Behind him, the six apprentices wore the same worried expressions.
They had all watched me grow up, more like brothers than anything else.
I smiled, turned, and pulled a man’s business card from my pocket.
“You all say he always wanted to marry me? Then I’ll marry him.”
The sixth brother’s face changed. “No! Lila, you heard what we said to Master today… Even if we’re useless, we can’t let you degrade yourself in a marriage alliance with the Vaughn family.”
My father had been silent the whole time.
The eldest brother glanced at him, then added,
“That’s right. We don’t need this marriage tie. Lila, you’re our treasure, the Lane family’s jewel. You deserve to marry for love.”
I lowered my gaze, my eyes resting on Lucas Vaughn’s business card.
“Love?”
“Brother, if I were such a love-addled fool, how could I inherit Father’s mantle?”
My eyes hardened.
“Lucas Vaughn. I’ll marry him.”
That evening, I sat in the garden gazebo reading.
Adrian arrived with six of my brothers. Stella trailed close behind.
I’d heard that on the very night of his return, Adrian moved out of the room beside mine—
claiming Stella needed peace to carry her child, and he would care for her.
“Take it out on me, but don’t trouble Stella,” he said.
After learning I was Stella’s savior, Adrian’s expression softened, though his eyes still carried suspicion.
I smiled faintly, studying him in silence.
These five years had been cruel to him.
I heard he was ambushed during his mission, tumbling off a cliff.
By rights, he should have died.
But fate spared him—Stella had found him at the bottom.
A bodyguard handed me file after file, detailing Adrian’s years away.
He and Stella had built a cabin in the woods and lived there for two years.
They held a simple ceremony under the sky, vowing themselves as husband and wife.
When sick with fever, they clung to each other for warmth.
They…
“Enough.”
I cut the bodyguard off, narrowing my eyes at Adrian.
“Why is it you forgot my father, remembered my six brothers—but somehow forgot me?”
Adrian stiffened, then lifted his head sharply.
“It’s my fault. I always felt someone was waiting for me, and I swore I’d fight my way back alive. But when I saw Stella, it was love at first sight. No one else mattered.”
“Lila Lane, I hear you’re my junior sister. For the sake of our childhood bond, forget me. Let me and Stella be.”
Without hesitation, Adrian knelt before me.
Stella quickly followed, tears brimming, her voice trembling.
“Sister, I don’t want anything—only Adrian. Please, I beg you…”
I laughed, rose to my feet, and tore the stack of files to shreds.
“Stella Ray, since you call me sister, why don’t I host your wedding?”
Both Adrian and Stella jerked their heads up, eyes wide with disbelief.
I plucked a rose from nearby and tucked it into Stella’s hair.
“This wedding—I’ll officiate.”
With my word, preparations began immediately.
Stella’s eyes shone with gratitude.
Even Adrian, long wary of me, finally allowed himself a sigh of relief.
