Silas Thornton extended his hand, palm up, and held it out in front of her.
His gaze gestured for her to give him the phone.
Holly Wyatt hesitated. She slowly picked up her phone and stared at the blank notepad app. Biting her lower lip, her fingertips slowly typed out a few words.
The phone, a top-of-the-line model from two years ago, was placed in Silas Thornton's hand.
"It's already deleted."
Silas Thornton's brows knitted together instantly. His thin lips pressed into a tight line as the air around him grew cold. He squeezed out a single word through gritted teeth, "Deleted?"
Holly Wyatt saw his tail, which had been curled over the back of the chair, slowly droop down, retract, and then...
It bushed out!!!
Holly Wyatt's heart clenched. She nervously picked at the tabletop and looked at Silas Thornton.
'Did I... say something wrong?'
'Red alert! Red alert! The cub doesn't want to talk to me!! And she's even using such a clumsy excuse!! Has her human rebellious phase started!? I'm screwed, I'm screwed, I have no experience with this!!'
Holly Wyatt's eyes widened as she stared at Silas Thornton in disbelief.
'Rebellious phase?'
'Who?'
'Me? At twenty years old?'
'Isn't this rebellious phase arriving a little too late??'
Silas Thornton raised his eyes, his expression grave. His dark gaze locked onto her, a look of someone bracing for a serious confrontation.
The tips of her ears turned red under his scrutinizing gaze.
She reached out and snatched the phone from his hand.
As soon as she took the phone back, a mournful wolf howl echoed in her ears.
'Awooo~ Rebellious phase!! Awooo~ Awooo~'
Holly Wyatt blinked, covering her left ear—the one closer to Silas Thornton—with one hand, while her other swiped rapidly on the phone screen.
'We're about to fight!! Awooo~ Awooo~'
SMACK!
She smacked the phone down on the table.
Silas Thornton's expression was cold as he leaned forward slightly to look at the screen.
"It's too much!! I can't finish it all!! It's expensive and wasteful."
Silas Thornton froze for a second, then said casually, "Just eat as much as you can. I'll eat the rest."
After a moment's pause, he added, "It won't be wasted."
'Awooo~ So she was just worried about it being wasteful, not having a rebellious phase. This is great, so great~'
Holly Wyatt pressed her lips together. Her gaze fell on his perked-up tail. She rubbed her fingertips together, suppressing the urge to touch it, and lowered her eyes to eat quietly.
While Holly Wyatt ate, Silas Thornton's inner voice quieted down.
Holly Wyatt finally didn't have to cover her ears.
This was the first time she had ever felt the world was too noisy.
'But... I kind of like it.'
'A little noise is good. It's better than a silence so profound you can't even hear yourself breathe.'
TAP TAP TAP...
Silas Thornton's fingertips tapped on the table in front of Holly Wyatt.
Holly Wyatt immediately looked up, her cheeks puffed out with food, like a little hamster.
She tilted her head slightly, her bangs falling with the movement and revealing a bit of her smooth forehead.
'Ahhh! The cub is acting all cute!!'
Holly Wyatt: '...'
'I'm just eating...'
Silas Thornton stared at her slender wrist. "What about the nanny I hired before?"
'I'm going to give that human nanny a piece of my mind!! To think she'd let my cub get this skinny! The cub doesn't even seem like a picky eater; she's eating with such relish. It must be that human nanny who didn't raise her properly!! I'm furious! Furious! Furious! How can a human be so bad at raising another human!?'
Holly Wyatt paused, took her phone, and slowly typed.
She typed a line, deleted it, and retyped it.
It was as if she was holding back many grievances.
But the words and the screen were too cold to convey her emotions.
'I knew it! That nanny didn't take good care of the cub! Look, look! The cub has so much she wants to say!'
The phone was pushed in front of Silas Thornton. "A month after you left, she stole the money you gave me and ran off. Reporting it to the police didn't get it back."
In the human world, you can't get anywhere without money.
