Difference, A Physician and Also This Prince’s Woman

Serena Feng was right—Ninth Royal Uncle was indeed furious. At first, he hadn’t cared about her destroying the ceremonial gown. It was just clothing, after all, and if it made Serena happy, so be it. But after witnessing what just happened and hearing her explanation, Nolan Dongling felt genuinely hurt.

"Qingchen, even if you didn’t like that gown, it was still something I gave you. Do you really not care at all? You just destroyed it without a second thought."

Even if it was just a gown, it was a gift from him and meant a lot. But Serena destroyed it just to deal with Adrian of Luo, without a hint of regret. Didn’t she feel any pain at all?

Nolan stared at Serena coldly, waiting for her to explain—waiting for her to justify why she treated his gift so carelessly.

"It’s not that I don’t care. The Bloodcloak Guard was carrying out orders—if they’d smashed Feng Manor or even burned it down, it wouldn’t have been wrong. But only that gown could make Adrian of Luo suffer a dumb loss and get the punishment he deserved." Serena swallowed nervously, unease flickering in her eyes.

She hadn’t expected Nolan to be this angry. In her eyes, it was just a gown—something completely useless to her.

With the late Empress’s Phoenix Hairpin in her possession, the gown was utterly pointless. Rather than let it gather dust, she might as well put it to use.

"There will be plenty of chances to deal with Adrian of Luo in the future. Did you really have to use this method? I don’t believe you had no other choice at the time." Nolan pressed relentlessly.

The gown itself wasn’t the real issue—it was Serena’s attitude that mattered.

Maybe she did have other options, but at that moment, looking at Feng Manor as if it had survived a war, she was so furious she could barely think. She hadn’t considered whether Nolan would be angry—she just knew that if she didn’t vent her rage, she’d explode.

But with Nolan this angry, Serena didn’t dare admit that she’d truly gone too far and hadn’t considered his feelings. She took a deep breath, walked over to his desk, bowed her head, and sincerely apologized: "I’m sorry. I handled this badly. I promise there won’t be a next time."

"And what if there is a next time?" Serena had already admitted fault—what else could he do? In the end, it was just a gown. If he insisted it meant something, that would be a stretch. As long as she learned her lesson, that was enough.

She’d passed the test!

Serena let out a full-body sigh of relief and gifted Nolan a bright smile: "If there’s a next time, you can punish me however you like—I won’t resist."

"Remember what you said. Don’t go back on it later." He still didn’t smile, even if he’d let the matter go.

"I swear to Nolan, I won’t forget." Next time, she’d rather vent on herself than on something Nolan had given her.

This man is so petty.

Nolan nodded, but the chill in his demeanor didn’t fade. Serena sensed something was wrong and quickly dropped her smile. "Is there something else?" she asked.

"What happened in the small cabin just now—aren’t you going to explain that to me too?" Nolan didn’t bother with hints; he asked directly.

He didn’t want to admit it, but if he didn’t say it out loud, Serena would never know why he was angry—because in her mind, she hadn’t done anything wrong.

"Small cabin? What do you mean?" Serena asked, genuinely confused.

Nolan could tell Serena wasn’t pretending—she truly didn’t understand. But that made him even angrier. It meant she hadn’t realized her mistake at all; she didn’t even see the need for boundaries between men and women.

Whether it was William, Caleb, Vincent Su, Prince Titus, Victor Yun, or anyone else, Serena showed no sense of male–female separation with any of them. She acted without the slightest concern.

Serena didn’t care about what others thought—did she not care about his feelings either?

Nolan looked up coldly. "Serena, do I need to spell out what happened in the small cabin just now?"

"You mean giving Caleb an injection? And what of it?" Serena’s tone sharpened, refusing to back down as she faced off with Nolan.

Now she understood what Nolan was getting at. She hadn’t paid attention when she gave Caleb the shot, but thinking back, Nolan hadn’t barged in to yell at her for no reason.

"Shouldn’t you observe proper boundaries between men and women? Don’t forget, you’re a doctor—but you’re also my woman." Nolan ground out the words, teeth clenched. Serena was absolutely pretending to be clueless at this moment.

Some things she could compromise on, but not this. Facing Nolan’s anger, Serena refused to coax him and stood firm: "Nolan, you said it yourself—I’m a doctor. I don’t get to choose my patients. Besides, there were two maids in the room at the time."

"Just because there were maids present, you think you can ignore social norms and casually strip a man’s trousers and touch his body?" Nolan rebuked coldly.

"I didn’t just strip someone’s clothes for no reason—I was saving a life, giving Caleb an injection." Serena tried her best to explain. When Nolan just snorted in response, Serena grew angry too: "So in your eyes, I’m just a frivolous woman?"

Unmarried, sharing a bed, no formal matchmaker—she really was ‘frivolous’ by this world’s standards. Serena gave a bitter laugh, her dark eyes losing their light.

Some things she’d done, she didn’t regret, but that didn’t mean she could justify herself or go around bragging about defying etiquette.

Nolan paused, his anger fading. He realized he was at fault—he couldn’t give Serena a proper title, yet expected her to strictly uphold her ‘duties’ as his woman.

Nolan took a breath and spoke calmly: "I never said that. I’m just reminding you—not caring doesn’t mean others don’t care. Serena, you can ignore etiquette to a degree, but there are limits. You can’t expect everyone to treat rules as nothing. Caleb is unconscious now, but if he were awake, would he really be comfortable with this?"

"I understand. I’ll try to be more careful in the future." Serena sniffled, bowing her head to hide the bitterness in her eyes.

She understood Nolan’s criticism and could accept it. Judged by this era’s standards, she had indeed gone too far. But who saw the grievance and helplessness in her heart?

As a doctor, it was almost impossible to avoid physical contact with patients. All she could do was minimize it and avoid actions that could easily be misunderstood.

Serena blinked hard, forcing back her tears as she silently stared at her own hands...

Besides medicine, she had no other skills. If she was to shoulder Feng Manor and take on the responsibilities of its head, she couldn’t stop being a doctor. She would never be like those noblewomen who stayed behind closed doors, worrying only about marriage and children.

"Enough. I’m not really blaming you. It’s just that I happened to witness this incident—if someone else had seen it, things would have been much worse. You need to be careful." Nolan tried awkwardly to comfort her.

Once he’d calmed down, Nolan admitted he’d lost his head from jealousy at the scene in the small cabin and said harsher words than he meant.

"I understand. Thank you, Nolan," Serena said weakly. For a moment, she felt all her strength drain away. If not for wanting to preserve the last shred of dignity in front of him, she might have collapsed to the floor...