Chapter 1

"I was young and foolish back then. To make amends, I've prepared engagement gifts for Mr. Caldwell." Right after saying that, Caelan Hanson clapped his hands. His bodyguards immediately began filing in with endless gifts. Before long, more than a hundred presents had been piled into a small mountain.

The entire room went dead silent, and Misty White was visibly taken aback.

Meanwhile, the comments in front of Caelan's eyes blew up.

[Don't do this, Caelan! You're the male lead of this sweet, feel-good web novel, and Ezra's just the villainous male supporting character. Misty doesn't love him at all!]

[Ezra's the long-lost biological son of Misty's late mentor. She's only engaged to him to help him establish himself in Portside. Once Ezra turns 25 next month—as stipulated in his father's will—and inherits his inheritance, Misty will break up with him!]

[This is driving me insane! Hurry up and look at Misty, Caelan. She's standing right there, her eyes red with anger. The reason she's been so cold to you is that she's furious at the bodyguards for failing to take care of you and letting you run around before your injuries have even healed.

[After you were shot and suffered massive blood loss, Misty almost drained herself dry when she donated blood to you. How could she possibly not love the sweet boy she raised with her own hands…]

Densely packed bullet comments flooded his field of view, but he suppressed the ache in his chest and pretended not to see them. He pretended to be easygoing as he held out his hand to Misty and smiled, though his eyes stung. "I have no objections to him. Now, hurry up and return my family's heirloom emerald pendant, Misty."

The bullet comments continued to pour. [Caelan, why are you asking back the token-of-love emerald pendant you gave Misty when you confessed to her at 18? You have no idea how much she treasures it. She won't even let anyone else touch it!]

However, a heartbeat later, Ezra's puzzled voice rang out. "...Caelan, are you talking about this emerald pendant?"

As soon as his words fell, he pulled out his phone. The Hanson family's heirloom emerald pendant was hanging conspicuously from his phone case.

Caelan felt as though he had been slapped across the face. A loud ringing buzzed in his ears. Even the relentless stream of bullet comments ground to a sudden halt.

Before he could utter a single word, Ezra looked as if he had been frightened out of his wits as he fretted, "I'm so sorry, Caelan. If it bothers you that I touched your emerald pendant, I'll take it off right now and return it to you. Please don't be mad at me…"

He unfastened the pendant and made a show of handing it to Caelan, only to let go of it the very next second. The vivid green emerald pendant hit the floor and shattered into pieces.

A collective gasp echoed through the room. After all, at that grand confession party all those years ago, 18-year-old Caelan had sworn to Misty, "Misty, once you wear my family's emerald pendant, you're mine. From this day forward, as long as this emerald remains, so does our bond. But if you ever break it… I'll never take you back!"

Caelan blanched as he stared at the shattered emerald in silence. Ezra slipped his arm helplessly around Misty's slender waist, his voice thick with guilt. "I'm so sorry, Misty. I messed up again... I'll find someone to repair it right away..."

With trembling hands, he crouched to pick up the broken pieces, only to cut his finger on a sharp shard. Blood dripped onto the emerald.

"Hold it right there!" Caelan raised his hand toward him.

In the blink of an eye, Misty grasped his wrist in a vice grip. Her beautiful eyes widened as she reprimanded him, "You're getting more and more out of line, Caelan! Ezra didn't do it on purpose. I can't believe you're actually going to lay a hand on him because of a piece of emerald!"

Her brows drew together, but her words died in her throat when she met Caelan's hollow, eerily calm gaze. "Why are you—"

"You've gotten the wrong idea, Misty." Caelan forced a bitter smile. He pulled his hand free and opened his palm, revealing a band-aid. "It's just an emerald pendant. It doesn't matter if it's broken. Mr. Caldwell cut his finger, though. You'd better patch him up quickly, Misty."

Her chest tightened slightly, her manicured nails digging deep into her palms. Misty had expected Caelan to lose his temper, cause a massive scene, and threaten to make her marry no one but him. She had never expected him to be so obedient.

This version of him felt completely foreign to her, leaving her feeling inexplicably uneasy. It was as though she was about to lose something precious.

Almost instinctively, she softened her tone. "The doctor said you need plenty of rest. Go back to your room and get some sleep."

The smile on Caelan's face widened. "Alright, thank you for your concern, Misty." With that, he straightened his back, turned around, and walked away.

The clamor of the engagement party faded into the distance as he stepped into the backyard. Now that he was all alone, he could no longer suppress his grief. Pain tore through his chest, forcing him to clutch it as he gasped for air.

The butler, Shane Smith, sighed beside him. "Mr. Hanson, since you're so heartbroken, why don't you fight for her one more time? Ms. White does care about you, after all."

Indeed. He had lost both his parents at 13 and had been taken in by the Whites. For a decade, Misty had treated him with nothing but affection.

To everyone else, she was a stunning heiress who was as cold as ice, but whenever she was with him, she was gentle and patient. That was precisely the reason he had gone mad under the prodding of the comments in his previous life, prompting him to cause a scene at the engagement party and even bring up his deceased mother as he wailed and threw a tantrum. In the end, Misty caved; she broke up with Ezra and agreed to marry Caelan.

Yet, on the day of hers and Caelan's wedding, Ezra was forced to leap into the ocean to his death by his malicious relatives, who coveted his father's inheritance. Upon hearing the tragic news, the golden young lady was crushed, and she completely unravelled.

Misty blamed herself for failing to protect her mentor's only flesh and blood, while resenting Caelan for his suffocating jealousy. From then on, she stopped talking to him altogether. No matter how he raged on or threatened to kill himself, she remained unmoved.

Worst of all, when Caelan was overjoyed to learn that she was expecting, she went straight to the hospital for an abortion, followed by a hysterectomy. Then, she moved to the cemetery to stay by Ezra's side day in and day out.

Caelan finally broke down. On his way to confront her, he was so distraught that he lost control of his car and died a gruesome death in a car accident.

However, when Misty learned of his death, she didn't even bat an eye. Her tone was almost relieved as she said, "He's repaid the life he owed Ezra."

It dawned on him how egregiously wrong he had been.

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself back on the day Ezra intentionally leaked the coordinates of the White family's classified research and development lab, luring assassins there to secure a permanent position at Portside Press Holdings.

To repay Misty for raising him for ten years, Caelan took a bullet for her. Yet, in this life, he had also decided to let go of his obsession and give Misty and Ezra his blessing.

…

Caelan came back to his senses, drew a deep breath, and rasped, "I'd like to see Mr. White Senior."

Joel White sat in the chapel, keeping his eyes closed as he recited prayers.

Caelan knelt upright before him and lowered his head. "I'm willing to marry into the Lovelace family of Meridiana in place of one of the eligible young men in our family, Mr. White Senior."

Joel's hand froze in midair. His tone was filled with both heartache and resignation as he said, "What a tragic twist of fate…"

He pulled out a bank card and handed it to Caelan. "This contains the two billion dollars your parents left you. I've added another three billion dollars to it. Since you've decided to let go, from now on... live a good life."

Caelan's eyes stung, and he lowered his head once more into a deep bow, knocking it firmly against the floor. "I'm deeply grateful to you and Misty for taking care of me all these years, Mr. White Senior. I hope you'll temporarily keep it a secret from Misty that I'm marrying into the Lovelace family."

Joel nodded in agreement.

Caelan rose to his feet. Yet, the moment he turned around and opened the chapel door, he noticed a graceful, alluring figure standing just outside.

Misty stared at him intently, panic flashing through her beautiful, almond-shaped eyes. "Keep what a secret from me?"