Chapter 2

It didn't take long for the paparazzi to swarm me like a school of bloodthirsty sharks. They were so close to jabbing their microphones in my face.

"Mr. Knight, is the rumor of your fiancee sleeping with your younger brother true?"

"As the newly-appointed CEO of Knight Corp, you already have a scandal breaking out as soon as you take over the mantle. Is there anything you'd like to tell us?"

I squeezed through the crowd, my face stone cold. At the same time, I kept repeating to everyone that I had nothing to say to them.

At that moment, I heard Lance choking out to the paparazzi in a seemingly feeble tone, "It's all my fault. It's just that I love Amethyst far too much.

"To tell you the truth, I've been diagnosed with cancer, so I don't have much time left in this world. All I want is to boldly pursue the woman I love during my final days…"

I paused in my tracks, finding the whole thing very ridiculous.

Lance looked so energetic earlier. How could he be a patient with terminal cancer?

Next, I heard Amethyst's repressed sobs.

"Lance isn't the one at fault here. Archer is to blame for everything. He deliberately concealed the fact that he's sexually impotent before proposing to me."

Immediately, I whipped around to stare at her in disbelief.

To think that Amethyst would go so far as to slander me just so she could clear Lance's name!

Typically speaking, rumors of a physical disability could be far more devastating than any business scandal for the heir of a large company.

All the paparazzi turned their cameras and attention to me simultaneously.

"Is this true, Mr. Knight?"

"Mr. Knight, is what your fiancee said the truth?"

Questions rained down on me like barrages of arrows, frying my already frayed psyche even more.

Still, Amethyst continued to make things worse for me.

"I suffered from a sexless relationship with Archer for the past five years. Only after I got together with Lance did I finally discover the pleasures of physical intimacy."

There was desire and abandon dancing in her eyes as she gazed at Lance.

But the truth was, Amethyst had told me that her family forbade her to have physical intimacy before marriage. She was the one who kept rejecting me whenever I tried to start something with her.

Yet, she was the one who pinned all the blame on me in order to clear Lance's name!

Rage overwhelmed me instantly, causing me to collapse at that moment. The next time I woke up, I found myself lying in the hospital.

Amethyst sat by my bed with red-rimmed eyes. The moment she saw me stirring awake, she started tearing up.

"Archer, you're finally awake! Your collapse almost scared the shit out of me!"

Amethyst kept clutching my hand tightly, as though she was madly in love with me. But ironically, she was the one who reduced me to this state.

Disgust bubbled in my stomach as I shook her hand off me.

"What are you doing here? Haven't I suffered enough already?"

Amethyst pursed her lips while looking at me with guilt in her eyes.

"I was forced to say all those things last night because of the circumstances we were in. The reporters from a few top-notch media outlets were there, you know. If they were to dig up the truth, Lance would be doomed!"

I looked up at her.

"What about me? Have you ever thought about what would happen to me once the news of me being impotent got out?"

Amethyst bit her bottom lip, already avoiding my gaze.

"Everyone will forget about it once the popularity goes down."

Her response only made me chuckle coldly. "You're a lecturer in Mass Communications, Amethyst. Don't tell me you don't know that the Internet remembers everything. No one will believe me even if I clarify the truth afterward."

Amethyst picked at her fingers anxiously.

"But… But I've already said what I said! Archer, can't you make this sacrifice for me one more time?"

During our five-year relationship, I had already made countless sacrifices for Amethyst.

I gave up on a business alliance with another woman who came from a background as prestigious as mine just so I could choose Amethyst, who came from a humble background. In order to marry her, I had to kneel outside my home for three days and nights, all while being denied food, water, and rest at the same time.

After I was sent to the hospital for emergency treatment, Amethyst had tears running down her cheeks as she laced her fingers with mine tightly.

Back then, she said to me, "Archer, you're the only man I want to be with in this lifetime."

Alas, her promise merely lasted for five years.