Realization finally dawned upon Stefan, and he found himself not knowing how to react. 'How did this woman draw the conclusion that I'm sad?''I did look gloomy just now, but it wasn't because of Cecilia.'Instead, he was simply reminiscing about his marriage with Renee. He realized that the entire event was too rushed and dismissive. There wasn't a single thing that could be considered a good memory. Regretting his lack of attention then, he even went as far as to plan a whole new wedding in his head, hoping that he could get back together with the woman someday…However, he obviously wouldn't tell her the truth. On the contrary, he took the chance to mess with Renee. Putting up a perplexed face, he said, "Yeah, I'm so upset that my heart hurts, and I'm so angry that they would do this to me! What do I do?"This made Renee sympathize with the man even more, patting him on the head as comfort. "Don't be sad, cheer up… In my opinion, the best revenge is to live a better life tha
Everyone was utterly shocked. Stefan’s action was similar to a bomb, causing an explosion in everyone's heads.That was because the rest had always known Stefan as a cold, calculated, and low-profile person. They thought he would never even dream of participating in a public display of affection, let alone displaying a kiss in public."Mmh!" Renee's eyes widened as her mind went blank. She instinctively tried to push him away but remembered she was supposed to help the man out.'If I struggle my way out, I'd be humiliating him, right?'With that, she chose to accept it, despite her initial unwillingness…Stefan's focus and burning passion completely disrupted her once-placid heart. As though she had been thrown into an oven, her face burned up as she started reciprocating his advances…"Yes! Exactly! So sweet! So sexy! You two should be an example to all the couples here!" The photographer was excited, to say the least, greedily capturing the moment as rapidly as he could.The c
"Really now?" Stefan seemed conflicted, his lips curving upwards. "What should I do then? Should I crash the wedding in the name of love?"Renee's expression turned stiff for a moment, as mixed emotions welled up in her chest. 'So that means he really hasn't moved on from Cecilia.'In a way, her heart was aching for both him… and herself. She realized that their four-year marriage truly was a mistake from the start. Even without Briar driving a wedge between them, there was no way that she could've won his heart over.His first love had already taken over his entire heart, leaving nothing for her."If you really can't let her go, then have a good talk with Ms. Smith about your feelings. As long as you do that before the ceremony, it wouldn't be too late to change her mind…" Renee said, suppressing the bitterness in her heart. She acted as if she wasn't affected in the slightest, even going as far as to give him advice."Oh, and, if you really do love her, don't use such childish m
Sticking to her principle of working hard for the one who paid, Renee started looking for seashells with a serious face.Stefan, on the other hand, followed behind the woman from a short distance as if he was her secret guardian angel, protecting her from afar.With the light wind breeze, the two walked around the warm golden sand, leaving their footprints behind as their shadows danced over each other. The scenery was just wonderfully romantic, as though it had come straight out of a teenage romance film…"Oh my god! I found it! I found it!" Renee cheered excitedly after digging behind a reef. Stefan seemed amused and dumbfounded at the same time. 'So it really exists?'He was someone who was solely aligned with materialism and normally viewed things in a complete logically way. Hence, he didn't believe in myths at all.Despite this, he somehow didn't intend to undermine the woman's efforts, seeing just how exhilarated she seemed. He even approached her, acting as if he was jus
A famous celebrity, Ruby Chisholm, was shooting daggers at the two with her eyes, her expression visibly filled with jealousy.She had had her eyes on Stefan even before joining the entertainment industry, promising herself that she'd work hard to get his attention and become his wife.Unexpectedly, he married someone else before she got to make a name for herself.Yet after a long while of waiting, waiting for her dream man to get a divorce, it seemed that it would be to no avail."Who knows? I just know my cousin dislikes her, so I'm guessing she was the one who's pestering him!" Charlotte said as she looked towards Renee with disdain, patting Ruby on the shoulder. "You're just too modest, Ruby. You won't even make a move on him! Now that they're divorced, you should just go for it… My cousin is literally available now! Do you know how many people want him? How can you be so relaxed?"Ruby was visibly frustrated. "It's not that I don't want to, but I am at the peak of my caree
"No." Stefan quickly replied, his voice dismissive."Impossible!" Cecilia broke down, wailing at this point. She wrapped her arms around his neck, rubbing her cheek against his as before, hoping to rekindle his love."You're worried about hurting Chris. You're holding back your love for me, right? You've never forgotten about me, right?! You feel the same, don't you?!""This has nothing to do with Chris." Stefan looked frostier now, pushing her away. "Even if you never ended up with Chris, there's just no hope between us. Please understand that." "Why?!" Cecilia yelled at Stefan, unable to accept the fact that the man no longer loved her. "You used to love me so deeply!" she moaned. "I remember how you confessed to me under the sakura tree, how you kissed me softly! I know you genuinely loved me!"You were willing to give up your position as an heir for me! You would follow me overseas when I was planning to further my studies! How could you give up on love as deep as that?!"
