the two-faced Adopted Girl Who Melted CEO's Ice-Cold Heart

Chapter 1264 - 1263: Why Don’t We Just Go Public with Our Relationship?

The third branch of the Shaw Family had been keeping a low profile lately, but then they realized the Shaw Mansion wasn’t low‑key at all—once they heard that rumors about Richard Shaw and Leah were flying all over the Imperial City, they rushed over to the main house early in the morning to find out what was going on.

By the time Leah came downstairs, the aunts from the third branch had just arrived with a bunch of youngsters who’d skipped work and class. The old madam was already up, happily hosting the younger generation for tea and chatting away.

When everyone saw Leah come down, they all turned to look at her in unison, faces full of excitement. In fact, the reason they’d come today was precisely to ask the main branch whether a wedding might be on the horizon.

Lana Shaw and Calliope Shaw were a bit more familiar with Leah. They had already learned from Hawk Howard that Leah was Crystal Landon. Even though they didn’t know the twists and turns in between, just realizing Crystal wasn’t dead made them so worked up that they’d dragged the elders over at the crack of dawn under the pretext of the scandal between Richard Shaw and Leah. If Leah could reunite with their cousin after all these years, they’d finally be able to put a long‑held worry to rest.

"Leah, how could you come without saying a word? We could’ve gone to pick you up." Lana walked up to her, speaking in a warm, affectionate tone.

"I’m only staying a couple of days. I’ll leave once I’ve taken care of something, so I didn’t say anything." Leah smiled lightly.

Back when they were younger, Lana and Calliope had actually interacted with her quite a bit. Hawk Howard clearly hadn’t bothered to hide the truth about her, so when Leah saw that the two of them were much more affectionate than last time, she instantly understood they knew who she really was.

After eight or nine years, they’d all grown up and gone their separate ways.

"How did you even know I came to the Imperial City?" Leah asked in mild surprise.

"It’s not just us. The entire elite circle of the Imperial City knows you’re here. Rumors about you and our cousin are all over the place." Calliope stepped up and asked, "Leah, did you see Serena Winton yesterday? That mouth of hers loves gossip the most. She’s been spreading rumors all over the circle, and it’s really nasty stuff."

"Exactly. Ever since she got divorced, she’s been gossiping around the circle all day long, even smugly crowning herself ’Queen of Gossip.’" Lana let out a cold snort. "I don’t think she’s ever gotten over our eldest cousin. When he was living alone with little Zev back then, she couldn’t hold out and rushed into a marriage. Now she’s just divorced, sees our eldest cousin with you, and immediately starts plotting again."

"Leah, you’d better check Weibo. Serena Winton is openly threatening to dox you." A cold glint flashed in Calliope’s eyes.

Leah narrowed her eyes with interest. The Winton sisters were still the same as before—just begging to be smacked down.

She opened Weibo, intending to search for whatever gossip was out there, only to find that the account she hadn’t touched in ages was already being mass‑attacked by paid trolls.

This Weibo account was the one she’d registered back when she was supporting Delphine. Lately, Delphine hadn’t been taking on many acting projects; her film shoots had also been put on hold because of Ignatius Leclair, so with no new work coming out, Leah rarely logged onto Weibo.

She had no idea how Serena Winton had dug up her Weibo account, but the woman had clearly hired a large wave of trolls to spam it over and over. Some even ran over to Delphine’s Weibo account to hurl abuse. Since Leah’s username was "Delphine’s Bestie," Serena simply vented her anger on Delphine as well.

Even though Delphine’s film shoot was suspended and she had no new projects for the time being, her team behind the scenes was still active. Every now and then, she would post a Weibo, maybe a photo of an old English house covered in ivy, and her fans would immediately start shrieking in excitement.

After all, she’d won Best Actress with only her second film, every project of hers had stellar word of mouth, and she’d taken home a directing award with her very first film as a director. Results like that were almost unheard of in the Entertainment Sector. Add to that the fact she was the only girlfriend publicly acknowledged by the Crown Prince of Nanyang, and big V accounts constantly broke news that she was marrying into a wealthy family. From a completely powerless orphan to the top of the world step by step, "little Delphine" was an inspirational legend, motivating who knows how many young boys and girls. So even without new work, Delphine’s popularity had remained sky‑high.

Seeing some no‑name trolls daring to pick a fight with their little Delphine, the "Green Veggies" exploded on the spot. Following the trail, they dug up Leah’s Weibo, discovered her early interactions with Delphine, as well as comments from the Crown Prince of Nanyang, Ignatius Leclair, and a few unknown alt accounts. Once they confirmed this really was Delphine’s bestie, they started tearing into the trolls.

By the time Leah checked Weibo, both sides had already gone several rounds. The whole site was a battlefield, and plenty of gossip bloggers were busy posting all kinds of dirt on her.

Plastic surgery, body double, gold‑digger, scheming bitch, clinging to the Imperial City aristocracy—every kind of negative rumor you could think of was out there, all hyped up and blazing.

Serena Winton had only dug up the most superficial layer of Leah’s identity and knew nothing about the Squire siblings’ background, which was why she dared to be this arrogant.

Leah scrolled carefully, a cold smile at the corners of her mouth, when a man’s long, slightly calloused hand suddenly took her phone away.

Richard Shaw lowered his eyes and started browsing Leah’s Weibo. The more he read, the darker his expression became.

"I’ll handle this," Richard said when he finished, his face looking awful. Online opinion was completely one‑sided. Some had even dug up the Squire Manor in Nanyang, and there were trolls outright insinuating that Leah was being kept as a mistress, that the Squire Manor was a gilded cage. So the clueless onlookers all started searching for the scandal’s male lead, Major General Shaw, then eagerly ran over to tell him, "You’re being cheated on."

Richard Shaw, who was being inundated with concern from netizens: ...

This is my wife, okay?

"And how are you going to handle it? Force Serena Winton to pull her trolls, or threaten her into stopping the rumors?" Leah’s peach‑blossom eyes, bright and moist, widened slightly as she gave a lazy smile. "She’s dying for you to show up. Maybe someone will even ’accidentally’ snap a few photos. Who knows how jaw‑dropping the plot twist will be after that."

How could she not understand what was going on in Serena Winton’s mind? Stepping on her and smearing her was secondary. The most important thing was to get herself tied to Richard Shaw. Once she managed to stir up some gossip, the three of them would be bound together in the public eye.

"Yeah, Cousin, you can’t come forward. Leah can handle this." Calliope mustered her courage to speak up. The two sisters had seen Leah’s methods back in the day. After all these years, even ten Serena Wintons probably wouldn’t be enough to take her on.

Lana nodded on the side and said quietly, "If those Winton sisters manage to latch on to you, wouldn’t that be letting them off easy?"

"Since she’s thrown down the gauntlet, of course I’m the one who answers it." Leah took back her phone, saying in disdain, "Also, why are you skipping work every day? How has your Military District not fired you yet?"

The man being despised had a hint of helplessness in his tea‑colored eyes. In a low voice, he said, "There’s nothing going on at the Military District today. I’m on annual leave."

A fleeting look of deliberation crossed his handsome, stern face, and he spoke as if casually, "Leah, why don’t we make our relationship public? That way, all the rumors collapse on their own."

Even better, he thought, would be to directly post their marriage certificate and crush this wave of trolls. In his view, this scandal had come at exactly the right time.

Leah: "..."

Why did it feel like this block of wood, Richard, had suddenly turned sly and scheming?