CHAPTER 193: CHAPTER 193: IT’S ALL RIGHT

"You’re just as nosy."

"I’m not." Luke explained, "It’s what others are saying."

Florence gave him a sidelong glance, "You go ahead and wander around yourself, I have something to deal with."

"Need my help?" Luke chased after her to ask.

"No need." Florence walked away, blending into the crowd in the banquet hall.

She glanced around the banquet hall for Ethan’s figure, but didn’t see him.

When the banquet ended and she had time to check her phone, she realized Ethan had sent a message earlier, saying he had to leave due to something.

Looking at the message, Florence’s brows furrowed. Evelyn, seeing her like this, thought something was wrong, and asked worriedly, "What’s wrong?"

"Nothing." Florence put her phone away, "Is everything packed up?"

"Yes." Evelyn came to call her to leave together, "Come on, we’ve worked hard all day, it’s time to go back and rest well."

After a busy day, Florence was quite tired. She opened the door to meet a room that was completely dark.

Ethan wasn’t here.

She entered the room, and the lights automatically came on. After changing her shoes, she walked inside, and a faint smell of alcohol greeted her.

Florence’s heart contracted, Ethan was sitting on the floor, his coat thrown beside the sofa, his collar disordered, looking desolate. He seemed to hear her entering, but didn’t turn back to look at Florence.

This was something that shouldn’t happen to someone who always has been disciplined and rigorous.

Florence put down her bag, picked up the coat on the ground, threw it onto the sofa, and sat down.

In front of Ethan were several empty bottles, but his face remained unchanged. Florence couldn’t tell if he was drunk or not.

"Why don’t you turn on the lights," she asked.

"If you come back," Ethan’s voice was very low, "the lights will turn on."

This tone didn’t sound right to Florence, "You thought I wouldn’t come back tonight."

She had come back two days early from the farm to attend Chloe’s wedding and had stayed directly at the hotel where Chloe was getting married to help out.

So tonight she was just returning home.

Ethan didn’t speak, taking another drink.

Even though he knew she didn’t love Luke and even disliked that man, seeing them standing together at the wedding banquet still made Ethan feel upset.

Because of that incident with Nicole, after Florence left, she didn’t answer his calls or respond to messages. He even ran to the farm but didn’t see her at all.

He waited alone in this empty house every day, his mind was a mess.

Florence looked at him, "Why did you leave early today?"

Ethan’s hand shook as he poured the wine, "Something happened so I left early."

Florence didn’t believe it, "Was there really something?"

Ethan turned his head to look at her.

In his dark eyes was a tint of sorrow, "Then why should I stay there, watching you two put on a show?"

"What show," Florence frowned.

The pain now visible in Ethan’s eyes seemed to pierce her heart, "There’s no need for me to put on a show with him."

Ethan withdrew his gaze, "I was in France for three years, after coming back, you never asked about France, but also..." He let out a self-deprecating laugh, "It was clearly my fault for leaving you without a word and ending up like this. How can I still have the right to seek your concern and affection?"

Florence clenched her teeth, gazing heavily at him.

"Nicole’s situation, I had no relationship with her. I didn’t even propose to her; because the Harper Family and the Senk family knew each other well, they verbally agreed on a marriage, but the Harper Family never specified who it would be. And in the Harper Family, it’s survival of the fittest, whoever wins gets it."

"Taking Harper Family wasn’t for that person. It was an unavoidable choice, for you, for myself, and most importantly, for my mother. Florence, why weren’t you willing to listen to my explanation?"

She was sometimes cold and hard, Ethan knew that. He feared that this cold and hard side might have changed in the three years he didn’t see her, and what if she wasn’t the Florence from before...

"I checked it out." Florence got up and walked towards him, "I also found out what you did when you returned to Harper Family. Nicole was engaged to your illegitimate brother, but after I went back and brought him down, the Senk family unilaterally canceled their engagement. Then, Nicole’s brother, who is someone from the Senk family, needed to use her to form an alliance to gain profits, letting her marry the richest man in Country L and become the fourth wife."

Ethan was slightly stunned, only then realizing her methods were quite tough. Nicole didn’t even know where she was marrying; she knew that the person she was marrying had several children younger than her and was certainly a middle-aged man, so she was very unwilling.

And she had actually found all this out.

"In these three years..." Florence looked at him, reaching out to slowly caress his face, from his eyes to his lips, "I only now know... you’ve had it tough."

His mother had died, his father forced him to return to France, under intense scrutiny, he had to find a way to survive.

Yet he also managed to become ruthless, even placing his so-called father under house arrest, taking control of Harper Family’s real power.

Florence thought of that phone call.

"Don’t think he’s still the same as before; the people in Harper Family have brutality in their blood. He can even commit patricide; the facade he presents to you is fake."

Ethan’s dark eyes trembled slightly as he looked at her.

Florence lifted his chin with one hand, pinching his neck with the other, "Tell me, if I want the entire Harper Family, will you give it to me?"

"I will!" He answered without hesitation, "As long as you don’t mind it being a dangerous place, a dragon’s den."

"To become the ruler of such a place, who would care about these things?" The soft hands on Ethan’s neck slid down along his collarbone and chest, the girl before him was inches away, her alluring gaze locking on him, "Go back and resolve all uncertain factors, then give it to me intact."

Ethan breathed heatedly, "Okay."

He agreed, and Florence’s kiss fell down.

Clothes were stripped, the coat that had been picked up from the sofa fell again to the floor.

The lights dimmed to a haze, entangled in each other ceaselessly.

Florence was groggily awakened by the ringing of a phone, she lay on the man’s strong chest, a blanket covering their bodies, Florence realized they were on the long couch by the floor-to-ceiling window.

Seeing her awake, Ethan kissed her face, "Were the last two days too exhausting?"

Only twice, and she was already crying to sleep.

"Yeah, phone."

Ethan didn’t move, and Florence got up to answer it, showing it was Luke calling.

She just hung up, when the warm body behind her nestled closer, "Not answering?"

"Not an important call."

Ethan picked her up and headed towards the bedroom, "Then you’re awake, let’s continue."