Chapter 376: This young master is stunning

Adrian slowly reached up with a manicured finger and tilted one cucumber slice away from his left eye. He caught her reflection in the massive mirror, gave her a long, slow look of disdain, and then coolly pressed the cucumber back into place.

Ella didn’t know why but she felt like the man was sulking and he was even a bit grumpy.

However, she dropped the thoughts when he opened his mouth.

"Adjust the lighting," Adrian spoke again, "And do a specialized treatment for my eyes as well. I feel they have become a bit... rotten lately from being exposed to bad views."

The unadulterated narcissism was so overwhelming that for a moment, Ella’s worries about the Yu Mansion and Lana faded into pure irritation.

She gave his silver-foiled man one last, incredulous look, turned on her heel, and rushed back to her own room before she could lose her mind.

Ella practically slammed her bedroom door shut, the image of Adrian looking like a high-tech baked potato still burned into her eyes.

She leaned against the wood, taking several deep breaths to stabilize her mind.

"This has to be a side effect," she muttered, pulling her phone from her pocket with trembling fingers, "It has to be the medication, hah!"

She quickly scrolled through her contacts and hit the dial icon for Ronan. The phone rang, once, twice, five times.

Normally, Ronan answered by the second ring just to ensure he had maximum time to insult her. This time, the silence on the other end stretched uncomfortably long.

When the line finally clicked open, Ella didn’t wait for a greeting. "Ronan! Are you still alive?"

Silence.

Ella frowned, pulling the phone away to check if the call had dropped. There were muffled noises in the background but no immediate retort. Usually, he’d be straight back at bickering with her.

"Just because you wish I were dead, doesn’t mean I’m going to die so young," Ronan’s voice finally came through.

Ella froze at the calm and gentle voice that seemed to have replaced Rona’s dry sarcasm.

"Are you... possessed?" Ella blurted out, her suspicion spiking, "Did you hit your head somewhere?"

"What’s the matter, Ella?" Ronan questioned, ignoring her jab entirely.

That gentle tone remained, sending a shiver of unease down her spine. The man who usually treated her like a particularly bothersome woodland witch was suddenly acting like a saint with her.

She shook it off. She had bigger fish to fry; specifically, a fish currently being marinated in expensive serums in the Master Bedroom.

"Are you still Adrian’s doctor?" she demanded, snapping back into her mission.

The solemnity in Ronan’s voice returned instantly, "What happened to Ace?"

"I... don’t know," Ella sighed, pacing the length of her room, "It’s strange. I walked into his room and he was... he was having a full-body spa day. How can someone change this much? It’s like he’s a completely different soul in the same body!" she blurted in frustration.

On the other end of the line, she heard Ronan exhale a long, weary sigh.

"The matter of the human psyche is not as simple as physical wounds," he said softly, "We cannot tone it down to a single cause. Ace has undergone a total dissociation. He has severed the ties to everything that previously consumed him, the King Empire, and... you.’’

Ella fell silent. Did that mean he deep down liked painting, skincare and other material things?

"It’s not necessary that whatever he is doing now is something he likes. Think of it this way," Ronan explained.

"His subconscious is desperately trying to fill the void where his identity used to be. He’s never had a routine that wasn’t dictated by duty or his... obsession. Now, he’s creating a new one. It’s a defense mechanism. He’s surrounding himself with vanity because it’s easy and doesn’t feel hollow.’’

Ella hung up a few minutes later, feeling even heavier than before.

If this superficial and arrogant version of Adrian was the only thing keeping him from the nightmares and the seizures, did she even have the right to try and bring the ’real’ him back?

Lunch was served at one. Ella sat at the long, mahogany dining table, her appetite non-existent. She moved her fork through a salad.

Suddenly, a series of muffled thuds echoed from the hallway.

Clang!

Ella looked up just in time to see two younger housemaids stumble backward, one of them tripping over a decorative vase.

Near the sideboard, Bertha froze, the silver soup ladle trembling in her hand as she nearly upended a bowl.

Ella followed their paralyzed gazes toward the grand staircase.

Adrian was descending the stairs, but he no longer looked like the ’Adrian’ they were familiar with.

In his place was a vision in shimmering moonlight. His hair had been treated to a perfect, icy silver shade.

He was dressed in a tailored, silk shirt of deep charcoal that made his new hair color pop with an almost ethereal glow. To top it off, he had donned a pair of light-tinted glasses.

He didn’t look like the tyrant CEO. He looked like the nation’s top-tier idol, a heartthrob celebrity who had just stepped off a private jet from Milan.

His earth-shattering beauty had been magnified.

Ella touched her nose, feeling the warmth of a nosebleed that was about to happen...

She was already quite obsessed with Adrian’s beauty. And now... was he trying to... make it difficult for her to resist him?

Adrian reached the bottom step and paused, clearly savoring the absolute silence that had fallen over the room. He raked a manicured hand through his silver locks, tilting his head just enough to catch the light.

"This young master knows he is stunning," Adrian remarked, his smooth voice dripping with sheer narcissism. He walked toward the table with a literal spring in his step, "But really, you all don’t have to keep staring like that."

He caught sight of the maid who had fallen, "And someone fix that vase. My new aesthetic requires symmetry."

Ella felt her jaw twitch.