My Fiancé's Scandals Never End, So I Married His Uncle Instead-Chapter 77: Addicted

Metropia.

A torrential downpour washed away the moonlight over Jade Orchid Manor.

Silas Norwood sat in the lakeside pavilion, gazing at the heavy night sky before casually picking up his phone and dialing a number.

The call was answered instantly. "Boss?"

Silas Norwood asked coolly, "Where are you now?"

"On vacation in Caspia. And I happened to buy another fragrance base for you," the voice on the other end replied respectfully.

Silas Norwood gave a noncommittal hum. "The Lowell Family is hosting The Fragrance Gala in Port Sovereign. Head over there now."

"Boss, I don’t know the first thing about perfumery! Besides, you know how predatory those people are. The moment I show up, they’ll all be trying to tear a piece off me for some fragrance ingredients..."

Silas Norwood elegantly cut him off. "My fiancée is there. I need you to go and keep an eye on her for me."

The voice on the other end of the line jumped an octave. "M-Madam?"

Silas Norwood’s thumb caressed the archer’s ring on his other thumb as he instructed, "Don’t let anyone bully her."

He knew, of course, that she wasn’t the type to be easily bullied.

But she was so far away, beyond his reach, and the night was so quiet and cold. He couldn’t help but worry. He would only feel at ease if he had someone watching over her.

After hanging up, he checked the time. It was almost midnight. His girlfriend must have already gone to bed early to prepare for tomorrow’s conference. After a moment’s thought, he placed a video call to Kian Sterling.

Kian Sterling was so exasperated he almost laughed. "Silas Norwood, are you addicted to calling me now?"

"I couldn’t bear to disturb my girlfriend," Silas Norwood said with gentle courtesy. "So I thought I’d make some small talk with Kade instead."

"What do you want to talk about?"

"I want to ask if she’s eating well and sleeping well, and if she’s nervous about the conference tomorrow." Silas Norwood paused, then sighed softly. "But with Kade there, I suppose none of these will be problems."

Kian Sterling’s dangerously handsome features were hard to read in the dim light of the night.

He was silent for a long time before letting out a soft, dismissive scoff. Without another word, he hung up with a hint of disgust.

The next morning, Kian Sterling personally drove Celia Sterling to the estate where the Lowell Family was hosting the Fragrance Appreciation Banquet.

"Go on in and enjoy yourself for a bit. I’ll come pick you up when I’m done with work." Kian Sterling leaned over and unbuckled her seatbelt. "I’ll have two bodyguards go in with you. If something happens that even they can’t handle, call me directly."

"Don’t worry. It’s just a conference, not a mountain of knives and a sea of fire." Celia Sterling couldn’t help but laugh, looking at Kian Sterling with some surprise. "You were never this much of a nag when I went to other conferences before."

"So now your big brother’s a nag, huh?" Kian Sterling gently patted her head and opened the car door. "Out you go."

As Celia Sterling walked to the main gate of the estate and had her invitation verified, she glanced back to see that Kian Sterling’s car had already disappeared into the flow of traffic.

"This way, miss."

A server led her inside. The Lowell Estate was not as large as Sterling Manor, but it surpassed it in elegance and style. Celia Sterling had arrived just on time, and the venue was already filled with Perfumers from all over the world. Most were familiar faces from the fashion magazines and prestigious award ceremonies of the Fragrance World.

’The appeal of a legendary perfumer family is truly extraordinary.’

A thrill ran through Celia Sterling, and she pulled out her phone, overcome with the urge to friend-request all the famous figures from the Perfumery Circle she had only ever admired through screens and pages. But she clearly wasn’t the only one with that idea. A number of Perfumers, wearing work badges from various fragrance brands, were already proactively surrounding the titans of the Perfumery Circle to make small talk. A few had even succeeded in getting photos together.

Perfumers shouldn’t drink alcohol, so Celia Sterling picked up a glass of fruit tea and wandered aimlessly through the crowd, looking for an interesting conversation to join.

