Chapter 247: A Man Who Moves On

Azure had always imagined Jonathan as his mirror image—obsessed with research, meticulous, and single-minded. But after meeting him, he realized Jonathan was utterly different. He was not only incredibly talkative, but his appearance defied the stereotypical scientist. Most of them, himself included, spent so much time in the lab that their skin was pale and their muscle density low. Jonathan, however, possessed a sharp, powerful presence. Azure might have believed it if someone had told him Jonathan was a bodyguard.

“What do you think? How does it feel to meet your idol?” Autumn teased, glancing at Erwin. Erwin was about to answer when Autumn added, “Make sure you think about how to thank Sierra!” Erwin’s expression shifted. He looked as if he wanted to argue but had no choice but to restrain himself. He had seen it clearly—when Jonathan entered, he went straight to Sierra and held her hand the entire time. Even when speaking to the others, his tone was polite but distant. Only when he looked at Sierra did his eyes truly soften. At this point, if Erwin still insisted Sierra was the one clinging to Jonathan, he would be making a fool of himself.

Meanwhile, in the car, Sierra kept staring at Jonathan. Jonathan raised an eyebrow. “Sierra, you’re making things difficult for me.” His voice held a hint of danger. They had been together long enough for her to understand precisely what that meant. She coughed lightly and decided to stop teasing him—though she didn’t think she was teasing him at all.

“They all admire you, especially Erwin—the one I was arguing with earlier.” Jonathan immediately understood. “So you used me to break through his defenses. I don’t mind.” He leaned in slightly. “But you should think about how to compensate me.”

“You just said you don’t mind. Why do I have to compensate you?” Sierra rolled her eyes.

“Sierra, I’m a businessman. Businessmen never take losses.”

Sierra turned to look at him. “Businessman?” Jonathan had said he planned to stay here, but he had never mentioned what he was going to do. She had assumed he would go into research. Now, she realized he was going into business.

Jonathan’s expression shifted slightly. He nodded. “Something like that. I promised my grandfather that I would take over the family business once I turned thirty.”

Sierra studied him for a moment. “And… do you like it?”

Do you like it? It was the first time anyone had asked him that.

He had done many things in his life. Becoming a professor, working as a mercenary—those were just phases, experiences. It wasn’t about passion or purpose; he simply pursued whatever piqued his curiosity at the time. Once he lost interest, he moved on. If people ever learned about Jonathan’s life, they would be furious. Because in just a few years, he had achieved what most people couldn’t in a lifetime. For him, it wasn’t a question of liking or disliking something.

After a moment of thought, he said, “It’s fine. I don’t dislike it. I haven’t been involved much yet, but I’m sure it’ll be interesting.” He knew that, as the eldest grandson, he wasn’t the only potential heir. Some of his relatives were already scheming for control. Watching them fight for power might be amusing.

Sierra glanced at him. At that moment, Jonathan seemed like a completely different person. She couldn’t understand him. She had assumed he would resist taking over the family business. She had assumed he loved biochemistry. But now, she realized he had never truly loved it; it was just something that had caught his interest for a time.

Suddenly, she asked, “Besides being a mercenary, what else have you done?”

Jonathan wasn’t sure why she was asking, but he didn’t hide anything. He shared a few stories. “A lot of things. I traveled for a while, spent time in casinos overseas, even lived in the mountains for a year to find a flower that people said didn’t exist. But in the end, I found it.” His eyes glimmered with a sense of accomplishment as he spoke.

Sierra hesitated, then asked, “And… what happened to the flower?”

“I turned it into a specimen.”

Sierra fell silent. She turned to look out the window. Even though it was spring, she suddenly felt cold. Jonathan’s words had made one thing clear—he had a habit of discarding things once he lost interest. When something intrigued him, he would throw himself into it completely. But once he lost that fascination, no matter how rare or precious it was, he would toss it aside. It wasn’t that he hadn’t made any new breakthroughs in his research these past two years.