Chapter 410: This Unhinged?

Chapter 410: Chapter 410: This Unhinged?

Even before inviting Arabella Donovan, Caspian Rhodes had braced himself for the possibility that any of his relatives, young or old, could suddenly turn out to be a passerby, cannon fodder, a supporting character, or even a protagonist forced to play a part in some unknown novel.

But he never imagined it would happen so soon. And the first "NPC" to be revealed wasn’t Guinevere Rhodes, but her own younger brother!

"You said his name is..."

"Ian Rhodes."

"哪两个字?"

"大宴群臣的宴,丁耳邒."

’Damn, it really is him!’

Arabella Donovan remembered the name so vividly because it was extremely unusual. It was very rare for someone to be given that name.

But that wasn’t the point. The point was...

"His name is Ian Rhodes... then his sister is..."

"Guinevere Rhodes."

The moment Caspian Rhodes spoke, the light in Arabella Donovan’s eyes was completely extinguished.

’I should have known. A surname like Rhodes just sounds too impressive. Of course someone would have written a few books based on it.’

Caspian Rhodes: "..." For a moment, he was unsure whether to laugh or cry.

The story involving the Rhodes siblings—or more accurately, Guinevere Rhodes—was a modern family-intrigue novel masquerading under the "strong female lead" label.

It was classified as a family-intrigue novel because the story’s main battleground, from start to finish, was confined to the Rhodes family estate.

And the emphasis on the "strong female lead" label was deliberate. From the very beginning, the author gave Guinevere Rhodes that title, yet looking back on the novel, Arabella Donovan couldn’t find a single trace of what that was supposed to mean.

The story was less about family intrigue and more like Guinevere Rhodes’s personal dating history. One day, she’d be losing a fight with a relative over an asset left by the main family branch, and a business tycoon would appear out of nowhere like a deus ex machina to help her out.

The next, she’d covet another of the main branch’s assets, and some rich young master would fall for her at first sight, pursue her relentlessly, and hand-deliver whatever she desired.

The day after that, a relative might plot against her to snatch a company her family was about to acquire, and an outlaw who found her ’interesting’ would promptly appear to nip the threat in the bud...

In short, it was supposedly a story of family intrigue. But while others had to use their wits to scheme and snatch, she was different. All she had to do was sit back, maintain her aloof, beautiful facade, and wait for her suitors to bring her daily tributes. In the end, she’d simply collect the empire they’d conquered in her name.

Everyone: "..." Was it really that unhinged?

Even Caspian Rhodes couldn’t help but give this cousin he’d never paid much attention to a second thought. He’d never realized she possessed such charm. What on earth did all those men see in her?

Or was it entirely dependent on what Serena had called it before... a ’protagonist halo’?

’A *real* strong female lead: Builds her own commercial empire on her own strength. Romance is a small part of this queen’s life, not the whole damn thing. A partner is someone who helps this queen break new ground, advance shoulder-to-shoulder, and grow together. If you dare use feelings to drag this queen down and get in the way of her career, you’re the first one getting stabbed!

A *fake* strong female lead: Covets another family’s fortune and relies on a pack of men to fight over it for her. As far as the eye can see, it’s just romance, romance, romance. It’s as if the author has no idea how to portray a heroine’s ’charm’ other than having a horde of supposedly ’excellent’ men obsessively chase after her.

With the help of these men, the heroine achieves her ultimate victory, only to put on a noble act, claiming to view money as filth. She’ll say that everyone forced these assets on her, and she only reluctantly accepted them to avoid hurting their feelings. Then, if a few readers chime in with, "Soooo sweet, I ship it so hard I could die!" the story is hailed as a masterpiece. Classic. Ab-so-lutely classic.’

Everyone: "..." What is all this garbage? Is this what the kids are into these days?

And just like that, the reputation of an entire generation was slandered...

’Something’s still not right. Guinevere Rhodes was involved with a lot of men, but Ian Jennings was definitely not one of them. Where did things go wrong?’

Arabella Donovan was still puzzling over why Ian Jennings would be involved with Guinevere Rhodes and even become her boyfriend, at least in name.

But the facts were plain to see, and there was no point dwelling on it. She might as well use this time to quickly ’flip through the book’ in her mind and get a clearer picture of the Rhodes Family’s internal affairs.

Although the novel was padded with filler in the middle and later sections and had a terrible, rushed ending that completely deviated from its original theme, turning into an utter mess, Arabella Donovan had to admit: the beginning was actually quite good.

The plot kicked off with a massive funeral. The sole heir of the main branch of the Rhodes Family—the only son for three generations—had unfortunately passed away from an illness. Upon hearing the news, all the Rhodes relatives and friends, men and women, young and old, dropped whatever they were doing and gathered at the Rhodes ancestral home to attend this peculiar funeral.

These relatives, rushing back from all over the country and even from around the world, arrived to find the ancestral home adorned not only with white funeral banners and memorial wreaths, but also with a jarring mix of large, red silk flowers and the bright red "Double Happiness" characters reserved for weddings. There was even a pair of ornate dragon-and-phoenix candles placed next to the plain white funeral ones.

White and red, one starkly plain and the other intensely vibrant, blended together to create a powerful visual shock, giving one the distinct and chilling impression of having wandered into a haunted, supernatural ritual.

Guinevere Rhodes and her family were among the returning relatives. They were startled by the scene and only after asking around did they learn the reason. The grandparents of the deceased heir had heard from some superstition that if a man dies a virgin, he will not only be lonely and helpless in the afterlife but will also likely fail to find a wife in his next life, dooming him to eternal solitude and a bleak existence.

This terrified the two old folks, who were already grieving having outlived their grandchild. They were utterly convinced and absolutely refused to let their precious grandson suffer, either in this death or in the life to come.

Seeing his chance, the charlatan ’master’ who had fed them this nonsense extracted a hefty sum from the desperate couple and made a patently absurd proposal.

He proposed that the Rhodes Family find a deceased young woman whose birth-date characters were compatible with their grandson’s and join them in a ghost marriage. That way, he claimed, they would have each other for company in the afterlife and could even continue their fated bond in the next, fulfilling a match decreed by heaven.

Everyone: "..." So, so unhinged. Could a sane person even come up with a plot like this?

Unhinged as the plot was, one had to admit that this opening—the absurd horror of the funeral, combined with the relatives and their hidden agendas—instantly cranked the atmosphere up to eleven.

Many readers were drawn in by this bizarre and eerie opening, expecting a thrilling, no-holds-barred story of family intrigue among the elite, only to find they had stepped into a quagmire.

Given that Guinevere Rhodes was a Rhodes, a member of the family, and Caspian Rhodes’s relative, her ancestral home was, naturally, his ancestral home as well.

Without a second thought, Arabella Donovan turned her head and asked Caspian Rhodes, "Mr. Rhodes, do you know where your family’s ancestral home is?"

"Here."