Ethan Yardley had no interest in wasting words on Serena.
He snatched her hand and began dragging her upstairs.
The man was too strong. Serena stumbled behind him, crying out in pain, "Ethan, you’re hurting !"
It was the first ti Serena had ever seen him so furious with her, his actions so rough.
Ethan Yardley was genuinely enraged.
Without a shred of pity, he threw Serena into Sylvia Schuyler’s room, pointed at the disgusting things on the bed, and demanded:
"What more do you have to say for yourself?"
Serena rubbed her aching wrist as she stared at the scene on the large bed before her.
A few large green frogs were even hopping about, CROAKING... CROAKING...
She finally understood what was happening.
’So Ethan thinks I did all this?’
Serena felt incredibly wronged. She turned back to face Ethan, her eyes bloodshot. "So you’ve already decided I did this, haven’t you?"
"Who else could it be?" he retorted.
Serena was speechless. Furious, she turned to leave.
Ethan ordered coldly, "Go apologize to Sylvia. And from now on, you are forbidden from setting foot in her room ever again."
Serena froze. She spun around, her emotions boiling over as she scread at Ethan:
"Why on earth should I apologize to her? She’s the one who caught my frogs and killed my koi! I haven’t even settled the score with her for that, so why should *I* be the one to apologize?"
"You..."
Ethan’s expression turned murderous, and he abruptly raised his hand.
Serena thought he was going to hit her and instinctively flinched, turning her head aside.
When she saw his hand hovering in midair, not striking her cheek, she couldn’t stop the tears from falling.
She choked back a sob and asked, her voice laced with heartbreak, "Were you going to hit ?"
Ethan instinctively pulled his hand back, his entire being radiating a chilling aura.
Serena cried, "I thought... I thought because you watched grow up, kept by your side, and made your wife, that you understood . That you knew what kind of person I am.
But I was wrong. You’re the one who’s blind, only ever seeing the surface of things.
When it cos to anything involving Sylvia, you always think it’s my fault. That I’m the one trying to hurt her."
"Fine! I’ll tell you myself. I hate Sylvia. I wish she would just die! That way, no one could take you away from .
To stay by your side, I’d do anything. I’m vicious and manipulative, and my only goal is to get my hands on your fortune. Are you satisfied now?"
Serena was utterly devastated. Her heart had never ached so intensely as it did in that mont, when he had raised his hand to strike her.
The pain was unbearable.
She felt as if her entire world was crumbling around her.
Lacking the courage to stay a mont longer, she turned and fled the room.
Ethan was left speechless.
As Serena fled, he looked down at his own hand.
’Did I really an to hit her just now?’ he wondered, taken aback.
’How could I ever bear to do that?’
Then he glanced back at the disgusting ss on the bed. ’If Serena didn’t do it,’ he wondered, ’could Sylvia have done it? She’s blind.’
’And Mrs. Miller would never do sothing like this.’
’So I wasn’t wrong to accuse Serena.’
’But look at her, throwing a bigger tantrum than I am.’
「anwhile, in the room next door.」
Lying on her bed, Sylvia Schuyler’s lips curled into a cold, sinister smile.
’I knew it,’ she thought. ’Serena is still far too naive to compete with .’
...
Serena returned to her room, bolted the door, and threw herself onto the bed, breaking down into loud sobs.
She cried until she was exhausted and drifted into a heavy sleep.
When Ethan returned to their room at eleven to go to bed, he found the door locked.
He pressed his lips into a thin line, standing at the door in utter frustration.
’She’s locking out of our room?’
’I barely did anything to her, and she’s already making sleep alone.’
Resigned, Ethan had no choice but to go sleep in the guest room.
「The next morning.」
After Ethan had washed up and left his room, he saw that the door to the master bedroom was still closed. He tried the handle, but it remained locked.
Rembering Serena’s state the previous night, Ethan began to worry.
He had Mrs. Miller bring the spare key, then unlocked the door and went inside.
Inside the room, Serena was curled up on the floor, leaning against the side of the bed and staring blankly out the window.
She had woken up long ago.
Upon waking, her thoughts had drifted back to her childhood.
She was at the orphanage. Because she was smaller than the other kids, they always snatched her toys.
With no toys to play with, she would go out into the yard by herself.
When she saw little frogs in the flowerbed, she would crouch down and play with them for hours.
Later, she asked the orphanage matron for a glass jar and kept a little frog inside it as a pet.
The next ti Ethan ca to the orphanage to see her, she happily gifted her good friend, the little frog, to him.
Ethan must have thought she liked small animals, because when they got married, he had specially stocked the pond in their backyard with little frogs and plenty of koi.
She had once told him that koi brought her good luck.
Now, those sa creatures were lying dead on Sylvia’s bed, and of course, Ethan was convinced she was the one who did it.
’After all, Sylvia is blind. How could she possibly have caught them?’
Serena had to admit, Sylvia’s acting was incredible.
’Faking blindness, faking weakness... it’s a real sha she didn’t beco an actress.’
"What are you doing sitting on the floor?"
Ethan strode into the room. His voice was cold as he looked down at her on the floor.
Serena neither looked at him nor acknowledged his presence.
Ethan took two steps closer. "Go apologize to Sylvia, and we’ll put yesterday’s incident behind us."
Seething with anger, Serena remained silent.
When she didn’t respond, he crouched down, grabbed her chin, and forced her to face him.
Even as she faced him, Serena kept her eyes tightly shut, refusing to look at him.
Ethan’s displeasure grew. "Serena Yardley, who do you think you’re throwing a tantrum at? Are you trying to provoke ?"
Serena jerked her head away from his hand and fixed her gaze back on the window, her tone defiant.
"I’m not going to apologize to her. If you don’t believe she’s faking her blindness, then install security caras in the house."
"So you think I’ve wronged you?"
Ethan stood up, his patience completely gone.
Serena lowered her head. "How many tis have you wrongly accused ?"
"Se-re-na..."
He bit out each syllable through gritted teeth.
Looking at this person before him, who always seed to be making a scene, Ethan pressed his lips together, fury flashing in his eyes.
"If you won’t apologize, then you can stay locked in this room and think about what you’ve done. You’re not to eat for two days."
He stord out, slamming the door behind him in a rage.
The SLAM of the door seed to shatter Serena’s heart into a million pieces.
But her fair, delicate face remained expressionless. Unlike before, her eyes didn’t well up with tears after he had yelled at her.
This ti, she held them back.
’All I have to do is learn to be independent and strong in a world without him. I just have to control this longing for him.’
’Then I can finally leave him and live a life of my own.’
Mrs. Miller received Ethan’s orders: Serena was not allowed to leave her room, and she was not to be given any food.
So, Mrs. Miller didn’t dare to intervene.
Serena, for her part, was stubborn. She didn’t leave the room all day, refusing even a single drop of water.
When Ethan got ho from work, he saw Sylvia sitting on the living room sofa. Not seeing Serena, he casually asked Mrs. Miller:
"Is she still in her room?"
Mrs. Miller nodded. "Yes. Miss Serena hasn’t co out at all. She hasn’t eaten, and she hasn’t even co down for a drink of water."
Ethan frowned. Tossing his jacket aside and ignoring Sylvia in the living room, he headed straight upstairs.
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