Chapter 5: Apologize

The sudden ringtone plunged the entire room back into a heavy, suffocating silence.

Lucian glanced at his phone screen. The moment he recognized the caller ID, his irritated expression instantly dissolved.

"Is that... the sister-in-law?" Julian asked, his mouth dropping open in utter disbelief. He couldn't wrap his head around why the aloof young heiress would voluntarily call this idiot.

Yet the change in Lucian was nakedly obvious—his demeanor shifted to one of undisguised delight, his striking, noble features briefly taking on a warmth appropriate for his age.

Fortunately, after Julian frantically batted his eyes in warning, Lucian reined in his emotions. He shot a cold, threatening glare around the room until every single executive shrank back like a turtle pulling its head into its shell, and finally pressed the accept button.

One second.

Two seconds.

Three seconds.

No sound came through.

Lucian stared at the call timer. When it hit the fifteen-second mark, he took the initiative, his voice carrying a cool, detached note.

"Still not sleeping?"

On the other end of the line, Serena leaned against the headboard of her bed, lowering her gaze. It was already eleven o'clock. Frankly, had the System in her head not rudely woken her up to announce that the male lead was in the middle of bullying the heroine, she would have been sound asleep hours ago.

*What on earth is Lucian's problem?*

Running around making trouble for the heroine instead of sleeping at night.

Frowning in annoyance at being disturbed, Serena just wanted to resolve this troublesome mess as quickly as possible.

"What are you doing?" she asked flatly.

"At home," Lucian lied without a single twitch of his facial muscles.

*How could anyone bully the heroine while supposedly sitting at home?* Serena’s patience was rapidly wearing thin. "Where are you, really?"

Such an aggressive, interrogative tone sounded precisely like a wife checking up on her husband. Lucian’s heart leaped wildly against his ribs, abandoning all thoughts of hiding the truth. "At Hengze Corporation."

*What Hengze Corporation?*

Before Serena could even ask, Lucian volunteered the information himself. "I heard that you lost a ring when you returned to the country."

The statement caught Serena completely off guard. Although she had anticipated that Lucian would eventually find out... news of it had traveled far too fast.

A sudden thought popped into Serena's mind: *Is Lucian having me watched?*

She immediately dismissed the notion. Given Lucian's pride, he wouldn't stoop to such petty, low-class behavior. He likely knew simply because his personal network and connections were expansive.

Preoccupied with these thoughts, Serena completely glossed over Lucian's use of the word "lost."

Without missing a beat, Lucian revealed his true motive. "I managed to find it for you. It was stolen by some blind-eyed employee at the airport."

He paused briefly before probing, "How do you want me to handle this?"

At that, the room plunged into a protracted silence.

It took Serena a long while to process his words. "Stolen?"

*Please tell me it's not what I think it is.*

Just as Lucian was about to explain, Julian—finally finding a gap to wedge himself into the conversation—chimed in eagerly. "Sister-in-law—ah, wait, Miss Vance! Didn't your ring go missing? Brother Lucian investigated and found out that an employee named Jade actually stole it! Brother Lucian is just helping you vent your anger right now."

Serena: "..."

*No, wait.* When she gifted the ring earlier, several people must have witnessed it. How on earth did the male lead get it into his head that the heroine had stolen her property?

A fierce headache began pounding behind Serena's temples. Meanwhile, Julian kept running his mouth.

"Aren't you touched, Sister Serena? Don't let Brother Lucian's cold exterior fool you; he's completely head over heels for you. So what if he taught a few foreign pests hanging around you a lesson? You're his future face and reputation, after all! Even if he dislikes someone, he wouldn't dare slap his own face like that—"

"Julian!" Lucian barked in a sharp, freezing tone.

"Oops!" Julian squeaked. "My mouth slipped."

Serena: "..."

*Julian... is simply too noisy.*

She had no desire to waste her precious time on such mindless, tedious banter.

Directly cutting through the noise, she commanded, "Turn on video call."

