Prosperous Marriage: Married to My Brother-in-law

When Glades Horne took her into his arms, she forcefully pushed him away. Her forceful push panicked Glades. He knew the full story and the cause of the incident; Julia Bluen was undoubtedly the most wronged person at this moment.

"Julia." Glades Horne suppressed his urge to lash out at his mother and hurriedly tried to take Julia Bluen back into his arms. Did she push him away because she no longer believed he could protect her? Had all his past promises chilled her heart?

An unprecedented fear surged through him like a tide, his face darkening frightfully. The entire hall fell deathly silent. Adele Horne was so scared she wanted to crawl under the sofa.

Inside her head, she kept screaming that it was over, it was completely over. Orlando Evans had really doomed her this time, and she was even more to blame for once again infuriating her eldest brother. This time, if she wasn't strangled to death by her brother, she'd go vegetarian for a month to thank the heavens for their protection.

"Does it hurt, Julia?" Glades Horne forcibly took Julia Bluen back into his arms again. His large hand tightly encircled her waist, while the other, with utmost gentleness and apologetic tenderness, touched her swollen face, his own heart aching. She was the treasure he cherished. He couldn't bear to break even a single hair on her head, yet now, in front of him, his mother had slapped her hard.

That was his mother. He couldn't possibly return the slap. Right now, Glades Horne's emotions were indescribable.

Julia Bluen remained silent. She once again forcefully struggled out of Glades Horne's embrace and pushed him away. Then, she straightened her posture and stood before her mother-in-law, Mila Anderson. With a composed face and cold eyes, she questioned, "Mom, why did you hit me?"

Mila Anderson, already frightened by her son's reaction, heard Julia Bluen's question and could only stammer in response, "You... you hit... my daughter."

Julia Bluen sneered, her voice cold as she asked, "Does Mom know why I hit Adele? Do you know how many times I slapped her? Do you know how much force I used? Mom wants to seek justice for your daughter, but has Mom bothered to clearly understand the cause and the entire course of events?"

Mila Anderson treated her own daughter like a precious gem. Was she, as a daughter-in-law, not her own parents' cherished treasure? Having married into the Horne Family, was she simply to be mistreated by her mother-in-law?

"I..." Mila Anderson was at a loss for words. She hadn't even asked for the reason. She had become enraged the moment she heard her daughter's tearful accusations and saw her swollen face.

"Glades, no matter the reason, Julia shouldn't have hit Adele like this. Her whole face is swollen! She must have slapped Adele multiple times, and hard too. Isn't that obvious?" Sovia Morris couldn't help but interject.

"Adele Horne!" Glades Horne suddenly let out a furious roar, like a wounded beast howling at the sky. It seemed to startle the heavens and pierce the clouds.

In an instant, Glades Horne was completely transformed. His face darkened like spilled ink, his eyes were wide and bloodshot, and his hands were clenched tightly into fists. If he possessed an ounce less self-control, he might have lunged forward and yanked Adele Horne up. His roar was guttural, torn from his very soul, a heart-wrenching sound. Anyone listening would have thought he had suffered some terrible misfortune.

A piercing pain shot through his heart. He couldn't understand why his family, who had always cherished him, spoiled him, and made him the center of their world, couldn't genuinely accept Julia Bluen. Was it just because Ruby Bluen had run away from the wedding? He was no longer pursuing the matter, yet his family clung to it. Weren't they just trying to cause him grief? Besides, what did this have to do with Julia? In the end, he was the one who had cajoled her into going to the Civil Affairs Office. What she had said was merely drunken rambling, yet he had taken it seriously and insisted on marrying her. What fault was it of hers? He had finally seen clearly that the one he truly loved was Julia Bluen. Moreover, he had always adored Julia, valuing her even more than his own life. Yet his family was always stirring up trouble. While he was out building the family business and providing for the entire family, this was how they repaid him—by constantly adding to his troubles!

Glaring at Adele Horne, Adele was so frightened by his roar that she scurried into the old lady's embrace.

"Stand over here!" Glades Horne pointed to the spot in front of him, bellowing at Adele Horne.

"Glades, you'll scare Adele like this. She's still young..." Mila Anderson was also shocked. She knew she had struck her son's sore spot. Yet, seeing her daughter shivering spinelessly in fear, she nevertheless steeled herself, trying to calm her son's explosive anger.

Julia Bluen remained standing before Mila Anderson. When she heard Glades Horne's roar, a pang of shared suffering struck her; her heart ached too. This man, always so spirited and heroic, who had always treated her better than even her own father, was now enraged because his sister had falsely accused her.

She didn't turn around. There were some matters she didn't want to shield him from; it was time for him to handle them personally. Seeing her mother-in-law protecting her sister-in-law, a bitter thought crossed her mind. Mothers and mothers-in-law are both mothers, but they are never fair when weighing their daughters against their daughters-in-law. In a mother's heart, her daughter is her own flesh and blood, whom she carried for ten months and painstakingly raised; therefore, she is a cherished treasure, fiercely protected from any harm. In a mother-in-law's heart, a daughter-in-law wasn't born of her and will always be someone else's daughter. No matter how good she may be, there's always that inherent separation. Thus, a mother-in-law can never protect a daughter-in-law as she would her own daughter. She remembered an article she had read. When a woman was giving birth, both her mother and mother-in-law waited anxiously outside the delivery room. When the doctors or nurses came out, the mother-in-law would rush forward to ask if it was a boy or a girl. But the mother would rush forward to anxiously ask if her daughter, the new mother, was safe. That single question starkly revealed the difference between a mother and a mother-in-law. She didn't expect her mother-in-law to protect her as her own mother would. She only wished her mother-in-law would be reasonable and not blindly take sides without distinguishing right from wrong.

Julia Bluen didn't turn around, nor did she return to Glades Horne's side. This plunged Glades Horne into anxiety once more; he feared she truly no longer trusted him. His panic fueled his rage. Hearing his mother's words, he whipped his head around, and a sinister glare landed on his mother's face. Mila Anderson was frightened by this malicious glare. She stared at him in dismay, her heart suddenly aching. When had her son started looking at her with such a strange and cruel gaze?