Mark was unaware that behind him, Seren was no longer breathing normally. Her body looked very small and fragile, like a bird whose wings had been broken so many times that it could no longer fly.
Two security guards arrived too late, dragging the stranger out—past Beatrick, who was leading Haelyn to her room.
Breathing heavily, Mark stood frozen in the kitchen doorway.
Mark could still hear the stranger's angry shouts from a distance, but his eyes couldn't look away from his wife's motionless figure.
Something was throbbing behind Mark's chest. An unusual tightness. For three years, he had trained himself not to care about Seren. He had convinced himself that every moan from Seren was manipulation, that every tear from Seren was a way to ensnare him in guilt. But seeing Seren pale and blue-lipped, Mark felt his hands hanging at his sides begin to tremble.
"Seren..." Mark whispered. His voice was barely audible.
Mark stepped forward. He wanted to kneel down, to check the pulse at Seren's neck, which looked so thin. But just as his fingers were about to touch his wife's cold skin, Beatrice's voice stopped him.
"Mark! What are you doing? Don't touch her!"
Beatrice rushed into the kitchen, her face showing deep annoyance, as if Seren's fainting spell had disrupted her tea time. She glanced at Seren's body lying on the floor with a look of disgust, then turned to her son, who looked dazed.
"She's just acting again, Mark. Do you see that man in front? He must be her accomplice, staging a kidnapping or something like that to make you feel sorry for her," said Beatrice in a very convincing tone. "Don't let her fool you again. Haelyn is scared in her room because of this commotion. You have to go with her."
Mark looked at his mother, then back at Seren. "But Mom... her head hit the table. She's bleeding."
"It's just a small wound. She deliberately threw herself down to look tragic," Beatrice scoffed, then turned toward the servant corridor. "Servant! Come here!"
An old servant with a stern face and shifty eyes appeared. Madam Anna was Beatrice's right-hand woman in the kitchen, the one who had given Seren the most contemptuous looks over the years. She approached with lazy steps, looking at Seren as if she were a pile of dirty laundry that needed to be thrown away.
"Take her to the back pavilion. Clean her wounds with plain water, no need to call the family doctor. She just needs sleep to get over her drama," Beatrice ordered.
Anna nodded obediently. She pulled Seren's arm roughly, trying to drag the weak body away from the kitchen floor.
Mark saw how Seren's head hung limply as she was dragged away. Anxiety boiled in his heart, urging him to explode. He wanted to yell at Madam Anna to be gentler, or better yet, he wanted to carry Seren himself to the main bedroom. Mark felt that something was wrong. The pungent smell of medicine on Seren's breath when he approached her earlier felt very strange and dangerous.
However, his sky-high ego held him back. If he helped Seren now, he would look like a loser in front of his mother. He would admit that he still cared about the woman who was considered a burden on the family. Mark clenched his fists so tightly that his fingernails turned white, forcing down the pity that was starting to creep up his throat.
"Make sure she doesn't die in the pavilion," Mark finally said. His voice was cold and stiff, trying to hide the tremor within. "I don't want any reports of death in my house while Haelyn is pregnant. That would be bad luck."
Beatrice smiled contentedly, patting Mark's shoulder proudly. "That's my son. Come on, Haelyn needs your hug to calm her nerves. Let the servants take care of this trash."
Mark turned and followed his mother out of the kitchen. But before he left, he glanced back once more. He saw Madam Anna dragging Seren out through the back door, the door usually used for disposing of kitchen trash.
Mark closed his eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath. In his head, the voice of a strange man shouting Seren's name still echoed, triggering a fear he didn't understand. Mark walked toward the room, where Haelyn was waiting with a feigned look of concern.
The floor of the back pavilion was dusty and cold. Madam threw Seren's body onto an old iron bed with a thin mattress. There were no silk blankets or soft pillows like in the main house. Here, a musty and damp smell filled the small room that was usually only used to store broken tools.
Madam Anna snorted, staring at Seren's pale face. "You unlucky woman. Because of you, I had to skip a delicious breakfast in the main kitchen."
She took a basin filled with cold tap water and roughly splashed the remaining water onto Seren's face. Seren gasped, her eyelids fluttering violently, but she did not wake up completely. Her breathing was short and shallow, and her fingers continued to clench the worn-out bedsheet as if she were enduring excruciating pain inside her head.
Madam Anna saw the cut on Seren's palm that was still bleeding. Instead of treating it, she pressed the wound with a dirty cloth. "Don't die here, or Mrs. Beatrice will blame me. Wake up, you spoiled woman!"
In the main house, Mark sat on the living room sofa with Haelyn leaning on his shoulder. Haelyn continued to whimper, complaining about her rapid heartbeat from the shock of seeing the strange man earlier. Mark stroked Haelyn's hair, but his eyes remained fixed on the kitchen door, which was now tightly closed.
Mark's mind was racing. Who was that man in black? Why did he call Seren's name so desperately?
Mark slowly let go of Haelyn. "I have to check something at the office, Haelyn. Rest with Mom."
"But Mark... I'm afraid that man might come back," Haelyn held onto Mark's arm, her eyes welling up with tears.
"Security has been upgraded. He won't be able to get in again," Mark replied briefly. His voice wasn't as cold as usual; there was a hint of anxiety he couldn't hide.
Mark walked toward his office, but turned toward the back door instead. He walked through the dark garden toward the pavilion.
From the small, dirty window, he saw Madam Anna yelling at Seren, who was still half-conscious. Mark stopped in front of the rickety wooden door, his hand already on the doorknob, but he froze when he heard Madam Anna talking to herself.
"Drink the rest of this medicine, Seren. So you can sleep forever and not bother anyone anymore."
Mark tensed up. Medicine?
He looked through the crack in the door and saw Madam Anna trying to force a thick black liquid into Seren's tightly closed mouth. Mark remembered the fishy metallic smell on Seren's breath that morning. It wasn't the smell of the fertility vitamins his mother was so proud of.
Mark was about to break down the door when his cell phone vibrated in his jacket pocket. A message came in from his personal assistant, who had just finished investigating the stranger.
"Mr. Mark, the man who broke into the house earlier is Luan Sterling. The CEO of Sterling Group, who just arrived from London. He's searching for his younger sister, who went missing ten years ago after a major accident... and preliminary data shows that her trail ended at the orphanage where Miss Seren came from."