Hearing the increasingly chilly tone of the man’s voice, Raina North couldn’t help but shiver. She forced herself to turn around, presenting a stiff smile, "You’re... you’re still here..." "I’ve always been here, it was you who didn’t notice," Elias Hawthorne put away his phone and walked into the bedroom with long strides from the balcony. Raina instinctively took a step back. Elias took in Raina’s reaction completely. Actually, Elias knew that there was a reason Raina had been so bold yesterday. Not only because Quinn Thorne had whispered something in her ear, but also because she’d downed more than half a bottle of red wine. Otherwise, how could Raina have done what she did last night? No matter how well he understood, seeing Raina sober up and eagerly leave his side, even taking on a defensive posture when he approached, still sank Elias’s heart. In that moment, it felt like a violent storm raged in his heart. If he had known, he shouldn’t have gone soft last night. He should have taken the opportunity to claim Raina, make her completely his, so she would have no escape, nowhere to flee. However, in the end, Elias didn’t make a move, simply watched Raina walk out of his room. Looking at the empty doorway, at that moment, Elias felt as if his heart had emptied along with it, his eyes filled with overwhelming darkness. He didn’t know how much time had passed. It could have been a blink of an eye, or an endlessly long period, when he heard a clear and melodious voice again. "Alright, just put the things here." Elias instinctively turned his eyes and saw Raina directing a few members of The Dark Tower to place dishes on the dining table. After everything was set, Raina very politely thanked everyone, "Thank you very much." "No need to be so polite, Alliance Leader Rivers," the members of The Dark Tower responded very kindly. As confidants to the Lord of Vermilion, they were certainly instructed yesterday to treat Orion Rivers with utmost respect, just as they would with the Lord. No, even more respectfully and politely than with the Lord. Despite his curiosity about why Orion Rivers was given such attention by the alliance leader, he wisely refrained from asking more. Raina glanced over and saw Elias still standing there, motionless. She raised an eyebrow, "Why are you just standing there? Aren’t you hungry? Come and eat." Elias paused for a moment, then stepped over and sat on a chair. Raina served soup in front of Elias and added some food to his plate, "Eat up. I just went to the kitchen to get this food." Elias finally came to his senses, looking at Raina’s face, "Did you leave earlier to get food?" Content originally comes from n͟o͟v͟e͟l͟f͟i͟r͟e͟.net "Yes," Raina smiled, "I was quite hungry today. Maybe next time, if there’s a chance, I’ll cook for you myself. Just make do with this for now." As she spoke, Raina picked up a piece of rib with serving chopsticks and placed it in Elias’s plate. Elias glanced at his plate filled with food, then at Raina’s smiling face. His mood felt a bit strange, but gradually, he began to relax. Raina watched Elias’s expression soften, the chill around him gradually dissipating, and finally let out a sigh of relief. She admitted that upon waking up and realizing what she’d done, she felt panicked. When Elias caught her red-handed, she really wanted to leave immediately. Truly, she felt a bit ashamed to face the victim. But Raina quickly changed her mind. How could she entertain such an irresponsible thought? She took advantage of that bit of alcohol to bully him quite harshly yesterday. If she just left without saying a word, how would she be any different from the scumbags she despised?