Julian, still clutching the phone, froze for a split second. Before his brain could fully catch up with his reflexes, his finger had already hit the accept icon. Serena’s face instantly materialized on Lucian’s high-definition screen.

By this hour, she had already changed for bed. Reclining against the plush pillows, dressed in a soft cotton nightshirt with her long, dark hair cascading loose around her shoulders, she was bathed in the warm, golden glow of the bedside lamp. The lighting illuminated a face that possessed breathtaking, peerless beauty even without a single trace of makeup.

Her lips were naturally pale, softly pressed together, carrying her usual sickly, fragile aura. At the moment, however, she looked slightly vexed. The living image on the screen was so vivid and expressive that she looked precisely like an uptight girlfriend conducting a sudden check-in.

Deep in his lower abdomen, Julian felt a sudden, tight jolt. His heart skipped a beat out of rhythm.

In the next instant, however, the phone was snatched right out of his hand by Lucian. Setting his jaw, Lucian straightened up and aligned his own face directly with the camera.

Serena's irritation dissipated slightly. To be fair, the male lead's face was genuinely pleasing to the eye—thick dark eyebrows, deep obsidian eyes, and exquisite, classical bone structure. True to an author's painstaking craftsmanship, he undeniably stood out from ordinary mortals.

Yet her softening mood lasted only a fraction of a second. She called out softly, "Lucian."

Without leaving a trace, Lucian quietly tapped the screen to start video recording, lowered his gaze, and murmured a response.

Pulling the phone slightly closer, Serena stated clearly, "I didn't lose my ring."

Lucian remained silent, simply staring at her—at her soft, pale lips.

Even though her slender fingers had once grazed against his taut abdomen, they had never actually kissed. *When will I finally get the chance? Perhaps when we officially announce our engagement.*

Lucian: "..."

"I gave that ring to her," she continued, her tone unequivocal. "It has nothing to do with Jade."

Lucian: "..."

He pressed his knees together, his dark eyelashes fluttering slightly as he feigned a calm facade. "What did you just say?"

Now it was Serena's turn to be utterly speechless. Her voice dropped a full degree colder. "Lucian, I will say this one more time: I gave the ring to Jade as a gift. She did not steal it."

The young girl's crisp, cool voice echoed clearly into the ears of everyone present. Those who had previously assumed it was just another cruel prank by a spoiled heiress instantly flushed with shame and lowered their heads.

It truly had been an act of sudden, whimsical charity from the young mistress.

Too bad she kept a vicious, rabid hound on a leash right beside her.

Lucian finally comprehended the true meaning behind Serena's words. The sheer absurdity of the truth caused a few seconds of utter blankness to cross his mind, but that was the extent of it. *A misunderstanding is a misunderstanding.* A lowly commoner like Jade wasn't worthy of possessing anything belonging to Serena in the first place—let alone the fact that this woman had actually swallowed the ring down her stomach.

Thinking along those lines, Lucian decided that not only was Jade completely undeserving of pity, but she was genuinely repulsive.

*Thank goodness she's a woman.*

*If she were a man...*

She would have ended up exactly like those wretched fellows in Kenlin who still couldn't find a single job to this day.

"I understand," Lucian said flatly.

Aside from understanding, nothing else mattered to him.

Naturally, Serena understood Lucian's temperament all too well. Before falling under the heroine's spell in the original plot, Lucian was the epitome of an extremist aristocrat. Though blessed with a gorgeous face, the moment any commoner crossed him, he would ensure their lives became a living hell.

How could a man like this ever win the heroine's heart without the script's forced manipulation?

Serena lowered her eyelids. "Hand the phone to Jade."

Lucian blinked, bewildered. "Why?"

Though questioning the order, Serena remained silent, leaving Lucian to swallow his pride and comply. At that moment, Jade was still pinned flat against the clean floorboards by several subordinates. Her high ponytail had long since come undone, and her shoulder-length hair fell in strands on either side of her neck, softening her sharp, fierce facial contours.

Jade's gaze locked directly onto the person approaching.