Stefan nodded while opening the door to exit with Cecilia. Suddenly, they bumped into Renee, who was holding a piece of cake."Uhm…" The two of them met eyes, yet Renee was the one feeling embarrassed, despite having nothing to hide."Ah… I didn't bother your conversation, right?" She asked awkwardly.Stefan didn't reply, merely staring down at her with an arrogant gaze. Renee, however, continued asking, ignoring the awkwardness. "Did you succeed? Did the 'Heart of the Sea' work? Are you guys planning on running away now?"Hearing this made the man colder. He merely whispered something to Cecilia before walking past Renee. Acting as if they were complete strangers, his arrogance practically seeped out of his aura."That petty bastard! I just asked for some money! What's with the attitude?!" Renee mumbled angrily to herself as she watched him leave.She actually wanted to find a place for a nap due to a wave of exhaustion from earlier events.She never would've expected to bu
In the end, Renee didn't feel like keeping this up, so she took the necklace begrudgingly.She then held her hand out to Cecilia, who was still on the ground. She sounded rather helpless as she said, "Fine, I'll take it. But you gave me the freedom to deal with it however I want, did you? So I'll just be throwing it into the trash."Cecilia didn't seem mad and still showed a bittersweet smile. "Sure, throw it away. I can't do it myself anyway, so you can help out instead… Just as I told Stef earlier, I admit defeat if you were the one I lost to."The woman's words made Renee extremely confused. 'Huh? Aren't they planning to elope? Why did they include me in this? And the whole admitting defeat thing… What does she even mean?!'However, she didn't intend to ask any further questions. With Cecilia being the bride, she should be able to have the choice of eloping or going through with the wedding. 'She can think about it on her own. Prying would only make it seem like I care about
"Hurry up and explain to her, then!" Amber said hurriedly. "Matt, you're close to her. You know Ms. Everheart and Ms. Osborne would never do that on purpose. Try to persuade her to let this go, and then you can immediately set them free.""I don't have a say in this." Mateo shook his head, pretending to be helpless. "You know how much Luneth dotes on her son. Ms. Everheart pinned him to the ground and beat him up. His head got injured and started bleeding. I heard it's a large cut with a lot of stitches. We can't let it go just like that.""But you can't—" Amber wanted to say more, but Liam interrupted her. He looked at Mateo, his eyes cold and fierce. "I know you set them up. Just be frank. Why did you do that?" "See?" Mateo sighed. He pretended to be aggrieved as he looked at Amber. "The guy you like is sinister. I kindly helped him, but he didn't thank me. He even accused me of setting this up… He always sees the worst in people. He criticized me in front of you and sowed di
Liam immediately noticed something wrong. He asked Mateo fiercely, "What do you mean?""Calm down." Mateo put away his gun and placed it back around his waist. "They broke the rules and barged into the orchard. Plus, they hurt Luneth's child. So, I locked them up for the time being."He appeared calm, as if he was discussing what he had eaten for dinner. He didn't feel that he had been over the line. "Go to hell!" Liam finally failed to hold himself back. He rushed over and grabbed Mateo's neck fiercely. "You can harm me, but how dare you harm them!"At the same time, Mateo's subordinates raised their guns and aimed them at Liam. The recently eased atmosphere immediately became tense again."Hey, don't!" Amber, all tensed up, braced herself to try and stop them. Even so, she was mentally exhausted."What? You want to strangle me?" Mateo was fearless. He grinned deviously and teased, "Cool it. I just locked them up, but they didn't suffer. They're fine. If you harm me, though, I
Livid, Mateo pulled the trigger without hesitation. However, he moved the gun less than an inch. The bullet passed by Liam's ear and hit an orange behind him.The fruit immediately blew up, its juices splashing on Liam's face."Aaaah!" Amber, terrified, trembled. Her eyes turned red, and she hurriedly tried to plead with Mateo. "Matt, cool it! Aren't you and Liam friends? You guys drank and chatted together in the past. You were so close to each other. How could you do this to him? Hurry up and put the gun away! If it goes off accidentally, it'll be over!"However, Mateo ignored her. His eyes were red as he glared at Liam. "Did you see the orange behind you? Let go of her now! If not, I'll blow up your head just like I did to that orange!""Is that all you got?" Liam taunted. He refused to let Amber go. He whispered to Amber, "Watch well. If he shoots me today, promise me not to marry such a man. I can use my life to knock some sense into you.""No!" Amber shook her head. Liam
"What bad timing!" Mateo's indifferent voice came from behind Amber.Amber turned around and saw Mateo with a team of armed soldiers. Terrified, she quickly put some distance between her and Liam. She stammered an explanation. "Matt… It's not what you think. Liam and I came here to look for people. Ms. Everheart and Ms. Osborne are gone. Liam couldn't find them and guessed they might be in the orchard. He wasn't familiar with the orchard and asked me to guide him."Mateo looked livid, but still cracked a gentle smile. "Silly, you don't have to be scared. I know you're prudent. He must have forced you to come here. I don't blame you."He extended his hand and beckoned Amber toward him. "Come here. You're my fiancee. You should stand with me.""I…" Amber bit her lip—Mateo was right. She kept her head low, about to walk to him.But in the next second, Liam firmly grabbed her wrist. "You can't go!" Liam held Amber's wrist tightly and shot Mateo a challenging look."When did Amb
