Chapter 271
Scarlett immediately started pushing at Sebastian, flailing in her panic. Her palm struck his left shoulder—and he let out a low grunt.
The sound was completely unfiltered, crystal clear in Scarlett's ears.
She froze for a second, following the sound with her eyes, and saw real pain flashing across Sebastian's face.
She'd never seen that expression on him before. Her chest tightened. She wanted to ask but felt too awkward, so she pressed her lips together and said quietly, "What's... what's wrong?"
Her voice was stilted, unnatural, but it successfully got Sebastian to look at her.
His color had already returned to normal, though his brow remained slightly furrowed, like he was still enduring some kind of pain.
Instead of answering Scarlett's question, Sebastian just took her hand and guided it to his left shoulder.
Scarlett's fingertips were slightly cool. By contrast, Sebastian's body felt shockingly hot. And that wasn't all—the further back her fingers traveled, the more scorching the heat became. The sensation felt wrong.
Scarlett frowned. "You're hurt?"
She'd hit the nail on the head. Sebastian released her hand, lifting his eyes to meet hers. "Help me with the ointment."
His gaze was clear—no pleading, no commanding.
Scarlett watched as he removed his shirt. His bare back was covered in marks of varying depths—stripe after stripe, red and blue intertwining across Sebastian's back like patterns painted on porcelain.
"What the hell happened?"
She asked reflexively.
The medical kit sat in the corner of the living room. She didn't hesitate—just walked over and grabbed it.
Sebastian's back wounds had already been treated once. Some of the splits were already showing faint signs of scabbing.
"Grandfather hit me."
As the cotton swab, slightly cool with iodine, touched his skin, Sebastian's voice remained perfectly steady.
Scarlett frowned, asking again, "Why would he hit you?"
Sebastian was the only child in the Howard family. Though George was strict, he also treasured Sebastian like the apple of his eye. How could he bear to hit him this hard?
But Sebastian gave her exactly that answer.
"Because I told him you were pregnant." Sebastian lowered his gaze, a hint of calculated satisfaction glinting in his eyes.
The Howard family wouldn't acknowledge a bastard. Either get married, abort it, or pretend the child didn't exist.
Hearing that, Scarlett's hand applying the medicine trembled. Her gaze lingered on Sebastian's hair for a moment, then the hand holding the cotton swab jabbed hard!
Even Sebastian, who could endure pain, couldn't maintain his composure against such a deliberate strike. He sucked in a sharp breath.
He turned his head. No anger showed on his face—he was actually smiling, eyebrow arched. "Trying to murder your husband?"
"Who the hell's your husband?!" Scarlett's face darkened. She tossed the half-broken swab into the trash, her tone sharp. "Why would you lie like that?"
Sebastian's words killed any motivation she had to finish treating him. She carelessly dabbed some more iodine on with a cotton ball, slapped it on haphazardly, and called it done.
Watching her pack up the medical kit, Sebastian sat without moving. "I didn't lie to you."
He meant it sincerely.
But he still got an eye roll from Scarlett.
"I meant lying to your grandfather!" She snapped the medical kit shut with a thud, practically ready to point at Sebastian and curse him out. "I already got rid of your kid!"
"So what?" Sebastian let out a soft huff, his usually composed demeanor taking on an unexpected roguish edge. "We can just make another one, can't we?"
"You're shameless."
Scarlett didn't even bother frowning. Her mouth opened slightly, speaking her truest thoughts.
Sebastian raised his hand, catching her fingers. "Grandfather already agreed."
After five years together, they'd never needed explicit promises. One cryptic sentence like that was enough for Scarlett to know exactly what Sebastian meant.
Her fingers, caught in Sebastian's grasp, twitched instinctively. Scarlett couldn't quite name what she was feeling—just that there was a swing hanging in her heart, swaying back and forth with Sebastian's finger movements, making her chest tremble.
She swallowed hard, then licked her lips. Her heart wavered, but that wavering wasn't enough to completely tip the scales toward Sebastian.
This was the result of her hard work. But as Sebastian's pinky kept hooking against her palm, one side of those internal scales started adding little stones, bit by bit.
The scales began tipping again, inch by inch.
"Well, I haven't agreed." Scarlett pressed her lips together, her gaze falling on the ring on her hand. Whether she found it garish or irritating, she suddenly decided the ring's design was ugly—even looked kind of dated.
She frowned and immediately moved to pull the ring off her finger.
But Sebastian stopped her movement.
"Don't!"
Sebastian's tone carried unprecedented urgency. Even the hand pressing down on her fingers trembled slightly, as if he'd used all his strength.
Yet even with all that force, Scarlett didn't feel any discomfort. She didn't even feel pain—like that trembling was just trembling, nothing more.
She looked at him.
Sebastian took a deep breath. "Why are you so quick to refuse?"
"We're just not compatible." Scarlett tried to keep her voice level, even avoided looking at him, as if not looking would keep her emotions from being disturbed.
But the faint tremor in her voice had already given away her emotional turbulence.
Sebastian's eyes darkened. The calm, gentle aura surrounding him instantly contracted, like water vapor condensing into ice. The pressure hit her head-on.
He stood up—didn't close the distance, didn't step back, just stood there. Even the look he gave her was mild, yet his tone was exceptionally firm.
"Not compatible? Letty, you don't get to make that call."
Scarlett looked at him then. "I don't get to make that call? Then who—"
Her question was cut short as Sebastian grabbed her jaw, kissing her fast and clean. Lips and tongues tangled together, swallowing down the last bit of Scarlett's carefully maintained refusal right in her throat.
"What do you think?"
When the kiss ended, Sebastian kept one arm around Scarlett, his gaze lingering on her slightly dazed eyes, looking completely unsurprised.
Scarlett did like Sebastian, but the moment she caught that look in his eyes, she snapped back to clarity.
She clenched the fabric in her hands tight, jaw set, cheeks still flushed red.
But unlike her earlier intoxication, right now her heart was flooded with embarrassment and humiliation.
She shoved Sebastian away, bracing her palm against the armrest behind her, glaring at him. "How would anyone know? After all, Mr. Howard's pretty popular."
Sebastian's gaze swept over the slender hand braced on the armrest. The ring's color scheme was simple, understated, not particularly eye-catching—but paired with Scarlett's warm, fair skin, it was like a highlight on an oil painting, dazzling and brilliant.
He didn't look away for a moment, which made Scarlett misunderstand.
She pulled the ring off, about to hand it back.
But Sebastian spoke up at that moment. "That was always yours. Who exactly are you trying to give it to?"
"Who says it's mine?" Scarlett's voice turned icy. "Wasn't this supposed to be your wedding ring with Edith?"
Sebastian's brow furrowed. He simply sat down on the coffee table behind him, didn't argue, just reminded her, "The designer left their signature on the inside band."