Chapter 1
One month before the wedding, Adrian Hawthorne disappeared, and I searched the entire city but couldn’t find him.
On the seventh day of his disappearance, I got news that he had shown up in City A.
I took a flight there overnight.
On a cruise ship, I finally saw him.
Just as I was about to knock on the door and go in, I heard his sneer, “I only chased Claire Whitfield to deliberately annoy Sebastian.”
“Once I got her, it turned out to be boring.”
I froze in my tracks.
He didn’t look drunk at all; on the contrary, he was quite sober.
That’s why he could say such outrageous things, “And after having a taste of her, I just find her pretty dull.”
Ambiguous laughter broke out around him.
“Only Young Master Hawthorne could win over such an unattainable beauty.”
Adrian seemed to enjoy such flattery and continued, “Don’t be fooled by how she risked everything to chase Sebastian before—she’s actually quite innocent. What a pity though...”
“What a pity?”
Adrian slowly exhaled a puff of smoke, “The pity is, even though I’m her first man, I’m not the first man she’s loved.”
“She loved Sebastian for ten years—who knows if she’s really cleared her heart of him?”
“If it weren’t for being mortal enemies with Sebastian, and thinking that chasing Claire would get on his nerves, I wouldn’t have bothered putting on this act of a deeply affectionate man who silently guards her.”
Someone teased, “Young Master Hawthorne, you’ve been with her for three years since winning her over—why are you sighing about this now?”
Adrian looked irritable and said in a cold voice, “It’s precisely because I chased her for so long that I can’t let it go.”
Someone in the crowd went on, “I heard she’s been looking for you everywhere, almost driven crazy. You’ve been missing for so many days—are you okay?”
Adrian took a drag of his cigarette, exhaled a cloud of smoke, and sneered, “Running away from the wedding to make her lose face—isn’t that fun?”
In his expression, I saw no trace of guilt, pity, or love.
All I saw was the satisfaction of having gotten revenge.
As if he had been waiting for this day all along.
My fingertips dug into the palm of my hand, and my heart felt like it was being pricked with needles—so painful that I could barely breathe.
I had always thought Adrian would be my salvation and my final destination.
I had also made sure that my feelings for him were not just gratitude but genuine liking before agreeing to be with him.
That day, he was so happy that he set off fireworks across the entire city.
Three years after we got together, he bought a small island named after me to propose, and the sky was filled with sky lanterns.
I thought that was love, that was romance.
Never did I expect it was all just a show he put on to get revenge on Sebastian.
So, were all those more than ten years of deep affection and help just an act?
