Chapter 2
“Arthur, look at her. Lilly is so stubborn. Even now, she still refuses to admit her mistakes,” Bella said with a sly smile.
“Forget it,” she added with a feigned sigh. “She’s always been this willful. If we blame her any further, she might try to die again.”
Arthur’s anger, which had been
simmering beneath the surface, finally erupted. His jaw clenched, a vein
throbbing on his forehead as he roared at
- me.
“Do you think this is a joke? If I hadn’t found a foreign specialist to repair Bella‘ s injured forehead, I would never have forgiven you!” he snarled. “And don‘ t forget, you‘ re the reason we missed our wedding date. You need to take
responsibility for this!”
I glanced at Bella, her forehead smooth and
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unblemished, though I vividly
remembered what had actually happened. She had tumbled down a small sand dune, her forehead grazing a sharp rock and leaving a minor cut. Yet, she claimed I had pushed her.
She cried, screamed, and insisted she was disfigured, concussed, and dying–all in the middle of Dungeness. Arthur didn’t even hesitate. He carried her in his arms and rushed her to the nearest hospital, leaving me alone in the desert.
I couldn’t believe it. Deep down, I knew he had to see through her theatrics, yet he still chose to side with her.
Now, standing before his accusations, I felt no urge to defend myself. I simply looked at him and said, calmly, “Fine. I’ll take responsibility.”
My words caught him off guard. He froze, staring at me in disbelief. Silence fell
between us.
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After all, in the past, I would have reacted differently. Whenever he so much as spoke to another woman, I would throw jealous tantrums and follow him everywhere to fight for his attention. A month ago, when he abandoned me for Bella, I would have exploded with rage.
But now? I stood there, calm and composed, as if his words didn’t touch
- me.
My unexpected reaction seemed to unnerve him. He averted his gaze, his confidence faltering.
But I smiled to myself. Arthur, I won’t
marry you.
Because the person who survived a month. in Dungeness made a deal with a demon to get out.
Because the person standing before you now is no longer the same Lilly.
Arthur seemed to take joy in my strong possessiveness over him, willingly letting
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me cling to him for ten years. My arrogance and domineering nature ensured that all the noblewomen of high society in the capital steered clear of him.
He didn’t seem to mind, often thanking me for helping him fend off those “rotten peach blossoms” as he called them. He said I was the only person destined to stand by his side.
A year ago, Arthur and I became engaged. The wedding was set to take place in two weeks. But everything changed a month before that.
Out of nowhere, Arthur’s long–lost first. love, Bella, returned to the country after years abroad. From the moment she came. back, nothing was the same.
That very night, Arthur personally went to the airport to pick her up. He even organized a reception banquet in her honor
-completely forgetting the promise he had made to spend my birthday with me.
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Worse still, after the reception, he stayed out all night for the first time in our decade–long relationship. The next day, he explained that Bella had drunk too much, and he stayed over to make sure she was safe, sleeping on the sofa.
Deep down, I had a gnawing feeling that something more had happened between them. But with our wedding so close, I convinced myself not to overthink it.
Then, on the third morning after Bella‘ s return, Arthur left for work as usual. Half an hour later, I saw a post in Bella’s social feed. Without a word to me, Arthur had taken her on a flight to Kent.
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