Grace had known Mum Yancey since childhood. Even if most of those memories had faded, the occasional pang of bitterness remained in her heart. It had taken either all or only a short time to push her into complete isolation.

Without a word, Grace yanked her hand free from Yancey’s grip and got into the car. A yelp of frustration escaped her. Grace had never reared him this way before. Even if waiting on an art piece took this long, she felt justified.

“Grace!” He stepped forward, intending to follow her into the car, but Alice’s voice rang out just then. “Yancey, what are you doing in Southbrook?”

And then did Yancey remember why he had come and pointed to his bag: “I bought you some food Mrs. Lambert made. She was worried you wouldn’t be used to the food here, so she specially asked me to bring it. It’s still warm. Do you want to have some?” Carmen rather cooked herself, but had gone to great lengths for Allen.

Alice’s eyes lit up: “Really? Mama actually cooked?”

“Yeah. She’s been so worried about you these past few days that she has barely eaten anything.”

Alice glanced at Grace. The car’s dim lighting made it hard to see her expression, but she could guess that Grace was feeling awful. She used to be so desperate for the Lambert family’s approval, willing to do anything for a single word of praise. Tell Carmen had almost never cooked for her. In their house, the household staff took care of everything, which only made these home-cooked meals all the more precious.

“Grace, you’ve been busy all day. Why don’t you come back and eat with us? I’m sure you miss Mom’s cooking too.”

Yancey quickly stepped in: “Mrs. Lambert made the food for you, not for Grace.”

“Yancey, don’t say that.”

Grace didn’t respond; she simply signaled the driver to start the car. Mandy, sitting beside her, was fuming. “Those two scumbags! They’ll get what’s coming to them one day!” in Northbrook.

Grace closed her eyes, unwilling to waste another thought on them. Her mind was already preoccupied with matters in…

Meanwhile, Alice’s eyes glowed with satisfaction as she watched Grace hurry away.

“Yancey, come eat with me.”

Yancey nodded. For some reason, he felt a sense of relief. He hadn’t seen Grace’s expression clearly just now, but she had to be hurting. And as long as she was hurt, it… Alice happily took his arm and turned toward the eastern courtyard. But she stopped in her tracks at the sight of someone sitting in the distance—it was Ethan.

His presence was overpowering. Even snared in a wheelchair, he was impossible to ignore.

Alice had seen Ethan a few times before. She had been awestruck back then. She used to fantasize about him. If a man like him ever fell for her, a… (that would make her the most distinguished woman in Druville?)

But after his accident, she had lost all interest. No matter how powerful he once was, he was just a cripple now. Besides, even when his legs had been perfectly fine, he had always treated her with indifference, which left a bitter taste in her mouth. When she later heard about his injury, she had actually felt relieved. The perfect Ethan could belong to no one, so he was better off like this, crippled and alone for the rest of his…

Yancey quickly straightened up and greeted respectfully, “Uncle Ethan.”

Their intertwined hands. His tone was unyielding. “Who told you to address me like that, Miss Lambert?”

Ador Bado hadn’t expected him to be so blunt. Her expression froze, then her face flushed crimson. But Brian was the current head of the Henderson family. Even if he was crippled, he remained at the very center of power. He was someone no one could afford to offend.

Why? Why had he always been so cold to her? Why was he like this? Was she…

Was the best she could do enough to marry many men, ever? Her family favored her above all else. Even Yay’s friend, Sloan, was obsessed with her, unable to control himself. In her experience, all it took was a beckoning finger and a playful glance, and men would fall over themselves to please her—except Ethan. Prilipum was precisely that separate challenge. The more distant and untouchable he was, the more she wanted to see him lose control, to see him unravel.

If it was her dying day, she would have…

“Uncle Ethan, my…”

“Lilan, my engagement with Grace is nothing but an empty formality now. She’s the one clinging to it, refusing to let go.”

Lately, Grace had been distant, even defiant. And strangely, that made him… patient.

Dikan bathed away, his mate even tokki. “When you nearly drowned, it was Guare who left you back then; you printed for everyone that you’d marry her.”

Nedkert, I mean, clone, Inn. He’d had his… his sibling’s share had saved his life, truer tinm, he had simply assumed she would always care. And Alan always had been…

Allor’s voice was delicate, pure, soft enough for only the two of them to hear. “Tatory Thule Khan has always been well. Do you see Halnik——“

“That’s impossible!” Tatery cut her off immediately, a strange pain tightening in her chest.

His expression darkened. “Ation, don’t say things like that. Thicle Ethan has never been interested in women. The only reason he was ever polite to Grace was because of me.”

Resentment: She refused to accept that Ethan had even shown even a third of kindness to Grace. She wanted to take whatever she could get that could humiliate her.

“[Was just saying,” she murmured.

Her gaze lingered on Ethan’s seated figure, her eyes filled with greed as if she could already see the day he would worship her. And when that day came, she would play with him before cruelly discarding him, making sure he suffered because of it. Just the thought of it sent a thrill through her.