Holding up her phone, Ashley Bowen smiled.
Ryan Osborne nodded resignedly. "Alright, it's noon. The Imperial Concubine may have her meal."
For one month, Ashley Bowen had been confined to this villa. Aside from the occasional phone call to her mother, she was essentially under house arrest. By now, she knew those 120 rules by heart.
Outside in the bright sunshine, Ashley Bowen was sunbathing under a large parasol, wearing a white T-shirt and a large pair of sunglasses.
The sound of an approaching car made Ashley Bowen sit up straight and look toward the driveway. A long procession of vehicles was slowly pulling up in front of the villa.
Ryan Osborne and all the villa's servants were waiting respectfully. A man in a black suit with a commanding presence stepped out of a luxury car.
Yuri Sinclair was back!
He actually came back after exactly one month!
Ashley Bowen quickly tossed aside her iPad, got up, and ran toward the villa.
Yuri Sinclair's wheelchair was pushed into the villa. The moment he was inside, he shrugged off his heavy suit jacket and tossed it to Ryan Osborne, who was standing to the side. He scanned the interior of the villa and, while loosening the tie around his neck, asked, "Where is she?"
"The Imperial Concubine is in the courtyard sunbathing. She said she was getting moldy from boredom and needed to sunbathe the dust mites off her..." Ryan Osborne lowered his voice.
Yuri Sinclair abruptly stopped what he was doing. His lip twitched before he resumed loosening his tie. "Isn't she afraid of getting heatstroke in this summer heat? Go, bring a box of ice out to cool her down."
"Huh?" Ryan Osborne's jaw nearly hit the floor. He had expected Yuri Sinclair to fly into a rage out of humiliation, not react like this. "Yes, I'll go get the ice right away."
Just as Ashley Bowen walked in, she happened to overhear this exchange. Grinning, she walked up to Yuri Sinclair and eagerly took his tie. "Your Highness, I've already sunbathed all the dust mites to death."
"You enjoy calling me 'Your Highness'?" Yuri Sinclair asked, displeased, his cold gaze fixed on Ashley Bowen.
'The entire empire calls him that, so of course I should too. What else would I call him?' "So, not 'Your Highness'? How about 'Third Highness'?" Ashley Bowen frowned.
"..." Standing off to the side, Ryan Osborne felt a headache coming on. 'Is there any difference between 'Your Highness' and 'Third Highness'?'
"Call me Husband." Yuri Sinclair suddenly pulled her into his arms, making her sit on his lap as he gripped her chin.
Forced to tilt her head up, Ashley Bowen looked into Yuri Sinclair's sharp, hawk-like eyes and bobbed her head. "Oh, okay. Husband." Saying the word felt awkward, and Ashley Bowen gave a silly laugh. 'I can't fight him,' she thought. 'I have to get on this moody Third Young Master's good side.'
Only then did Yuri Sinclair release her, pushing her away. "Aaron, push me upstairs."
The man called Aaron walked across the hall, took hold of the wheelchair's handles, and carefully pushed Yuri Sinclair upstairs.
The Sinclair family's staircase had a large ramp in the middle, likely designed specifically for wheelchair access.
Ashley Bowen watched as Aaron steadily pushed the man in the wheelchair up the ramp and couldn't help but give him a thumbs-up.
"Butler Osborne, this Aaron guy is pretty impressive. He pushed a man that size and a wheelchair upstairs without even breaking a sweat."
Ryan Osborne shot her a disdainful look and rolled his eyes. "Aaron used to be the commander of the Army's Third Legion. Now he's the captain of the Royal Guard."
This time, Ashley Bowen was completely dumbfounded. She had thought he was just an ordinary guy who pushed a wheelchair, but she never imagined...