Not only did Arianne manage to hold back her tears, she even managed a smile. She was afraid that her tears might bring bad luck to Will’s engagement party. Hence, she tried her best to smile…At least his fiancée was very pretty. She was an appropriate match for the Sivan family. She hoped that he would live a happy life.As if drawn by some sort of invisible force, Will’s gaze landed on Arianne. His smile instantly faded. The starry sparkle in his eyes was immediately awashed with sadness.They locked eyes for two seconds before Arianne hurriedly looked elsewhere. She didn’t have the courage to look him in the eye.“Ari,” Tiffany gritted her teeth angrily, “Unless I’m mistaken, the bridal gown on Will’s fiancée… is one of your designs. Mark Tremont is just… too cruel!”Arianne finally noticed this once she pointed it out. It was true. She had initially thought that Mark had purely brought her to the fashion show because her design would be on display. Incidentally, he brought he
Mark was unexpectedly calm, but Jackson was flustered instead. He pulled Tiffany away. “You better shut up, little girl. This doesn’t concern you. Let’s go!”No matter how much Tiffany struggled, Jackson still dragged her away by force. The price he had to pay for doing this was getting bitten on his wrist so hard that blood was drawn.He was both angry and amused at the same time. “What are you? A dog?”Tiffany glared at him. “I’m not a dog, but I don’t mind being one whenever I see you. You are a bastard like Mark Tremont!”Jackson felt wronged but couldn’t defend himself anyway. “Alright, alright. You can think however you want as long it makes you happy.”Arianne showed neither dissatisfaction nor anger toward Mark and grabbed his arm on her own accord. “I want to go home now. Should we leave together? Or maybe I can go first while you stay here with Aery?”Mark looked into her eyes. For the first time, he was unable to read her emotions. “Let’s go.”Arianne put some distanc
Tiffany gave Arianne an address, and she quickly changed her clothes upstairs. Just when she was about to leave, Butler Henry stood in her way. “Madam, sir has instructed that you are not to go anywhere until he comes back.”Arianne bit her lip and held her ground stubbornly. She was Mark Tremont’s wife, not some canary in a cage. She had the right to go and meet whoever she pleased. No one shall deny her freedom!“Uncle Henry, I’m only going out to meet a female friend. I’ll be back soon, don’t tell Mark. Even if he finds out, I shall bear the consequences myself,” she said with a pleading tone.Uncle Henry wavered slightly. He had watched over Arianne and Mark since they were children. Sometimes, it was better for him to be less strict on her. “Then… come back as soon as you can. Sir may call to inquire later and I’ll be put in a difficult position.”Arianne was slightly moved. “Thank you, Uncle Henry…”Butler Henry had served the Tremont family for his entire life. It was usual
Arienna guessed that Mark had rushed home because she had rebelled by sneaking out of the house until late night.She straightened her clothes and stepped in, prepared to take the storm head on.When she entered, none of the servants in Tremont Estate were resting. Butler Henry, Mary, and the other servants were all standing in one line in the living room. Butler Henry looked at Arianne, then sighed and said nothing.She took a deep breath and said, “It’s alright, I’ll explain it to him.”“Sir isn’t in a good mood after drinking. You better take it easy…” Mary warned her.Arienna smiled and went upstairs. The bedroom door was ajar. Mark Tremont sat on the chair in front of the French window with a cigarette lit between his fingers. Smoke veiled the room, and his figure looked slightly hazy.He was still in his suit, which meant he had just come back not long ago. Arienna approached him and offered him a cup of tea to sober him up. “Tiffie was in a bad mood and drunk. I came back
Arianne offered Mark the millet porridge. “Here, have some porridge. It's good for the stomach.”Mark didn’t look at her. “Get out.”She didn’t budge an inch. “Uncle Henry is packing as we speak. Is there really no room to talk this out?”Mark massaged the place between his eyes, and his voice filled with impatience, “Don’t make me repeat myself.”Arianne silenced herself but didn’t leave.Mark directly ignored her and got up to change his clothes. It was then that Arianne felt pressed. “Mark, the case revolving around Tiffie’s family has been solved. The person who took away the jewelry’s raw materials is dead, and there’s no way the materials can be recovered again. Tiffie was upset by the turn of events. I only went out to comfort her! It was me who insisted on going. This has nothing to do with Uncle Henry! You can direct your anger at me.”Mark put on his suit and his watch, then conveniently glanced at the time. “I’ll give you two minutes. If you fail to convince me, then t
Mark Tremont was negotiating a contract with a partner over the phone when he was disturbed by the ringing of his cell phone. Feeling rather annoyed, he turned off his cell phone without looking at the screen.Only after the contract was signed and he was back at the hotel did he turn on his cell phone again. His expression turned serious when he realized that the missed call was from Arianne. She usually never took the initiative to call him.He returned the call. After a long busy dial tone, a cold robotic female voice came through. “Sorry, the number you dialed cannot be reached at this moment. Please try again later.”Mark redialed to Tremont Estate, and the call was picked up by Mary. As soon as the call was connected, he asked, “Where’s Arianne?”Mary glanced upstairs and explained, “Madam isn’t feeling well. The light in her room was on all night yesterday, so I guess she is sleeping now since she didn’t get a good amount of sleep last night.”A sigh of relief involuntarily
