Chapter 3

When I woke up on the sofa the next morning, his suit jacket was draped over me, but he was already gone.

Sunlight filtered through the curtains, making everything seem so beautiful. I stretched and couldn't help but smile.

Last night really happened. We were really together.

I straightened my clothes and hurried toward the dining room. He should be having breakfast there.

"Good morning, Caelius." As I entered the dining room, my voice carried an unmistakable sweetness.

He was reading the newspaper. When he heard my voice, his fingers stiffened slightly.

"Good morning, Evelyn." His voice... was calm. Too calm.

I sat down beside him, looking at him expectantly. "Last night..."

"You had too much to drink last night." He put down the newspaper and looked at me, his eyes lacking the tenderness I had hoped for. "I should have stopped you."

My smile slowly froze. "What do you mean?"

"I mean what happened last night shouldn't have happened." His voice was terrifyingly calm. "You're still young, you don't understand what real feelings are. That was just impulse."

"No... it wasn't impulse..." My voice began to tremble. "Everything I said was from the heart..."

"Evelyn." He interrupted me. "You're mistaking gratitude and dependence for love. It's normal, but we should both be clear that it's not real."

"Why?" Tears welled up. "Why are you saying this? Last night you clearly also..."

"I lost control last night." He stood up. "As your guardian, I shouldn't have let that happen. We should both forget about last night and continue with our normal lives."

I sat there stunned, watching him adjust his cufflinks—as if nothing had ever happened.

"Do you... do you really think that?"

He stopped moving and stood with his back to me for a long time.

"Yes." Finally, he said. "Forget about last night, Evelyn. Pretend nothing happened."

Then he left the dining room, leaving me sitting there alone.

Tears fell silently, but I tried to tell myself: he just needs time. He's just scared by the sudden change. He doesn't really want to forget last night.

The pain from that morning on my eighteenth birthday is still deeply etched in my heart. Those words "forget about last night" were like a knife stabbing into my chest.

But I didn't forget.

More ironically, neither did he.

Just two weeks later, when I thought we really were going to "pretend nothing happened," he appeared in my apartment. No explanation, no apology, just intense possessiveness and madness after long restraint.

From then on, we began this hidden relationship.

During the day, he was my cold guardian.

At night, he was my passionate lover.

"Knock, knock, knock."

Gentle knocking interrupted my memories. My roommate Linda poked her head in. "Evelyn, aren't you going to the cafeteria today? It's already two o'clock."

"I'll be right there." I forced a smile and got up to straighten my clothes that had been torn the night before. In the mirror, I could still see faint red marks on my neck, which I hastily covered with a scarf.

He came again last night. As usual, he left without saying anything afterward.

"Remember, this is just physical need."

That was what he said to me most often after coming to my dorm.

At two in the afternoon, the cafeteria was bustling with noise. I mechanically stood in line for food. Just as I was carrying my tray looking for a seat, a familiar voice came from behind me.

"Evelyn?"

I stiffly turned around to see Caelius sitting with several middle-aged men in the VIP area in the corner. He wore an impeccably tailored dark gray suit, his expression indifferent, as if it wasn't him who had lost control in my bed last night.

"Uncle?" I struggled to control the tremor in my voice.

"Come here, child." Caelius beckoned to me, his tone carrying an elder's care. "Come meet my friends."

I walked over, my legs somewhat weak. In just a few months, I couldn't adapt to this split feeling.

"This is the foster daughter I mentioned to you," Caelius introduced me to the others at the table. "Evelyn, a very well-behaved and sensible good girl."

Good girl?

The person who endured his wild demands in bed last night was now being called a "good girl"?

"Mr. Blackwood is so thoughtful," a man wearing gold-rimmed glasses praised. "Young people today are too indulgent, they need strict discipline."

"Indeed," Caelius nodded, his gaze sweeping over my face. "I've always taught her to be a pure and innocent girl, to stay away from bad influences."

Pure and innocent?

I felt my face burning, my stomach churning. That's not how he treated me last night.

"Uncle is right," I forced a smile, my voice somewhat hoarse. "I'll always be a good girl."

Caelius nodded with satisfaction. "Go eat, don't go hungry."

Just like that, I was casually dismissed. As if last night's passion and madness were just an insignificant episode in his life.

"Who was that handsome man?" Linda asked curiously after I returned to my seat. "He doesn't seem like an ordinary guardian."

"He just... cares a lot about my studies." I mechanically stirred my soup, tasteless as wax.

"His gaze was very special," Linda lowered her voice. "When he looked at you... there was a kind of possessiveness."

Possessiveness?

My heart raced, nearly knocking over the soup bowl.

"You're overthinking it," I hastily denied. "He sees me as a daughter."

Even as I said it, I found it ridiculous.

Days passed like this, and my relationship with Caelius became increasingly twisted. It wasn't until a literature class in my sophomore year that I discovered his control had extended to my social circle.

"Evelyn, why don't you have Mark's contact information on your phone anymore?" Linda asked, puzzled, as she looked through my contacts.

Mark was a classmate from our literature class, a sunny and cheerful boy who recently kept finding excuses to chat with me.

"Maybe I accidentally deleted it." I answered guiltily.

In reality, I noticed that male classmates' contact information kept mysteriously disappearing from my phone. At first, I thought it was a system glitch, until yesterday when I saw Tom sitting in a car outside the library, holding a phone identical to mine.

They were monitoring my phone?

The thought made my spine chill.

"Strange, Mark looked like he'd seen a ghost when he saw you today," Linda continued. "He was about to come over and say hello, but when he saw the driver behind you, he got so scared his face went white."

I turned around abruptly and indeed saw Tom standing not far away, looking at us expressionlessly.

Did he tell Caelius who I talked to?

I couldn't take it anymore. After class, I caught up with Tom. "Did you tell him who I talked to?"

Tom avoided my gaze. "Miss, the boss is just concerned about your safety."

"Can't I even have friends?" My voice carried desperation.

Tom was silent for a moment. "Miss, you are the boss's most precious person. He doesn't want anyone to hurt you."

Most precious person? I suddenly wanted to laugh.

If I was really precious, why did he call me "child" in front of others? Why did he always say it was just "physical need" after every intimate encounter?