Chapter 4

In the end, Lucian's hand never did come down on Giselle.

Biting her lip, she dragged him back down onto the couch and said, "You're being too sensitive, darling. Eddie and I have a completely innocent relationship. Not once did I ever cheat on you!"

Lucian said nothing.

Seeing that, Giselle gritted her teeth. "I'll make you a promise, darling! After our wedding, I'll make things clear with Eddie. I'll tell him to live his own life properly. He won't bother you anymore, okay?"

Lucian said, "Why must it wait till after the wedding?"

"Because…" Giselle hesitated mid-sentence.

Lucian stared at her. "Out with it."

"Because I promised Eddie that he can… be there with me on my wedding day," Giselle mumbled with her head lowered, as if feeling somewhat sheepish about it.

"There's something seriously wrong with you," Lucian growled, his fists clenched. "He's a man, but you want him to be part of your bridal party? As what? Your maid of honor? Or should I be calling him your man of honor?"

"It's not what you think!" Giselle hastily explained. "Eddie and I have known each other for so many years now. Even if he's just an ordinary friend, it's not like I can cut off our relationship with a snap of my fingers, right?

"And besides, we've already registered our marriage. I'm legally your wife, so what are you even worried about?"

After a long silence, Lucian let out a strange chuckle.

"Do whatever you want," he said before heading toward the room they'd set up as a gym.

"Where are you doing, darling?" Giselle called out in confusion.

"I'm going to work out," he replied coolly.

Giselle bit her lip as she watched him leave, thinking to herself, "Nothing's going on between Eddie and me. You're just being ridiculous, and you've gone too far! Eddie's still in the hospital right now, and you didn't even think about visiting him when you're the one at fault for the situation!"

Lucian stepped into the gym. He felt a ball of fire inside him that was in desperate need of an outlet. Eyeing the punching bag in front of him, he threw a heavy punch.

There was a loud thump, and the punching bag that weighed almost 100 pounds wobbled around wildly. He continued to throw punch after punch, venting all of his fury.

Around 15 minutes later, Lucian picked up a barbell that weighed 175 pounds, but he was able to lift it up and down with incredible ease.

In no time, sweat soaked through his clothes.

After exhausting most of his strength and releasing much of his anger, Lucian finally stopped. Panting, he easily ripped his cotton T-shirt apart, revealing his sculpted body.

He walked over to the mirror and looked at himself. His lean yet well-proportioned body was covered in defined muscles. However, his gaze was resting on the necklace that hung from his neck, the pendant resting on his chest.

It was a silver-colored pendant with carvings of dragons and a gilded sun.

The orphanage director had given him the name Lucian to signify the light of the sun, based on the sun that was carved into the pendant.

Clutching the pendant, Lucian let out a long exhale.

Leaving the gym, he went straight into the bathroom. When he came out again, Giselle was standing at the door.

She handed him a clean T-shirt and a pair of underwear, saying, "Where are your clothes? I'll throw them into the washing machine."

"I tore them up."

Lucian shook his wet hair before taking the clothes from her and pulling them on.

"I see." Pursing her lips, Giselle pulled him down to a seat and dried his hair with a hairdryer.

As the two of them lay in bed that night, Giselle hugged his arm and whispered, "Stop being upset, darling. I've been thinking about what happened today. I know I shouldn't have invited Eddie over."

Lucian glanced at her, surprised she was admitting her fault in the matter. "That was indeed wrong of you."

"But you shouldn't have antagonized Eddie either!" Giselle added. "So we both made a mistake today, but Eddie is innocent. He's allergic to alcohol, but he ended up drinking strong liquor today. He could've died if he didn't get the medical attention he needed in time."

Her expression was filled with fear and lingering concern.

Lucian retorted coldly, "Not once did anyone force him to drink any alcohol. Even if he died here today, he would have no one but himself to blame for that."

"How can you even say such a thing?"

Giselle's expression had hardened. Releasing Lucian's arm, she snapped angrily, "Do you think Eddie would've drunk the alcohol if you hadn't pushed him into it? And even after that, he was still worried about us getting into a fight because of him! Do you not have the slightest bit of conscience in you?"

After a few seconds of silence, Lucian asked, "Are you sure you want to continue talking about this? Are you trying to start another fight?"

As it was, when he first learned of Giselle's relationship with Edward, he'd considered giving up on the relationship. But he kept getting the feeling that Giselle's feelings for him were real. Heath and Fiona also treated him well, and Melody was an amusing little jokester.

For an orphan like Lucian, he liked having a family like this.

Most importantly, when Giselle started going out with him, every intimate moment they shared was her first time doing those things with someone. He remembered the way she trembled when they first held hands, how clumsy she was when they first kissed, and the way she gasped tearfully the first time they spent the night together.

Just like that, their relationship progressed to what it was now. They'd even registered their marriage and were expecting a child together.

For Lucian, this wasn't something he could easily let go of, so he didn't want to get into another fight over Edward.

Either way, he figured that after the wedding, Edward would disappear from his life completely. Once that happened, he could let bygones be bygones.

"I'm not trying to start a fight, but…" Giselle glanced at Lucian before adding quietly, "Why don't you find the time to apologize to Eddie tomorrow?"

"Don't even think about it," Lucian snapped before turning his back toward her.

Frowning in displeasure, Giselle gave Lucian a hard shove.

Just then, her phone screen lit up. She picked it up and saw a message from Edward.

Eddie: "I'm fine now, Giselle. Please don't get into a fight with Lucian. You don't need to worry about me. It's all my fault. I feel bad when you and Lucian fight."

Giselle glanced at Lucian and sighed to herself.

She wanted to show him the message. She wanted to tell him that, despite still being in the hospital right now, Edward was busy worrying about them fighting. But after hesitating for a moment, she gave up on the idea.

Instead, she started tapping away on her phone, chatting with Edward. After a while, after reading something Edward said, she let out a melodious little chuckle.

Just then, Lucian threw off the blanket and snarled, "Are you going to sleep or not? If you're going to keep chatting, do it outside!"

Giselle hadn't expected him to lose his temper like that. Holding her phone, she stared at him blankly. "What the hell has gotten into you now, Lucian? Why are you throwing a tantrum?"

"You think I'm throwing a tantrum?"

Lucian scoffed in fury. Without another word, he snatched her phone, glanced at the chat on the screen, and hurled it to the floor.

Giselle watched as her screen cracked before letting out an angered shriek.