"Sit down," Ethan said, his voice and tone notably softer than usual.

Seraphina snapped back to reality, her brows knitting as she stared at the roses arranged on the round table. What on earth was he planning?

Chapter 29: Forgiveness

Seraphina sat down, yet every single cell in her body remained completely on guard.

She kept her hands folded neatly on her lap, her gaze fixed on Ethan with a mixture of scrutiny and bewilderment.

Ethan gestured to the waiter outside the door. The waiter nodded and left, returning a moment later with two servings of sirloin steak.

Having just eaten breakfast, Seraphina had absolutely no appetite. She merely cast a brief glance at the food before fixing her eyes back onto Ethan.

His left cheek was still slightly flushed, and a faint dark shadow rested beneath his eyes, looking as though he hadn't slept a wink the entire night.

Seraphina bit her lip. Pulling a notepad and pen from her bag, she wrote, What do you want to say? and slid it across the table to Ethan.

Ethan merely glanced at it, completely ignoring it as if he hadn't seen it at all.

"Taste it." The corners of his mouth turned up into a smile that filled his entire face.

Seraphina's brows knit once more. In her memory, Ethan had never smiled at her like this; if he ever did, it was always a mockery or a cold sneer.

She felt more and more that she truly didn't understand him at all.

Seraphina shook her head, signaling that she didn't want to eat.

The smile on Ethan's lips froze for a fraction of a second, but he maintained his patience, picking up his knife and fork to cut the steak before him into small pieces before exchanging his plate with Seraphina's.

This gesture caught Seraphina off guard. What on earth was he doing?

She had just slammed her hand across his face yesterday. Given his personality and his utter loathing of her, shouldn't he be tearing her to pieces right now?

Seraphina bit her lower lip, swiftly writing on the paper: If there is nothing else, I am leaving.

After sliding the note in front of Ethan, she stood up, preparing to depart.

The smile on Ethan's face nearly dissolved into pure fury at her "ingratitude," but he recalled the thoughts that had consumed him through his sleepless night.

He ultimately hadn't been able to bring himself to destroy those seashell wind chimes, just as he simply could not let go of Seraphina.

From childhood until now, he had always been fiercely dominant; whatever he wanted, he would stop at nothing to possess.

But Seraphina was the sole exception. In the past, he hadn't wanted her yet had been forced to take her; now that he wanted her, she was entirely beyond his reach.

Ethan stared at Seraphina, the emotions in his eyes so profoundly complex that even he couldn't entirely unravel them.

It was as if his subconscious had already determined that Seraphina was his absolute possession. For her sake, he was willing to soften his stance, even casting aside his inherent pride.

Yet, she didn't seem to appreciate it at all.

Ethan took a silent, deep breath, stood up, and walked over to her. "Seraphina."

Amidst Seraphina's stunned expression, he gently gathered her into his arms, wrapping his hands securely behind her waist.

"Come back to my side."

Ethan's voice drifted into Seraphina's ear, so incredibly tender that she thought she must be hallucinating.

Seraphina's long eyelashes trembled, her heartbeat uncontrollably accelerating at those simple words.

...Did he want to reconcile with her?

"I won't hold what happened between you and Julian against you."

However, his very next sentence felt like a razor-sharp blade slicing through the heart that had just come to a sudden halt.

Seraphina's eyes flooded with agony mixed with an intense mockery. She lifted her head to stare at Ethan, who was mere inches away, realizing that perhaps she had never truly been close to him at all.

Ethan stood like a magnanimous gentleman, waiting for Seraphina's response.

His absolutely certain gaze clung to her body like glue.

He was offering her the tenderness she wanted, alongside his broad-minded forgiveness, and even the true status of Mrs. Vance. What possible reason could she have to refuse?

To his surprise, Seraphina slowly raised her hands, pried his arms from her waist one by one, and stepped back two paces.

