Pasted on the gravestone was a photo of two people. They were a married couple, and the wife was obviously Michael’s sister, Celine; she looked a lot like Michael in the photo. Despite being a military queen who was both beautiful and mysterious, she actually had a cheerful and handsome smile.
Standing next to her was a man dressed in military uniform, and he was unusually good-looking as well. No words could describe how well-matched and harmonious they looked.
A brief account of their lives was carved onto the gravestone. They were killed about six years ago during a counterterrorism operation when the terrorists detonated a bomb that killed tens of elite soldiers. Both Celine and Justin died on the spot, but Celine’s remains couldn’t be gathered, so a cenotaph was erected for her instead.
They must be Nate’s parents… Sophia thought to herself.
Six years ago, Nate was only a few months’ old at most, Sophia thought to herself.
She looked everywhere but couldn’t find Elizabeth’s grave. This is the Fletcher Family’s ancestral graveyard, yet Elizabeth isn’t buried here…
As the rain slowly stopped, Sophia crouched down and laid down some offerings in front of the two graves. Then, she and Nathan bowed to the graves one by one to pay their respects as per the Cethosian custom.
Michael didn’t stop them as he gave them his silent approval; the Fletchers usually gave military salutes to the graves of their deceased relatives. However, seeing how serious Sophia looked as she bowed to the graves of his father, sister, and brother-in-law, he decided not to interrupt them.
Michael stood steadily for a while in front of the graves of his father, sister, and brother-in-law before he finally moved. He said with a heavy heart, “Let’s go.”
The sunless sky looked gloomy even in the afternoon. Unable to tell the emotions concealed behind Michael’s big sunglasses, Sophia silently got into the car after him and left the Memorial Garden.
The family of three ate something in the car, but none of them spoke up.
After they finished eating, the cars stopped near another public cemetery.
Cemeteries near Bayside City were also divided according to their prices. The rich could, of course, afford a more auspicious cemetery plot; some of them would even spend a fortune on an entire piece of land to use it as their ancestral graveyards.
It was already afternoon, yet there were still lots of people visiting their families’ graves at the cemetery.
Even though the car had stopped, Michael didn’t step out of it. Instead, he sat in the car and wound down the car window slightly before looking through the narrow crack at a tomb that stood at a distance away.
The tomb was quite special; not only did it cover an area of more than ten square meters, it was also designed as a stage with the lissome and graceful statue of a female opera singer standing at its center.
That was Elizabeth’s tomb. Passing away 20 years ago, she had a simple funeral that had scarcely any visitors. Had Michael not admitted earlier that Elizabeth was his mother, not many people would have learned about her death. After all, 30 years had passed since she had reached the height of her popularity, so many people no longer knew about her nowadays.
However, many people in the opera circle knew that she had passed away, and many of her fans used to lay flowers in front of her tomb on New Year’s Day and other festivals.
Looking at his mother’s tomb from afar, Michael sat in the car just like that while being as silent and still as a stone sculpture.
He then said to Nathan all of a sudden, “Darling, could you go for a walk outside with your Mommy? I’d like to be alone for a while.”
Nathan didn’t say a word as he got out of the car with Sophia. After they left, Michael took off his sunglasses, revealing a pair of reddened eyes that were brimming with tears…
Sophia took a bunch of flowers with her when she got out of the car. Holding her umbrella, she stepped toward Elizabeth’s tomb and stood in front of her statue before looking up at the diva who had been popular throughout the entire Cethos and Asia 30 years ago.
What an ill-fated beauty she is… she thought to herself.
When she laid down her flowers in front of Elizabeth’s grave, she noticed that Elizabeth’s tomb was already covered with lots of flowers.
After putting down her flowers, Sophia held Nathan’s hand and carefully led him up the stairs. When they reached the main road, they saw a small shop nearby and headed there since Nathan seemed hungry.
There were quite a lot of people who came to visit the cemetery on this day, so they inadvertently bumped into somebody they knew.
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