Pampered by my three brothers: the return of the neglected heiress

Chapter 1778: My life is really good

On a hill full of armed people waiting for Penny, one man stood frozen, staring at the large explosion in the sky. A moment later, pieces of the aircraft slowly began falling from above.

For several long seconds, no one spoke. Silence blanketed the entire hill, with every pair of eyes reflecting the fire still burning overhead.

Thud.

Charles, still wide-eyed, fell to his knees. His face had gone pale. He couldn’t tear his gaze away from the flames.

"No," he whispered, shaking his head gently. Every piece of falling debris felt like a piece of his heart. "No... Penny."

And with that name—Penny—spoken aloud, it was like a bell rang through the silence, snapping everyone out of their daze.

Penny.

Right... that was the aircraft she had been in.

"No." Hugo stepped forward, slinging his rifle across his chest before breaking into a jog toward the edge of the slope. "No, no, no—PENNY!"

His scream tore through the air, his heart sinking at the thought of losing his sister. Atlas, too, felt the weight—but unlike Hugo, he stood frozen, eyes wide, head bowed.

"No," he murmured, turning to the others. When his gaze landed on Angel, he said firmly, "Prepare the boat. We’re leaving now."

But Angel didn’t move.

Like the rest, he remained fixated on the sky, watching debris continue to fall through thick smoke.

"Angel," Atlas called again, louder—but still, no response.

He walked over and grabbed Angel’s shoulder, giving it a firm squeeze.

Angel blinked, snapping out of it as his eyes met Atlas’s panic-stricken ones.

"Let’s go," Atlas repeated. "We’re leaving now."

"Uh..." Angel stood there for a second, watching Atlas walk away like nothing had happened, as if he hadn’t just seen his sister’s aircraft explode. When Angel looked around, he realized the others were still rooted to the spot, unmoving.

Mark hadn’t moved. Slowly, he turned his gaze

stood utterly still, wearing a blank look

Angel finally shouted.

unbelievable. But

with tears stinging his eyes, Angel wiped them away with his arm and

across the

rouse the others. One by one, they began to

alert, approached

When he got no response, he touched

stared at the sky, Adam’s apple bobbing. Then, slowly, his

murmured, his voice

hand resting

now, though it wasn’t clear if the words were meant for Charles... or himself. "She can’t be in there...

slowly, hearing the same sentence echoing in both their

be in there," Zoren repeated again.

eyes. He wasn’t saying it to believe it—he was saying it, hoping someone would confirm

coming," Zoren whispered again, locking eyes

parted, but no words came. Instead, he nodded with tears threatening at the

"She loves living so much, she’d

up. He knew he was feeding their shared denial, but he couldn’t afford to break down. Not when Zoren was holding on to him

repeated, slapping a hand on Zoren’s shoulder. "She saw it coming.

to face everyone now, his eyes landing on

"and check if she managed to jump

looked directly at

brother. Make sure he

at him, still processing—but Charles was already

your plan. Don’t worry about the search—we’ll search

her lip, trying to hold back tears.

Charles gave Zoren’s back a solid pat. "You

"You and Atlas still have somewhere else to be. I’ll inform you the moment

eyes, but in the end, he

his men and gestured. "Angelo, let’s