Chapter 5

At the same time, Ana felt her entire weight being thrown violently to the side, which caused her to stumble as she hit the ground.

A sharp, piercing pain shot through her ankle, accompanied by the pain of her palms scraping against the gravel. A screeching, burning sensation shot across her arms.

Before she could even scramble back to her feet, Noah plunged into the water, mad with agitation.

By the time he rescued Celeste and pulled her back to ground, they were both covered in foul-smelling, muddy water. It was not a pretty sight.

Noah was not concerned about his well-being in the slightest. After frantically wiping the muck from Celeste’s face, he cried out, his voice thick with anxiety.

“Celeste! Are you okay? Did you swallow any water? Do your eyes hurt? Did you hurt yourself anywhere?”

It took a long time for Celeste to finally shake her head weakly. She looked at him vulnerably, and her lips quivered while tears streamed down her cheeks. “I’m okay… But the ring you gave me was thrown into the water… I accidentally fell inside while I was trying to get it.”

When she held out her hand, the ring was now absent from her finger.

“Noah, I don’t think your family wants me here at all.” She choked through tears and whimpered, “Why don’t we rent a place? At least nobody will pick on me then…”

Noah was wracked with emotions when he observed her wounded and vulnerable state. He read between the lines in an instant, and his expression hardened in the same breath while he asked sharply, “Who threw your ring? Who has been picking on you?”

Celeste pressed her lips together and glanced hesitantly at Ana, fear flickering in her eyes. Her expression was so full of anguish and grief that it was hard to tell what she was trying to say.

In the meantime, Ana was still rubbing her swollen ankle. She cried out in disbelief, “No, it wasn’t me…”

Noah glared at her. It was a look so menacing that it sent a shiver running down Ana’s spine.

She tried to defend herself. “I have no reason to take the ring…”

“You know exactly what you did!” Noah bellowed while carrying Celeste in his arms, then turning to signal to his bodyguards, “Since she threw the ring into the pond, let her go down there and find it herself.”

The bodyguards sprang into action and proceeded to grab Ana before throwing her into the water without hesitation.

The moment Ana was thrown into the pond, she was swept over by the freezing water, which caused her to shake uncontrollably. When she tried to make her way back to the bank, she felt a pair of hands pressed firmly against her shoulder and forcing her back under.

“Miss Avery, we cannot let you out until you find the ring,” the bodyguard said stiffly, “You better start looking for it if you don’t want to prolong your suffering.”

Ana bit her lip so hard that she tasted blood.

At last, she accepted her fate and started wading around the murky water while probing her fingers around the bottom, which was filled with mud. While underwater, her fingers went numb from the cold and nearly lost all sensation.

The entire time, Noah stood at the edge of the pond and watched with an uncaring expression.

He watched as Ana went through repeated motions of bending down and choking on water.

He would gulp a few times while watching her, and at one point, he felt the faint urge to dive in and rescue her. However, the image of Celeste’s sorrow would flash through his mind, which caused him to harden and tighten his fists instead.

Ana continued her search until nighttime. When Russell and Mylah were just about to return home, she finally found the ring.

She could recognize the outlines of the ring even with her eyes closed. It was the very ring Noah had used to propose to her in her past life.

Her lips had turned a deep, bruised purple, and her skin was deathly pale, save for the grotesque, dark purple welts left by the frostbite.

She could barely find the strength to stand.

She clutched the ring in hand and dragged herself to Noah’s room, where she knocked softly on the door.

The sound of laughter spilling out of the room stopped instantly.

Soon, Noah opened the door to receive Ana. When he took the ring, his fingertips happened to graze against her hand, which caused him to pull back as if he had been burned.

With a sharp frown, he warned her gravely, “I’ll let it slide this time, but you better keep your distance from Celeste from now on.

“Considering our history, I can still regard you as my sister.”

Ana’s voice was still shaking because of the cold. “Haven’t you… Always regarded me as your sister?”

Noah suddenly redirected the same question toward her. “Is that so?”

Without warning, he seized her by her chin while scrutinizing her with a sharp look in his eyes.

“Over the past few days, I’ve heard the housemaids whispering about my past. They told me how you would do your makeup and dress in styles you knew I liked, all to get my attention. Are you sure you didn't have an ulterior motive behind all that?”

Ana blinked and did not know how to react.

This meant he must have heard what the housemaids said the other night. He was using those comments against her.

For her part, she had gone out of her way to avoid meeting him recently. She had been wearing nothing but the most common outfits she had as well.

Before Ana could even defend herself, Noah let go of her and wiped his hands as if they had become contaminated.

“You better stop with these little games. My heart belongs only to Celeste. I don’t know what you’re planning, but it won’t work.”

Then, with a brisk flick of his wrist, the ring was tossed out of the window and vanished into the dead of the night.

“Celeste doesn't like the style of the ring anyway. I’ll make a new one for her.”

Ana pulled her lips into a faint, bitter smile when she watched the ring she had spent all day salvaging being thrown into the dark.

It made sense that Noah would do this, considering the reception of his past was one that was associated with a burden. There was no reason for him to keep the ring that was ridden with his past trauma.

After Ana returned to her room, she scrubbed herself clean so that Russell and Mylah would not notice what unraveled today. Then, she joined them for dinner just as she always did.

Ana was more than aware that Noah’s sense of judgment had been undermined by his false memories, which was made worse by Celeste’s expert manipulation by playing the victim.

Even if she tried to tell him the truth, he would only dismiss it as jealousy and an attempt to stir up trouble.

It was useless.

Though she had rationalized it, it was still hard for her to get much sleep at night.

She could not stop recalling the hostile and estranged look Noah wore in his eyes today when he looked at her, which felt like a stab in the heart. When she stared at the ceiling, all she felt was a terrible throb as if a piece of her heart had been gouged out.

She tried to reason to herself that she only needed a period of adjustment to this new arrangement where he no longer cared for her.

However, even after tossing and turning in bed all night, Ana could not sleep. In the end, she crawled out of bed and went into the courtyard in the dark.

She felt through the grass, relying on memory and instinct to find the ring. She could not even explain why she wanted to find it. Maybe it was because the ring had once symbolized Noah’s sincere love for her.

At last, her fingertips brushed against something cold and metallic. She’d found the ring! Just as she picked it up, she turned to see the house behind her engulfed in flames.