A pair of dark eyes glistening with unshed tears stared at him. Seraphina felt her chest and throat completely choked by all the words she hadn't managed to speak over this time.

She desperately wanted to ask Ethan: Do you actually have any understanding of what love truly is?

From the moment he married her solely for Vance Enterprises, to his endless entanglements with his so-called "savior" Janice, and now to his farcical "forgiveness" of her "impurity"...

Did he truly love her?

Chapter 30: A Fit of Pique

Seraphina sniffed her aching nose, lowering her head to write on the paper, her trembling hand making her script look exceptionally frantic.

Ethan Vance, I am not a pet you can summon and dismiss at your whim, nor do I have any need for your forgiveness.

After placing the note on the table, she turned to leave.

Ethan violently grabbed her by the wrist. Glimpsing the words on the paper, every ounce of his restraint instantly shattered.

Why? He had already lowered his pride to this extent, what more did she want?!

Ethan angrily grabbed Seraphina by the shoulders, forcing her to turn around, his tone crashing back into its previous freezing, sharp coldness. "What else do you want? Money, status—I have it all! Julian Vance isn't even a real member of the Vance family, what on earth do you see in him?"

Clinging to her tears, Seraphina fought to suppress the raging fury inside her chest, wishing she could slam her hand across his right cheek as well, her heart feeling as though a thousand-pound iron sphere were violently rolling through it.

With a fierce wrench of her body, she ruthlessly broke free from the hands gripping her shoulders. Shoting Ethan a glare filled with a trace of pure hatred, she turned and walked away without once looking back.

Ethan's face darkened completely in an instant. He stared at Seraphina's absolute, unyielding back, then glanced at the roses on the adjacent table and the sliced steak.

Ultimately, his gaze landed on the note Seraphina had left behind, every single detail seeming to mock his self-deluded affection.

Ethan's ink-dark eyes looked as though they were obscured by a violent storm. His hands, clenched tightly enough for his knuckles to turn stark white, slammed fiercely onto the round table.

Stepping out of the restaurant, Seraphina stumbled forward with red-rimmed eyes.

Yet, the profound desolation inside her chest seemed to expand continuously with her increasingly frantic steps, until it completely submerged her entire being.

She finally couldn't hold it in any longer, collapsing into a crouch beneath a ginkgo tree on the sidewalk and bursting into tears.

She clamped her hand over her mouth, forcing all her long-suppressed grievances to spill out as a torrent of tears.

The passersby merely cast curious glances at her before hurrying along. Seraphina buried her face in her arms, her shoulders shaking violently.

She had once fantasized that if she ever crossed paths with Ethan again after being away for two months, he might look back upon her goodness, even if just a fraction.

But she had deeply overvalued herself. Ethan was Ethan; he was someone who would never easily alter his nature for another soul...

After a long while, Seraphina finally used the tree for support to stand back up, walking toward her apartment in an absolute daze.

A few dozen meters behind her, the window of a Bentley that had been parked for an unknown length of time slowly rolled up.

"CEO Vance?" Leo asked. "Are we heading back, or...?"

"Back to the office." Ethan's tone was flat, making it entirely impossible to discern his joy or fury.

Vance Enterprises, the CEO's office.

Leo threw the door open first. Ethan unbuttoned his suit jacket as he walked inside.

The jacket was hurled onto the adjacent sofa. He sat in his chair, his brooding gaze scanning the items on his desk before sliding open a drawer to retrieve a specific document.

Leo stole a quiet glance, his heart jolting in shock. Wasn't that the share transfer document Seraphina had signed?

"Go notify every board member. A temporary board meeting will be held three days from now at three o'clock in the afternoon."

Ethan placed the document on the desk, pulling up another file.

Leo was thoroughly stunned by his sudden decision, but he didn't dare say another word, obediently moving to notify the board members.

Staring at the share transfer document on his desk, the fury inside Ethan's chest coupled with an inescapable jealousy drove him to this choice.