You still have me. As long as I'm here, you're not alone!
I'll love you with the share your parents would have given you—I'll love you for all three of us!
Nolan wanted to say these words, but he never got the chance. As soon as Serena Feng felt someone grab her, her first instinct was to fight and break free.
And when Serena fought back, it was never just for show. Her moves were fast and forceful—her body reacted before her mind even caught up.
Thud—Serena lifted her arm and slammed her elbow into Nolan’s chest, forcing distance between them. Then she raised her foot and kicked hard at his shin. Nolan grunted in pain, stunned for a split second, but Serena had already broken free from his embrace. With a quick spin, she retreated.
Hiss—Nolan sucked in a sharp breath from the pain. Serena hadn’t held back at all, but he was afraid that if he fought back, he might hurt her. He wanted to defend himself, but didn’t dare move, so he let her hit him.
Nolan was sure his chest was injured, and as for his shin—it was definitely bruised.
"Who’s there?" Serena stepped back three paces, wiped the tears from her face, and let her eyes turn cold and deadly. When she looked up and saw who it was, the killing intent in her gaze burned even fiercer. Rage flickered in her eyes. "Nolan Dongling—is that you?"
She didn’t even call him 'Uncle Nolan'—that showed just how furious Serena was!
"Ahem, yes—it’s me." Nolan forced himself not to rub his aching chest, standing there with studied nonchalance, hands at his sides.
He waited, expecting Serena to apologize.
Attacking someone before even seeing who they are—this was a bad habit.
Was he going to have to get beaten up every time he approached Serena? That was just asking for trouble.
Serena really needed to break this habit—it had to change!
Nolan made a silent note to himself, his deep eyes fixed on Serena, waiting for her to come to him. But what happened next was nothing like what he’d hoped for.
"Nolan Dongling, you’re just in time. I was about to settle scores with you." Serena snatched the papers from the floor, strode forward, and—smack—slapped them right into Nolan’s face.
"Nolan Dongling, take a good look. Look at how heartless and shameless your precious Eastlyn imperial family really is. Look at how selfish and despicable they are. Nolan Dongling, there isn’t a single decent person in your royal house—not one with a real heart. You’re no different... You’re all bastards."
The papers struck his face, their edges scraping his cheek—Nolan was furious.
He’d come to comfort Serena, sure—but that didn’t mean he’d grovel. He hadn’t done anything wrong, and even if he had, he had his pride. Serena had gone too far.
All his life, no one had ever dared throw something at his face. No one had ever dared point at his nose and curse him out. Serena was the first.
Fine!
Serena Feng, I’ll remember this.
Serena was angry, but Nolan was even angrier. Any thought of comforting her vanished. He swept up the papers, squeezed them tight in his hand, and waved them in front of Serena.
"Serena Feng, you’d better hope these two useless sheets are worth my time. Otherwise, I’ll make sure you pay for throwing things at my face."
"Go ahead, settle your score! I’m not afraid of you. You want to come after me? I haven’t even started with you yet." Serena lifted her chin and shot right back.
Right now, anyone with the surname Dongling disgusted her. If she could, she’d kill every one of them.
Serena was fuming, her eyes wide and stubborn. Nolan was icy cold, angry but hiding it well. He stared her down, saw just how furious she was, and gritted his teeth—he’d bear it.
To make Serena this angry, whatever was on those papers had to be extraordinary. Nolan was curious too—he opened them and looked...
Nolan froze on the spot. "So this is the real truth." He understood why Serena was so furious—but... was she blaming the wrong person?
"Hmph, don’t tell me you didn’t know." Serena sneered. She refused to believe Nolan could be ignorant—if he wanted to investigate something, he’d always find the answer.
Now that Nolan understood why Serena was so angry, he had no grounds to argue with her. It was the Eastlyn imperial family that had wronged the Fengs.
Nolan lowered his stance. "I truly didn’t know about this."
He had sent people to investigate, but everyone who knew the truth back then was dead. Digging deeper got him nowhere. When he saw that Serena didn’t question her parents’ deaths, he’d stopped searching.
Sometimes, ignorance really is a blessing—but now...
The two corpses brought in by Reid Yale had dug up all the old secrets.
"Do you think I’m a child, so easy to fool? If your precious nephew knows all about it, how could you not?" Serena didn’t believe him at all, her words sharp and mocking.
"The Crown Prince? He gave you this information?" The Crown Prince had grown up—now he was even using things like this. Clever.
Nolan’s heart sank. He understood perfectly well what the Crown Prince was aiming for. The Crown Prince was far too impatient!
"Who else? You really think I could have figured all this out so fast without someone feeding me information? If even you didn’t know, how could I possibly have uncovered it by myself? Of course, it wasn’t just the Crown Prince—there were others helping, too." Serena’s words were full of sarcasm, but she deliberately let Nolan know who was behind it.
She knew her parents’ deaths had nothing to do with Nolan, but she couldn’t help being angry—he was still a Dongling, still part of the Eastlyn imperial house.
Nolan sighed softly and frowned. He didn’t like—really didn’t like—this sharp, bitter side of Serena. It didn’t feel like her at all.
"Serena, calm down. Since you know the Crown Prince fed you this information on purpose, you should realize he’s not doing it out of kindness." Nolan knew how much this hurt her, but he still wanted her to regain her usual composure and think things through.
This business wasn’t as simple as it looked.
"Calm down? Nolan, you think I’m not calm enough? What counts as calm—pretending I know nothing, acting like nothing happened, staying loyal to your Eastlyn imperial family, and waiting for the Emperor to throw me to my death?
Nolan Dongling, let me tell you—if I weren’t calm enough, you wouldn’t even see me here. The moment I learned the truth, if I’d really lost control, I’d have strapped on my explosives and marched into the palace, blown the Emperor and Empress to bits, and made them join my parents in death.
Nolan, you know I have the skills. As long as I plant the explosives, one press of a button and the Emperor and Empress would be wiped from existence. Getting into the palace isn’t even hard—thanks to you, Nolan, for showing me all the secret tunnels."
Calm? How could she not be calm? She hadn’t done anything—what else did he want from her? Serena glared, relentless, a cold smile on her face...
The way she looked at Nolan—it was as if he were a total stranger.
Nolan felt even more helpless, cursing inwardly at whoever had withheld the news from him. If only he’d known sooner what had happened at Feng Manor—maybe he wouldn’t have walked right into Serena’s line of fire...
Next time, he’d have to retrain the shadow guards protecting Serena. A good shadow guard shouldn’t just keep their master safe—they should know how to share her burdens, too!