Gwh''s face visibly darkened. Leonie, resigned, rushed to ster on a smile and apologize.


    "Alright, alright, my dear aunt, I promise I won''t do it again."


    Leonie still couldn''t break the habit of calling her "aunt," though she was technically her younger aunt. Gwh was too tired to argue and just let her be.


    After keeping Gwhpany for a while, the night deepened. Leonie found herself growing sleepier by the minute. Her eyelids grew heavy, and she kept yawning until her eyes watered.<fn0272> Th? link to the orig?n of this information r?sts ?n f?ndnovel</fn0272>


    Gwh, meanwhile, was fully absorbed in carving her seal, barely sparing Leonie a nce. She simply noticed that the room had grown quieter without Leonie''s chatter.


    Two hours slipped by. By then, the seal in Gwh''s hands was finally beginning to take shape. She stretched her sore arms and, ncing over, realized Leonie had already dozed off.


    She couldn''t help but smile. Leonie, in her twenties, still slept like a child-pletely unguarded around anyone. That innocence moved Gwh. Leonie truly had been sheltered by her family, protected from the world.


    For a wealthy young woman, that kind of naivete was a blessing. Her family would probably arrange a good match for her-someone respectable, from a simr background—and she''d live out her days content and undisturbed.


    A peaceful, uneventful life was worth more than riches and power. Gwh had seen enough rises and falls, too many painful goodbyes, in her own life.


    All she wanted now was calm. Even if life slipped by quietly, without much vor, it was better than enduring emotional wounds over and over. She simply wanted the ordinary life most people took for granted.


    She fetched a nket from the bedroom and gently draped it over Leonie. After resting a moment herself, she resumed carving the seal, working in silence until her phone chimed with a new message.


    "Hey, Gwyn, haven''t seen you at the officetely. Did you take more time off? Everyone''s saying you''re busy nning your wedding with Mr. Everhart."


    It was a colleague from her department, gossiping as usual. Gwh would have ignored it, but the next part cut straight through her like a knife.


    "But today, we had an unexpected visitor. A new deputy manager in the tech division-an overseas returnee, apparently an expert in algorithms. Super impressive."  fo s


    At first, Gwh paid it little mind-until she saw the name: Patti Yale.


    "This name and her face both seem really familiar. Isn''t she the one who introduced herself as Mrs. Everhart at thest expo?"


    "So what''s really going on between you and Mr. Everhart? Are you Mrs. Everhart,


    or is she? We''re all so confused."


    The message hit Gwh like a bolt


    of lightning. She''d thought she''d


    sorted out her feelings for


    Hawthorne, thought she was ready brief


    to leave him and the tangled


    Tomance behind her.


    belongs to s


    She always believed she was


    someone who could let go easilmet


    that she''d be fine with a little time. But this message, shattered that illusion.  s


    The pain was sharp and raw-beyond anything words could express.


    With her heart aching, she forced herself to type a reply.


    "I''m not Mrs. Everhart."


    But as soon as she finished, she deleted the words, one by one. In the end, she decided not to respond at all.


    There was no point anymore.


    If anything, she felt more determined than ever to divorce Hawthorne.


    Whoever he wanted to be with, whoever he chose to love or marry, it had nothing to do with her anymore.


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