Chapter 584

Susan Langley was stunned.

She stared fixedly at Preston Valentine, her voice suddenly rising sharply.

"Say that again?"

Preston's tone was calm.

"Joanna Sterling didn't call the police for my sake."

"So, consider that I took the blame for you, repaying your life-saving favor."

"Let's call off the engagement."

Susan took two abrupt steps back, shrieking.

"No! I don't agree!"

Her finger trembled as she pointed at Joanna Sterling.

"Have you fallen for her?"

"Did she seduce you?"

"You've been in cahoots all along, haven't you?"

"Preston, you clearly love me the most!"

"How can you call off the engagement over such a trivial matter?"

Preston frowned.

"Don't talk nonsense."

"This has nothing to do with Joanna Sterling. It's my problem."

"I misunderstood the feelings between us..."

"Misunderstood?" Susan nearly jumped up.

"Before Joanna Sterling appeared, weren't we fine?"

"It was after she showed up that everything changed!"

Preston's tone hardened.

"I said, it has nothing to do with her."

Susan immediately screamed.

"You're still protecting her at a time like this!"

"Even if I transferred that one million, she's now the prime suspect in your uncle's murder!"

"How can you break up with me for her sake?!"

Preston found communicating with her difficult.

"Susan Langley, I said it's not because of her!"

Even before Joanna Sterling appeared, things were already strained between Susan and his little sister... He had vaguely sensed something was off.

As Preston was thinking this, Susan suddenly turned to Evelyn Ross.

"Little sister, we're calling off the engagement. Are you finally satisfied?"

Evelyn Ross: ??

Is this person mentally ill? She was just watching the drama from the sidelines, and this still got dragged onto her?

She twitched the corner of her mouth, about to speak, when Susan angrily shouted again.

"Why are you defending Joanna Sterling so much?"

"Is it just to oppose me?"

"Now she's the top poisoning suspect, and the one lying in the hospital bed is your father!"

"Are you just going to let her off like that?"

Evelyn was just about to speak when Preston spoke first.

"Stop talking nonsense. Joanna Sterling is not the murderer!"

Susan was taken aback.

Preston continued.

"I checked. Yesterday, besides drinking coffee, Uncle also had afternoon tea made by the Sterlingny."

"What's even stranger is that the Sterlingny packed up all the leftover afternoon tea and took it away."

"I went to the Sterlingny's house last night, wanting to check if there was a problem."

"But her entire family had vanished!"

"The neighbors said they went abroad for a vacation in the afternoon!"

"Isn't that obvious? The one who poisoned him was that Sterlingny!"

He looked at Joanna Sterling.

"If Joanna Sterling really poisoned him, would she be foolish enough to stay at home and make such obvious evidence-destroying moves?"

"Waiting for us to misunderstand her?"

Susan was furious.

"You're lying! I asked the butler!"

"That poison is fast-acting. It takes effect immediately after ingestion!"

"The last thing your uncle consumed was that cup of coffee!"

"The afternoon tea was four hours earlier!"

"Preston, to exonerate Joanna Sterling, are you even disregarding the truth now?"

Preston was momentarily speechless.

Susan took another step forward, pressing aggressively.

"You suspect that Sterlingny's family? Do you have any evidence?"

"Without evidence, how can you say Joanna Sterling is innocent?!"

Preston was stumped by her questions.

At that moment, a cool, clear voice rang out.

"Who says there's no evidence?"

Everyone simultaneously looked at Evelyn Ross, who had spoken.

Evelyn walked over slowly and looked at Preston.

"Last night, I asked the butler what Father ate and immediately investigated."

"The aunt who made the afternoon tea suddenly made a batch of small dumplings yesterday, using a special type of flour."

Preston was stunned.

"What flour?"

Evelyn replied.

"Kapok flour."

Preston asked.

"Is that flour poisonous?"

Evelyn shook her head.

"No, it's not poisonous."

"But this type of flour is very difficult to digest. After eating it, it stays in the stomach for a long time before being digested."

"That Sterlingny never used this flour for her glutinous rice dumplings before."

"She suddenly switched yesterday because she wrapped the poison inside the small dumplings and fed it to Father."

She turned to Joanna Sterling.

"The flour wrapping the poison is hard to digest."

"The butler said Father was too busy in the afternoon and didn't drink much water."

"The coffee Joanna Sterling brought, once drunk,恰好 promoted gastrointestinal motility."

"It became the last straw that broke the camel's back."

"Father coughing and spilling the coffee at the time was also because of this."

"Afterwards, Joanna Sterling cleaned the coffee stain, and the toxin恰好发作—it was all a coincidence."

Joanna Sterling hadn't expected Evelyn to clear her name overnight.

She immediately looked at Evelyn with gratitude.

Preston, however, looked at Evelyn in a daze.

"Little sister, you didn't go out yesterday. How did you find out?"

"I went to the Sterlingny's house and couldn't find out anything..."

Evelyn gave him a helpless look.

"The moment I knew the Sterlingny had asked for leave to go home, I knew she was problematic."

"I sent someone to investigate."

"But after so much time had passed, the Sterlingny was surely gone..."

"I could only start investigating from the ingredients currently in the kitchen."

Preston slapped his forehead.

"I'm so stupid!"

"Last night, I was still asking around her relatives, trying to find out where she went on vacation."

"But no one knew."

Evelyn Ross: "..."

This fifth brother really is as pure as ever.

Evelyn looked at Joanna Sterling again.

"You were wronged. The Valentine family owes you an apology."

Joanna Sterling immediately shook her head.

"The Valentine family didn't mistreat me."

"Yesterday, I voluntarily stayed to cooperate with the investigation."

"I was also the prime suspect. I couldn't help but suspect myself."

"I've never blamed the Valentine family."

Beside them, Susan watched this scene, trembling with anger.

Seeing them getting along so harmoniously, she suddenly turned to Preston and shouted.

"Preston! No matter what, I saved your life!"

"You can't treat me like this!!"

Preston was slightly taken aback and sighed.

Just then, Joanna Sterling, who had been holding on for a long time, suddenly swayed.

The aftereffects of prolonged oxygen deprivation in the water surged up.

Coupled with her name being cleared, her entire body suddenly relaxed.

Her vision went dark, and she collapsed.

Preston instinctively caught her, accidentally pushing up her sleeve and revealing her arm.

On Joanna Sterling's arm was a burn scar.

It appeared so abruptly before Preston's eyes.

Preston froze.

He stared incredulously at that burn.

His mind suddenly flashed back to the girl who had dragged him out of the car back then—she had also burned her arm on the hot car metal.

He vaguely remembered, when his vision was一片猩红 and he couldn't see anything clearly, someone in the ambulance exclaiming.

"Miss, you have a burn on your arm!"

"What does my minor injury matter? Save his life first!"

The girl had said that.

Her voice... seemed to overlap with Joanna Sterling's voice now...