Chapter 1

"I was so young and reckless. I caused you so much trouble. Consider these my engagement gift and my apology."

With the clap of Elise Callaghan's hands as a signal, a procession of bodyguards streamed into the venue carrying gift after gift. It did not take long for the gifts to stack into a large pile.

The venue was silent. Even Gerald himself seemed caught off guard.

Meanwhile, the people in the livestream were losing their minds.

[Don’t do it! You're the heroine! Alexandra's just the villain! Gerald was always meant to end up with you. He has never loved Alexandra!]

[Stop it, Eli! Gerald is only marrying Alexandra because she is his late mentor's long-lost daughter. He’s only doing it as a favor so she can find her footing in the city, and once she turns twenty-five, she'll inherit everything her father left behind, then he will break up with her! It was all written in the contract her deceased father signed ages back!]

[Oh my God, I can’t do this! Look at him. He looks like he’s about to lose it! He's only been distant because he was upset the bodyguards weren’t doing their jobs and letting you run around when you haven’t fully recovered yet. Have you forgotten how he donated nearly every last drop of blood he had when you took those gunshots for him? Please… he could never abandon the girl he practically raised.…]

Despite the barrage of comments streaming into the livestream, Elise suppressed the excruciating pain she felt deep inside and pretended not to see them.

Then, she extended a hand toward Gerald. Tears welled up in her eyes as she strained a weak smile. "From now on, Alexandra will be family. Gerald, please return my family heirloom pendant."

The viewers in the livestream turned rabid.

[Why would you ask him to return the pendant? Have you forgotten you were the one who gave it to him when you confessed your love to him on your eighteenth birthday?! You have no idea how much he has treasured it since. He wouldn’t even let anyone else touch it!]

To their horror, Alexandra spoke up daintily, "Eli, are you referring to this pendant over here?"

She brandished her phone and showed off the pendant that was meant to be the Callaghans' heirloom. She'd attached it to her phone case like a cheap charm.

Elise felt as if she had been slapped across the face. A sharp ringing filled her ears.

Even the viewers in the livestream were too stunned to comment.

Before Elise could respond, Alexandra suddenly began to stammer panickedly while tears swelled in her eyes. "I’m so sorry, Eli. If you don't like me having the pendant, I'll take it off and give it back to you right now. Please don't be upset with me…"

As she said so, she removed the pendant and made as if to hand it over to Elise, then she lost her grip.

Crack!

The pendant shattered into pieces.

Everyone gasped.

They all recalled the dramatic scene that had taken place on Elise’s eighteenth birthday when she made that bold declaration to Gerald.

"Gerald, once you wear this pendant, you will always belong to me. As long as you have it, I'll always choose you. But if you lose it... if it ever breaks... I'll never want you again."

Elise turned mute as she stared at the broken pieces. All the color had drained out of her face.

Meanwhile, Alexandra was bawling hysterically while tugging desperately at Gerald's sleeve, "I’m so sorry, Gerald, I’ve gone and messed things up again... I'll have someone fix it right now…"

When she frantically bent over to collect the shards, she ended up cutting her finger.

Her blood stained the pieces of the pendant.

"Stop it!"

Elise tried to grab Alexandra to stop her.

This invoked a sharp reaction from Gerald, who proceeded to seize her hand and cry out sharply with the gravest look Elise had ever seen on his face.

"Elise, you’ve crossed a line! Alexandra didn't mean to break it. How could you try to attack her over a mere pendant? How could you…"

Gerald's fury faltered when he met the hollow look in Elise’s eyes.

Elise forced a bitter smile, "Gerald, you must have misunderstood."

Then, she withdrew her hand to reveal a Band-aid she held within her palms.

"It's just a pendant; it’s no big deal. I was only worried about Alexandra cutting her finger. You should hurry up and put this on for her."

Gerald's chest tightened.

He'd expected Elise to explode the moment she learned he was marrying someone else. Therefore, her lack of protest came off as a complete surprise.

It felt like the Elise he was looking at was a completely different person. It made him feel uneasy.

It felt as though something precious was quietly slipping through his fingers.

His tone softened several degrees without him even realizing it. "The doctor said you still need time to recover. Why don’t you go back to the hospital to get some rest?"

Elise smiled brightly, "Sure. Thanks for looking out for me."

With that, she straightened up and turned to leave.

By the time she stepped into the estate gardens, the commotion inside the venue began to fade out of earshot.

Now that she was finally alone, the dam broke. She was crying as she had never done before.

The housekeeper, Helena, appeared and sighed. "Miss Callaghan, if letting him go hurts this much, why not fight for him? Besides, Mr. Smith did have sincere feelings for you over the years."

There was no denying it. Elise lost both her parents when she was thirteen and was taken in by the Smiths. Over the years, Gerald had been nothing but kind to her.

Though the man had always been cold and imposing to everyone else, he had a soft spot for Elise.

Before Elise’s reincarnation, she had stormed into the engagement party and caused a scene. It didn’t help that the viewers in the livestream were fueling her rage.

She even went as far as to bring up her deceased father.

In the end, Gerald caved. He broke up with Alexandra and agreed to marry her.

On the day of their wedding, Alexandra, who was driven to madness by a relative who was after her father’s wealth, ended up taking her life.

Upon receiving the devastating news, Gerald suffered a complete breakdown. He blamed himself for failing to protect his mentor's only child.

Eventually, he started to resent Elise and the jealousy she held.

Over time, he stopped speaking to her.

Even when she was in hysterics and threatened to kill herself, he remained cold and indifferent to her pleas.

When Elise told him she was pregnant, he ended up moving close to the cemetery so he could be closer to Alexandra's grave.

At last, Elise snapped. In a moment of delirium, she threw herself down a flight of stairs and miscarried.

Upon finding out, Gerald seemed completely unaffected. He stated dryly without even blinking, "Consider it repayment for a life…"

It was only then that the gravity of Elise’s mistake finally dawned upon her.

That same night, she set the villa on fire while holding her unborn child’s remains.

When she opened her eyes again, she found herself in the past.

It was the very day when Alexandra leaked the coordinates of the Smiths' secret research facility. She did it to lure the assassin so that she could score the exclusive coverage of the news and secure a permanent position at the Helfast News.

That was when Elise decided to shield Gerald from a gunshot. She did it to repay the debt she owed him for taking care of her for the past decade.

Now that she had a second chance at life, she decided to give the couple what they wanted. She had forsaken her desires for Gerald.

…

Upon coming to her senses, she wiped away her tears and told Helena in a raspy voice, "I want to see my grandmother."

Dreya Smith was praying in the family chapel when Elise arrived.

Elise announced gravely, "Grandma, I volunteer to fulfill the arrangement and agree to the political marriage in West Roland."

This snapped Dreya out of her trance. When she spoke, her voice was laced with remorse and sadness. "How tragic…"

With that, she produced a bank card which she handed to Elise.

"Here's the two billion dollars your parents left you. I've added another three billion in there as your wedding gift. Now that you’ve decided to move on, go and live your life…"

Elise could not hold back her tears anymore. She lowered her head and told Dreya amidst tears, "Grandma, I want to thank you and Gerald for taking care of me over the years. I would also like to hold off on telling Gerald about my marriage arrangement in West Rofland."

Dreya nodded.

With that, Elise got up.

Just as she turned around to head for the exit, she met a tall and striking figure standing right by the doorway.

It was Gerald.

He fixed an intent look on her and asked in an inscrutable manner, "Don’t tell me what?"