Chapter 503: Scarlett

The banquet hall at Duke Manor was brightly lit. Though it was nearing midnight, the room remained bustling with noise and activity. The members of The Lord of the Rings Crew, along with Duke's family and friends, had only made a brief appearance at the Vanity Fair party before rushing all the way to Malibu.

As the night's biggest winner, Duke was the center of everyone's congratulations—and the primary target for their toasts. Even though people here didn't aggressively force drinks on one another, with so many guests enthusiastically coming over to clink glasses, Duke couldn't refuse to drink entirely.

Among the crowd were energetic instigators like Elijah Wood and Billy Boyd, who occasionally cheered and urged Duke to down a few more glasses.

Even though he was only drinking champagne, with his pitiful alcohol tolerance, Duke started to feel tipsy not long after the banquet began.

But the crowd had no intention of letting him off the hook. Led by Leonardo DiCaprio and assisted by Sofia Coppola, they seized this perfect opportunity with the clear goal of getting him drunk.

"Leo, Sofia..."

Duke put down his empty glass, absolutely refusing the fresh one Sofia Coppola held out to him. "I can't drink anymore, unless you want to see me collapse."

"Darling, this is the moment most worth celebrating," Sofia Coppola said, refusing to let him off. "After today, there won't be another opportunity like this."

"You've only had four glasses altogether," Leonardo chimed in.

"He really will get drunk if he has any more," Ivanka spoke up.

Duke shook his head firmly. Sofia and Leonardo exchanged a glance and left the table.

As soon as they left, someone else came over. Even though this country didn't place a heavy emphasis on drinking to make friends, it was impossible to completely refuse when someone raised a glass to you during social engagements. Doing so would be incredibly rude.

As the host of the banquet, Duke couldn't avoid these pleasantries either.

"Hi, Duke."

A familiar voice rang out from the side, and Scarlett Johansson, wearing a light green cocktail dress, strolled over unhurriedly. She had arrived here even earlier than Duke; the moment the awards ceremony ended, she had accompanied Mrs. Leah back to the manor.

"Congratulations, Duke."

She walked up opposite him, raised her wine glass toward him, and tipped her head back to drain it completely.

Duke picked up his champagne, but only lightly wet his lips.

Seeing this, Scarlett immediately voiced her dissatisfaction. "Hey, hey, hey. Duke, I know your tolerance. Can't you just have one drink with me?"

"I'll drink with you," Ivanka offered.

Scarlett shook her head without a second thought. "I've been drinking with Duke since before I was ten years old. I know how much he can handle better than you do."

Ivanka turned her head slightly and glanced at Duke. What she couldn't see, she naturally didn't need to care about. But tonight, she had seen too much—Charlize Theron, Cameron Diaz, Alessandra Ambrosio, Madonna Ciccone, Shania Twain, Naomi Watts, Catherine Zeta-Jones...

All these women had walked right past her, greeting Duke passionately as if she didn't even exist. Some things in the past didn't seem to have been left in the past at all.

She wasn't a member of Hollywood, and she couldn't understand why the ecosystem of this circle was so chaotic.

She was genuinely happy that Duke had won Best Director, but from walking the red carpet until now, she had felt a persistent, slight discomfort.

Even when she returned alone earlier, a thought had surfaced in her mind. Those women were so warm and familiar with Duke—were they still keeping in touch with him in private?

Ivanka knew how terrible such thoughts were. The moment the idea briefly reared its head, she hurriedly tossed it to the back of her mind.

"Evie, did you know?" Scarlett said, her tone carrying a subtle hint of showing off that only another woman could detect. "My first time drinking was with Duke. My first time shooting a movie was with Duke, too..."

Hearing that second sentence, even though Duke's brain was a bit slow from the alcohol, he sensed her strange tone. Just like in years past, his voice turned stern as he snapped, "Scar!"

The moment he said that, Scarlett ducked her head slightly in a conditioned reflex. "Alright, I'll shut up."

After she spoke, she asked for another glass of wine and raised it toward Duke and Ivanka. "Here's to both of you."

Duke and Ivanka both lifted their glasses and took a small sip. Scarlett drained hers again, then sauntered off toward the other side of the room.

Feeling the alcohol going to his head, and seeing yet another person heading their way, Duke said rather helplessly, "I'm going to see if Mom is asleep."

"Mhm." Ivanka nodded, understanding that Duke had just made an excuse to avoid dealing with those people.

Stepping out of the banquet hall, Duke ducked into the adjacent lounge. He stayed in its bathroom for a while, and when he came out, he gently wiped his mouth with a tissue. Although his stomach felt a bit better, his head had started to grow dizzy and heavy.

Fortunately, it was only for this one night...

He sighed. There wouldn't be many more occasions like this in the future anyway.

He had no addiction to alcohol, and couldn't even say he liked it. If it weren't for an occasion like this, he normally wouldn't even touch the stuff.

