「Morellia. The Sapphire Shores Base.」

Adeline Lowell and Celia Sterling strolled along the seaside boardwalk. The view before them—the deep blue of the sea, the golden yellow of the sun, the brilliant colors of the flowers—was like a beautiful, sprawling painting.

"The last time I saw your Chairman Norwood, he struck me as someone who seems detached on the surface but is fiercely possessive underneath. He was actually willing to let you come out here alone?" Adeline Lowell teased, inviting her into a coffee shop.

The Sapphire Shores Base was located in an old city steeped in history, filled with spice shops, olive oil boutiques, specialty restaurants, and street art... It had a pace of life completely different from back home, exuding a sense of leisure at every turn. This was especially true after the Lowell Family took over this massive super-base. In just a few short months, the view had transformed into a vast, colorful sea of flowers, and the air was thick with all kinds of sweet, cloying floral scents.

Celia Sterling snapped a photo of the sea of flowers at the base and sent it to Silas Norwood and Kian Sterling. Only then did she say with a light laugh, "Life can’t just revolve around marriage, can it? My Silas is very supportive of me in that regard."

"Oh, I have no doubt he supports you." Adeline Lowell sighed internally. She knew Silas Norwood wasn’t interested in the spice base, but for him to buy so much of it despite his disinterest... it was obvious who he did it for.

"And what about your brother?" Adeline Lowell casually asked about the other man who had left a deep impression on her. "He’s another maniacally protective one, the type who follows you everywhere. What, he was also fine with letting you come out here?"

Celia Sterling fell silent for a moment.

"There’s something..." She looked down, stirring her coffee. She wanted to say more but felt the time wasn’t right, so she trailed off vaguely, "...we need a three-month cooling-off period."

"Did you two have a fight?" Adeline Lowell smiled at her. "Ah, it’s good to be young like you. At my age, I don’t even have the energy to pick a fight anymore."

Celia Sterling hummed in agreement, then asked casually, "When are you planning to return to the country? I remember you said you love the snow up north. Metropia’s winter snow season will be starting soon, and my brother is planning to build a ski resort. You should come visit when you have time."

"If I have time, of course I’ll go."

"And you can see your niece while you’re there," Celia Sterling probed without betraying any emotion. "I hear she’s doing very well for herself now. She’s taken on quite a few scripts and is keeping busy and fulfilled."

Adeline Lowell’s expression turned a little distant. "Her personality isn’t terrible, but it’s not particularly good either. She’s not close to us. It’s not like I absolutely have to see her."

Celia Sterling asked, "Not close?"

"When we meet, she calls me ’auntie,’ but other than that, she’s no different from a stranger," Adeline Lowell said, surprisingly willing to elaborate for Celia Sterling. "Back when my older sister had her accident, the Lowell Family originally planned to bring my niece back to live with us. But I have no idea how your brother managed to win my sister’s favor. She insisted on entrusting her—both the person and her shares—to him. I met the Ninth Master later. He was just a kid then, maybe ten or so, not yet fully grown into his features, but he was already very handsome."

"Could you tell me more... about Professor Lowell?"

Adeline Lowell studied her silently for a few moments, then laughed, her feelings clearly complex.

"In all these years, my niece has never once asked. But you, on the other hand... Ah, forget it. It’s been a long time since I’ve thought about my sister. I’ll humor you with a little chat today."

She was the Lowell Family’s most gifted incense prodigy in recent memory. Her skills seemed to have no limits, and nearly everyone believed she would naturally become the most brilliant and legendary incense master in the Lowell Family’s history. But to be too obsessed is a double-edged sword; in some ways, it also conceals a hidden danger.

"My sister was completely immersed in making incense, day and night, forgetting to eat or sleep. Gradually, she began to develop mental problems and was diagnosed with neurasthenia, as well as deficiencies in both qi and blood. Many doctors advised her to change her state of extreme obsession and experience the life of an ordinary person. At that time, my sister had also reached marriageable age, so my mother thought that having her start a family might let her experience a different kind of life."

Adeline Lowell gave a bitter smile. "My sister had a wonderful temperament and was almost completely obedient to our mother. Of the few marriage candidates presented at the time, she just randomly pointed at that bastard, Kenneth Sutton."

"So, she and Su... had no feelings for each other?" Celia Sterling asked softly. "Many people say that Kenneth Sutton abandoned his wife and daughter back then, which caused her to fall into a deep depression."

"Kenneth Sutton? As if he were worthy."

Adeline Lowell snorted. "It’s true he abandoned his wife and daughter, but it’s doubtful my sister had many feelings for him. Her mind was entirely on the art of incense. Later, Summer Sutton came along. I visited them, mother and daughter, at the Sutton Family home a few times, and every single time, my sister was busy in the incense room with my little niece. That little niece of mine started playing with all the little bottles and jars in the lab when she was just a few months old... I rarely saw Kenneth Sutton, but from my sister’s tone, I couldn’t sense any attachment to him."

When one was so absorbed in one thing, it seemed there truly was no extra energy to focus on things like love and romance.

Celia Sterling was a case in point. Although she and Silas Norwood were as sweet as honey day in and day out, and she found immense physical and emotional satisfaction in his passionate embraces, she wondered if it was because their relationship had come together too easily. They never argued, but they also lacked a certain fiery, blazing passion.

Silas Norwood complied with her every wish and gave her everything, like a considerate older brother, a friend with whom she could talk about anything, and also her most intimate lover.

But everything he did was based on the premise that she was his wife. And her own investment in the relationship had only begun on the foundation of their arranged marriage.

It was all so logical and straightforward that there wasn’t a single point of disagreement.

But because they were too compatible, they lacked the kind of head-over-heels, all-consuming passion that ordinary couples had.

Celia Sterling picked up her phone. Just as she expected, a reply had already come in from Silas Norwood:

NSY: [The base is beautiful, but my wife is even more beautiful]

NSY: [Remember to wear flat shoes]

As always, he had positive feedback for everything and was meticulously thorough.

But at this moment, Celia Sterling, feeling a sense of distance from their overly compatible dynamic, couldn’t help but reply:

Cece: [Silas Norwood, you could try not being so gentle once in a while]

There was no reply from his end for a long while.

Just as Celia Sterling was about to put her phone away, a message came in from Kian Sterling, who had also received the photo:

K.: [You got darker. And uglier.]

He had also circled his own peace sign, which had accidentally appeared in the photo, in red.

And added a slightly disgusted emoji.

Celia Sterling was left speechless.

One moment she was pondering her overly peaceful relationship with Silas Norwood, and the next, Kian Sterling’s ’not so gentle’ jab had stirred up her emotions, making her flustered and annoyed.

She screenshotted her chat with Silas Norwood and flung it at him.

Cece: [Bro, can’t you learn a thing or two from Silas Norwood about being gentle and considerate?]

K.: [This person who ’wants to have their cake and eat it too’—is that Miss Sterling or Miss Sutton?]

Celia Sterling was momentarily stumped and decided not to reply at all.

Across the coffee table, Adeline Lowell watched her send a couple of messages, her expression shifting from amused to annoyed. Finding it interesting, she couldn’t help but ask, "Is that Chairman Norwood or Chairman Sterling? I’ve seen men who dote on their wives and men who dote on their sisters, but I’ve never seen anyone dote on them to the extent those two do."

"Both of them," Celia Sterling said with an embarrassed laugh. "Since I plan to be away for a long time on this trip, and I forbid them from interfering with my schedule, I just chat with them from time to time every day so they don’t worry."