Chapter 153: Styling

Elias’s reaction had already said enough.

Serena did not push him for a spoken answer.

Besides, the person sitting beside her still had not shown his full shape. Human or ghost, innocent thing or professional liar, she could not say for certain yet.

It did not matter.

Soon, she would see him clearly.

When they returned to the Blackwood residence, Elias looked at the scene waiting in front of him and instinctively glanced up at Serena.

"Are we going to war?"

Serena laughed softly, clearly amused by the complaint.

"They’re one of the most famous styling teams in the world," she said simply.

Then she lowered her gaze and met Elias’s eyes.

From that look alone, Elias understood.

"Wait," he said. "They’re here for me?"

Serena nodded, smiling. "What’s wrong? You don’t like it?"

Elias’s expression turned complicated.

He stayed quiet for a long time before he said, very softly, "I’m just... not used to having this many people around me."

Serena saw through him at once.

What he really meant was probably that he had not expected her to put this much thought into him.

Unfortunately, that thought was only half right.

Everything she had prepared today was a setup. A stage. A clean, expensive layer of bait laid down before the real test.

Still, her voice turned gentle as water.

"It’s fine. I’ll stay with you."

The sentence seemed to steady him.

The faint panic in Elias’s face faded, little by little, until he looked calmer.

"What am I supposed to do?"

"Just follow their instructions."

A clean-cut young man from the styling team smiled at Elias. He had the easy elegance of someone used to working around wealthy clients and stranger demands, and his English was polished enough to sound almost rehearsed.

"Mr. Kane, please come with me."

Elias took a few careful steps after him, then suddenly thought of something and turned back toward Serena.

"You... you come too."

Serena’s eyes curved with laughter. "You really need me to stay with you? What are you, a child?"

Elias bit lightly at his lip.

He did not say anything after that, but his eyes filled with a thin, wounded accusation.

You lied to me.

Serena looked at him for a second, then seemed to give in.

"Fine."

She followed.

A smile appeared on Elias’s face almost before he could stop it, bright enough to make the air around him look warmer. Then he seemed to realize what he was doing and quickly pressed it down.

The happiness in his eyes, however, would not hide.

They left the main living room and stepped out into a small garden behind the house.

There, Elias saw a chair already set up beneath the open sky. Beside it sat rows of tools, towels, products, trays, brushes, and sleek portable equipment, all arranged with the terrifying neatness of people who charged obscene amounts of money to make beauty look effortless.

The young stylist smiled.

"An open-air cut. I promise, it’ll be worth it."

"I already got a haircut," Elias said.

The stylist shook his head. "You shortened your hair. That isn’t the same thing as styling it properly. A real cut finds the shape that suits you best and brings out the most complete version of your face."

His gaze moved over Elias with professional focus.

"You’re already beautiful like this, Mr. Kane. But in my opinion, this is still very far from your best."

Elias’s heart gave a deeply shameless little cheer.

This man knew how to talk.

If he was going to talk like that, he should talk more.

Outwardly, Elias lowered his lashes with a trace of embarrassment, a faint shyness rising across his face.

Under the stylist’s direction, he settled back into the reclining chair.

Only after he lay down did he notice the open window above.

A figure stood there.

Long, narrow eyes. A face that looked amused even without a smile.

Liora Voss.

So after he warned her, she really had become much more obedient.

Now, even when she came to see him, she only watched from a distance.

So well behaved.

Elias would not have minded giving her a small smile as a reward.

But there were too many people around him right now. Too many eyes. Too much risk of exposure.

So he did nothing.

He only closed his eyes.

He had to admit, any ordinary thing became strangely different when it was moved under an open sky.

A haircut was supposed to be a normal little inconvenience. In this garden, beneath a clean blue stretch of afternoon, it took on a faint sense of ceremony.

A light breeze brushed his face. The scent of flowers drifted near his nose. Around him, the styling team moved without a sound. There were so many people present, yet not one of them made the space feel crowded.

On that point alone, their professionalism was obvious.

Of course, a haircut could not stay silent forever.

Soon, Elias heard water.

He was still wondering where it had come from when the chair shifted beneath him. The reclined angle lowered into a flatter position all at once.

Elias opened his eyes immediately, startled.

The first thing he saw was Serena’s face.

A face that looked very much like she had gotten exactly what she wanted.

"Serena Blackwood," Elias said, annoyed. "Why would you scare me like that?"

His voice carried irritation, but his eyes did not look truly angry. With that faint flush still on his face and the soft accusation in his gaze, it looked more like he was sulking.

"I didn’t scare you," Serena said. "They need to wash your hair. This is the position for it."

"Who lowers someone all at once like that?"

Serena spread her hands. "Accident."

"You..." Elias could not win against her.

The person who could usually attack with a smile and talk someone into a corner seemed to have been swapped out. He reached one hand toward Serena, trying to grab her, but after several attempts, his fingers still could not reach her.

When it looked like he might actually sit up to catch her, Serena stepped forward.

At last, Elias caught the edge of her clothes.

Serena followed the pull naturally. She came to stand beside him, bent down, and lowered her head.

There were so many people around them.

She still kissed his smooth forehead.

"All right," she murmured. "That was my fault. I’m sorry. Be good and let them finish."

Elias seemed completely unprepared for it.

His eyes widened.

Then, without saying anything else, his face reddened visibly. The expression he wore turned obedient and soft in a way that made him look less like a dangerous liar and more like a spoiled young husband being coaxed out of a mood.

"Okay," he said quietly.

Serena paused.

Then she watched Elias close his eyes and release her clothes.

She said nothing more. She only gave the team a glance and stepped back a few paces, leaving the space to them again.

At that moment, Serena seemed to sense something.

She raised her eyes slightly toward a second-floor window.

Nothing was there.

[System Theta: Host...]

Elias answered lazily, eyes still closed. "Hm?"

He was enjoying the scalp massage.

The stylist’s technique was excellent. Professional enough that Elias almost let out a satisfied hum.

[System Theta: You and Serena Blackwood... seem like a couple.]

It had wanted to say sweet.

But was that something it could say?

Elias’s voice was relaxed. "Aren’t Serena and I playing a couple right now? What’s strange about that?"

[System Theta: But... she hasn’t fallen in love with you yet, has she?]

"Shh," Elias said softly. "You’ll understand in a while."

Warm water flowed over his hair, the temperature perfect.

After that, the whole process became almost too comfortable.

They washed his hair. Pressed warm towels near his neck. Adjusted the chair. Dried each damp lock with careful hands. Every movement was measured, quiet, and expensive enough to make the price obvious without anyone saying a number.

The formal cut had not even started yet, and Elias was already getting sleepy.

His thoughts loosened.

The sky stayed bright above him. The breeze kept brushing past. Someone’s hands moved through his hair with patient precision, and the world narrowed to warmth, water, pressure, and Serena’s presence somewhere nearby.

By the time he heard, "All done," his mind had nearly drifted away.

Elias opened his eyes.

Two members of the team carried over a large mirror and positioned it in front of him.

The young stylist stood nearby with a calm smile.

"Are you satisfied, Mr. Kane?"

Elias stared at his reflection.

For a while, he said nothing.

Then he slowly nodded.

Satisfied?

He was more than satisfied.

The hairstyle in the mirror was exactly the same as Lucien Hart’s in the original plot file.

So that was why Serena had been so thoughtful.

She had not been styling Elias Kane.

She had been trying to turn him completely into Lucien Hart.

Fine.

Elias’s lips curved faintly.

Speed it up, then.

All of it.