Aery was already depressed. So when she saw Helen standing up for Arianne, her anger exploded in full force. “Last time you slapped me, it was because of her, and you prohibited me from scolding her. To put it harshly, she’s merely a piece of trash that you’ve discarded. She can’t be considered your daughter. Why are you protecting her so much? Is it out of guilt? You never fulfilled your responsibility as a mother to her before, so what’s with the hypocrisy?”Helen’s expression sank. “Aery Kinsey, if I ever hear you speak of such things again, I will disown you!”This wasn’t the first time they fought over Arianne. Aery simply couldn’t be bothered to argue with her mother. “Fine, I’m not your daughter. She is! Are you happy?”Helen turned around and left with a dark face, locking Aery in her room. “You’ll stay in this room until you’ve calmed down. Don’t cause any more trouble for me!”…By the time Arianne woke up, it was already night time. Mary, seeing how moody she was, didn’
Half an hour later, Mark finally emerged with Mr. Yates. Mr. Yates’s secretary followed closely behind, along with Brian. Arianne stood in front of the car and didn’t approach them. She waited until Mark and Brian were alone before stepping forward.Mark was taken aback when he saw her. “How long have you been here?” he asked in a seemingly casual tone.She put her hands, which had turned red from the cold, into her pockets. “I just got here. Right when you were walking out.”Her cheeks had grown red from the piercing cold wind. He wasn’t blind. He didn’t believe a word she said. “Get in the car. We’ll go to the hotel first.”The first thing Mark did upon returning to the hotel was take a shower. Arianne took advantage of his cleansing habits to think of the best way to broach the subject with him. The bathroom door opened before she could come up with anything. He lit a cigarette as he put on his bathrobe, took two puffs, then put it out. “What is it?”She was struck by nervous
Arianne had not heard that name for so long, she had to reel back in bemusement for a few seconds before finally remembering her face.Shelly-Ann Leigh… She must have spent all those years in the mental institution, right? God knows if the woman’s hair was now grey and white all over.When someone was near death, one could stand to forgive all of the history between them—even the dark ones, even if the ledger was brimming—for good. So, Arianne replied, “I’ll go with you. No matter what happened, she’s still your mother.”Mark did not expect that answer from her at all. In his surprise, he bent down and left a kiss on her lips. “I knew I picked the right woman as my wife. I thought you wouldn’t agree to let me accompany her for the last of her days…”Arianne replied nothing. She was not so obtuse that she would try to win over a woman whose days were numbered. No matter how much of an a**hole Shelly was, Arianne was still the one who came out on top. That victory was all she needed.
Arianne sneered. “You confused, little thing. I wouldn’t be daft enough to anger the mother of the man I like if I were you, girl. I would especially not say anything as low IQ as that, too. Let me be completely frank with you: no one who bears the surname of Leigh will ever get the better of me—the last one failed. Hard. I can guarantee that you’ll leave us in the span of three days. If I lose, you can stay here forever. Wanna bet? I dare you.”She left her threat hanging at that and turned her wheelchair away, leaving the scorned young woman behind.Rage came out of Raven as waves of quakes all over her body. She was lurching close to hyperventilation, but right before it became impossible to stop, she came around and battled herself to calm down. She had a feeling that even if she fainted right there and then, no one would discover her, would they?Now that Arianne and Mark had returned, the Tremont Estate had recovered its vivacity and life. It had become merry.And Raven Leigh
Melissa was the type who always pushed things to go as festive as logically possible. She leaped to her feet and raised her cup, “Yo, everyone! Let’s toast to Cindy becoming my cousin-in-law!”The crowd answered enthusiastically with their cups in the air and a roar—except Raven, who remained seated. “I have a sickly constitution. I can’t drink. I’m sorry.”Her smile was so mechanical, her face too ashen. Something flickered in Arianne’s eyes before she replied, “Sure.”After the revelry faded, Arianne steered her wheelchair to the courtyard. The outward appearance of the Tremont Estate seemed to have frozen in time, which was why being here made her feel so… safe.Of course, that was despite Henry and Mary’s passing. In the end, time passed and things changed, characters and objects came and went, and all these missing years left lingering regrets in their wake.Arianne espied the silhouette standing alone at a distance and approached her, sighing, “Nothing beats being home.”Ra
