Returning Heir: I Enforce the Family Rules

The family chapel fell silent. The family elder who was holding the fountain pen kept it suspended over the family records, unable to bring himself to make the next stroke.

Mom was the first to recover. "Cameron isn't an outsider. He's lived with us for 25 years and calls us Mom and Dad. You've only been back for a year. I can understand that you're still getting used to things."

I looked at her. "So, I'm the one who's supposed to get used to things?"

"That's not what I meant.

"What did you mean, then?"

Mom parted her lips, but no words came out.

My elder sister, Vivian Sylvester, stepped forward and stood between us.

"Harry, Mom hasn't been feeling well lately. Stop putting her on edge. Today is supposed to be a happy day. Do you really have to make things uncomfortable for everyone?"

I turned to her. "This past year, how many times did you guys postpone my family recognition ceremony because you were allegedly too busy?"

Vivian's expression shifted.

I answered for her. "Three times. The first time, Cameron had to represent the group at a signing ceremony. The second time, he got into a car accident.

"The third time, he had to host a welcome dinner for my fiancee, who had just returned to the country."

Standing among the crowd, Serena Sadler clenched her fingers. She was the only daughter of the Sadler family and also the woman my family had arranged for me to marry before I went missing at the age of three.

After I came home, Dad told me the engagement would remain unchanged.

Yet in the past year, Serena had attended six different banquets with Cameron Sylvester, while supposedly having no time to attend a single one of my family recognition ceremonies.

"Why are you dragging me into this?" she asked, frowning.

"Cameron's accident was serious. He could've died. And the welcome dinner had been arranged long in advance. Delaying your ceremony by a few days won't change the fact that you're the Sylvester family's biological son."

I nodded. "Exactly. If waiting a few more days won't change my identity, then moving Cameron's name down one spot won't change the 25 years you've spent loving him, either."

Cameron's eyes immediately reddened. "Harry, don't make things difficult for them. I'm the one who took your place. I'll cross my name out right now."

He reached for the fountain pen in front of the elder.

Mom swiftly caught his wrist. "Who said you could do that?"

Vivian stepped in front of him as well, shielding him from me. "Cameron, you've been the eldest son for 25 years. Why should you give up your place just because he decided to come back and ask for it?"

I looked at her. "I decided to come back? Weren't you guys the ones who tracked me down?"

Her breath caught.

When the Sylvesters found me last year, Vivian had held me and cried for a long time. She told me that the day I went missing, she had been the one who let go of my hand.

She said she had regretted it every night since and promised that from then on, she would make up for everything I had been deprived of.

For the past year, however, I had been living in the guest room. Meanwhile, Cameron lived in the east wing, the residence traditionally reserved for the eldest son.

The risk assessment I prepared for Sylvester Group was submitted under his name. Even the first gift Serena ever gave me had been chosen based on his preferences.

Every time I questioned them, I got the same answer. They were either too busy to make a change or told me to wait a little more.

"Cameron is used to things this way," they said. "You've been independent all these years. You should have an easier time adjusting than he does."

Now, even the family records were the same. Cameron's name was above mine because he was "used to things". My name was below his because I was supposed to "get used to it".

It was then that Zoe Larsson stepped out from behind Mom.

She was four years older than me. When we were children, I used to follow her everywhere, treating her like an older sister. After I went missing, she spent years helping my family search for me.

Yet in the year since I came home, every time she spoke to me was to defend Cameron.

"Harry, it's true that Cameron ended up with things that should've been yours, but he didn't take them from you on purpose. He's been learning the family business from your father since he was a teenager.

"You can't expect him to hand over everything he's built his life around all of a sudden. He just can't accept it."

"And what about me?" I asked.

She froze. "What about you?"

"I went missing when I was three. It took 25 years for me to find out that I had parents, a sister, and a fiancee waiting for me.

"I've been back for a whole year, yet I live in the guest room and work on projects for him. I've watched my fiancee attend banquet after banquet with him."

I pointed at the family records. "And now, I'm supposed to accept being listed below him, too. Do you think I can accept all of that just because I'm better at putting up with things?"

Zoe's lips parted. "You grew up on your own. Of course, you're mentally stronger than Cameron."

I nodded. "So, people who can endure are just supposed to keep enduring forever. Is that another new rule in the family?"

No one answered.

Dad's face grew darker by the second. "Are you finished? Cameron has already agreed to transfer part of his shares to you. You've only been back for a year. You barely know how the group operates.

"Did you really expect him to hand the entire company over to you?"

"Does the family charter say the eldest son inherits the family business only after he becomes familiar with the business, or is that just your rule?" I asked.

"Rules are rigid, but we, as humans, are flexible!" he argued.

I took the family records from the elder. "Got it."

Dad seemed to think I had finally backed down, and some of the tension left his face. But instead, I placed the document back on the ancestral altar.

"If the rules can be changed whenever it's convenient for Cameron, I see no point in putting my name in the family records."

Mom seized my arm. "Harry, what are you saying?"

"It's been a year since you found me," I said. "You never cleared out a room for me. You never dealt with the engagement. You postponed my ceremony three times. And now, you can't even give me back my rightful position."

I pulled my arm free. "It's not that you haven't had time to make things right. It's that every time making things right meant asking Cameron to give up something, you decided I could wait a little longer."

Cameron's eyes were red as he looked at me. "Then what do you want me to do? Move out of the Sylvester residence and give everything back to you?"

I shook my head. "I never asked you to leave. I'm simply taking back the place that belongs to me according to the Sylvester family charter.

"If getting back what's mine means you have to leave… That only proves that everything you have now was built on the assumption that I'd never come back."

Cameron's face went pale.

"Once you've figured out how many eldest sons this family is supposed to have, let me know."

Dad's voice rang out behind me. "If you walk out of this chapel today, don't expect us to beg you to come back!"

I stopped. "Fine."

Silence fell behind me.