novelraw Chapter 318: If Ignatius Leclair Doesn’t Sleep, Half of Southeast Asia Can’t Sleep
Chapter 318: If Ignatius Leclair Doesn’t Sleep, Half of Southeast Asia Can’t Sleep
Delphine was stunned. Exhausted by hunger and cold, her body was powerless, unable to wrench free from his grasp.
Perhaps it was the reality of being kidnapped and taken out to sea, their future uncertain, that triggered Jocelyn Yeager to finally let his long-suppressed emotions pour forth. Here, they were not in the East Indies; there was no oppression from power or status, no pressure from societal judgment—there was only the two of them.
"Since I was young, everything I did revolved around watching over you from a distance, seeing you sink deeper bit by bit into an abyss of pain, and feeling utterly powerless. Delphine, we’ve grown up now. It’s different. Do you trust me?"
The man’s voice trembled faintly. In the dim, oppressive darkness of the small cabin, all other sounds had disappeared; only the sound of their breathing remained.
Delphine bit her chapped lips, dry from dehydration, her voice hoarse and cold as she murmured softly, "I’m sorry."
At those words, Jocelyn Yeager let out a violent cough, as if something had struck him deeply. He suddenly covered his mouth and nose, suppressing his coughs as his whole body began to tremble.
Delphine’s eyes showed a flicker of unease, but she did not move. She only lowered her gaze and said, "I know everything about what happened back then." Though she had been slow to realize it, time eventually illuminated the truth. That year, when she was cast out, if he had truly cared, he could have taken her away. But he hadn’t. In the clash between youthful love and wealth and power, love had crumbled effortlessly.
Jocelyn Yeager’s face turned deathly pale. After another series of restrained coughs, he finally steadied himself, but his voice grew even hoarser.
"If I had taken you away back then, would you have fallen in love with me?" His voice quivered with a trace of desperation.
Yes. Delphine closed her eyes, but the word remained unspoken. Back then, though she had loved Ignatius Leclair, she had been keenly aware of the chasm between their identities. It wasn’t certain they could have stayed together for long. If Jocelyn Yeager had taken her away and spared her the darkness that followed, she would have fallen for this gentle, jade-like boy-next-door.
Jocelyn Yeager already knew her answer. He abruptly tightened his grip on her arm, his refined face streaked with madness. His voice broke into a hysterical shout: "Delphine, you and Ignatius Leclair will never be together in this lifetime! Why can’t you see that? The ship will be at sea for months. They’re planning to sell us to the southern territories. Maybe we’ll never return to the East Indies. The only one who can stay by your side is me!"
Seeing the red tint in his eyes and the crazed expression on his face, utterly devoid of his usual gentle demeanor, Delphine, isolated with him, felt the chill of fear seep into her extremities.
As the winter night slipped away, the first light of dawn crept over the horizon. At the Leclair estate, its lights had remained on all night, casting the mansion in an unrelenting pall of anxiety.
Ignatius Leclair sat by the fireplace in the side hall, sleepless through the night. The man’s chiseled face was cold and impassive, betraying no trace of emotion.
That night, chaos reigned across all the East Indies. If Ignatius Leclair stayed awake, half the population of the region found no peace in their sleep either.
Kyla Zamora, who had been knocked unconscious, had been found. However, all she knew was that Delphine had been with Jocelyn Yeager; she had no other valuable information.
"Ten ships departed after midnight," Maximilian reported grimly. "Aside from our family’s five, the Cloud Family has three, and two more were temporary docking tourist liners. We’re investigating whether any smugglers’ ships are among them." His face darkened further. Their opponent was a true master of counter-surveillance, erasing almost every trace of Miss Delphine’s whereabouts. Ignatius has practically turned the East Indies inside out searching for her. The region was on edge. If she isn’t found by sunrise, Maximilian could not imagine what Ignatius would do next.