Chapter 740 No One’s Innocent
Charlotte let go of Leanna with great reluctance and took a step back before gripping Leanna's hand
with a pout.
Leanna stroked Charlotte's head. She saw the latter's reddened, puffy eyes and softly asked, "Have
you been skipping your meals these days? You look like you lost a lot of weight."
"I couldn't bring myself to eat… but I did have something before I left the house just now."
Leanna sighed. She didn't know what to say to comfort Charlotte, so she simply held Charlotte's hand
and said, "Let's go."
Charlotte looked around her but Lachlan was nowhere to be seen.
Once they entered the main hall, the first thing they saw was Philip's picture which was right in the
center. He had a warm, benign smile.
Charlotte's nose prickled when she saw the picture. She followed Aidan and Leanna over. Once they
had all paid their respects, she said quietly, "Grandpa Philip, from now on, I'll do whatever Dad tells me
to and I won't make him angry anymore."
She bowed deeply to Philip's picture.
The three of them were about to head over to the side hall when they heard a commotion outside.
Leanna turned around and saw someone from the crowd slowly making his way over.
It was Joseph.
Some of the Woodleys were shocked by his appearance while others were confused, but quite a
number of them were terrified as well.
After all, everyone thought he died ten years ago.
Joseph didn't care about the looks everyone was giving him. He kept a faint smile on his face as he
walked over to Charlotte and called out to her, "Charlotte."
Charlotte felt a deep sense of aversion when she saw him. She instinctively retreated to hide behind
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Leanna.
Joseph adjusted his glasses. His smile widened as he looked at Leanna. "You and President Pearson
are here too, Miss McKinney."
"Your presence seems to be even less welcomed than ours," Aidan remarked curtly.
"No one's presence would be welcomed at such an occasion," Joseph responded evenly.
He gave a cursory look around and didn't even bother to pay his respects to the deceased.
It was a highly disrespectful gesture.
One of the older Woodleys couldn't help but come forward with a frown. "How could you…"
Joseph wasn't bothered by their admonishment. He shrugged and said, "The rules only matter when a
person's alive. Who cares about these things when they're dead?"
The older Woodley was furious. Even his cane was shaking as he trembled with anger. Charlotte
quickly held him steady. She looked at Joseph and cried out, "You've gone too far, Uncle Joseph!"
Joseph chuckled. "You're still young, Charlotte. Once you're older, you'll realize that I was right."
"Mr. Woodley, since you think there are too many rules to follow and have no intention of paying your
final respects to the deceased, why did you bother going out of your way to attend the funeral?"
Leanna asked.
Joseph turned to her. "That's an excellent question, Miss McKinney. I'm not here just for the sake of the
funeral. I've left the family for far too long now. It's time I came back."
Leanna pursed her lips and was about to speak when Aidan stopped her.
"There's no point wasting your breath on him," Aidan drawled.
Aidan knew that Joseph would be more than happy if someone picked a fight with him right now. He
was here to cause a scene at the funeral, and the uglier it got, the happier he was.
At that very moment, Charles came over from the side hall. His expression darkened when he spotted
Joseph. "Why did you come back?"
Joseph smirked. "It's been a long time, Charles."
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Charles looked around the hall. A lot of people were muttering thoughtfully among themselves due to
Joseph's sudden appearance.
Charles frowned. His expression turned even grimmer.
After a brief moment of silence, he said, "Whatever it is, let's take it to the side hall first."
"That won't be necessary. Let's just do it here," Joseph declared. "I'm sure you all have a lot of
questions. For example, you must be wondering how I rose from the dead."
Then, he looked at Aidan. "You must also be wondering who this is and why he looks so much like
Lachlan."
Charles figured out what Joseph was about to say and snarled, "That's enough of your nonsense!"
"I'm just pointing out the things that everyone is curious about," Joseph retorted. "What I say is nothing
but the truth. Are you trying to stop me because you want to bury the secret along with Philip Woodley's
casket?"
Thanks to Joseph, an even larger crowd had gathered inside the main hall. Nearly every single
Woodley was here.
Joseph turned around and looked at them. "What if I let you in on a twenty-year-old secret that few
know about? I'm sure you all know that the previous head of the family had a daughter, Naomi
Woodley, who willingly chose to be disowned from the family and cut off all ties due to her private
affairs. As the head of the family, Kian Woodley should've made an example of himself, but what did he
do instead?
"After sending his people to Highside, he found out that the relationship his daughter sacrificed
everything for was merely her being the mistress of a married man, and she even gave birth to that
man's illegitimate son. For the sake of making the Pearsons accept the illegitimate son into the family,
he went so far as to cause an accident so that the Pearsons' eldest son, the original successor, will
have to spend the rest of his life confined to a wheelchair."
Leanna slowly tightened her hand around Aidan's without speaking.
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Joseph continued, "For the sake of his selfish desires, for the sake of the person who should've been
removed from the family tree in the first place, not only did the entire Woodley Family go against the
family traditions, but an innocent person was harmed in the process and the Woodley Family's
reputation was destroyed. Let me ask you this. How can someone like that be the head of the family?"
Someone in the crowd spoke up, "But… Kian Woodley has passed away, and the current head of the
family is—"
"So what if he's dead? Does that mean we should all forget about what he did just like that?" Joseph
hissed.
One of the older Woodleys piped up, "What Kian did was wrong, and if want to settle the score
because you have a problem with his actions, you should be taking it up with Lachlan. This is your
grandfather's funeral. You shouldn't be saying these things in front of him—"
"What makes you think he didn't know what Kian Woodley did twenty years ago? He obviously hid
everything intentionally. Not a single Woodley can claim innocence in this matter!"
"That's enough!" Charles snarled. "What's the point in bringing this up now? Stop trying to cause
trouble."
Joseph laughed. "I nearly forgot that you were involved in this too, Charles. You know, there's
something I've been so curious about all this while. How can you speak of the Woodley Family rules
and traditions, speak of honesty, decency, and morality, and yet do such a shameless thing that would
make the family ancestors roll in their graves?"
"Does all your resentment stem from the fact that you weren't part of the exception and got driven out
of the family?"
Joseph turned around and looked at the person who spoke. His smile deepened as he retorted coolly,
"Don't bother trying to use me as a shield, President Pearson. You're the one in question right now.
What about it? How does it feel to steal everything that belonged to your half-brother and lead the life
he was supposed to lead by ruining his legs?"
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