As Lucian walked over, she was hauled up roughly by the arms. The screen of the phone was shoved right in front of her face, displaying the young girl she had encountered that afternoon—only looking even more casual and relaxed in her home environment.

Jade bit down on the tip of her tongue, tasting a faint hint of metallic iron, while keeping her expression completely unreadable.

"I'm sorry for the trouble," Serena said softly over the speaker.

When Lucian heard those words, his face hardened into an absolute mask of frost. *Jade isn't even worthy of receiving an apology from Serena!*

Just as he was about to snatch the phone away to cut her off, his cold, detached little fiancée unexpectedly spoke up—issuing a rare defense on his behalf:

"It was just a misunderstanding. But... he's actually not a bad person deep down."

Having spent all these years acquainted with her, this was the absolute first time Serena had ever proactively spoken up to defend Lucian.

*Are you... worrying about me?*

Lucian stood frozen, his mind blank. A mere shred of a possibility was enough to make him feel as though he were suddenly floating on soft, weightless clouds.

And right while he was still drifting in a daze, the young girl issued her next command in a chilling, indifferent tone:

"Lucian. Apologize."

Chapter 6: The Madman's Restraint

Lucian’s body shuddered violently.

*Apologize?*

Are you kidding me? A proud aristocrat like him, apologizing to a lowborn commoner?

Lucian found Serena's demand utterly unfathomable. How could she possibly say such a thing? Of course, as her fiancé, he was supposed to submit to her unconditionally—just not right now, not under the glaring spotlight of a public crowd.

Sensing the sideways glances of the people around him, Lucian felt his muscles grow stiff.

Yet beneath her calm, unyielding gaze, his brain suddenly short-circuited into a blank void.

Abruptly, a bizarre thought flashed across his mind—

*If I obey her, will I get a reward?*

Just as the stiff, reluctant words were about to slip past his lips, an arm suddenly hooked around his neck. Julian squeezed his way directly into the camera's field of view, flashing a bright, beaming smile as he smoothly intercepted. "Miss Vance, please spare our dear Brother Lucian. He does have his pride and dignity to maintain, you know!"

"Alright, alright! What happened tonight was genuinely our fault, and we sincerely apologize to Miss Jade." Julian blinked at Serena, his round, cat-like eyes glinting with a touch of clever mischief, before reaching down to haul Jade up from the floor.

"Jade, I am truly sorry about this. It was all a massive misunderstanding. Please, won't you be a kind-hearted soul and refuse to hold it against us? We will compensate you properly, alright~?"

"Name your price! Or tell us whatever you want. You can have anything you ask for."

Julian’s words were remarkably smooth and tactful. Everyone present stared in sheer astonishment, never expecting this unpredictable young master to switch faces quite so fluidly. Just minutes ago, he had been acting like a tyrant terrorizing a helpless victim; now, he was offering a crisp, effortless apology.

Cut off mid-sentence, Lucian frowned deeply, sensing a strange, discordant undercurrent. But recalling that Julian frequently played around with minor starlets and exclusively favored sweet, delicate young girls, Lucian quickly dismissed the notion.

Serena possessed an extreme case of mysophobia and severe aversion to uncleanness. Anyone who genuinely loved Serena would certainly keep themselves strictly pure.

With no other choice, Lucian swallowed the words back down his throat.

Julian's smooth intervention caught Serena off guard for a moment. But in her view, since Julian and Lucian stood on the exact same side, having Julian deliver the apology served the purpose just as well. She didn't care to bicker over such minor details, choosing instead to focus her attention back on Jade.

Swatting away Julian's hand as he tried to steady her, Jade raised her own gaze to lock onto Serena.

She had just confirmed two absolute facts.

First: the absurd campus rumors claiming that Lucian was utterly infatuated with Serena were entirely true.

Second: this young heiress was breathtakingly naive, actually believing that an arrogant young lord like Lucian possessed a good heart.

*Apologize?*

Making a high-born noble young master bow his head in apology to her?

What kind of twisted logic was that? Was she deliberately trying to heap even more hatred and danger onto her head?

