CHAPTER 100: CHAPTER 100: GOODBYE, ADRIAN DESMOND (3)

"Madam, just let me know what you want to eat, and I’ll immediately have the kitchen make it for you."

Ever since Sienna Johnson got pregnant, the Desmond Family’s kitchen became her exclusive domain, and everyone else had to step aside.

Mr. Lucas waited for a moment, but there was no movement inside. He pressed his ear against the door and asked, "Madam... Madam, can you hear me?"

"..."

"Madam, are you still in there?"

Mr. Lucas and Resa exchanged worried glances. Mr. Lucas asked, "What’s going on? Why isn’t Madam speaking again?"

If Sienna didn’t respond soon, Mr. Lucas was about to have someone break down the door. "Madam..." Mr. Lucas knocked again, and Sienna’s shout came from inside,

"Get out! All of you, get the hell out!"

Although he was scolded again, Mr. Lucas felt relieved this time.

"Madam, I’ll leave now. If you need anything, please have Resa call me." He waited for a moment, but there was still no movement from inside. Mr. Lucas knew Sienna was in there. The fact that she could still yell at people so loudly meant there was nothing to worry about.

"I’ll be going now. Keep a close watch. If Madam needs anything, inform me immediately," Mr. Lucas said to Resa.

Resa replied emotionlessly, "Yes!"

At nine o’clock in the evening, Mr. Lucas and his wife, Affen, were having dinner. Halfway through, Mr. Lucas still felt uneasy and said to his wife, "No, I have to go check on her. Madam has been in her room all day. What if the Young Master starves?"

"Madam had a lot of food sent to her room this morning. The Young Master won’t go hungry, don’t worry." Affen was in charge of the kitchen, so she knew Sienna had a lot of food sent in earlier.

Upon hearing this, Mr. Lucas sat back down and resumed eating.

Affen comforted him, "Don’t worry. Madam’s personality is nothing like Miss Carpenter’s; she won’t commit suicide."

"You think I’m worried about Madam committing suicide? I’m worried she’ll run away." Mr. Lucas glared at his overly naive wife and sighed. "Madam is very cunning. I always feel that she’s been too well-behaved recently and is planning something."

"With such strict security here, and Madam being just one woman, I don’t believe she can escape."

"That’s true." Reassured by his wife, Mr. Lucas relaxed.

The security at the Desmond Family residence was tight, and Mr. Lucas didn’t believe Sienna could actually run away.

「The Wedding.」

Adrian Desmond’s wedding was attended by prominent figures from Abyanabad; even the Prince and Princess Consort personally attended to offer their blessings. This was an honor not easily obtained by ordinary people.

Bella Ford was Melanie Carpenter’s bridesmaid. Melanie wore a white wedding gown adorned with diamonds, and even her bridal bouquet was made of diamonds. The necklace of eighteen pink gemstones around her neck made Melanie the most dazzling presence there.

"Brother, today is your wedding with Melanie. Why do you look so unhappy?"

In a dimly lit hotel security corridor, the groom, one of the main figures of today’s event, had secretly hidden away.

"Paige..." Adrian saw his sister and smiled at her.

"...I heard about what happened with Melanie."

Paige Desmond was Adrian’s biological sister, his only close family in the world. Their parents had died when Adrian was only ten and Paige was just four, both too young to remember much.

"Paige, I’ve fallen in love with a woman."

"I know, her name is Mai... I can’t easily leave the palace by myself, but you should bring her to see me when you have time. I really want to know what kind of woman has captivated my brother so completely." She teased her "silly brother."

"She has a terrible temper..."

Paige took the cigarette from his hand, preventing him from smoking further. "You’ve smoked too much today."

"She doesn’t want me to marry Melanie... No! She doesn’t want me to marry any woman!" Adrian didn’t hide this from his only sister. "She’s so ’unreasonable,’ but I’m not upset at all. On the contrary, I’m very happy. I’m glad she cares about me so much..."

"..."

"But I must marry Melanie, even though I..."

Paige interjected, "You don’t love Melanie, do you?"

"No, my feelings for Melanie aren’t romantic." After falling in love with Sienna, Adrian finally understood his feelings for Melanie; it wasn’t love.

"If you don’t love her, why are you marrying her?"

"She told me her parents are gone, her family is ruined, and she has nothing now. If I don’t marry her, what’s the point of her living? She said she’d rather die..."

Those were Melanie’s words during her suicide attempt. She had backed Adrian into a corner; he couldn’t just stand by and watch her die.

"Brother, Mai will understand."

Adrian instinctively reached for a cigarette, taking the case from his pocket. This time, Paige snatched the entire case from him. "Smoking won’t solve the problem."

"You naughty girl, already married and still bossing me around."

"You’re my brother. If you’re doing something wrong, of course, I have to step in." Paige threw the cigarette case into the trash bin.

"Brother, many guests are waiting for you outside. You can’t hide here all the time."

"Can you help me cover for a bit? I’ll make a phone call and be out soon."

Paige bent down, hands clasped behind her back, looking up at her brother’s face. She teased, "You’re not calling Mai, are you?"

Adrian flicked her forehead. "You’re getting more and more disrespectful. Doesn’t Malik discipline you?"

"He wouldn’t dare!" Paige said coquettishly. "You always back me up. If Malik dared to bully me, I’d leave, go far away, and make sure he could never find me again."

Her words made Adrian immediately think of Sienna.

He scolded, "What nonsense are you talking about? A married woman should respect and be loyal to her husband. How can you talk about leaving him?"

"If Malik doesn’t treat me well, of course I’ll leave."

Paige was of Chinese descent from Abyanabad. Although born in Abyanabad, Adrian had sent her to Mousden for her safety when she was ten. Consequently, she had adopted a more Western view of love.

Adrian frowned, looking at his only sister. He couldn’t reason with her, nor could he bring himself to scold her harshly. "If I had known you’d turn out like this, I never would have sent you abroad to study."

"Actually, I understand Mai. If I were her, I wouldn’t marry you either. No woman wants to share her man with another woman."

"Go on, get out of here..."

Adrian had sought refuge here to vent his frustrations, but now he felt even more exasperated.

"Brother, you don’t dote on me anymore."

"You have Malik to dote on you; that’s enough. If I keep spoiling you, you’ll become completely unruly and end up causing trouble for me."