Chapter 6

Eleanor returned to the eighth floor, where her room was. It was already 3:30 AM, but she wasn’t in any rush to go to bed. She headed to the deck. She was in a pretty good mood and walked with a skip in her step. She spread her arms and embraced the sea breeze.

They were in the middle of a season when Jorstone City’s weather was at its most comfortable. It wasn’t too hot or cold, so she jogged to the railing and hopped onto it.

Sebastian had originally been following her at a leisurely pace. When he saw her jump, he lunged after her, wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her off the railing and into his embrace. “Are you nuts?”

Eleanor was taken aback. Then, she laughed. “I only wanted to sit on the railing. What did you think I was going to do? Jump into the ocean? Why would I do that? I’ve yet to get my fill of life.”

Sebastian’s heart calmed. He asked coolly, “Is that the right place to sit? You’ll fall into the water with the slightest jostle.”

She tugged on his shirt’s button. “I know what I’m doing. Even if I were to fall in, I can swim to safety.”

That reminded him of something. “Right, you know how to swim. You learned it with Maurice.”

“You know about that?” She raised an eyebrow. That was when she’d been much younger.

He said indifferently, “You two have learned a lot together.”

That was true. After Eleanor’s parents’ deaths, Henrietta had taken pity on her and frequently summoned her to the Porter residence. She and Maurice had taken private tutoring and extracurricular classes together.

Sebastian’s expression turned icier when he saw that she didn’t deny it. “You and Maurice are inseparable childhood sweethearts. If not for Brenda getting involved, you two would be a proper married couple now.”

That made Eleanor’s stomach turn. She pushed him away and twirled around before leaning against the railing, looking devastatingly beautiful. The sea breeze lifted her hair, and her simple action of pushing it out of her face was downright alluring.

She said, “I’ve always liked looking ahead, Sebastian. What’s happened has happened, so there’s no point in obsessing over the what-ifs. Besides, life is so long. Why would anyone care about a bond formed during childhood?”

Sebastian froze. His skin was flawless, and his features were as chiseled as a marble statue’s. As he stood there, he looked positively godlike—one almost wouldn’t dare approach him lest they sullied him.

He seemed even paler than usual, though. Perhaps it was because of the sea breeze. Eleanor didn’t understand it. If he was jealous, she’d already explained that a childhood relationship didn’t mean much to her. Why did that make him look more broken?

She was too tired to think, though. She’d consummated her marriage and had a battle of wits with Brenda and her family. She didn’t want to guess at Sebastian’s thoughts too. She told him she was going to bed before brushing past him.

Unbeknownst to her, he remained on that deck for a long, long time. The matter with the groom mix-up had yet to be thoroughly resolved, and Eleanor couldn’t be bothered to show her face lest she become the talk of the ship. So, she had a maid deliver breakfast to the deck.

When Brenda arrived at the eighth-floor deck, she saw Sebastian seated alone at the table. He was dressed simply in a loose white shirt and black pants. The material looked good, but she couldn’t tell which brand it was from. It was probably something cheap he’d bought online. After all, his identity and status were known secrets. How could he afford to use anything expensive?

Her first reaction was disdain, but she started getting other ideas when she saw his handsome face. Throughout her two lifetimes, she’d never met a man more good-looking than him. He was so gorgeous that even cheap clothing seemed regal on him.

The only problem was that he’d disappeared on their wedding night in her past life. Why hadn’t the same thing happened this time? It was too bad he’d made her plan to make Eleanor experience the humiliation she’d felt in her past life fail. Back then, everyone had mocked her, saying that even an illegitimate son wasn’t interested in her and had jilted her!

Brenda had even heard about Sebastian and Eleanor consummating the marriage. That was impossible! If even she hadn’t achieved that, how could Eleanor? The latter was a stuck-up bitch!

She’d clearly caught the glare Eleanor had given Sebastian last night. That was an obvious indication that they weren’t on good terms. Eleanor had always felt she deserved the best of everything. There was no way she would be interested in an illegitimate son. Brenda was sure Sebastian wouldn’t be able to get anything out of his marriage to Eleanor.

That gave Brenda an idea. She’d married Maurice for his status. If she could have an affair with Sebastian…

She smiled confidently. Sebastian must’ve agreed to marry her because he was interested in her. Besides, would he say no to a woman who served herself on a silver platter?

She flipped her hair over her shoulder at that thought and approached Sebastian. She said coquettishly, “Hi, Sebastian.”

He frowned and looked up. His gaze went from her face to the document in his hands. He knew she was there for Eleanor, so he ignored her and continued cutting his sandwich.

“I didn’t expect last night’s accident, but I still want to apologize for letting you down. Don’t worry, though. I’ll make it up to you in the future…” Brenda continued.

She reached out to touch his hand. It was such an overt hint of her intentions that no man would miss it.

Unexpectedly, he brandished his butter knife and swung it toward her hand before she could even touch him. She immediately whipped her hand back, barely avoiding getting stabbed. She cried, “What are you doing?”