?<strong>Chapter 472:</strong>


    Driscoll just stood there with a helpless look on his face. He couldn’t even begin to imagine what could have happened between Jayden and Elyse to cause such a terrible fallout.


    “Sir,” he spoke up in a bid to ease some of the tension, “I’m sure there’s a perfectly reasonable exnation for all this. Please listen to what Elyse has to say. Stubbornness isn’t always a good thing.”


    “Are you trying to dictate my actions now?” Jayden snapped.


    He red at Driscoll for a brief moment before heading in the direction of his study. Driscoll let out a long sigh. As things stood, it might be much harder for the couple to reconcile this time around. “Should I have dinner served?” he called out in a hurry.


    “Dinner? I’m too furious to eat!” With that, Jayden disappeared into his study and mmed the door in his wake.


    Once inside, he got up from his wheelchair and strode to the French doors. He pounded his fist against the sill and grunted in frustration. Blinking at his clenched fist, he slowly opened it in a daze. He stared at his open palm, then held it up in the air as if he was reaching for something. This was the very same hand he had used to strangle Elyse.


    Jayden’s face twisted at the memory. He pressed his lips into a thin line as a wave of tangled emotions washed over him. He hadn’t wanted to hurt her, but he had lost control of himself. He had been too angry, too scared… of what, even Jayden himself didn’t know. He clutched at his aching chest and heaved.


    After calming down, he padded over to the sofa and plopped down with a heavy sigh. Pain and sorrow marred his handsome face.


    Meanwhile, Driscoll, the ever-vignt butler, went upstairs to bring Elyse’s dinner right on the dot. Elyse was slumped on the floor like a lifeless doll, quiet and unmoving. It was the knocking on her bedroom door that pulled her back to her senses, and even then, she was a little dazed as she stood and went to open the door.


    Greeted by Elyse’s tear-stained face, Driscoll couldn’t help but feel a pang of emotion. “Are you all right? I brought you some food.”


    Elyse gave him a faint, almost mocking smile. “Didn’t he forbid me from eating? You’re disobeying his orders.”


    Driscoll huffed and patted her hand before walking in to set the tray on the table. “Don’t worry about it. I know him well. Despite his tough exterior, he is rather softhearted. He would never let you go hungry, he couldn’t bear it.”


    Elyse sat at the table and watched as Driscoll set up the meal. Her movements were sluggish, and her eyes were still slightly ssy. “Why do you say that Jayden is softhearted?”


    Just as the butler opened his mouth to answer, he suddenly noticed the red marks around Elyse’s neck. “Did hey a hand on you?” he blurted out in shock. “Did he do that to you?”


    Elyse quickly covered her neck, her face turning pink in a mix of lingering fear and embarrassment. She tried to deny it, but her throat was still hurting, and all that came out was a series of violent coughs. Driscoll hurriedly poured her a ss of water. “Here, drink this to soothe your throat.”


    Thankfully, Elyse felt much better after a few sips. Driscoll sighed. He had lost count of the number of times he had sighed in the past hour. “Forgive me for saying this. I can never excuse his actions against you just now, but I have to say that he isn’t solely to me for his behavior.”


    Puzzled, Elyse looked up at him with a frown.


    “As you know,” Driscoll continued, “He is the firstborn, and his parents have always had high expectations of him ever since he was a child. He never got the chance to experience his childhood like most normal kids did. He never got to fully express himself, as his thoughts and ideas were always weighed down by his responsibilities. In time, he turned into the emotionless robot he is notoriously known as. And with the Owen family mantra asserting that profit is above all, well, everything molded him into the man that he is today.”


    Driscoll gave her a sad, resigned smile. “I know for a fact that he is not the heartless man that the public paints him to be. But I am merely a butler. There is only so much I can do to pull him out of his shell. You, on the other hand, are different. Everyone can see just how special you are to him. It’s such a shame that he couldn’t recognize love for what it is.”


    “What do you mean by that?” Elyse asked in confusion.


    “He has been deprived of love and affection for most of his life, so he doesn’t know how to navigate his feelings properly. An ordinary person would openly embrace love and joy, especially when it’s within their reach. But he was raised in thenguage of power and greed. It is all he has ever known. So when he wants something, he seizes it like a beast would its prey.”


    Driscoll finished setting up the dishes and handed Elyse her cutlery. “I am not asking you to forgive him. That is your prerogative. I just hoped that you would have some room to understand him and where he ising from before making a decision you might regret.”


    Elyse chuckled under her breath. “Thanks, I actually thought you would ask that I forgive him.”


    “Feelings can go both ways between two people. I’m afraid he never really understood this. To him, everything he wants belongs to him, and must therefore be locked up within his walls, always safe and present.”


    As if to lighten the mood, Driscoll smiled sheepishly and shrugged. “It’s pretty childish of him, don’t you think?”


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