Arianne grabbed the two beauties by the hands and smiled. “Thank you! Gosh, to me… it’s like you two have grown older in the blink of an eye! How gorgeous the two of you are! Cindy, where’s your brother? Plato hasn’t come home yet?”Mentioning the name of her dear brother made Cynthia pout. “He said he was coming home half a month ago—that’s what he said. Who knows what he’s actually doing, though? Anyway, who cares about that no-good. He’s always like this anyway. Oh, um, the weather is quite hot. We should probably get inside.”Arianne nodded and shot a brief, uneasy look at Aristotle. Not once did he look like he wanted to talk to her… Could the boy be counting his grievances in his mind? Mark and Arianne had stayed in Switzerland for so long; life must have been hard for him all alone.It took until she reached the living room to finally notice Raven. “Millie, is this your younger sister?”Melissa quickly sprung to correct her. “What? Noooo. This is Ares’ classmate or something
Aristotle’s entire being stilled.He had waited for this news for nineteen years. As time passed, the flames died little by little, the heart grew more numb, until the very thought of it was no different from a pipe dream. But today, news of it coming true reached him and plunged him into a torrent of feelings.A long while later, he finally muttered under his breath, “When… When will they be back?”Jackson closed the distance between them and gave the young man a light, comforting pat on the shoulders. “Not so soon, I bet; not when your mother has just woken up and is in need of some time to recover. She did sleep for nineteen years, you know. So maybe after she’s recuperated enough for a while…” he answered. “We’ve waited for nineteen years for this, right? What’s waiting for just a little bit more compared to that? The most important thing for you to do is to manage the company to the best of your abilities. That’s the way to not disappoint your father’s expectation.”Aristotle
Cynthia had never had a relationship before, so she did not know what love was. However, one thing was for certain. She loved the feeling of being with Aristotle and how he had protected her since they were kids. Even though Aristotle had become a little domineering and “naughty”, she was not taken aback by him. Instead, she even felt a little moved, which was amazing.It wasn’t known how they ended up in bed, with their breaths synchronized. Apart from the final step, they had done just about everything else that could be done.Just as they were about to hit the final step, Aristotle suddenly stopped and helped pull the covers over Cynthia. “Let’s sleep, good night.”Cynthia was still lost in a daze from before. She did not know why Aristotle had suddenly stopped, nor did she have the courage to ask him. She had struggled for so long before having persuaded herself to go with the flow…The next day, when Cynthia woke up, Aristotle had already long gone to his company.She took a
Cynthia heard what Aristotle said, but her hands did not stop doing what they were doing. Her head was in a complete mess. “There’s no… no need. I’ll be able to be done with these now. Go ahead and get some sleep first. By the way, where am I sleeping tonight? There are so many rooms here, I’ll ask Agnes to help me clear one up.”Aristotle walked up to her and squatted. He grabbed onto her arm with one hand while the other closed the luggage. “Just sleep with me here and stop tidying already.”Cynthia suspected that she might have misheard. She took a look at the big bed behind him in a daze and suddenly felt her palm, which was held by him, burning up. “Y… You’re kidding, aren’t you, Ares? Although we used to sleep with each other a lot when we were kids, we’re all grown ups now, so wouldn’t that be a little inappropriate?”Aristotle said with a straight face, “I wasn't joking.”Cynthia panicked a little and recalled Melissa’s words once again. ‘Would Ares, whom I’ve known for so
Melissa knew that Aristotle had kissed Cynthia, so she knew what was going on. Hence, she very naturally boasted, “Of course, they’ve been engaged to each other since they were born. Coincidentally, the both of them felt the same way about each other as they grew up, so wouldn’t this make it even better? From the way I see it, your illness isn’t going to recover for the rest of your life and the both of them are probably going to have to wait until Cindy graduates before they get married. So, you’d be better off moving back to France as early as possible. Don’t worry, you’ve saved Aristotle’s life before, so he wouldn’t be stingy with you financially.”Raven wanted to control the unhappiness she had in her heart very much, but her emotions refused to follow her will. Hence, she fiercely struggled to wring free from Melissa’s grasp. Melissa was startled for a moment. “Are you crazy?”After that, Raven regained her senses and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry… I was a little unwell just n
‘You’re not that worried?’ Melissa was so furious that she laughed. “Am I the only one who’s being worried for nothing? I thought you loved my brother, didn’t you? The man you’ve been dreaming of every day has returned from France but brought a woman with him, yet you’re actually not that worried? Let’s put aside your parents’ intentions for a moment. Do you dare to say that you don’t love him? I’m only helping you because you’re my best friend, so could you not be so relaxed, as if I’m helping you for no reason?”Cynthia shook her head and lowered her volume as she said, “He… might have confessed to me. We also… did that already. So, I think he doesn’t feel that way towards Raven. It’s purely because she saved his life once. I trust that Ares will be able to handle the situation properly.”Melissa’s eyes opened wide. “What? He’s only returned for a few days, yet the two of you have already had sex? That fast?! I never knew it, but you’ve really got it in you!”Cynthia’s face flushe