It was especially hard for a penniless cub, who would be forced to live by picking up trash.
From that short line of text, Silas Thornton could almost see his cub struggling to survive by picking up trash.
And for two years!!
'That damn woman!! I paid her such a high salary, and she still had the nerve to steal the money and run!! The worst part is she left my cub all alone to survive by picking up trash!!!'
The ears on Silas Thornton's head stood up straight in anger, more erect than Holly Wyatt had ever seen them, like two small antennae.
She did her best to look away, blinking in confusion. 'Picking up trash? But I didn't.'
Silas Thornton took her phone and fiddled with it for a moment.
Only then did he discover that his contact information wasn't in Holly Wyatt's phone!!
'Ah! Damn it! I actually forgot to leave my contact info for the cub when I left!! It's all that old Wizard's fault for rushing me!! Made me do everything in a hurry!! And now my cub has been picking up trash for two years because of it!! I could just kick myself!'
The two "little antennae" on Silas Thornton's head started twitching back and forth in his anger, like tiny fans.
Holly Wyatt pursed her lips, silently pulling her hair from behind her ears to the front to cover them. She raised a hand to press down the stray strands.
'It's a little... too loud.'
Silas Thornton expressionlessly entered his phone number into Holly Wyatt's phone and set it as an emergency contact.
He then sent the nanny's personal information to his human assistant, Quinn Zeller, telling him to handle the matter.
After sending the message, Silas Thornton locked his phone, raised his eyes to look at Holly Wyatt, and said in a deep voice, "Leave this to me."
Holly Wyatt's pupils trembled slightly. The tips of her fingers, still clutching her chopsticks, turned white, and a prickle of tears stung her nose.
She quickly lowered her eyes and continued to eat.
Silas Thornton placed her phone on the table. His gaze fell on the dark screen, and his fingertips tapped lightly on the tabletop, his face lost in thought.
'Is the cub's deafness and mutism from birth? Communicating with a phone like this is a little slow. Will other people get impatient? Will they look down on my cub? Tsk, not everyone can be as patient as I am!!'
Holly Wyatt stopped eating and tucked her hair behind her ears.
'Maybe I should have the old Wizard take a look at the cub? What if it's curable?'
Holly Wyatt froze.
'Cure my deafness and mutism??!'
'For real?'
'Didn't the doctor say it had been too long, that it was incurable?'
'Could the old Wizard he mentioned really cure my deafness and mutism?'
'But I'd have to make a trip back. It's more convenient to get medicinal herbs back there; many special herbs lose their potency ten minutes after being pulled from the ground.'
'Tsk... but... the cub doesn't know I'm a wolf. If we go back and she accidentally sees the pack in their wolf forms, what if she gets scared?'
Holly Wyatt blinked and shook her head almost imperceptibly.
'I wouldn't be scared. I'd just want to pet them.'
She looked up and saw the two black ears on Silas Thornton's head flicking back and forth in agitation.
'How about I have the pack hide in the bedroom first? And only let the old Wizard come out to see the cub? Hmm! I think that could work!'
Holly Wyatt pouted slightly.
'I don't think that's a very good idea.'
'I want to see the little wolf cubs from the pack he mentioned. And pet them.'
Silas Thornton pushed her phone back to her. "I'm going to step out to make a call. You eat first."
Holly Wyatt nodded obediently and put her phone in her pocket.
The thought that she might soon get treatment for her deafness and mutism, and possibly even see little wolf cubs, made her so excited her face flushed red, and she ate with even more enthusiasm.
In the end, she only ate half a flatbread and one small steamed bun. The rest all went into Silas Thornton's stomach.
Holly Wyatt: 'Do wolves... eat this much?'
*
「Halfway up the mountain.」
Holly Wyatt blinked, staring in a daze at the manor before her, which was dozens of times larger than her biological parents' villa. She looked up at Silas Thornton.
She held her phone up to his face. "Where is this?"