My Fiancé's Scandals Never End, So I Married His Uncle Instead-Chapter 58: Making an Offer for Silas Norwood

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Chapter 58: Chapter 58: Making an Offer for Silas Norwood

Silas Norwood’s gaze deepened as he watched her. In private, she was as timid as a frightened rabbit, startled by a simple arm around her waist. Yet here she was, in public, all sharp tongue and quick wit.

’Spent most of the day playing in the room?’

Does she know what a phrase like that implies to adults?

But this clearly wasn’t the time to discuss the deeper meaning of that sentence. Silas felt how easily aroused he was getting and suppressed the strange stirrings inside him.

’I’ll just play along with my girlfriend for now.’

"Of course not." In front of Celia Sterling, the cold indifference Silas Norwood had shown the other woman vanished completely. His voice was impossibly gentle and sexy. "I save all my energy for Cece. How would I dare fool around with anyone else?"

Celia Sterling hummed. "Good that you know. Come on, big sister’s taking you to dinner."

Hearing her call herself "big sister" made something stir in Silas Norwood, sparking a new wave of restlessness. He remembered Celia Sterling making the male models at the club call her "Big Sister." ’She’s not that old, but she sure is addicted to playing the part.’ With a slight sense of resignation, he reached out, laced his fingers through hers, and led her toward the exit at the end of the hallway.

The group of bodyguards was still standing there, blocking the way.

However, before Celia Sterling could use her heiress status to throw her weight around, several doors in the hallway opened. A group of incredibly suave young men stepped out one after another and quickly gathered behind Silas Norwood.

"Whose dogs are these, blocking the hall?" one of the young men said coldly. "Get lost."

The bodyguards might have been willing to test their luck with a single, inscrutable heiress like Celia Sterling, but a whole group of young masters was an entirely different story. That was a group even their boss couldn’t afford to offend. The hallway cleared the instant the young man spoke. Celia Sterling and Silas Norwood walked among the group, seemingly strangers who were just headed in the same direction. But when Celia saw they were all wearing identical cufflinks with a totem design, she instantly put two and two together.

On the way to the restaurant, Celia Sterling watched the bodyguards—who had already dispersed on their own—and whispered to Silas Norwood, "So that rich woman earlier... was she trying to become your sugar mama, Silas?"

Silas Norwood gently countered, "Cece, you watched the whole show. Why play dumb?"

"I didn’t realize you were in such high demand out here, Silas," Celia Sterling sighed lightly. "Besides that woman, there was also that Miss Scott and Miss Lowell."

"It’s more than just them." Silas Norwood didn’t plan on hiding it from her. "All in all, over a hundred people have brazenly named their price for me."

Celia Sterling was purely curious. "How much did they offer?"

Silas Norwood feigned indifference, but his precise recollection told a different story. "All small-time stuff. The highest offer was three million for a year. Some offered a per-encounter fee, anywhere from five thousand to tens of thousands. The most ridiculous one offered me an hourly rate: two thousand for half an hour."

It was no wonder he remembered it so clearly. To someone of his net worth, three million wasn’t even money—it was a slap in the face. And that was to say nothing of the humiliating two thousand.

Celia Sterling: "..."

’Was this titillating discussion about johns and their prices something she was supposed to be listening to?’

’Those crazy women in The Capital Circle would spend millions just to engineer a single ’chance’ encounter with him, let alone the impossible dream of keeping him for a whole year. As for the one who offered two thousand for half an hour? So stingy. She must have been a fake, right?’

"What are you thinking, Cece?" Silas Norwood asked, reading her expression. He paused for a beat. "Appraising me?"

"No, I was just thinking about that half an hour..." The words were out of her mouth before Celia Sterling realized the terrible double meaning. She scrambled to correct herself. "I mean, I was thinking how shameless that woman is! To actually say something like that."

Silas Norwood paused at the sensitive time frame of "half an hour," then gave a noncommittal hum. With impeccable class, he ended the potentially suggestive line of conversation with silence.

Celia Sterling reined in her scattered thoughts and changed the subject, her feelings complicated. "With so many undesirable suitors, can you ever really relax when you go out, Silas?"