He gently breathed into his palm, took a sniff, and shook his head. Leaving the lounge, he entered the stairwell and headed straight to a washroom on the second floor. He took out toothpaste and a toothbrush, intending to freshen up quickly.

Back in the banquet hall, Ivanka was surrounded by quite a few people. However, as an outsider, she wasn't familiar with these actors and industry folks, so she simply kept them company and chatted.

Not far away, Scarlett Johansson set down her wine glass and quietly slipped out of the banquet hall. She had known Duke since before she was ten, and in the beginning, they had maintained a rather good relationship. Even though they had grown slightly distant later on, she still came to the manor often because of her godmother, and she was very familiar with some of Duke's habits.

When Duke left the banquet hall, Scarlett knew perfectly well that he must be looking for a place to throw up.

And given Duke's habits, he absolutely wouldn't return right after throwing up. He would inevitably go wash up or change his clothes; he rarely committed a faux pas in public.

The banquet hall was on the first floor. After Scarlett came out, she estimated the time and bypassed the adjacent lounge, turning into the stairwell and heading straight upstairs. She found the dedicated washroom on the second floor, pressed her ear against the door to listen for a few seconds, then stepped back and leaned against the corridor wall, waiting near the doorway.

She was no longer a teenage girl. She knew that some things wouldn't just come to her if she waited. She had to snatch them for herself.

It wasn't that there was a lack of suitors inside and outside the industry chasing after her, but Scarlett had zero interest in those callow boys. Having grown up with such a towering figure right in front of her, those guys who thought themselves clever but were actually as stupid as donkeys only filled her with disgust.

Moreover, as she grew older, Scarlett had noticed some psychological changes within herself. The people who could capture her affection were definitely not those young men, but rather men who were much older than she was.

For example, the guy inside the washroom.

At this thought, Scarlett suddenly scratched her cheek and pinned the blame entirely on that guy in the washroom. If it weren't for him, how could she have ended up like this?

After brushing his teeth, Duke looked in the mirror and checked his formal suit. It was somewhat splattered with water stains, and since he had no idea when tonight's party would end, he decided to head back to his room to change.

In the banquet hall, Ivanka finally breathed a small sigh of relief after finishing her rounds of socializing and waiting for the crowd around her to gradually disperse. Fortunately, these people were either Duke's friends and crew members, or actors from The Lord of the Rings Crew. The people who would have made her uncomfortable—like Alessandra Ambrosio—had not come over to her at all.

Ivanka knew very well that those women definitely weren't avoiding her out of their own volition. Countless women in Hollywood probably wanted to step inside this manor. This had to be Duke's deliberate arrangement.

Thinking back to how Duke behaved around her, Ivanka felt she was definitely overthinking things. Perhaps they were often separated because of their work, but when they were together, Duke showed her plenty of care and attention.

"He's still not back?"

Checking her watch, Ivanka waved over the housekeeper, Emma. After leaving a few brief instructions, she walked out of the banquet hall. She knew Duke couldn't hold his liquor well and wanted to go check on him.

She pushed open the door to the adjacent lounge, but there was no one inside. Stepping onto the thick carpet, Ivanka took the stairs and headed up to the second floor.

Shaking his throbbing head, Duke tried to sober himself up a little. Although the alcohol content of champagne wasn't too high, it was still intoxicating.

Opening the washroom door, Duke stepped out, and his eyes immediately landed on a familiar figure leaning against the corridor wall.

Scarlett Johansson watched Duke's unsteady footsteps. His face was slightly flushed, and his eyes weren't as bright as usual, carrying an obvious haze of drunkenness.

"Scar, why did you come up..."

"You drank too much, so I came to check on you," she said.

Scarlett Johansson immediately walked over. She moved incredibly fast, reaching his side before the hazy, drunken Duke could utter a second sentence.

As if she had rehearsed this countless times in her head, Scarlett grabbed Duke's arms. Wearing sky-high heels, she barely needed to stand on her tiptoes; she simply tilted her head up and kissed Duke right on the lips.

Due to the alcohol, Duke's reactions were sluggish. The fiery kiss and the exceptionally soft swell pressing against his chest seemed to awaken a drunken man's instincts. Even when Scarlett pressed her lower body against his, he didn't make any move to dodge.

Scarlett closed her eyes, using her somewhat green kissing skills to do everything she could to awaken the beast inside the man before her.

Everything she had seen and heard growing up told her with absolute clarity that the man she had watched grow into a towering mountain must have countless beasts temporarily suppressed in his heart.

A soft tongue gently slid over his lips. It was a very unfamiliar scent. Duke's dizzy head suddenly cleared a fraction. He struggled to open his blurry eyes, only to see Scarlett's blonde curls.

He leaned back slightly, trying to pull away from Scarlett Johansson. "Scar!"

Duke was a man, after all. Even though it felt pretty good right now, with a little exertion, he broke free of Scarlett's entanglement, putting a bit of distance between them.

But before he could ask any questions, a figure suddenly turned the corner from the direction of the stairs.