Chapter 3

George had not intended to humiliate Marcus. He was only passing on his wisdom. Back when his wife had been alive, George had helped her onto her horse in the very same way.

Back then, Amanita had been quite young. When she stepped on Marcus’s shoulder, all she felt was that his shoulders were very broad and strong.

For some reason, her heart had started beating even faster.

She had started falling for Marcus. However, she did not notice that Marcus’s eyes were filled with humiliation.

Amanita assumed that Marcus was a prideful person and did not like for someone to be stepping on him. That was why she had only ever done it once. After that incident, she had never asked him to kneel for her again.

Yet, she was currently watching Marcus willingly kneel to help Risa down from her horse. The sight pained Amanita so much that it felt like she had been stabbed.

She forced herself to look away. Then, she nudged the horse with her knees. “Giddy up!”

The horse obediently started a canter. On the horse’s back, feeling the wind in her face, Amanita slowly started feeling better.

Their lesson that day was to ride through an obstacle course. Amanita had to guide her horse over three barriers. The difficulty was very high.

When a barrier was right in front of her, her horse jumped up for some reason. While they were in the air, the straps of the saddle suddenly broke.

Amanita fell from her horse out of nowhere.

The horse also got a fright. It started running around chaotically. It could trample Amanita at any moment.

At that moment, Marcus, who should have been taking care of Amanita, was still by Risa’s side.

He had not even noticed that Amanita had fallen from her horse.

“Marcus!” Amanita cried out while biting down on the pain in her lower body.

Only then did Marcus realize that Amanita’s horse had been spooked. Sedately, he moved forward and grabbed hold of the horse’s reins with one hand.

Marcus had learned animal taming. That was why George allowed him to accompany Amanita on her equestrian classes.

He should have checked Amanita’s saddle and kept an eye on Amanita at all times to ensure her safety.

Yet, all of his attention was focused on Risa. He had not even noticed that Amanita’s saddle had not been secured properly.

In the end, Amanita fell and broke her leg. She had to be admitted to the hospital.

Perhaps to make up for his mistake, Marcus had taken the initiative to visit Amanita and take care of her while she was in the hospital.

Marcus was very good at caring for others. Before Amanita could say that she was thirsty, he had already brought a drink to her lips.

When her injury hurt, Amanita only frowned a little. But Marcus would come over and give her painkillers.

After feeding her medication, Marcus would even have Amanita’s favorite candy prepared to remove the bitter taste of the medication.

He had always been like this. Despite not loving Amanita, he still took care of her every need. That was why Amanita thought that he did love her and that he was simply more understated about it. She thought he did not know how to say it.

But that was untrue.

With Risa, his eyes were filled with such overflowing love.

After a few days, when Amanita’s leg had gotten much better, she got up late at night to use the bathroom. She inadvertently heard someone speaking in the hallway.

“Marcus, you’ve gone overboard.” The speaker was Dennis. “You sabotaged Amanita’s saddle?”

“You can’t do that even if Amanita did push Risa down the stairs! It’s no small thing to fall from a horse. She could have broken her neck!”

Marcus sighed softly. “I only wanted to punish her a little. I didn’t think she would get so hurt.”

Marcus was very experienced in horse riding. He knew that Amanita would not have gotten too hurt if the horse had not jumped.

He did not expect that day’s lesson to be an obstacle course. Not only had her horse jumped, but it had jumped quite high.

“I’ve made it up to her,” he said. “I’ve granted her every wish over the last few days. I’ve paid her back.

“She’s fine now, anyway. Let’s not talk about this anymore. It’s done.”

Right then, Amanita felt a chill spread through her.

So, Marcus had sabotaged Amanita’s saddle to get even with her on Risa’s behalf!

As for his tender care these few days, it was nothing but penance for his mistake of not expecting things to go so far. It was not because he was affected by how she had gotten hurt.

Amanita bit her lip so hard that it bled. However, she could not feel any pain.

Her heart ached more.