Chapter 058: Giving a Lesson

After dropping Solas at the Sterling Entertainment Media building, Seraphina returned to the Pierce estate.

"Sera, you're back?" The morning sun was pleasant, and Mrs. Pierce was sitting in the courtyard soaking it up.

Miao Lu stood not far away, keeping watch over Mrs. Pierce.

"Mm. Mom, are you the only one home?"

"Your father and brother have gone to the company. Your uncle and Aunt Fiona have gone to work too, so it's just me. I can only stay home for a few more days before I have to go back to work. But I shouldn't be away too long; I'll be back before your Aunt Fiona’s fashion show."

"I was planning to hold a welcome banquet for their return. Last night, your Aunt Fiona discussed it with me—she wants to move the banquet forward to the day after her fashion show, combining it with the celebration party."

Influenced by Seraphina’s attitude toward Tyler Pierce and Fiona, Mrs. Pierce was no longer as enthusiastic about hosting the welcome banquet as before.

But since it was a long-standing promise, she had to go through the motions.

Fiona took the initiative to discuss it with Mom?

So impatient?

Seraphina’s eyes narrowed. She handed her bag to a servant and sat in the chair next to Mrs. Pierce.

"Since you have things to busy yourself with, Mom, why don't you leave the banquet preparations to me?"

"To you? I have work, but don't you? I recall your workload is usually heavier than mine, and you've been on break for quite a while now."

Seraphina naturally had a lot of work, both personal and with the orchestra.

But she had declined them all.

"I took some time off. I feel like I haven't had a proper vacation in a long time, so I plan to take a long break to relax—and maybe find myself a partner while I'm at it." She looked at Mrs. Pierce and laughed. "Otherwise, you and Dad will worry about my life affairs and go around scouting eligible young talents for me."

Mrs. Pierce chuckled and chided her, "Who do you think your parents are doing that for? And here you are teasing us."

"But taking a break is good. Ever since you were little, you've never really given yourself a proper rest." As a child, she studied hard; as an adult, she worked hard. Even during her rare breaks, she would bury herself in the practice room composing and practicing.

"Speaking of finding a partner, that Solas from last time—didn't you ask me for his contact info? Did you two get in touch?"

Mrs. Pierce was just asking casually and didn't hold out much hope. So when Seraphina blithely replied "Yeah," she was so shocked she stood straight up.

Straightening her clothes, she sat back down elegantly and looked at Seraphina suspiciously. "Really? You're not just saying that to appease me, are you?"

"How could I? It's true. We even went to the amusement park together yesterday."

And stayed at his house for the night.

"Yesterday? The amusement park?" Mrs. Pierce suddenly realized something. "So your leaving the high school early yesterday was to go to the amusement park with him?"

Mrs. Pierce was truly surprised.

Not to mention the fact that Seraphina would go to an amusement park alone with Solas—just the fact that she went to an amusement park at all was enough to shock her.

One had to know that since she was a child, no matter how Mrs. Pierce tried to entice her by saying how fun it was, Seraphina was never interested.

She simply hadn't been a playful child.

Seeing Mrs. Pierce’s look of disbelief, Seraphina chuckled. "Yes. If you don't believe me, Mom, you can ask the staff. We went to the largest one under the Pierce Group."

It really is true...

Mrs. Pierce still felt it was a bit surreal.

"Then what do you think of that young man, Solas?"

"He's very good. I think we can try getting to know each other." In the past, such words were a brush-off, but now as Seraphina said them, her state of mind was completely different.

Come to think of it, only a day had passed, but her mindset had shifted so quickly.

If someone asked what her feelings for Solas were, she truly couldn't say.

It didn't feel like romantic love between a man and a woman, yet Solas was more important to her than herself; for him, she could even give her life. If Solas confessed his feelings, she would definitely not refuse. And being with Solas truly made her happy.

At the very least, no other member of the opposite sex had ever made her want to proactively get closer like he did.

She didn't know if this counted as "liking."

"Then get along well."

"Of course, whether he's a good person isn't for your father and me to decide. We can only give you basic references, feeling he's more outstanding than others. But we haven't lived with him, after all, so we don't know what he's like in daily life."

"Judge for yourself. If you feel it's not working after some time, don't force yourself just out of concern for your father and me. We only arranged this because we feared you weren't interested in marriage at all. If we truly had to see you married off now, which of us would actually be willing to let you go?"

"Also, there are things only a mother will tell you. Getting to know someone is one thing, but you're a girl; you must know how to protect yourself..."

Seraphina laughed helplessly and interrupted her, "Mom."

"I understand everything you're saying. I know what I'm doing. Don't you trust me?"

"Naturally I do. It's because I trust you too much that I worry about everything. You've been sensible since you were little and never went through a rebellious phase. I'm afraid you're too innocent and will be taken advantage of."

Intelligence and innocence were not mutually exclusive.

Mrs. Pierce admitted her daughter was brilliant.

But her daughter was even more innocent!

She had never even been in a relationship, and her friends were all people with well-known backgrounds. She had never witnessed the wickedness of the human heart.

