Chapter 158: The Contract

After saying that, Elias did not speak again.

He only supported Serena in silence and helped her out of the estate.

Outside, the car waiting to pick them up was already parked by the drive. Elias stopped before they reached it and did not move closer.

Serena lowered her head slightly to look at him.

Under the moonlight, Elias’s face seemed covered by a thin veil, hazy and unreal. His eyes were lowered. His expression was calm, but there was a trace of sadness in it that could not quite be named.

Clearly, the person who had drunk the least was the clearest one here.

But alcohol or no alcohol, Elias had already sensed something wrong. His thoughts had always been finer than they looked.

In truth, even Serena herself could not fully explain what her feelings toward him had become.

Why had she grown this gentle?

Was she treating him completely as Lucien Hart’s substitute?

Or had she really begun to feel something for Elias himself?

Serena spoke softly. "I thought you understood what I meant a long time ago."

The calm in Elias’s face broke at once. Anger appeared in his eyes, and the change made him look vivid again.

"I don’t understand."

Serena smiled. "Do you really not understand, or do you want to hear me say it myself?"

"Haven’t I said it enough times already?"

Elias lifted his eyes and glared at her. "Said what?"

"Eli."

Serena brought her red lips close to his ear and said the name gently.

"Isn’t that enough?"

Elias reacted as if he had been burned. He instinctively tried to pull away from Serena, but he forgot that he was the one supporting her. Half her body was already leaning against him, so there was only so much distance he could make.

With no other choice, he raised his free hand and touched his earlobe.

It was burning hot.

Just because she had drunk a little and her voice sounded better did not mean she could lean into someone’s ear and speak like that whenever she wanted.

Now Elias could tell.

Serena really was a little drunk.

Otherwise, she would not be so confidently throwing her charm at him like this.

Although, to be fair, the parts of herself she thought were charming really were charming.

Elias stared at her for a moment, then suddenly turned his face aside.

"Forget it," he said flatly. "A woman’s mouth is made for lying. I don’t believe you."

Serena frowned slightly. "What would make you believe me?"

"Nothing would make me believe you again." Elias seemed to think of something and let out a cold laugh. "No, there is one thing I still believe. You really do only love my body."

Serena paused.

Then she laughed.

Her voice rang through the quiet late night, bright and clear, floating for a moment under the moon.

She looked at Elias and smiled. "You still remember that? Why remember it so clearly?"

Elias ignored her.

Like a boyfriend throwing a real tantrum, he tried to shake Serena’s arm off and make her stand on her own.

But how could Serena let him get what he wanted?

She loosened her control over her own body just enough to lean more naturally against him, while keeping the pressure measured. He could not throw her off, but she would not crush him either.

When Elias realized he could not get rid of her, he became anxious.

"Move. Do you not have legs? Walk by yourself."

Serena’s voice had gone faintly hoarse. "Eli, I’m drunk. If you don’t hold me, I’ll fall on the ground."

Elias almost laughed from anger.

So she was acting spoiled in front of him again?

He really had not realized before that Serena Blackwood had a talent for shamelessness.

"Then fall. What does it have to do with me? Fall and die, for all I care." Elias’s anger sharpened into something real. "Move. You’re leaning on me."

A small pain touched his jaw.

Serena’s hand appeared there, turning his face back toward her.

He met her smiling eyes.

In the next instant, those eyes suddenly filled his vision.

Elias’s pupils widened with them.

All the words already waiting on his tongue were blocked back down his throat. The only sounds he could make were muffled and broken, and the taste of alcohol filled his mouth and nose at once.

He had not drunk it himself, but it almost felt the same.

In only a moment, Elias seemed a little drunk.

He obediently responded for a while on instinct.

Then he suddenly snapped back to himself.

He raised both hands to shove Serena away, but just like before, he could not move her at all. That was the weakness and helplessness of men in front of women in this world, laid bare without mercy.

Left with no choice, Elias began struggling hard.

Only then did Serena finally release him.

The moment she did, he lifted a hand and wiped his mouth hard. Then he spat sharply onto the ground.

He raised his head and glared at Serena.

"Serena Blackwood, what the hell do you mean?"

His demand rang through the still night, loud enough to feel almost violent.

Serena said nothing.

She only stepped forward.

Before Elias could react, she wrapped an arm around his narrow waist and held him tight. Then she kissed him again, sealing back his anger, his questions, and his resistance all at once.

Elias raised a hand to hit her.

Serena had already expected it. She caught his wrist, not too hard and not too gently, then slowly lifted it over his head.

It was as if an invisible wall stood behind him.

His whole body, along with that arm, was pressed against it.

No matter how Elias struggled, he could not break free.

His eyes reddened from sheer fury, and tears spilled almost instantly, sliding down into the seam between their mouths.

Serena had to let him go again.

Only then did she realize Elias was not crying from pain or humiliation.

He was crying because he was furious that he could not beat her.

Serena gave a helpless smile and brushed her fingers over the corner of his eye.

"Did I bully you into crying again?"

Elias immediately wiped away the tears himself. His eyes stayed red, and he sniffed once.

"No..."

Serena smiled. "Stubborn."

Elias could not smile.

A trace of grief passed through his eyes.

"I knew it," he said quietly. "How could you ever... In your eyes, I’ve always been a slave you bought with money. You can do whatever you want to me."

The smile on Serena’s face slowly faded.

"How could you think that?"

Elias laughed, but there was sadness in it.

"Our relationship was a contract from the start. Do I get to decide what I think?"

Serena was silent for a moment.

Then she said suddenly, "I tore up that contract long ago."

Elias jerked his head up and stared at her in disbelief.

[System Theta: Host, did she really tear it up?]

Elias said softly, "Tore it up, my ass. She’s lying to an idiot. She and I are pulling at each other right now, so you only need to watch. Be good, sweetheart."

System Theta, the idiot and the sweetheart, went a little blank.

[System Theta: Oh.]

"What?" Serena asked. "You don’t believe me?"

At this moment, her expression looked completely serious.

"You know me. I don’t bother lying."

Elias thought, sure, sure. She did not bother lying.

Then who was the one who used his foster parents to scam, threaten, and drag him into this mess at the very start?