The General's Wife Wants to Leave-Chapter 244: One step away behind

"There is a man down there staring at me unblinkingly, seeming to be ready to pounce on me. What do you say about that, sister?"

It was then that Joanna pulled her face away from the chest of her brother, which caused some area of the fabric of his shirt to be darker than the others due to Joanna’s tears, but her hands were still clutching the fabric of the coat on his back.

Looking up, Joanna’s tears streamed down her cheeks more when she saw the face of her brother that she missed a lot appear closely before her eyes.

Watching her brother smile at her, Joanna felt a soft handkerchief dab her wet cheeks. "Stop crying, Ann. Let brother see your smiling face." It was what her brother said to her while dabbing the tears that drenched her cheeks.

How long had it been since she had seen her brother? Joanna could not count the exact number at the moment, but she knew many months that felt like years had passed, and she had not even seen him before she departed to Archess many months ago.

Still lingering her eyes on the face that took her mother’s features, particularly her dark blue eyes, Joanna was back to burying her face in Phillip’s chest, making the cheeks that had been dabbed dry wet again and his shirt become wetter with her tears.

Canillas, on the other side, could only watch the scene across from his eyes with an indescribable expression drawn on his face. About three to four meters away from where he stood, his wife hugged a man whose black hair was combed neatly and whose glasses were sitting on the bridge of his nose. Not hard to figure out who he was.

Canillas then stepped up the stairs to join the siblings, who reunited after so long at a calm pace.

Standing behind the back of his wife but facing straight at the man, who was staring at him without any smile on his face, Canillas would say that he did not quite look like his wife despite the same blood and flesh that they shared. The similar thing that could be seen from them was their black hair, which seemed to be a strong trait that passed on to the generations of the de Lara, as what he knew was that his mother-in-law was a brunette.

Canillas just stood there, waiting for his wife to be calm in the arms of her brother, who was clearly missed by her. He still remembered how happy she was when she talked about her brother the previous night before the warmth of intimacy enveloped them. And just like a dream, that happy face now turned gloomy.

While Canillas and Phillip stared into each other’s eyes for quite some time without saying any words or offering a smile for the first-time encounter to each other, Duke John, who watched the three youngsters standing together on the porch with mixed ambience around them, made his way toward them with a sigh.

His son had told him that he would return to Barasca for a brief holiday as he had gained permission from his professor to take a few days of absence. Before receiving that news from his son, the Duke had sent him a letter about a month ago, informing him that Joanna, his sister, was currently in Barasca.

He told his son to spend some time going back to Barasca to see her, considering that they had not seen each other for a long time and it might be hard to see her again in the future once she followed her husband back to Archess, except if she returned to Barasca or he visited her in Archess.

One reply came from Phillip, saying that he would discuss that with his professor as he was in his last year of study and what he needed to do was finish his research, which was a project that he conducted with his professor. Not long later, another reply came, informing him that he might be able to return home in one more month.

Duke John knew his son was busy with his studies, as it was his dream to become a medical expert like those from his mother’s family bloodline. It might also be impossible to obtain permission from the authority that supervised him. Nonetheless, the Duke wanted his son to meet his sister before she followed her husband back to his homeland. Hence, he sent another letter, telling him that Joanna might already be leaving for Archess before that.

In the letter, the Duke also wrote that they would attend the birthday banquet of the Crown Prince, and Joanna might return to Archess not long after that. It was all he wrote on the letter, letting his son consider for himself what would be a priority in his life.

It was then a letter arrived two days before they left for the capital that Phillip had gained permission to take time off, and he would probably be in Barasca when they were in the capital. He also wrote to keep it secret from Joanna, as he wanted to give her a surprise.

Hence, in contrast to Joanna, Duke de Lara was not surprised at the presence of Phillip de Lara. Yet he was touched by how his children showed their love to each other, which had always given warmth in his heart, although his wife and their mother were not with them anymore.

"Don’t you think it is time to introduce your brother to Sir Canillas, Ann?" asked the Duke, knowing that his daughter was in a tremendously heartfelt state upon the arrival of her brother. But he had to stop both of his children from quenching their yearning for each other due to the presence of a new family member who could not remove his gaze from the scene before him.

Besides, if he had not taken a step in between, he was sure that Joanna would have cried until the nightfall.

Joanna pulled away from her brother’s arms when she heard her father’s words. Shifting her focus to her father, who stood beside her brother, he gave her a gesture to look behind her.

As Joanna turned her head to follow the signal that was given by her father, she found her husband already standing one step away behind her back, staring at her with a deep meaning that only she could define.ƒreewebηoveℓ.com