Chapter 3

With just one sentence, my father could hear the grievance in my voice.

He sighed and said with heartache:

"I'm glad you've come to your senses. Now that you have, come home. There are plenty of people here who want to put a ring on your finger."

My father never wanted me to marry Tristan in the first place.

After all, the Smith family was rooted in New York, while the Fosters were in Las Vegas.

The two places were far apart.

If I hadn't been so determined to stay in Las Vegas seven years ago, he never would have been willing to let his only daughter marry so far away.

After hanging up, the car driven by Tristan's assistant pulled up steadily in front of me.

"Ma'am, it's time to try on the ancestral ring."

Outside the car window, familiar streets slipped by bit by bit.

My thoughts drifted back to Victoria Harbor when I was eighteen.

The wind was strong that night.

My hat nearly flew into the sea, but a hand caught it firmly.

I turned around. Tristan's eyes held a smile in the darkness:

"Careful there, babe."

In that moment, the sea breeze, the neon lights, and the warmth of his fingertips sent my heartbeat into complete chaos.

Regarding this marriage arrangement, my father was extremely opposed.

First, he couldn't bear to let me marry far away.

Second, he had no good impression of the Foster family.

At that time, I'd just been doused with red wine by Selene and called a homewrecker.

And I'd failed to fit the ring for the first time.

"What kind of ancestral rule is this? Can't marry if the ring doesn't fit? Absolutely ridiculous."

"And that woman who made a public scene—locked up for two days and then released? What's that supposed to mean?"

After ranting for a while, my father finally asked me with great heartache:

"So if you can never wear that ring, are you planning to waste your whole life there?"

I smiled, unconcerned:

"How could I never wear it? If I can't wear it after seven years, I'll come home, okay?"

This seven-year time limit was actually just something I said casually.

Because back then, I thought seven days would be enough.

Later, year after year, it became almost an obsession.

My heart grew anxious and uncertain. My body grew thinner day by day.

The young woman once cherished endlessly by her father stubbornly persisted in this dead end of love.

In the end, I discovered I'd fallen into a romantic fraud.

My thoughts returned to the present. The car had also stopped in front of the Foster family estate.

In the Foster family shrine, Tristan was there too.

Through the black curtain, my hand was once again fitted with that ring.

I used to think it was so mysterious, having to wear a ring through a black curtain.

Now I knew—it was all to keep me in the dark.

Without suspense, the ring slid to the second knuckle of my ring finger and stuck.

I quickly withdrew my hand.

I no longer tried like before, having people force the ring onto my finger over and over until it broke the skin and bled.

Tristan froze, then leaned his shoulder toward me.

He thought I'd break down and cry like before because the ring wouldn't fit.

But this time, I just shook my head and said flatly:

"Take it away. It won't fit."

This time, Tristan's daze lasted even longer.

He couldn't help but say:

"Mara, today you... feel like a different person."