brother?” she called softly, but loud enough for Hugo to hear. “What are you doing?”

Hugo pointed up at her and mouthed, “I’m coming up.”

“Huh?” Her nose wrinkled. “Second Brother, there’s a front door.”

Why was he going straight to the second-floor window when he could have saved himself the hassle by simply using the front door and the stairs?

Hugo shook his head and pointed in a direction. His action was something she didn’t quite understand. Penny shrugged.

“What do you want?” she asked. “My hair’s not long, in case you haven’t noticed.”

She wasn’t Rapunzel, after all.

“Just keep it open,” was all he said, and Penny shrugged again.

She watched as Hugo took a few steps back, then sprinted toward the house. He leaped onto the wall, clinging to a tiny decorative ledge, before pulling himself up with ease, as if he weighed nothing.

“Wow…” she clapped, stepping back as Hugo’s fingers gripped the windowsill. “If this were a forbidden romance, you’d have successfully whisked me away.”

But if it was a thriller genre, this would be unsettling, as it meant Hugo could easily abduct her if he wanted to.

“Hah!” Hugo grunted as he pulled himself over the window and landed inside her room.

“Yay…” Penny clapped, her hand lightly slapping her arm. “Second Brother, you’re so talented. You’d make a great burglar. Surely, my second brother is talented.”‘

But not as talented as her, for sure, was what he thought.

Hugo shot her a look. “Penny, stop clapping. You’re not in a circus — that is a hard one.”

“But you were so amazing, I can’t help it.” She smiled and ceased her applause. “So, what’s the deal? Why didn’t you just use the front door?”

“Dad, First Brother, and Uncle Haines are down there.”

“And?”

“I don’t want them asking questions,” Hugo replied in a knowing tone, though there was another reason. Atlas had told him not to show his face to the family until he fully healed.

“Oh.” Penny nodded in understanding, her eyes scanning her brother’s face. Aside from the cut on his mouth, there was bruising on his cheekbone. One glance, and it was obvious he had been in a fight.

Seeing this filled her with dismay, which showed on her face.

“Second Brother, weren’t you supposed to watch over me last night?” she grumbled. “Did you get into another fight? You’re starting to look like a war freak.”

His face twisted in disbelief. “Penny, me? A war freak?”

“You always fight!” she complained. “Second Brother, not because you’re a high-ranking soldier that you can do this. You can’t just throw your fists around! That’s not nice. Look what happened! You got hurt! Stop fighting people. Don’t be such a war freak!”

For a moment, Hugo was speechless.

Atlas was right. Penny was a different person when she drank, and the worst part was that she never remembered anything in her drunken state. No wonder she confidently claimed she went straight to sleep after a few drinks.

Hugo sighed deeply, running a hand through his hair to clear his mind. When he looked back at her, he sighed again.

“What do you mean, ‘war freak’?” he asked calmly. “Do you want me to show you who the real troublemaker was?”

“Huh?”

He clicked his tongue and shook his head. “Penny, our little experiment last night—do you want to know what happened after you ‘fell asleep’?”

“Something happened after I fell asleep?”

He opened his mouth but hesitated. “This is pointless. Take a seat. I’ll show you.”

“Huh?”

“Stop asking questions.” He gently grabbed her shoulders, turned her around, and nudged her toward the bed. Once she sat on the edge, he dragged the chair from the study desk and tossed his phone to her.

With quick reflexes, Penny caught the phone in her left hand. Confused, she watched as Hugo leaned back in the chair.

“Check,” he said, gesturing toward the phone. “Then tell me who the real troublemaker was.”