Although Giselle already had some suspicions about what was happening to Elias, specution could never compare to seeing it with her own eyes.

  To eliminate any st bit of hope in Giselle's heart, he had to completely shatter the Elias she hoped for right in front of her!

  Hearing the call, Giselle's steps slowed gradually until she stopped. She stood at a distance, looking toward Liora with slightly furrowed brows, as if trying to recall who she was.

  Soon, Giselle remembered.

  Serena Bckwood's sister. The one who didn't like men.

  Those were the only two bels Giselle had for Liora Voss.

  The serious look in her eyes vanished instantly. Giselle said indifferently, "What are you doing here?"

  A single gnce made it clear she didn't take Liora seriously at all.

  However, Liora felt exactly the same way.

  In a sense, their statuses were simir—both were people leaning on towering trees for shade.

  Giselle relied on her mother. Liora relied on Serena.

  The corner of Liora's lips curved up. "Do I have to report to Miss Frost wherever I go? I'm just back to reminisce about my old college days."

  As she spoke, Liora noticed that Giselle's gaze wasn't on her at all. It was fixed on the person beside her.

  The person beside her…

  Liora turned her head and saw Elias biting his lip tightly, clutching the front of his clothes with both hands, his body leaning slightly away from her in an unconscious dispy of rejection and resistance.

  Liora frowned slightly. What act was Elias putting on now?

  If his goal was to attract Giselle's attention and hope for her to py the hero saving the beauty, that was too naive.

  Liora knew Giselle's personality all too well. The only words to describe it were "annoying as hell." Arrogant, self-important, even more haughty and above it all than her sister.

  Although the current power of the Frost family did give this heiress the right to act that way.

  But someone like her—how could she possibly care about Elias?

  The fact that Giselle was even sparing him a gnce was already surprising to Liora. It was probably because of her that Giselle had given Elias any attention at all.

  But Liora had missed it by a second. Before she turned to look at Elias, his face had shown a genuine expression of surprise and delight—directed only at Giselle.

  Giselle stared bnkly at Elias, who absolutely shouldn't be standing next to Liora, feeling momentarily confused.

  But the next second, it was as if a bolt of lightning fshed through her mind, and she understood everything.

  Elias's torn lips, the face so simir to Lucien Hart's, and… Serena Bckwood's sister.

  "Let's go."

  Liora decisively shattered Elias's unrealistic fantasy and started to lead him past Giselle—

  "Stop."

  The cold words rang out clearly on the quiet tree-lined path.

  Liora's steps paused. She raised an eyebrow. "What, Miss Frost wants to hang out with me?"

  Giselle completely ignored Liora. Her gaze was fixed on the trembling Elias as she said indifferently, "Come with me."

  "Heh." Liora let out a scoff as if she had heard something hirious. "Giselle, have you been throwing your weight around on campus for so long that you've lost your mind?"

  Her tone suddenly shifted. Those alluring fox-like eyes fshed with a chilling, heart-stopping coldness. She said in a low voice, "Don't come looking for trouble with me. Other people might fear you, but I don't."

  Liora thought Giselle was deliberately picking a fight with her. The two of them had never gotten along.

  Upon hearing this, Giselle looked up at Liora. Her icy gaze met Liora's eyes without any fear. "Picking a fight? One should know their limits. It's just that he… seems unwilling to go with you."

  "So let him go."

  By this point, Liora finally believed that Giselle wasn't here to mess with her but was genuinely standing up for Elias. But how was that possible?

  Just because of Elias's pitiful expression, Giselle decided to help him?

  What was this, a god looking down from above suddenly showing mercy to an ant?

  It didn't make logical sense. Even if something had happened between Elias and Giselle in less than a day, how had it started?

  Liora thought of something and slowly turned her head to look at Elias's face, which so closely resembled Lucien Hart's.

  Giselle liked Lucien too.

  No wonder…

  Neither woman was stupid. Through some details on Elias, both had figured out what was happening to him.

  What scheme was this little bastard cooking up now?

  A flicker of genuine anger rose in Liora. Anyone would feel this way if they were suddenly dragged into trouble for no reason.

  She said to Elias in a cold voice, "Oh, so you don't want to go with me?" She gave him the chance to speak, wanting to see what he was really trying to do.

  Upon hearing this, Elias's body shook violently, like a frightened bird. He looked terrified of Liora to the extreme. Even his voice trembled with an underlying sob. "N-no… I do… I want to…"

  Liora was almost amused by Elias's timid, shrinking act but couldn't be bothered to tangle with Giselle any longer. With a trace of mockery, she looked into Giselle's sea-blue eyes. "Miss Frost, it seems the beauty doesn't want to be rescued by you after all."

  "So you can leave now."

  It was Giselle's own phrasing from earlier, thrown back at her with double the sarcasm.

  Hearing this, Giselle's hands hanging at her sides clenched into tight fists before slowly rexing.

  Her icy gaze swept over the cheap gsses Elias was wearing. Beneath them were a pair of eyes almost identical to Lucien Hart's. But the soul inside was worlds apart from the original—cking any of Lucien's strength and self-respect, only filled with disgusting cowardice.

  Like an ugly duckling wrapped in a swan's feathers but still too afraid to fly. What difference did it make from the ugly duckling?

  Getting emotional over someone like this was giving him too much credit.

  Giselle withdrew her gaze. She couldn't even be bothered to say another word to Elias. She brushed past him, her silver hair fluttering as her figure gradually disappeared into the shadows.

  Only after confirming Giselle had walked far enough away did Liora fix her eyes, still filled with anger, on Elias. "What did you do?"

  Elias instantly dropped the trembling act. The corner of his lips curved up slightly. "As you saw, seducing women."

  Liora paused, seemingly surprised by Elias's boldness—or that he actually had the ability to affect Giselle like this.

  Her anger suddenly dissipated. She asked calmly, "You think this is fun?"

  Elias's fingers suddenly nded lightly on Liora's clothes. Using his index and middle fingers like a little person, he made them "walk" across her clothing in small steps. They hopped up to her chest, and then one finger gently poked her right over her heart. He looked up at her with a sweet smile and said word by word, "Pying the arrogant, untouchable heiress right in the palm of my hand… isn't that…"

  "Interesting?"