The Bigshot Married Himself to the Heiress-Chapter 552 - 553: Discovered Another Weakness of My Wife
"Still not asleep?"
Adrian Desmond walked in. His night vision was excellent. Under the faint light of the fireflies, he saw Sienna Johnson staring at the window, wide-eyed and lost in thought.
"I’m a little scared."
"Scared?" Adrian was puzzled by Sienna’s statement.
"Scared of what?" Adrian switched on the small light bulb in the room.
Energy-saving light bulbs were common now, but this old house still used an old-fashioned small bulb. It was quite dim and couldn’t fully illuminate the dark room.
She was scared of ghosts!
When the light bulb in the small room turned on, a warm yellow glow filled the dark space. Mottled window panes cast shadows, and the small woven bamboo basket, filled with sun-dried herbs, hung by the window.
Adrian walked over, sat on the edge of her bed, and patted it. "This bed is so hard," he commented. "I can’t even budge it."
Sienna replied, "The bed is solid; of course, you can’t move it."
Adrian instinctively glanced under the bed. "It really is a solid bed," he said. "It’s more like a traditional heated brick bed from the Northeast."
"Sixth Master, aren’t you a foreigner? How do you even know about the traditional heated brick beds of the Northeast? Tsk, tsk. Sixth Master, you’ve certainly made this humble girl see you in a new light."
Adrian snorted. "During the years I was searching for you, I practically turned the Earth upside down. Never mind the Northeast; I’ve even been to the South Pole."
"What were you doing at the South Pole? I’m not a penguin."
"With you, anything is possible. Who knows, you might have decided to settle down in the South Pole."
"Am I that unpredictable?" Sienna looked completely taken aback.
"Yes!"
"..."
"Right, you said earlier you were scared. Scared of what?" Adrian asked, concerned.
Since becoming pregnant, she’d grown drowsy. Usually, she would have been fast asleep by this time.
Sienna fell silent for a moment, then pointed to the small bamboo basket hanging by the window. Her voice was soft as she said:
"When my adoptive father was alive, we used to come here and stay for a while every year. At night, there were always dogs barking outside. The locals said that dogs barking at night meant there were ghosts. I was a timid child and always afraid there were ghosts under my bed. I cried so much that my adoptive father had someone make the bed solid. He said that way, I wouldn’t have to worry about ghosts under the bed anymore."
He lay down beside her, still dressed, and pulled her into his arms. "I really can’t figure you out," he said. "Sometimes, you’re frighteningly brave, and other times, you’re laughably timid..."
"I was just a child back then..." she murmured.
"Today, when Mom told me about your childhood, I couldn’t help but think, why couldn’t I have met you sooner? If I had met you sooner, I could have protected you.
"I would never have let you go hungry, or let your hands and feet get frostbitten... I would never have let anyone bully you..."
A smile sweeter than honey instantly spread across Sienna’s face. She pressed her cheek against his back and teased playfully, "Hehe, so what if you had met me sooner? Could you guarantee I would have liked you?
Perhaps we would have been like Curly and George. For no reason at all, Curly just doesn’t like George. And maybe I just wouldn’t have liked you."
"How can you compare me to that little brat?" Sixth Master said haughtily. "When I was young, my emotional intelligence was much higher than his. Back then, on Valentine’s Day, I received the most chocolates."
"Oh, really? In that case, I definitely wouldn’t have liked you. I despise men who flirt around... accepting chocolates from people they don’t even like."
"That was only because my sister loved chocolate!"
"You really are... quite the good brother," Sienna said, her expression conflicted.
"As a result, my sister ate so much chocolate she ruined her teeth, and my dad gave me a harsh scolding.
In our family, sons aren’t valued!"
Sienna chuckled, her laughter tinged with schadenfreude. "You aren’t like my brother, are you? Picked up from a garbage can by your parents?"
"Who knows?"
"..."
"Why don’t you ask my parents for me?"
"But your parents passed away. How can I ask them?"
Sienna stared at Adrian’s face and suddenly understood what the scoundrel meant. "You’re terrible! You knew I was scared, and yet you still tried to frighten me!"
"My parents? What’s there to be afraid of? They’ve been gone for so many years, and I’ve never once dreamed of them. Maybe they’ve already been reincarnated."
He took a deep breath, turned, and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Darling," he said, "I’m quite pitiful too. You’ll have to pamper me later."
He was trying to act cute. Sienna patted Sixth Master’s head and said, "Alright, your big sister will take good care of you."
"Hey, you! What ’big sister’? You’re clearly younger than me."
"Then let your little sister take good care of you."
...
「The night was deep, and all was quiet.」
The old house was tranquil. Sienna lay on the bed alone, unable to fall asleep no matter what.
Pauline Briggs and Rose Collins were sleeping in another room. Sienna could faintly hear Rose’s snores and wondered if Pauline could possibly fall asleep through them.
Her eyes wide open, she gazed out the window and once again heard dogs barking.
She sat up and looked outside. The night was thick and a deep, tranquil blue. Only a full moon hung high in the sky, exceptionally bright.
"Dogs barking at night means there are ghosts..."
Gazing at the pitch-black old house, Sienna suddenly felt her skin crawl. The baby in her belly stirred, making her even more frightened.
She had heard the local elders say that pregnant women had the weakest Yin energy, making them more susceptible to being disturbed by malevolent forces. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖
"Dogs barking at night means there are ghosts..."
The basket of herbs hanging beside the window cast a silhouette that looked like a severed head suspended there.
The more Sienna thought about it, the more frightened she became. Even though she knew she was just scaring herself, she simply couldn’t fall asleep. It was as if she had returned to her childhood: this same old house, a night just like this one, when she would hide under the covers until exhaustion finally allowed her to drift off in terror.
"Are you going to sleep or not?" Adrian’s voice suddenly cut in.
"Did I wake you?"
"I wasn’t asleep in the first place!"
Adrian opened his eyes and stared at the woman who was acting so strangely tonight.
"Adrian, I’m a little scared." She snuggled deeper into his embrace, seeking security.
Adrian really couldn’t understand this woman. He had taken her to see the horror movie *Chainsaw Killer*, and she hadn’t been scared at all. Instead, she had analyzed the plot holes for him. Yet now, a simple basket hanging by the window terrified her.
"You studied medicine; you must have dissected plenty of corpses. And yet, you’re telling me you’re scared of ghosts. If we didn’t know each other well, I’d think you were smitten with me and deliberately throwing yourself at me to take advantage."
"What’s so scary about corpses? It’s ghosts I’m afraid of!"
"There’s no such thing as ghosts in this world!"
"Well, I’m scared anyway! Adrian, hold me tight..." She burrowed deeper into his embrace, and Adrian couldn’t help but be amused by this woman.
