the two-faced Adopted Girl Who Melted CEO's Ice-Cold Heart

Chapter 360: On the eighth day of the first lunar month, Bessie Leclair gets married, you come to Nanyang.

Ignatius Leclair’s expression, already sour, turned even darker as his sore spot was hit.

These days, Delphine was indeed like a thorn lodged in his heart—pulling it out was agonizing, swallowing it was even more painful. He could only grind it away slowly with flesh and blood, wearing down the sharp tip.

This was truly a kind of madness.

"Ha." Ignatius let out a cold chuckle. Initially, he had wanted to vent his frustration to a brother in arms, given that they were both burdened souls. But upon arriving here, he realized—though Richard Shaw had his devoted son, what did he have?

Ignatius stood up, looking at Richard’s perpetually composed demeanor, gritting his teeth slightly. From childhood to adulthood, Richard had always been as wooden as a block of elm, utterly lacking flexibility.

"On the eighth day of the lunar new year, Bessie Leclair is getting married. You should come to Nanyang. Don’t say I didn’t invite you." Ignatius mentioned this casually, as if it were no big deal.

Whether Richard decided to come, and whether he’d notice anything amiss if he did—the man had no desire to continue concerning himself with such trivialities.

Leave it to fate.

His son was gone; Delphine now didn’t even give him a second glance. Since he couldn’t find solace, then from Nanyang to Imperial City, there’d be no peace to be found for anyone.

Richard replied nonchalantly, "We’ll see. A cousin from the Leclair Family’s third branch getting married isn’t your wedding. The Shaw Family isn’t exactly close."

"Come if you want, don’t if you don’t." Ignatius narrowed his phoenix-like eyes, their depths concealing the dim light beneath them.

That night, Ignatius flew to Imperial City. Initially, the old man didn’t think much of it, but after two days passed and Ignatius seemed to vanish into thin air, his anger skyrocketed, raising his blood pressure.

Phone calls were even made to the Howard Family. Back in his youth, the old man had courted Lara Howard’s grandmother but lost out to a rival. Years later, despite his best efforts in arranging for his eldest son to marry Lara, the union only brought its own tangled mess.

In recent years, the old man had increasingly felt indebted to the Howard Family. Though he was usually an imposing figure, in front of Lara’s grandmother, he turned meek, speaking in hushed tones as though he were a subordinate.

Failing to glean anything about Ignatius’s whereabouts and enduring a scolding from the elderly matriarch, the old man hung up the call, visibly upset. As he noticed Delphine returning from outside, his eyes lit up. "Delphine, call Ignatius and ask what he’s been up to these past couple of days, and tell him to come back immediately."

Delphine had just returned from Squire Manor, where Leah was recovering well. Leah had been discharged and was back at Squire Manor earlier that day. Hearing the request, Delphine hesitated briefly before saying, "Grandfather Leclair, I don’t have his number."

Her phone only contained a handful of contacts. Though Ignatius’s number was etched into her memory, she had never dialed it.

"Use your phone to call." The old man handed her the number, his ardent gaze fixed on her.

Delphine felt a chill creeping up her scalp. Without a word, she entered the number. The previously unreachable line connected after a brief robotic tone, followed by the low, hoarse voice of a man: "Delphine?"

The old man, witnessing this, was momentarily enraged but dared not make a sound, lest Ignatius hang up again.

Delphine was silent. On the eve of Chinese New Year’s Eve, she had watched him leave in a fury, her heart utterly undisturbed. How could someone so lofty ever comprehend the pain she’d endured all these years?

He took it seriously, which meant he lost—just as she had once lost completely, utterly, and irrevocably.

"The day after tomorrow is New Year’s Eve. If you don’t want to see me, I can spend the holiday at Squire Manor instead. There’s no need to deliberately avoid returning to the Leclair Family." Her gaze was serene, her tone indifferent.

From the phone came a muffled thud, faint but audible.

Delphine’s lips curled slightly, and she hung up the call in an instant. Raising her eyes, she saw the old man glaring at her angrily.