In the blink of an eye, William's expression returned to normal. He looked at me with mild confusion, then slowly finished his sentence:
"Why do you only listen to what you want to hear? Don't you care about your brother?"
I urgently grabbed his hand. "Tell me, what's going on?"
William lifted his other hand and gently ruffled my hair. "Did you see Charlotte grab my hand just now?"
I lowered my gaze to the hand I was holding, slowly realizing it felt cold, with a slight redness.
"You washed your hands."
His hands were even red from rubbing them.
William nodded slightly. "Yeah, it felt a little disgusting."
Then his hand moved from my head and hooked under my chin, lifting my face. "So, how do you think we should handle this?"
His eyes were filled with a mischievous glint.
Under his gaze, I slowly lowered my head, my hair brushing his hand. I felt him shudder slightly.
He was nervous.
"William, will you tell me?"
He didn't speak but stared at me intensely.
I glanced at the reddened back of his hand, lowered my head, and placed a soft kiss on it.
"Is it still disgusting?"
I raised my head and saw William's lips pressed tightly together, his expression strained. The waves in his eyes seemed ready to swallow me whole, pulling me into the depths with him.
"Lana, what are you doing?! He's your brother!"
Suddenly, my mother's angry shout rang out from the doorway.
I turned in shock, only to see her storming in, pulling me up and slapping my hand off William's.
"William, you're her brother! You're five years older than her, and she doesn't understand—why don't you?!"
My mother was horrified, ashamed, and full of self-blame.
It wasn't until she dragged me out of the room that I realized I had been tricked by William.
He had deliberately let my mother catch us.
It was to stop me from asking more questions.
My mother dragged me to her room, furious and guilty, but in the end, she couldn't bring herself to scold me harshly.
"Lana, tell me, when did you start having those kinds of thoughts about your brother?"
I pursed my lips. At this point, defending myself would be futile, so I simply admitted it.
"Mom, since I returned to the country, William has been taking care of me. I got confused and… I'm sorry, Mom, I won't do it again."
I lowered my head and sincerely apologized.
Above me, I could hear my mother's voice full of guilt. "It's my fault, I've been so busy with work, I didn't pay enough attention to you. Lana, you're at that age, entering puberty. I'll introduce some boys to you soon, and once you date one of them, you'll realize that what you feel for your brother is just youthful curiosity, not real affection."
I nodded in agreement.
After a long round of instructions, my mother finally let me go.
When I returned to my room, William was no longer there.
He's a big liar.
He had claimed to always be on my side, but as soon as there was a clue, he was gone without a second thought.
Even at dinner, I didn't see William. I learned from the servants that after I went back to my room, my mother went to find him, and then he left.
I sighed. It seemed like the issue of my rebirth would have to be put on hold for now.
After dinner, I received a message from Liam.
We were both taking our medicine.
Liam asked if I wanted to go out with them; they were at a bar.
I couldn't refuse.
After my mother had fallen asleep, I sneaked out.
When I arrived at the bar, Liam enthusiastically pulled me over. As soon as Charlotte saw me, she rolled her eyes and muttered, "Why bring her here? A sickly thing."
Liam clicked his tongue. "Come on, let's have fun. Don't be so stingy."
I nervously gripped the hem of my dress, unsure of what to do.
Charlotte shot me a glare but said no more.
Liam ordered me a drink, but I shook my head in refusal.
"I'm not feeling well, I can't drink."
His interest visibly dimmed. "Alright, then have some fruit."
I sat off to the side, eating fruit while listening to them discuss which girl was high-class and beautiful, and how they could win her over, as well as the torturous methods they'd thought up.
I tapped on my phone and sent a message to William: [Scammer, help me out.]
[What do you need?]
I glanced at the people around me and quickly typed a message to send.
After doing that, I aimlessly scrolled through my phone, and suddenly, I saw an interesting post on Liam's Moments.
It seemed Liam hadn't blocked me yet, or maybe he didn't expect me to go through his posts.
What a delightful surprise.
Suddenly, Charlotte steered the conversation toward William, looking quite smug.
"William keeps coming after me again and again. He must like me. When I become the young mistress of the Spencer family, there'll be plenty of benefits for you all."
The others didn't react much, but Liam was feeding into her.
I glanced at Ethan, who was downing his drink in silence.
After a few rounds, everyone was a bit tipsy, and we were preparing to switch venues, but only Ethan was really drunk.
"I'm going to the bathroom."
He waved and stumbled toward the restroom.
I finished my drink, told Liam I was heading to the restroom, and made my way there as well.
I deliberately waited at the bathroom door. When Ethan came out, I pretended to be on the phone with William.
"I'm outside, with Charlotte and the others."
"What? Why do you want me to stay away from Charlotte? Don't you like her?"
I feigned shock, covering my mouth, making sure Ethan could hear me even though I lowered my voice.
"Brother, how could you do that? How can you use someone's feelings like that? I don't like you anymore."
I angrily hung up.
I turned around and was met with Ethan's furious expression.
He slammed his hand on my shoulder, forcing me back against the wall.
"What did you just say? William is using Charlotte?"
I hurriedly shook my head, panicking and trying to explain, but Ethan wasn't listening. He stormed back to where we were sitting earlier, full of anger.
He grabbed Charlotte's hand. "William is just using you. Don't let him fool you!"
Charlotte froze for a second and then shook off Ethan's hand. "What nonsense are you talking about? William just asked me to dinner tomorrow."
She proudly raised her phone, showing a recent message from William.
"He's just lying to you. Ask Lana, she was just on the phone with William, I heard everything!"
I hurriedly shook my head. "My brother was just asking where I was and told me to come home early. Ethan, are you in love with Charlotte? That's why you're slandering my brother."
Everyone knew Ethan was Charlotte's lapdog, but he had never openly shown it.
Charlotte's expression turned cold. "Ethan, don't overstep."
I looked at Charlotte and innocently suggested, "But my brother has a cleanliness obsession. If you're with him, Charlotte, you can't be involved with anyone else."
I deliberately glanced at Zane, who had been observing the scene. His gaze turned sharp.
"What are you staring at?"
I pretended to be scared and hid behind Liam, stammering, "N-no, it's just… my brother… he's pretty fierce. You should…"
The relationship between Charlotte and Zane was no secret to anyone in their group, except Ethan.
Ethan was Charlotte's devoted follower, but he had never been able to win her over.
As for Zane...
Everyone knew and kept quiet.
Charlotte was shocked. She yelled at me, "What are you talking about?!"
Then she turned on Liam. "Why did you bring her here? Are you trying to cause trouble?"
I immediately stepped in front of Liam and protected him. "I'm not talking nonsense, I was just bored and went through Liam's Moments. I saw everything, my brother…."
Before I could finish, Ethan exploded.
"Zane! I thought you were my brother!"
They started fighting.
The scene immediately descended into chaos.
I shrank closer to Liam, looking at him with panic. "Did I cause trouble?"
He wouldn't blame me.
One, because he was a hypocrite.
Two, because of my status.
As expected, Liam ruffled my hair and spoke softly, "It's not your fault. I'll take you home."
"Okay."
Liam protected me as we left the bar.
I glanced back at the scene behind us—Ethan and Zane were tangled in a fight, Charlotte was trying to intervene but dared not approach, while Niko casually sipped his drink.
Suddenly, his gaze drifted over to us, and our eyes met.
