Howard shuddered when he thought of her soft voice.

But even so, the woman’s provoking behaviour had crossed a line. Howard did not think that Young Master Ethan would let her off lightly!

The room was so quiet that one could hear a pin drop. The air seemed to freeze, making people feel stifled.

Annetta’s scalp turned numb. She subconsciously straightened her back and raised her eyes to look at the man.

In this life, she still could not figure out the man’s secret thoughts. She worried that her coquetry would be useless against him and, just like in her previous life, he would lock her up again.

The man’s eyes had been fixed on her since he entered the door. His eyes were like deep pools of still water, making it impossible to see through them.

It was precisely this that made Annetta unable to grasp how he felt towards this matter.

After a while, the man pursed his lips and took a big step towards Annetta.

Bending down, he grabbed Annetta’s chin with one hand. The familiar yet fearful aura of the man was overwhelming. Annetta was scared out of her wits.

Fear made her instinctively want to resist. But she knew that if she made any move, he would exert much more force on her.

Annetta’s chin hurt so much she felt that it was in danger of being crushed by him.

She sat stiffly in the wheelchair, not daring to move.

Even though she had been continuously brainwashing herself, Annetta miserably discovered that she still had a deep-rooted fear towards the man.

Suddenly, the man’s cold lips touched hers, and Annetta trembled. Her eyes went wide when she felt a slight pain at the corner of her mouth. After that, she tasted the metallic, sweet taste of blood on her tongue.

The man’s handsome face became calm and ice-cold, his eyes unreadable as he backed away slowly. He held the woman’s chin, and articulated a clear warning, “You better not be lying to me.”

He bent down just when Annetta thought that he was about to get violent. She shivered when his cold fingers touched her ankle.

He lowered his head to help her treat the cut on her foot. She studied the back of his hand while he worked. His finger bones were clearly defined and looked very good.

If Annetta did not fear him so much, she would have imagined him to be an elegant and gentle prince rather than the bloodthirsty and cruel devil she assumed him to be.

He looked at her after he had treated her wound. His reflection could be seen in her horrified eyes as the man said dominantly, “Remember, you are mine!”

The man’s ice-cold eyes pierced straight into the depths of Anneta’s soul. Annetta was so scared that she kept nodding her head.

After a while, the man finally stood up. His long shadow fell on her and seemed to swallow Annetta up. She did not dare to raise her head. Even her breathing was filled with fear, afraid of provoking him by breathing too heavily.

As a result, she did not see the man’s deep eyes, the red at the tip of his ears, and Adam’s apple rolling up and down.

Annetta could not read the man’s thoughts. She only heard him mutter, “Take her there,” to Howard, before he turned around and left.

Annetta looked at Ethan leave in disbelief. Did this mean that she… had gotten away with it?

In the past, she always assumed that Ethan had nothing but a morbid possessiveness towards her. However, there seemed to be something that she had overlooked.

For example, in her previous life, Caleb had not cared when she had fractured her arm after falling off a horse. Ethan, on the other hand, had personally taken care of her for a month.

Now, he was the only one who had noticed her injury and had even carefully treated it for her.

“Would this stony, abnormal man do such a thing? Maybe she had overlooked a lot of things in her previous life.”

Annetta’s clear eyes flashed with confusion as she thought of these things.

Bettina had been standing outside the door. She never expected Young Master Ethan not only to let Annetta off so easily but also to treat that woman so tenderly. Bettina was furious and wished she could chop off Annetta’s legs on the spot.

However, no matter how unwilling and angry she was, there was nothing she could do. She could only leave angrily after a hateful glare at Annetta.

Even Howard was surprised. Other people did not know how abnormal, possessive and territorial Young Master Ethan was, but after years of service to him, he was well aware. He could not understand how Ethan had let this woman off so easily.

And had even specifically instructed him to bring Annetta to her grandfather’s birthday banquet?

Howard felt like he was dreaming. No, he didn’t even dare to think of such things!

Although it was strange, Howard still walked to Annetta and said, “Miss White, let’s go!”

“Where are we going?”

“Miss White, have you forgotten? Today is your grandfather’s 60th birthday.”

Annetta’s heart skipped a beat when she heard that, and her eyes were red-rimmed with tears once again. Grandfather was still alive!

She remembered that in her previous life; she had been imprisoned by Ethan because she met with Caleb. The White family had thought she was dead. Hunk White, her cruel and unscrupulous father, had used the news of her death to upset her grandfather, who loved her dearly.

Her father, her stepmother Cicely, her stepsister Carla, and Caleb Taylor had also spread rumours about her. They claimed she had been having affairs with many rich businessmen. Everyone called her a vixen and a seducer of men, just like her mother.

Her grandfather had a heart attack and died on the spot due to anger.

Annetta had been released a month later and heard the news of her grandfather’s passing. By that time, her father and her aunt had seized the opportunity to embezzle all of her grandfather’s family property.

She only knew how important she was to her grandfather after he had passed away.

However, she did not expect that in this life, Ethan would actually offer to let her go to see her grandfather.

Howard was shocked to see tears welling up in Annetta’s eyes. Then he realised the reason Young Master Ethan did not lose his temper just now. Was it because Young Master Ethan discovered he could not handle this woman when he had been hard on her and had now switched to a gentler approach?

It seemed like his gentle approach had worked, and it had moved this heartless woman to tears!

“Miss White, are you all right?” Howard said. “Actually, you don’t have to be so emotional. Instead of crying, you should remember the good side of Young Master Ethan.”

Annetta wiped the tears from his eyes and glanced at him coldly.

Ethan’s assistant had always had great hostility towards her. In her previous life, he had always ridiculed her in a sinister and peculiar manner when Ethan was not around.

In the previous life, Annetta’s focus had been on Caleb, and she had always ignored Howard’s deliberate harassment.

However, Howard had reminded Annetta of something. She realized that Ethan treated her differently in this life. It seemed that as long as she behaved a little more, he would treat her a thousand times better.

“I’m going to change. Get out,” Annetta ordered, her expression indifferent when she turned to face Howard.

Howard could not help but glance at her a few times.

“What’s wrong?” Annetta raised her eyes and glared at him fiercely.

In a daze, Howard thought she was like Ethan somehow.

Howard blinked in disbelief.

He wanted another look, but Annetta had already gone inside to change.

Howard felt he was going out of his mind. How could he think that this woman he had always despised was very similar to his master?