Chapter 7

The lively room fell silent in an instant.

The two people who had spoken first stood there awkwardly.

“W-what? I can’t believe it…”

Evelyn answered calmly, “No. We’re not married.”

And she never would marry him.

Mason’s expression darkened as he shot Anna a glance, then he wrapped an arm around Evelyn’s shoulders and smiled at the group.

“Don’t worry, everyone. We just haven’t gotten married yet because of military regulations. Evelyn and I have been together for so many years.

“We’ll definitely get married. When the time comes, make sure you all come to the wedding.”

The crowd let out a collective breath of relief, and the atmosphere quickly grew lively again.

“I knew it! If the two of you ever broke up, I’d never believe in love again.”

“Come on, you two, hurry up and get married so we can finally attend your wedding.”

At that moment, the class representative, Michael, mysteriously took out a glass jar.

“Now that everyone’s here, let’s see if the wishes we wrote in our time capsule when we graduated have come true.”

As soon as he said it, everyone became excited.

“Come on, let’s take them out one by one and have Michael read them aloud in front of everyone. That’ll be fun!”

The first letter was Mason’s.

“To marry Evelyn as soon as I’m old enough and make her my wife.”

The second letter was Evelyn’s.

“To marry Mason, have a baby soon, and become a happy family of three.”

When the last word was read aloud, their classmates began cheering with obvious envy.

“Even their plans for the future were all about marrying each other. What a beautiful love story.”

Mason’s lips curved into a smile as he looked at Evelyn with deep affection.

“Of course. Evelyn has always been the woman I wanted to marry since we were kids.”

But Evelyn showed no trace of a smile. A long-forgotten pain pricked at her heart.

Not because of the man in front of her who spoke such effortless lies, but because of the pure love she had once felt at eighteen.

In the end, it had changed somewhere along the long passage of time.

The third letter belonged to Anna.

“To stay by Mason’s side forever.”

“Well, it looks like I’m the only one whose wish came true. I’m already Mason’s aide, so I get to stay by his side all the time.”

Anna’s gaze swept across the room with open pride.

The others immediately looked at her with contempt.

“Seriously? She’s completely delusional. After all these years, she still hasn’t given up.”

“She’s just an aide. To Mason, she’s nothing more than a subordinate. Talking about staying by his side forever—Evelyn is the one who’ll be with him for life as his future wife.”

…

Only Evelyn noticed that when Anna said those words, the curve of Mason’s smile deepened slightly.

The mocking voices in the room grew louder and louder.

At that moment, a drunken man who had dropped out of high school years ago staggered toward Anna.

“Why would Colonel Hart ever want someone like you hanging around him? You should’ve given up long ago.

“Tell you what, why don’t you come with me instead? I’ll make sure you live the good life!”

As he spoke, he leaned forward, his alcohol-soaked breath reeking as he tried to move closer.

Mason, who had been watching Anna from the corner of his eye the whole time, suddenly stood up.

He kicked the man to the ground, then pulled the frightened Anna, whose eyes had already turned red, firmly into his arms.

Looking down at the man on the floor, his voice was cold as ice.

“Who said I don’t want her? She’s my woman now. No one touches her.”