CHAPTER 365

"You're right." Madeline gave some thought to Leigh's statement and found it plausible, so she began to worry about Caitlin.

All of a sudden, Leigh sat upright and shoved Madeline. "All right, enough of this talk. It's getting late, so you should return to your husband and children."

"Nonsense." Madeline blushed. "Sebastian doesn't need my company; only Aldo and Buddy do."

"You're getting defensive because of an innocent statement." Leigh poked Madeline's cheek and teased, "Look at yourself, blushing every time at the mention of your husband. Don't dare tell me you don't have feelings for him and aren't thinking of spending time with him at home."

Madeline couldn't refute her at all.

"All right, all right. You can go now." Leigh pushed her out of the room. "Your husband is an excellent man and your children's birth father. It's impossible not to fall in love with him, so don't freak out. Take all you have to love him and get it on. I'm expecting two more kids from you. Don't worry, I'll look after them."

Madeline could only manage a weak comeback. "Leigh, stop drinking already. You talk nonsense when you're drunk."

"I'm barely drinking." Leigh grimaced at her. "I'd have asked you to stay over if I were drunk, but I am not, so I give you permission to go home and sleep beside your husband."

Madeline stood no chance against Leigh as she gave up. "That's it. I'll leave you alone."

She shot daggers at Leigh. "Take a rest. No more drinking."

"I got it, Mom!" Leigh waved at her, urging Madeline to go. "Move, move. Goodbye!"

Shaking her head in resignation, Madeline turned on her heels to leave.

Once Leigh got back to her room, she scanned around her surroundings. Even though the room was empty, she suddenly felt suffocated at the scene, so she grabbed a new bottle of alcohol and headed downstairs to the garden.

A swing was featured in the garden. Under the bright moon, the breeze swayed at her as the fragrance of flowers soothed her mind.

She took a sip of alcohol on the swing before she laughed out loud at something she couldn't even understand.

"Who's over there?" A person stopped in their tracks on the bluestone walkway and looked in her direction from a distance.

A guard assigned to the Sun Garden strode over and answered in a low tone, "Young Master Lucas, she's Mrs. Hart's friend and Young Master's personal doctor, Dr. Leigh Shefford."

"Is she? I'll go take a look." As the time was getting late, Lucas planned to retire to his room, but the name piqued his interest. He turned away from his planned route and walked over to her.

The bright moonlight and faint lights from the lamp posts in the garden helped the two to see each other's profile, but it was not as clear as they wanted it to be.

Since Leigh wasn't known as a person who adhered to etiquette and was drunk at the moment, she didn't bother to care about them. Even though Lucas was right before her eyes, she remained seated.

"It's really you, Dr. Shefford." Lucas stopped at some distance away from her. "Why are you here? It's late."

Leigh was swinging back and forth in her seat when she replied in a relaxed tone, "I can't sleep."

He cast a look at the bottle she was holding. "So you're trying to drink away your sorrows?"

"Nope." She took another sip from the bottle. "I like to drink."

He didn't know what to say, so he commented, "What a unique interest."

"Is that so?" She narrowed her eyes at him. "You're bad at conversation."

He was taken aback by the statement. "What?"

Lifting her chin to meet his gaze, Leigh continued, "If drinking is considered a unique interest, then the hostesses working in the clubs are all unique too."

Lucas was speechless as he held back a mocking laugh. Who's the one making the conversation awkward now?

"It's in their work scope to drink, and it doesn't mean they love to drink as a hobby," he argued.

Her eyes were half-closed as pondered. At last, she pointed her index finger at him and agreed, "You're right."

In the beginning, she was holding the bottle and the swing with each of her hands. As she made a sudden move of letting go of the rope and pointing at him, she lost her balance and fell off the swing.

"Watch out!" He rushed over and held her in his arms, preventing her fate from falling to the ground.

Taking a moment to collect her senses, Leigh pushed him away lightly when she had calmed down. "Thank you."

He frowned at her state. "You're drunk. Let me send you back."

"There's no need for it." She found a seat on the stone stool near the swing and rested her chin in her hands as she gazed at the moon. "I want to watch the moon."

Lucas couldn't form a proper response. Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

Leigh was indeed a beautiful woman. The scene of a beautiful woman resting her chin in her hands and watching the moon should be admirable, but it was a killjoy to see the wine bottle in her hand.

Worried about leaving a drunk woman alone in the garden, he sat opposite her. "How much did you drink?"

Pondering for a moment, she eventually raised three fingers at him. "Three bottles."

He studied the details of the alcohol under the moonlight.

It was a kind of alcohol exclusively for women as the alcohol content wasn't as high as the white liquor, but it was around twenty percent nonetheless. Three bottles of them would no doubt affect the drinker even for a man like him.

"You have to stop. You've already drunk too much." At that, he tried to grab the bottle from her hand.

There wasn't much content in the bottle at the moment, leaving only about a quarter left. Leigh let go of the bottle generously. "Do you want a sip? Go on."

Once again, her unexpected words took his ability to respond away.

I'm better than this.

It took him a moment before he found his words. He shot a question at the woman who was gazing at the moon as she rested her chin on his hands. "Are you feeling down?"

"That's correct." Leigh continued to rest her head on her palms. "You're quite observant. I can't believe you noticed that!"

Once again, words were stuck in Lucas' throat.

He had never witnessed her skills as a doctor and couldn't tell whether she was indeed excellent, but he affirmed that she wasn't good at conversation.

She asked with a tilted head, "Are you feeling sad about something?"

"Of course," he answered without hesitation. "That's life. Nobody can be free of trouble in their life."

"Is that so?" The corner of her lips curled up into a mechanical smile. "Why don't you share your story with me? That way, I can be happy!"

He stared at her with an incredulous look as the urge to pour the wine over her head emerged.

Not noticing his silence, Leigh continued, "It'll be even better if it's a family issue with a tragic backstory!"

Lucas was frustrated by her antics but he decided not to fuss about the things a drunk woman said.

"What is it? Are you not happy?" Closing their distance, Leigh studied his face. "Come on, don't pull a long face. I promise my tragic story will make you happier."

He stared at her wordlessly, irritated at being unable to prove his innocence to a drunk woman.

Sighing deeply, her face sank into her palms as she told him her story. "Why can't a person be born by absorbing the essence of the sun and moon? It's better to not have parents. Thus, none of them will ever abandon you but force you to listen to them when they need you with the excuse of being blood- related to you. It never fails to disgust me."

He allowed his gaze to linger as he looked at her. "Are you feeling sad?"

"Sad?" She considered his suggestion for a moment and nodded. "I might be, because—"

After grabbing Lucas by the wrist, she then pressed his hand on her chest.

He wasn't expecting her to grab him by the wrist, so he didn't react in time when she pulled his hand toward her and his palm ended up resting on a spot he shouldn't be touching.

Startled at the soft sensation, he swatted her hands away and drew his hand back, clenching it tightly on the side.

Leigh was unaware of her reverse harassment as she pressed a hand over her heart and muttered, "This place hurts. It hurts so much as if something has fallen on it."