?Chapter 1168:


    Under the dim lights, she had stood there with ear-length hair and a candy-colored rubber band around her wrist.


    Her wide, expressive eyes peeked out from beneath her bangs, holding a beauty that seemed to epass the entire world.


    She had looked like a deer that had wandered into a battlefield—lost, vulnerable, utterly out of ce.


    Nate had never been one to act on sentiment or offer kindness without reason.


    He could never control her, yet she had always held power over him.


    The marriage agreement lingered in Corrine’s thoughts, stirring her curiosity once more.


    “So, do you have any idea why we were arranged to marry each other in the first ce?”


    “I don’t,” Nate admitted. “Aside from my grandmother, I doubt anyone else knows the real reason.”


    Ralph had always been firmly against the arrangement.


    So when Nate proposed traveling to Lyhaton to have the arrangement annulled, Ralph had been the first to support the idea.


    “How about we visit your grandmother when we go back to Lyhaton?” Corrine asked.


    The more people evaded the truth, the more determined she became to uncover it.


    Carl’s reluctance to discuss the arrangement only fueled her resolve to understand its origins.


    Nate saw right through her. “You’ll have to put in some work for that.”


    “Why…” Corrine’s question trailed off as she caught sight of Nate’s wandering hand. Irritated, she swatted it away. “What are you doing?”


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    Instead of answering, Nate leaned down and pressed a kiss to her lips, his fingers slipping beneath the fabric of her clothes. A smoldering intensity flickered in his eyes.


    “Don’t fight it, or you might make my injury worse.”


    Corrine was momentarily stunned. She had never imagined that her concern for his well-being would be his excuse to blur boundaries.


    “You’re hurt. Shouldn’t you be taking it easy?”


    “Injuries don’t interfere with basic functions.”


    “But… dinner will be here soon.”


    “Just working up an appetite.”


    Corrine had no response for that.


    Every word—just an excuse!


    Yet, despite herself, she surrendered to the warmth of his touch.


    Nate brushed a kiss against her forehead, his voice rough with passion. “Corrine…” he murmured, drawing her deeper into a whirlwind of tenderness.


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