Liam could only see through Amber's true thoughts if she showed her true self to him. "No, I do like you. I love you the most, and I want to marry you. But you neither like me nor want to marry me. You love freedom and Ms. Everheart. You love and yearn for the kind of life ordinary people like. So, I could only choose to give you up and let you get what you want. What else do you want me to do?" Amber was generally shy and reserved, but when Liam drove her anxious, she rambled a lot."Whatever I want is my business. You don't need to sacrifice yourself to grant my wish!" Liam held Amber's shoulders, acting like a kind senior. He tried to persuade her in earnest. "Marriage isn't a joke. Think it through. Do you like and know Mateo well? You won't be happy after marrying him, given the savage culture around here. And can you divorce him easily?""Matt will be nice to me. Even if he changes his mind, he'll still be nice to me because…my father is Benjamin," Amber replied.She chose
Being a sensitive woman, Amber immediately noticed Liam's displeasure. She kept her head lower and explained carefully, "I want a chance to choose again… I want to choose another person to fall in love with. You know that Matt and I grew up together. We're childhood friends. He likes me and always protects me without asking for anything back. I feel that it's happier to marry a person who loves me instead of marrying someone far beyond my reach."For the first time, she expressed the exhaustion she felt from her relationship with Liam. She no longer wanted to be the one who kept fawning over him. She wanted to give up and relax by being the one who was loved and adored in a relationship."Tsk!" Liam snorted arrogantly. "You don't know Mateo. He's not a nice guy. He's just good at pretending. Maybe it's just his means to get what he wants, but you assume that he loves and wants to protect you."Liam hadn't made that statement to purposely put Mateo down. After standing against Mate
Liam focused on holding Amber's hand and leading her through the orange grove. At the same time, he carefully scanned the ground and trees to find any related clues left by Renee and Leia."I don't care what others say, because I didn't do anything wrong," he said indifferently. "I hope you'll feel the same. I don't think you need to stop being my friend after choosing to marry Mateo. Am I not the friend you like the most?""That's different," Amber said.She followed Liam passively. At first, she couldn't adapt to it. After walking briefly, she felt better and found it easier to do. "Although I'm not good at my studies, I know men and women should keep a polite distance. You can't take my hand and sound righteous at the same time," she mumbled."Why not?" Liam retorted firmly. "When I was young, I always held my sister's hand wherever we went. I'm holding your hand because this fog is thick and the ground is slippery. I'm afraid of being separated from you. Just walk with me. St
Liam walked ahead of Amber, then turned to glance at her. He faked a smile and asked, "What's the matter? Are you worried that I might take advantage of you?" "No, of course not!" Amber quickly shook her head and pushed her scarf up. It had fallen a little. "I just find it improper," she answered softly.She looked like a typical woman from Southeast Aeos, petite and with a small face. Her skin was tanned, and her facial features weren't very distinct. She was charming and reserved, exuding a girlish pureness. She had put on her country's special traditional clothes. The thick clothes, embroidered with various patterns, wrapped around her petite body and gave her an exotic impression. From afar, she appeared like a colorful oil painting. "Hey, it's not improper. If I wanted to do anything to you, I would've done that long ago. I don't have to wait until now." Liam sounded relaxed and prudent to ease Amber's anxiety."Don't worry. I've always regarded you as my younger siste
Amber hurriedly turned Liam down. "You can't help with my affairs. I can handle it.""Well, tell me why I can't help you," Liam pressed. "I… I want to sew a wedding gown. And there are a lot of details that I need to add." Amber became competitive for no reason, and added stubbornly, "Your words aren't absolute. Yes, your business is important, but so is mine!""Oh, you want to sew a wedding gown. I can help you with that…" Liam said, relaxed. "Maybe I didn't get to tell you that I went to a small country in Southeast Aeos when I traveled around the world. I got to know a great sewing master. The pictures he sewed looked real like paintings! I found them interesting, so I learned from him. My sewing skills are probably better than yours. I can help you with that.""Really? You can sew?" Amber was full of surprise and admiration. Her eyes lit up. "I can't sew well. I want to learn from a great master too! If you can do it, can you teach me?""Of course!" Liam promised. "Can you he