The impact of falling from a height was considerable. He bent his knees and took a step back, his coat billowing in the wind, bringing with it a cold and chilling aura.
He lowered his gaze, looking coldly at Seraphina Redgrave, whose small, palm-sized face was now resting against his chest, made to appear even whiter and snow-like against his jet-black shirt.
"M-Master!"
Two servants, upon seeing Ethan Sterling arrive, immediately rushed forward, crying and wailing.
"Master, this Miss Redgrave was perfectly fine swinging on the swing, and somehow she just jumped off herself…"
Ethan Sterling glanced at them darkly, "Is this how you take care of her?"
The two servants dropped to their knees, trembling and pleading for forgiveness: "Master, spare us, please. We didn't expect Miss Redgrave to suddenly fall ill. It was our mistake!"
Seraphina blinked her eyes, looking innocent.
She wasn't ill and certainly wouldn't have seizures.
But not knowing what Ethan Sterling intended by bringing her out, she had to act somewhat mentally unstable.
Especially since this Ethan Sterling was so ruthless, if he discovered she was pretending to deceive him, he would definitely make her die a miserable death.
So she had to display some symptoms, making Ethan Sterling believe she acted irrationally, like a complete lunatic.
This was the survival way she had grasped after three years of crawling and scrambling in the forbidden zone.
The only unexpected part was when she jumped down, Ethan Sterling actually chose to catch her and held her for so long without throwing her down.
She scratched her cheek, looking at the two servants still begging for mercy. She wondered how Ethan would deal with them.
Just as this thought emerged, she saw Ethan lift his foot and kicked one of the maids to the ground, his gaze extremely fierce.
"Take these two useless things away!"
The bodyguards in black immediately responded and dragged them away.
The world quieted down.
Seraphina looked up at Ethan Sterling's sharply chiseled profile, then inexplicably raised a hand to pick off the hibiscus petal that had fallen on his shoulder.
Ethan lowered his gaze, his expression sullen as he glanced at her.
The girl in his arms wore a creamy-white nightgown, curled up into a small ball. On her small, palm-sized face, there was no trace of fear from falling off the roof, and her almond eyes calmly met his gaze.
Seeing his sharp gaze, Seraphina felt awkward holding the petal, unsure whether to throw it away or put it back, and eventually just put it in her mouth, chewing it up.
Hmm, it tasted a bit bitter.
"..."
Ethan's thin lips pressed tightly together, looking somewhat disdainful as he withdrew his gaze, carrying her into the villa.
Beside him, Nathan Ayers watched his cold and austere back, then turned to instruct the men in black: "If Young Master Sterling comes over next time, just keep watch in the yard. No need to serve inside, understood?"
"Yes!"
Seraphina's ears were stung by their voices, yet she still keenly caught the keyword.
Next time Young Master Sterling comes over…
What did that mean?
Would Ethan Sterling come over frequently in the future? It was bad enough he arranged a bunch of bodyguards outside, did he himself have to come personally?
What was Ethan Sterling, a dignified head of a conglomerate, doing keeping a supposed psychiatric patient like her?
Seraphina was biting her finger, pondering, when she felt a sudden weightlessness, and by the time she came to her senses, she had already been thrown onto the sofa by Ethan.
He sat down beside her, his distinctly jointed hand gripping her chin, forcing her to raise her head and meet his gaze.
Ethan Sterling's pupils were not as black as his hair, instead, they were a kind of gloomy gray.
At this moment, he leaned on the sofa armrest, staring directly at Seraphina Redgrave, his eyes filled with scrutiny.
Seraphina looked back at him, her gaze drifting lightly around before finally landing on his wrist.
It was then that she noticed a sleek black cat tattooed on the inside of his wrist. Though it was a cute little animal, on his pale skin, it inexplicably exuded a hint of eeriness.
Seemingly dissatisfied with her wandering attention, the hand controlling her chin suddenly tightened, causing her to almost cry out in pain, forcing her to return her gaze to his face, only to find a trace of emotion in his eyes that she couldn't understand.
Ethan finally released her, his voice hoarse as he sighed softly, "Really like her…"