Mirena’s first encounter with Leonardo Ashton had been… unusual, if she were to think back on it now.It was only a few weeks after she had been brought into the Sterling Mansion. Under her ‘parents’ constant insistence that she build a good image before marriage, she had been sent to meet “old Ashton,” as they called him. She had gone in expecting a tyrant—someone cold, domineering, impossible to please.Instead, she found a man who simply wanted a chess partner.They had sat together for hours, playing game after game, exchanging light conversation in between. The carefully prepared gift basket she had brought for him had been forgotten entirely. And when she finally stood to leave, he had sighed, placed a hand on her shoulder, and said,“I’m lucky to have you as a granddaughter-in-law. It seems the universe couldn’t watch me suffer any longer.”At the time, she hadn’t thought much of it.But now, sitting here, her eyes wide, her thoughts spiraling, those words echoed loudly in her
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