That night, Landon Hawthorne let his guard down. He took a sip of water while in a meeting in his study.
He quickly sensed that something was wrong.
When he stood up and walked out of the study, he saw Aria Sterling standing at his door with her arms crossed.
She eyed him with a grin and offered a kind reminder, "Landon Hawthorne, you've fallen for it again."
"Get lost!" Landon Hawthorne roared.
But the woman just leaned against his doorframe, watching him leisurely as if he were some kind of clown.
Humiliated, Landon Hawthorne flew into a rage. He pointed a finger at her, his voice harsh. "Aria Sterling, get the hell out! You're a jinx! Get out!"
In the past, even when his father tried to push women on him, he never resorted to such extreme methods. But now, he'd actually gone so far as to have him drugged.
He thought avoiding dinner at home would be enough, but it turned out he could get drugged just by drinking a sip of water.
'It's all Aria's fault!'
'She acted so obedient in front of his father and older brother, but now she was showing her true colors. She must be trying to use this opportunity to get pregnant with my child and rake in a huge amount of money.'
'What a manipulative, two-faced bitch!'
'Damn her!'
Aria Sterling wasn't angered by Landon Hawthorne's humiliated rage. Instead, she smiled faintly and said, "Landon Hawthorne, you already have your own physical ailments. Now that you've been drugged, if I don't help you, there's no telling how crazy you'll get."
"I don't need it!" Enraged, Landon Hawthorne lunged forward, grabbing Aria Sterling's arm to shove her away.
But at that very moment, a silver needle appeared in Aria Sterling's hand, and she precisely struck a certain spot between Landon Hawthorne's legs.
The result was that Landon Hawthorne failed to shove her aside. Instead, that one needle from Aria Sterling made his consciousness scatter, and he fainted into her arms.
Landon Hawthorne was tall and well-built, but he was too thin for his frame.
An abnormal kind of thin.
It was mainly due to the long-term torment from his madness and the Great Demon living inside him.
Aria Sterling held the unconscious Landon Hawthorne, dragged him into the room, and tossed him onto the sofa.
Leo could sense the surroundings. Knowing no one else was around, he emerged from the Star Sea and sat atop the sofa's backrest, saying gloomily, "Aria, are you sure you want to get involved with this trouble? It's a thankless job. Not worth it."
"Have you forgotten? I have an unknown great demon in my body too," Aria Sterling said, a mischievous smile playing on her lips. "I can't experiment on myself, but can't I experiment on him?"
Upon hearing this, Leo had a sudden realization. "Aria, I take back what I said before. You're no old-fashioned stick-in-the-mud."
Aria Sterling fed Landon Hawthorne another pill and tried a different method to probe the thing residing in his body.
However, she still came up empty-handed. The dark shadow even shot out of Landon Hawthorne's body to warn her, "Stop being so nosy, or I'll eat you!"
The moment Leo heard that, he pounced on the dark shadow.
The dark shadow let out a furious roar, then scurried back into Landon Hawthorne's body, muttering curses.
Leo licked his lips. "This thing is tough. I can't get a bite."
Leo loved to devour creatures like evil spirits; there were very few things he couldn't chew through.
"Perhaps you're just not biting it the right way," Aria Sterling said, tossing a blanket over Landon Hawthorne. Then, she and Leo jumped out the window for a stroll.
「The next morning」 Landon Hawthorne woke up to find he had slept on the floor again all night. His back was killing him.
He started the morning with another round of cursing. The moment Aria Sterling came downstairs, he immediately ordered his men to throw her out.
The butler, Uncle Carter, quickly tried to persuade him. "Mr. Landon, didn't you just promise the old master you would let the Seventh Madam stay? If you kick her out, how will you explain it to him?"
"I don't give a damn about any promises! I have to kick her out right now!" Landon Hawthorne fumed.
Hearing this, Aria Sterling smiled and said, "Don't worry, husband. I didn't take advantage of you last night. I just moved you into the room and put you on the sofa. You must have seen that your clothes were all intact when you woke up. Since you haven't lost anything, why do you still want to kick me out?"
Her tone was perfectly calm.
It was Uncle Carter who explained, "Mr. Landon slept on the floor all night."
Aria Sterling raised an eyebrow. "Then it must be because you, husband, toss and turn in your sleep and rolled onto the floor. You can't blame me for that."
"I don't care! Just get out now!" Seeing that his men were hesitant to lay a hand on her, Landon Hawthorne took matters into his own hands, grabbing Aria Sterling by the arm and dragging her out the door.
Outside the main gate, Landon Hawthorne glared at Aria Sterling, his expression grim, and said coldly, "Get lost, right now!"
With that, he slammed the gate shut.
Aria Sterling hadn't expected Landon Hawthorne to be such a tough nut to crack.
Leo's voice rang in her mind. 'Aria, you've been kicked out. That Landon Hawthorne is so ungrateful. Let's just ignore him.'
"Okay," Aria Sterling nodded, taking out her phone and dialing a number.
Half an hour later, Uncle Shaw drove over and picked up Aria Sterling.
Uncle Shaw was confused. "Miss Sterling, what happened?"
"Landon Hawthorne kicked me out," Aria Sterling said frankly.
Uncle Shaw's mouth twitched, and he muttered in displeasure, "That Landon Hawthorne should take a good look at himself. He's already on his sixth wife and still doesn't know how to cherish someone. He deserves to be a bachelor for life."
"He is fated to die old and alone," Aria Sterling replied faintly.
But Uncle Shaw felt sorry for Aria Sterling. "Miss Sterling, being kicked out by him like this... it's so humiliating."
"It doesn't matter." Aria Sterling was unconcerned. She showed not the slightest bit of embarrassment at being thrown out; on the contrary, she said with calm composure, "I'll make him come and beg me to go back."
Hearing this, Uncle Shaw, who knew Aria Sterling was capable of it, nodded repeatedly. "Exactly! Knock him down a peg."
Silvercreek Villa was a property Aria Sterling had acquired before she returned. The residents here were all wealthy families, and there were even some government officials living in the area.
Aria Sterling liked peace and quiet. Her villa was located in the innermost part of the complex, with elegant surroundings. Two kilometers behind it was a huge, man-made lake.
The lake was enclosed within the villa complex, belonging to the property. With regular maintenance, the water quality was pristine. Half of it was used to cultivate lotus roots while the other half was open water stocked with fish, where the wealthy residents of the community would come to fish and relax in their spare time.
Since it was a residential area, there was no night fishing, so it was very peaceful in the evenings.
When Aria Sterling first came back, this was where she lived, but the Jennings family thought she was living in the slums.
The Jennings family didn't like her, so Aria Sterling hadn't bothered to correct them. In any case, she had already drawn a clear line between herself and them and would have no further contact.
Besides Uncle Shaw, the villa staff included two maids, a gardener, and a chef.
Aria Sterling had brought the chef with her. She was a bit of a picky eater and was accustomed to his cooking.
Hearing that she hadn't eaten breakfast yet, the chef immediately began to prepare it.
Forty minutes later, a breakfast suited to Aria Sterling's tastes was served, and she began to eat alone in a slow, unhurried manner.
「In the mid-afternoon」, Aria Sterling had just woken from her nap and came downstairs to find guests.
A father and son.
Aria Sterling recognized the young man—the one who had choked on water in the hotel lobby. His surname seemed to be Ford.
Owen Ford was also extremely surprised to see Aria Sterling. "Uncle Shaw, is this young lady your daughter?"
"This is Miss Sterling, my boss," Uncle Shaw quickly explained. "Young Master Ford, you know Miss Sterling?"