Chapter 49: Bitten by a Dog on the Lip

Chapter 49: Chapter 49: Bitten by a Dog on the Lip

Estelle’s head spun from the kiss. Hearing his voice, it felt as if she had been transported back to five years ago.

Back then, she loved this man so deeply she would have sacrificed everything for him. Just two words from him could keep her happy all day.

She always knew she had a fiancé, but everyone said he rightfully belonged to Noelle.

When she first returned to the Lockwood family, her parents had no affection for her. The entire family revolved around Noelle. As the true daughter of the family, her status was even lower than that of the servants.

But one day, while she was doing servant’s chores in the yard, a man blocked her path.

He wore a black silk shirt, sunlight spilling from behind him. That was the first time someone in the Lockwood family had ever called her by her real name.

He had asked, "Are you Estelle Lockwood?"

Later, Estelle learned that this was her fiancé in name.

While the rest of the Lockwood family called her a "country bumpkin" or a "waste of money," only Nathaniel Sloan would pronounce her full name, syllable by syllable: Estelle Lockwood.

He was like a beam of light cutting through the darkness. From then on, Estelle threw herself at that light, heedless of the cost—until later...

Estelle suddenly snapped back to the present.

It wasn’t five years ago anymore, and she refused to be fooled by this hypocritical man again!

"I’m not! I’m Yara!"

Having fully regained her senses, Estelle took a deep breath and forced herself to stand tall. "Mr. Sloan, you act as though you’re so deeply in love, yet you can’t even recognize your own wife!

"Since you’re so suspicious, I’ll say it one more time. Listen closely—my name is Yara Lockwood, not Estelle Lockwood!

"If you still have your doubts, I highly recommend you get your head checked at a hospital. It’s best to seek early treatment if you’re already suffering from delusions at your age!"

With that, she yanked the bathroom door open and strode out.

Nathaniel watched her retreating figure, his eyes swirling with an unfathomable depth.

Furious and flustered, Estelle stormed out of Nathaniel’s bedroom and crashed right into someone.

The person was a man in his late twenties, wearing a white lab coat. He stumbled back a step from the collision and stared in utter shock. "Y-You..."

He wondered if he was seeing things. Had this soaking wet woman, wrapped only in a bath towel, just come out of Nathaniel’s room...?

And her lips were bruised and swollen. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what she had just been doing!

Wait, no... what was Nathaniel doing?

Completely oblivious to the man’s wild misunderstandings, Estelle glanced at him and suddenly asked, "Are you a doctor?"

The doctor replied instinctively, "Ah, yeah. I’m President Sloan’s family doctor. I just got back to the country. How did you..."

Before he could finish, Estelle nodded and said dryly, "Perfect timing. Go check Nathaniel’s brain."

Her tone was completely deadpan. "I suspect he got water on the brain while taking his shower."

The doctor was speechless.

He was confused, yet profoundly shaken.

Carrying this sense of shock, he entered Nathaniel’s bedroom just as the man himself emerged from the bathroom.

The doctor swallowed hard. A whirlwind of complex emotions—surprise, excitement, and sheer admiration—flashed through his eyes before he summarized them all into a single sentence. "Nathaniel, you certainly know how to play wild."

He didn’t know who that woman was, but to think they had actually done the deed in the bathroom... He had never heard of Nathaniel, the notorious ice block, having a fetish for bathroom escapades with women...

Nathaniel cast him a sideways glance, interrupting the doctor’s inappropriate train of thought. Slipping into a bathrobe, he asked coolly, "Why are you here?"

The doctor immediately snapped back to attention, not daring to let his eyes wander. "Chapman said you were playing the sympathy card. He was worried you’d take the stunt too far, so he told me to come keep an eye on you."

The doctor’s name was Zane Grant. He was a longtime friend of Nathaniel’s who had gone abroad to study medicine and had only recently returned.

Zane tried to hold back but failed. He leaned in with burning curiosity, a sly tone in his voice.

"Who was that woman just now? I caught a glimpse—she’s gorgeous! Even with all the beauties in Crestfall, she’s easily the prettiest. Where did you find—"

Nathaniel’s icy gaze shot toward him. "You looked at her?"

Zane choked on his words and hastily backed away, waving his hands defensively. "No, no, I didn’t see anything! She was wearing a towel! What’s with that look? I know she’s your woman; it’s not like I’m going to steal her!

"But to think you’ve actually changed women? Would Noelle agree to this? Tsk, tsk."

Nathaniel looked at him quietly before suddenly asking, "Don’t you think the woman just now looks a lot like someone?"

Zane froze. Like someone? Like who?

He quickly realized there was only one woman Nathaniel would ever keep so close to his heart.

"Are you talking about... Estelle?"

Nathaniel’s eyes darkened.

"No way." Zane was bewildered. "Estelle has been dead for five years. Her body was... uh, anyway, that’s impossible, right?"

He had wanted to say that Estelle’s body had been charred beyond recognition in that fire.

When Nathaniel got married, Zane had been abroad. He only rushed back in a panic because he heard Mrs. Sloan had committed suicide and was worried about his friend.

By the time he returned, Estelle’s body had already been sent for cremation by the Lockwood family. Once someone was cremated, how could they possibly come back to life?

Zane had only ever seen photos of Estelle. Thinking about it now, the woman from earlier really did look a lot like her. "There’s something I’m not sure if I should say."

"If you don’t think you should say it, then shut up."

Zane wrestled with himself for a moment before deciding to spill it anyway. "She has a very small scar on her temple, hidden by her hair. Most people wouldn’t notice, but it’s obvious to me. That’s a post-operative scar from plastic surgery."

If that woman had undergone plastic surgery, then no matter how much she resembled Estelle... it didn’t count, did it?

After Zane finished, he noticed Nathaniel remaining silent. He couldn’t help but add, "Besides, you always said Estelle was well-behaved and gentle. That woman from earlier couldn’t be further from ’well-behaved.’"

The moment they met, she told him Nathaniel had water on the brain. She even wiped her lips as she walked, acting as if Nathaniel was some sort of repulsive plague.

Why would Nathaniel think she was Estelle?

Suddenly realizing something, Zane asked cautiously, his voice laced with concern, "Hey, you don’t actually have water on the brain, do you?"

Nathaniel was speechless.

Estelle hurried back to her own room. The moment she was inside, she rushed to the bathroom and scrubbed herself squeaky clean from head to toe.

Her lips were already split and swollen red. They would never heal by tomorrow!

But she had to go to Rosalind Garden tomorrow... How was she going to explain this to anyone?

Whatever! She would just say she had been bitten by a dog!

Estelle forced herself to sleep. Early the next morning, she finished washing up and opened her door, just in time to see Zachery and Mia coming to find her.

"Mommy, where did you go last night? Mia couldn’t find you anywhere..."

Halfway through her sentence, Mia suddenly widened her eyes. "Mommy, why are your lips so swollen?"

Estelle was at a loss for words.

It was just her luck!

She took a deep breath. Sticking to her plan from the night before, she gritted out through clenched teeth, "It’s nothing. Mommy was bitten by a dog."

Nathaniel, who had just opened his bedroom door, heard every word.