"Mom, you're overthinking. You have to trust your and Dad's judgment, and more importantly, trust me. I'm not as silly as you think."

"You're right. Your father vetted that young man for a long time, otherwise he wouldn't have dared introduce him to you."

Sweeping a glance at Seraphina's unusually casual outfit, "Did you wear this out to see Sera Zale last night? You rarely seem to wear this style of clothing."

"It was evening, and a bit chilly, so I didn't wear a skirt. This is from last night; I'll go upstairs to shower and change, then come back to chat with you."

"Go on, go on. Oh, did you eat breakfast?"

"I did. Mom, I'm not a child. I'll take care of myself. Don't worry about every little thing."

"In a mother's heart, aren't you always a child?"

Seraphina gave a helpless chuckle and made to leave.

"Wait!" Mrs. Pierce called out suddenly.

She sat up straight and sniffed. "The scent on you isn't right. Why do I smell a hint of alcohol? Did you drink?"

It wasn't that she wasn't allowed to; the Pierce family had no such rule, and social interaction in high society was inseparable from alcohol.

Mrs. Pierce had taught Seraphina to drink very early on.

Her reasoning was that at banquets and such, Seraphina could drink if she wanted and abstain if she didn't—but she absolutely could not be someone who

didn't know how

to drink.

If you can't handle your liquor, it's easy to suffer a great loss the moment you're schemed against.

"You can even smell that? I didn't drink; Sera Zale did."

One lie requires countless others to cover it up; she should try to lie as little as possible in the future, even if it was a well-intentioned one.

"Really, you—is Sera Zale lacking a set of clean clothes? Why didn't you borrow some of hers before coming back? Don't you feel uncomfortable wearing that?"

Seraphina only smiled and didn't explain.

She went upstairs to shower and change.

The days passed smoothly, and in a flash, five more days went by.

On this day, Seraphina received a call from Jeanette Gu—the heavily made-up woman she met at Dawn that night. She invited Seraphina to dinner.

Seraphina had been looking for her and had been waiting for her call these past few days.

She agreed readily.

As she was about to exit the main gate, her car was flagged down.

"Sera, are you heading out?" Fiona jogged over.

"Mm. Is something the matter, Aunt Fiona?"

"It's like this: my car had some trouble and is still being repaired. Your uncle is busy with something and can't come to get me. Can I catch a ride?" It was 4:00 PM; Seraphina had an appointment for 5:00 PM.

Going now would be early, not late.

She didn't have the habit of making people wait.

"The Pierce family isn't lacking cars. If you need one, you can tell Auntie Du; she'll arrange it for you."

Fiona choked, her teeth itching with irritation.

Did she actually want a ride?

Of course not!

She only ever saw Seraphina at the Pierce estate, and almost always with others present; she couldn't get a feel for Seraphina's true depth at all!

She did indeed have an errand, but catching a ride was a spur-of-the-moment idea.

She wanted to use this chance to probe Seraphina!

"It's just one trip; I didn't want to be too much trouble. Besides, I'm meeting someone for dinner and might drink a bit, so driving back would be inconvenient."

Seraphina gave her a cool look. "Get in."

Her tone was so cold that Fiona felt as if she were being given charity!

She was furious.

She tried to open the back door to sit there, but found it wouldn't open.

"I don't have the habit of being a chauffeur. Sit in the front passenger seat," came Seraphina’s emotionless voice.

Fiona grew even angrier and opened the front door to sit.

"Sorry, I'm just used to it. I didn't think much just now... Thank you, Sera. Giving me a ride saves me a lot of trouble."

Seeing her in the passenger seat, Seraphina was somewhat relieved she wasn't driving the same car as that night.

Solas had been the one in that passenger seat.

Just thinking of the seat Solas had occupied being taken by someone like Fiona made her feel very uncomfortable.

She didn't have many rules about others sitting in her car; it was primarily that her disgust for Fiona was too great. If it were someone else, it wouldn't be so hard to accept.

Fiona wanted a ride, didn't she?

Whatever crooked intentions she had, Seraphina would accommodate them.

She was just worrying about not finding an opportunity to give Fiona a lesson!

A major lesson could wait, but she could give Fiona a small one first.

In her past life, because her parents had died in a car accident, she didn't dare touch a car for a long time. Later, to help her clear this mental block, Solas had specifically taken her to a racing track to play with real racing cars. He didn't just take her along; he let her sit in the driver's seat herself.

When she sat in the driver's seat, he would sit in the passenger seat, seemingly not worried about his life at all.

With him in the passenger seat, how could she dare be careless? If something happened, she didn't care about herself, but she couldn't take him with her.

Slowly, she not only overcame her mental block but also improved her driving skills significantly.

Taking a ride in her car... she wondered if Fiona was brave enough.

"Wait, Sera, this doesn't look like the road to the city center!"

The area was sparsely populated, with only a few cars on the road ahead.

"Aunt Fiona, you've lived abroad for many years and might not be familiar with Seahaven. You can get to the city center from here. The other routes tend to get congested, but this one is the most clear. I usually take this road when I go to the city center. Rest assured, Aunt Fiona—I guarantee I'll bring you to the city in one piece."