Not that she cared about accumulating a bit more hostility at this point. With a completely expressionless face, Jade stated flatly, "Since the misunderstanding is resolved, I'm leaving."

Everyone exchanged awkward, bewildered glances.

Right at that moment, Julian reached out to grab Jade's arm, flashing a blindingly sweet smile. "Jade, would you like me to give you a ride back? I am remarkably enthusiastic about helping others!!"

Seeing this unfold, Serena's eyes widened slightly. In the original derailed plot, Julian had served as Lucian's chief accomplice. But right now, for reasons unknown, he seemed to have developed a renewed, personal interest in the heroine.

Clearly, things were slowly drifting back toward the original narrative track.

Serena chose to sit back and watch how it played out.

"Take her back," Serena murmured, rubbing her temples to soothe a lingering ache, before abruptly looping Lucian into the mix. "Lucian goes too."

Lucian: "..."

After a long, strained silence, noticing Serena's visibly fatigued demeanor, Lucian forced himself to say, "You should go to sleep."

"Mmh." Slipping out of bed, Serena took a sip of water to wet her throat. "Lucian, make sure you properly compensate everyone who was dragged out here tonight."

Pausing for a second, she added a gentle reminder, "And stop bullying people."

Lucian neither agreed nor refused, simply urging her once more to get some rest. Seeing that she remained firm, he let out an impatient, grudging hum of agreement.

With that, Serena terminated the call.

Today’s events had far exceeded her expectations. If she wanted to successfully complete her mission, she genuinely needed to sit down and map out her next steps. Of course, that was a task for another time.

She genuinely needed to sleep.

And thus, this tedious, absurd little farce came to a close.

---

Meanwhile, on the drive back to campus, Jade was escorted by both Julian and Lucian. The vehicle belonged to Lucian, though a designated driver had been hired to take the wheel. Harboring unmasked hostility toward Jade, Lucian chose to sit rigidly in the front passenger seat. Consequently, Julian found himself sharing the spacious back row with Jade.

The rear interior of the luxury sedan was exceptionally roomy. Jade pressed herself as far to the left edge of the seat as humanly possible, her defensive, repellent posture glaringly obvious.

Julian, however, remained entirely unbothered, casually chatting her up with trivial, fragmented questions about her background, her preferences, and random bits of daily life.

"Come to think of it, Jade is actually quite pretty when you look closely~" Julian chirped with a sunny smile as the car neared the university gates. "Say, classmate, I think I'm a pretty decent catch myself. What do you think about—"

His fingers reached out to tug playfully at the hem of Jade's jacket. Having reached the absolute limit of her tolerance, Jade suddenly rolled down the car window and threw herself straight out of the moving vehicle!

Given that they were about to arrive at their destination, the car wasn't traveling at high speed. Even so, Jade hit the asphalt and rolled a few times before scrambling back to her feet, her arm covered in a sprawling graze and her leg limping slightly. In the shroud of the midnight darkness, her dark, piercing eyes looked terrifyingly sharp.

Julian flashed a frivolous, flirtatious flying kiss toward the receding figure, before turning his attention back to the front. "Brother Lucian, we've dropped the guest off. Let's get going~"

The car smoothly accelerated again.

Throughout the entire journey, Lucian hadn't uttered a single word. He was mentally replaying every single detail of everything that had happened tonight ever since Serena had appeared—chewing over the moments, swallowing them, and analyzing them on a loop. Serena's emotional baseline was always so hauntingly detached; dissecting those interactions was a comforting obsession he had practiced since childhood.

Amidst his mental playback, he also couldn't help but notice Julian's rather peculiar, eccentric behavior.

*Is this hound of mine truly devoid of any hidden interest in Serena?*

Lucian narrowed his eyes. Right on cue, Julian broke the silence.

"Drop me off at the entrance of 'Nocturne,' Brother Lucian."

*Nocturne* was the largest and most extravagant nightclub in Anta. Lucian’s fingers paused over his knee. "Why the sudden urge to go there?"