"The Chief Perfumers from the Aurelian Family and the Valois Family are here too!" someone in the crowd hissed. "Add in the Lowell Family, and that means the three great legendary perfumer families are all in the same room! If I could get a picture with them, I could brag about it for the rest of my life..."

Celia Sterling discreetly looked around and spotted the members of the legendary families in a more elegant floral hall. Several tall, refined foreign men with the Aurelian and Valois family crests pinned to their chests were gathered together, chatting and laughing. They seemed approachable, but they carried a subtle air of arrogance and superiority. A few foreign bodyguards stood at the entrance to the hall, preventing anyone from disturbing them.

These men had appeared countless times on the top lists and in the journals of the Fragrance World; Celia Sterling couldn’t have been more familiar with them. What was new to her were the few East Asian faces mixed in with them. One was Adeline Lowell, the person in charge of the Lowell Perfumer Family. Director Linden had gone to great lengths to gather information that included her photo, but she was even more beautiful and charismatic in person, possessing the sharp, commanding presence of someone in power.

This President Lowell had also once been a highly renowned senior Perfumer, but in recent years, she had taken over the family business. With her limited energy, she had gradually withdrawn from the public eye of the Perfumery Circle. Standing beside her were a man and a woman wearing a lingzhi mushroom totem. These two were the current Chief Perfumers of the Lowell Family, both famous figures in the Perfumery Circle.

But whether it was the proud Chief Perfumers of the great families or President Lowell, the head of the Lowell Family, all of them currently had their eyes fixed on one man, as if he were the moon surrounded by stars.

The man was unfamiliar, with standard East Asian features. He looked to be in his thirties, and his identity was impossible to guess.

Celia Sterling only faintly heard President Lowell call him ’Mr. Trenton.’ Anything else was drowned out by the noisy crowd.

Perhaps sensing her gaze, the man seemed to notice and looked in her direction, his eyes meeting hers from a distance. After a brief moment of surprise, he very politely raised his glass of red wine to her and gave a slight nod.

Celia Sterling was baffled, but she subconsciously and politely raised her own glass of fruit tea back at him.

Inside the floral hall, having noticed Mr. Trenton’s gesture toward Celia Sterling, President Adeline Lowell couldn’t help but glance toward the crowd. She only caught sight of a graceful figure walking away. She smiled and asked, "Did you run into an acquaintance, Mr. Trenton?"

Mr. Trenton simply smiled without answering.

Adeline Lowell wisely stopped prying and returned to their previous topic. "The Lowell Family has been cooperating with the person you represent for two or three years now, Mr. Trenton, and our relationship has always been good. Yet today you bring news of terminating our partnership. I wonder how the Lowell Family has offended him?"

"That is a question our two families share as well," the Perfumers from the Aurelian and Valois families chimed in with fluent French.

"It’s not a matter of being offended. It’s just that our Boss’s wedding is approaching." Mr. Trenton’s tone was very respectful when he mentioned ’him.’ "After the wedding, all of the production bases and industrial chains under my Boss’s name will be transferred to his wife. If President Lowell and the rest of you are willing to wait, you can negotiate a new form of cooperation directly with his wife after the wedding."

Adeline Lowell’s brow furrowed slightly. "And which family’s young lady might his wife be?"

Mr. Trenton sidestepped the question. "If the Boss wanted you to know, you would know."

He clinked his glass with Adeline Lowell’s. "President Lowell, you are a busy woman, and the Chief Perfumers here are the main stars of tonight’s event. I won’t take up any more of your time. I’ll just have a look around on my own."

Adeline Lowell was about to say more, but she paused when she caught sight of Summer Sutton emerging from an inner room. "In that case, Mr. Trenton, please feel free."

Mr. Trenton left the floral hall, and in a spot where no one was paying attention, he rounded a corner and headed in the direction Celia Sterling had gone just moments before.