"Why else do you think I have so many bodyguards?" Silas Norwood replied, his gaze dropping as he toyed with her fingers one by one. "As long as they’re here, we only need to worry about enjoying ourselves, nothing else."

Celia Sterling soon witnessed for herself just how thorough their services were.

In the short half hour they spent at the buffet, a dozen or so well-heeled women tried to approach them. But every time one got near, one of the ’young masters’ would wander over and casually strike up a conversation, loosely boxing in Silas Norwood. The less tactful ones would simply shoot the woman a cold glare.

"We men are talking. What’s a woman like you butting in for? Which family do you belong to? Have you no manners at all?"

At an event like this, everyone was trying to network, and no one wanted to make enemies deliberately. After the woman stalked away, swallowing her indignation, Celia Sterling looked curiously at the man who had spoken.

"Aren’t you afraid she’ll ask what family you’re from?"

The bodyguard was clearly experienced. He lowered his voice respectfully. "Just throw out the name of any prominent family. Women of their particular social standing love to let their imaginations run wild. She’ll connect the dots and assign me an identity all on her own."

Celia Sterling gave him an admiring look. "It really does take a special kind of person to be a bodyguard."

"You’re too kind, Miss Sterling. Please, you and the Boss carry on. We’ll return to our posts." With the undesirable attention gone, the bodyguards quickly melted back into the crowd around the restaurant.

Only then could Celia Sterling continue her meal with Silas Norwood in peace.

The cuisine in Seraphina tended to be light, but the cruise ship’s owner clearly had a taste for the ostentatious. The entire restaurant floor, as far as the eye could see, was dominated by expensive seafood, with a smaller portion dedicated to delicate pastries from renowned chefs.

With little that suited their tastes, both Celia Sterling and Silas Norwood ate very little.

"Maybe we should check the other floors later? See if their restaurants are any better?" Celia Sterling asked, rubbing her empty stomach.

Silas Norwood shook his head. "I already had my assistant check. This is the best floor, relatively speaking. The others are either Japanese restaurants, pastry shops, bars, or tea lounges. Just have a little something for now, Cece. Assistant Thorne brought a renowned chef from Metropia with us; he’ll arrange for a private meal for us later."

"This personal assistant of yours..." Celia Sterling began, choosing her words with care. "...He’s really on top of things."

The two left the restaurant and went out on deck to watch the ocean. The colossal cruise ship, the *Sublight*, had already departed from Seraphina Port and was now in open water. The bustling metropolis of Seraphina had shrunk to a fine line on the horizon.

Celia Sterling leaned against the railing, taking pictures. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"Be careful," Silas Norwood said, steadying her with one arm. He watched the cruise ship’s wake alongside her, his cool expression tinged with a languid air that made him seem even more captivating than usual. Celia Sterling aimed her camera directly at him and—CLICK—snapped a few photos. Silas Norwood played along with a gentle expression, letting her take as many candid shots as she wanted.

Silas Norwood was extremely photogenic.

Celia Sterling flipped through the photos again and again. "You’re so handsome, Silas."

Silas Norwood took out his own phone. "Want to take one together?"

Before Celia Sterling could refuse, he put an arm around her shoulders, pulling her into his embrace. He gently smoothed her hair and snapped an intimate photo of them together.

A few minutes later, a new post appeared in Celia Sterling’s social media feed from one of her contacts:

It was a photo that had been blotted out until nothing was left but the blue sea and sky. The caption read: [First picture with my girlfriend.] Time posted: Two minutes ago.

Because of the contract, Celia Sterling had specifically set up special notifications for Rivermoon.

She saw the post the moment it appeared. The image showed a blue sea and a blue sky, with light, fluffy clouds stretching halfway across the heavens. The angle looked incredibly similar to the photos she had just taken.

’Is the big boss on deck watching the sea, too?’

Celia Sterling’s eyes scanned the large crowd of people watching the ocean. She looked from one person to the next, but it was a dizzying sea of faces, and in the end, she couldn’t tell who was who.

"What are you looking at, Cece?" Silas Norwood asked softly.

"I’m looking for that big boss. I want to see if I can try to connect with him again," Celia Sterling answered honestly. She sat down in a nearby seating area, picked up her phone, and began typing up a storm.

At that exact moment, Silas Norwood’s phone began to buzz wildly with new message notifications.