"Saw someone pretty." Julian slid his phone over to show Lucian the screen. Glancing down, Lucian saw the photograph of a young woman displayed on the interface.

Shoulder-length black hair, reddish-brown eyes, a sharply tapered jawline, and a distinctly gender-neutral style of dress. Lucian's social circle was perpetually saturated with stunning men and women; aside from Serena, he barely registered whether anyone else was attractive or hideous. Even so, he could easily tell that the woman in the photo shared a faint, striking resemblance to Jade.

"You have a taste for garbage like this now?" Lucian asked coldly.

"Just playing around for a bit," Julian curved his eyes, maintaining a mask of innocent, boyish charm. "There's something rather appealing about that stubborn, defiant look."

"Is that so?" Lucian abruptly knocked Julian's phone out of his hand with a sharp *thud*.

At the exact same instant, the driver slammed hard on the brakes. Lucian's body lurched forward violently before locking back into place, sitting as steady as a statue.

His obsidian eyes were pitch black.

An unsettling, dangerous thought flickered through Julian's mind. "Brother Lucian, surely you aren't suspecting me of something?"

Lucian offered neither confirmation nor denial.

"Oh, come on, Brother Lucian! If I ever harbored any thoughts like that, why on earth would I have surrendered my eligibility to help you back then?" Julian wore an expression of profound, wounded disbelief.

He was referring back to an event from three years ago. Families of their stature always began scouting prospective marriage candidates for their heirs at an extraordinarily young age. That particular memory harked back to a grand birthday banquet hosted by the Vance family, where the aging family head and the young successor, Paul Vance, had invited numerous young gentlemen around Serena's age. Both Lucian and Julian had been in attendance, alongside two other prominent heirs: Aiden Sterling of the An family and Julian Zhou of the Zhou family.

While those two might not have matched Lucian in sheer family pedigree or striking looks, their personalities and administrative capabilities far outstripped his—and, crucially, they had managed to catch the favorable eye of Serena's fiercely protective older brother.

"You are in love with Miss Serena, aren't you?" Julian had spat out his chewing gum back then, walking up to face the young, high-strung wolf king who had been pacing in intense anxiety ever since the banquet began.

Julian knew he was nervous.

*No one in their right mind could stay calm.*

"I can help you," Julian had blocked his path, his round cat-like eyes glinting. "Brother Lucian, I know you want to win the exclusive right to cultivate a relationship with her."

That singular pact was the very foundational bedrock upon which their three-year friendship had been built.

Recalling the past events, Lucian pressed the memory down, merely speaking in a flat, indifferent tone: "Keep your wild, promiscuous lifestyle under control."

Julian caught the hidden warning instantly. "Understood, Brother Lucian."

Lucian said nothing more. After dropping Julian off right at the flashing neon entrance of Nocturne, he directed the driver to take him straight home.

Lucian wasn't naturally a detail-oriented person, yet when it came to anything concerning Serena, his sensitivity skyrocketed into hyper-drive. After calling his subordinates to verify repeatedly that Julian hadn't left the club halfway through the night, and even listening to the faint, muffled sounds of a man and woman engaging in intimate relations over the phone audio, he finally felt a wave of reassurance settle over his chest. Only then did he open the video recording he had saved earlier.

His dark, obsidian eyes locked unblinkingly onto the image of Serena on the screen.

Jet-black hair.

Fair, porcelain skin.

Clear, glassy eyes.

That perpetually listless, weary expression.

"May I reward myself with a little self-defense, Serena?" he whispered into the empty air, staring in a trance.

A soft, dreamy smile spread across his handsome face. In his daze, it felt as though the Goddess of the Moon had gently nodded back in response. His fingers tightened their grip, his posture radiating an overwhelming, uncontrollable shyness.

"Thank you, Serena. I promise I will exercise restraint."

Chapter 7: The Question About Preferences

The next day, following a night of solid, restorative sleep, Serena sat in the study pondering her mission.

First and foremost, Serena had to admit that the very first step of her plan had been a total failure.

The business of gifting the ring to the hero