"Heartbroken, my ass!"
Evan Caldwell felt like his tongue was on fire. "I just saw Little Lia and her friends out and grabbed a couple of candies. Who knew they'd be spicy! And Little Lia, being the sweet, dutiful kid she is, unwrapped them all for me. How could I say no to my little sister's kindness? So I just had to eat them all in one go..." He downed another glass of wine as he finished.
'Dutiful and considerate?'
Seth Sinclair raised a brow, his eyelid lifting nonchalantly.
'That little girl...'
Quinn Preston was lost in thought.
He knew some of the truth, more or less.
Nine years ago, after Lianne Lianne's father died in the line of duty, Ethan Sinclair took her under his care.
Due to his status and certain constraints, he couldn't bring her into the Sinclair Family home, so he arranged for her to live elsewhere.
A woman kept on the outside is usually assumed to be a mistress.
Gossip could be quashed, but the prejudice in people's hearts was impossible to erase.
Sure enough, as they were leaving STAR Bar, a lewd voice drifted over. "That chick the eldest Sinclair heir is keeping on the side is damn fine. Great body, pretty face... must be a wild ride!" The man's words grew more explicit. "You guys didn't see her up close. Her skin's so soft, it'd turn red with just a pinch. And that ass, so round and perky. Her tits..."
"CRASH!"
A loud crash echoed. The man, caught completely off guard, went flying backward, chair and all. He landed heavily in the middle of a crowd and roared furiously, "Are you fucking looking to die..."
Evan Caldwell kicked out again, this time aiming for the sofa the man had been sitting on. The sofa was incredibly heavy, but his powerful kick sent it flipping over.
The man, who had just been glaring furiously, immediately turned into a bowing and scraping sycophant the moment he saw Evan Caldwell. His tone was sullen. "Mr. Caldwell?"
Most of the onlookers, seeing Seth Sinclair and Quinn Preston standing nearby, knew better and turned away. But one idiot, drunk out of his mind, pointed at Evan Caldwell and yelled, "Do you know who he is? You dare mess with him? You got a death wish?!"
Evan Caldwell narrowed his eyes, unwrapped a piece of gum, and popped it into his mouth. He delivered another powerful kick, this time nearly flipping the table. Bottles and glasses flew into the air, clattering loudly.
"A toad with feathers stuck to its back—are you a bird or a beast? Who the hell do you think you are?!"
The men, including the one scrambling up from the floor, instantly turned pale. A cold sweat broke out on their foreheads, and they swallowed hard.
"You guys don't have a single decent bone in your bodies, do you? Did you really think you could lust after the Second Young Master's sister? You can eat whatever you want, but you can't just say whatever you want." Chewing his gum, Evan Caldwell picked up a bottle from the table, weighed it in his hand, and then smashed it violently against the edge. The simultaneous sound of shattering glass and sloshing liquor was terrifying.
What they feared most, however, was Seth Sinclair, who was leaning nonchalantly against the bar. To provoke him was to have a death wish.
The man was shaking like a leaf. He didn't dare to meet Seth's gaze, keeping his head down and begging for mercy. "Mr. Caldwell, we were drunk, we were being stupid... We won't do it again, we'll never do it again..."
Liam Shaw walked in to this very scene. Unfazed, he greeted his boss, "Mr. Sinclair."
An all-black car was parked in the darkness. Seth Sinclair bent down to get in. Liam Shaw closed the rear door and walked around to the driver's seat.
Liam Shaw glanced at his boss in the rearview mirror. The lights weren't on in the spacious, luxurious cabin, leaving it dim and shadowy. He couldn't make out his boss's expression, only hearing a cool, calm voice ask, "What is that smell?"
Liam Shaw was instantly on alert. He sniffed the air but didn't detect anything unusual.
The car had just been cleaned, but there was no scent of detergent—only the elegant, fresh fragrance of sandalwood mixed with fir and pine.
"Probably a lingering scent from the car wash. I'll air it out," Liam Shaw said.
Seth Sinclair leaned back against the leather seat, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose. A trace of weariness appeared on his face.
'That faint fragrance seemed to have followed him into the car.'
"The smell of the herbs should be gone by now..." Lianne Lianne stood in the bathroom, lifting her damp hands to her nose and sniffing carefully.
When she got home, she had peeled off her shirt, yanked off her bra along with it, grabbed a nightgown to slip on, and headed straight for the bathroom.
'The ointment worked wonders, but the smell was a bit overpowering and hard to mask.'
Lianne Lianne dried her hands, returned to her bedroom, and flopped onto the bed. Her eyes fell on a photo frame standing on her nightstand.
A father and daughter stood in front of the Celestial Gate. The man, dressed in a simple shirt and trousers, was smiling as he held a little girl, as delicate as a porcelain doll, with one arm. The little girl wore a pink dress and two small pigtails, her innocent smile beaming forward.
Few people knew Lianne Lianne's story, and no one ever went out of their way to ask about her background.
Tonight, Quinn Preston's question about whether she had ever lived in Tauris had stirred up her long-buried memories.
Lianne's father, Cameron Lianne, was a true native of Tauris. He was born and raised there, in the tranquil Seabrook Village.
Seabrook Village had a unique culture and simple customs, with therapeutic scenery that included an azure sea, pure white fishing boats, a colorful fishing town, and a beautiful, crescent-shaped beach.
Her mother had been a tenant from out of town. She was in her twenties, erudite, vibrant, and beautiful—a truly captivating woman. Falling in love with her wouldn't have been difficult.
It was Cameron Lianne's first time renting out his house, so he was still unfamiliar with many things and was in the process of learning.
The handsome but somewhat clumsy young landlord awakened the little devil in Lianne's mother's heart. Every now and then, she would find ways to play tricks on Cameron Lianne.
The two gradually developed feelings for each other through their daily interactions. After Lianne's mother had been living there for half a year, Cameron Lianne asked if she wanted to go back and see her parents. She laughed and said that if she had a family, she wouldn't have stayed there for six months.
At the time, Cameron Lianne was head over heels in love and believed his lover's words without a doubt.
'He thought they would be together forever.'
However, in the second month after giving birth, Lianne's mother left behind a farewell letter, abandoning her wailing, newborn daughter.
Following the address from the identification she had used to rent the house, Cameron Lianne traveled thousands of miles to Imperia with two-month-old Lianne in his arms to find his wife, only to learn that no such person existed.
The identification was fake. The name was fake.
The woman had simply vanished into thin air.
Her mother had once described her life growing up to Cameron Lianne, which made him certain she was from Imperia, so he stayed there, searching for her day after day.
But the world is a vast place. How could it be easy to find someone with no real identity, not knowing if she was even dead or alive?
Before Cameron Lianne passed away, he never found a single trace of her mother.
Lianne sometimes felt that her father had left her with a final wish: to find her mother.
For the past few years, she had been searching for her mother as well.
'She wanted to ask her mother who she was, and why she had abandoned her and her father.'
Whenever she thought about it, an indescribable sense of suffocation would well up from her lungs, making each breath feel bitter.
...
When Lianne Lianne woke up the next day and shuffled out of her room in her slippers, she saw Mrs. Zimmerman, wearing oven mitts, placing a freshly made bowl of soothing pear porridge on the dining table.
"Mrs. Zimmerman, good morning."
Seeing her, Mrs. Zimmerman's face broke into a wide smile. "Miss Lia, good morning."
Lianne walked over, pulled out a chair, and sat down at the table. Just as she was about to start her breakfast, the doorbell suddenly rang.
'Who would be ringing her doorbell this early in the morning?'