But for the next few hours, she actually got some real sleep.


    At six in the morning, a maid knocked on her door, announcing another call from the old estate.


    ra rushed through her routine and hurried downstairs. Dn was already waiting, looking perfectly put together.


    She grabbed a quick breakfast, then asked, "Is today going to beplicated?"


    Dn''s face was calm and warm as he nodded.


    ra took a few extra bites and stuffed some bread into her bag forter-just in


    case.


    On the drive over, she stared out the window at the scenery flying by. "Do you think your grandfather''s going to give you a hard time today?"


    Ever since the fire at the temple, the old man had been eerily quiet. ra had no clue what he was plotting, and the uncertainty made her uneasy.


    She gave Dn a worried look and said, "If they try to make you sign something unfair, promise you''ll say no."


    Dn always handled the Ferguson family''s pressure with such a cool head. Sometimes ra worried he wouldn''t stand up for himself.


    He nced at her, then looked back out the window, a faint smirk on his lips. "Yeah, I know."


    Her eyes dropped to his hands-he was still wearing his wedding ring. He''d never once taken it off.


    When they arrived at the old manor, the ce was already draped in mourning banners and white flowers.


    Dn was in his wheelchair, as usual, and ra pushed him inside. She could feel the Ferguson family''s eyes on her-nk, cold, and full of a disgust they didn''t even bother to hide, like she was something rotten they couldn''t wait to get rid of.


    She kept her head down and pushed Dn into the main hall, where the old ma was waiting.


    But before the patriarch could say a word, Lucius jumped in.


    Lucius''s wife, Ka, had just been kicked out by the Fergusons. Even if he''d always been a pushover, today he couldn''t hold back.


    "Dn, you know your mother died because of her, and you still bring her here? Are you really going to let your mother go to her grave like this?"


    ra wasn''t stupid. If she tried to say the fire was the old man''s doing right now, she''d never make it out of the Ferguson house alive. They''d all just call her crazy, and it would only make them angrier.


    So, for now, the truth about the fire stayed buried in her heart.


    She looked at the old man. He was dressed in ck, his face totally unreadable- like he''d lost a stranger, not his wife.


    Suddenly, ra felt a pang of sadness for thete matriarch. After all those kids, all those years, he didn''t shed a single tear.


    Decades together, and it meant nothing in the end.


    But even at the very end, the olddy hadn''t seemed regretful-just unwilling, just full of sorrow.


    Maybe that''s how it goes-love debts are the hardest to pay back.


    ra took a deep breath and gripped the wheelchair handles tighter.


    At that moment, the old man finally spoke. "Didn''t I tell the butler to tell you? I said not to bring her here."


    Obviously, "her" meant ra.


    Dn''s face didn''t change. He just said, “Father, I told you before. ra is my wife."


    The old man stared at him for a long moment, like he was finally making up his mind.


    "Fine. Go pay yourst respects to your mother."


    The family shrine was set up with white wreaths everywhere and the matriarch''s memorial que at the center.


    All the Fergusons had to stand outside in the courtyard, pour wine on the ground, and bow to the memorial, to heaven and earth.


    ra wasn''t allowed inside. She could only watch through the open door.


    The other women gathered around, watching her with cold, mocking smiles.


    "Well, congrattions. You haven''t even married in properly and you''ve already cursed your elders."


    "Ever since you showed up, the Fergusons have been gued one disaster after another. Dn must be out of his mind, insisting on staying with you."


    "That poor boy, Dn..."


    The whispers and snidements came from all sides, as if just standing near


    ra would bring them bad luck.


    ra almostughed, but kept her eyes fixed inside. She shot back, "If the Fergusons'' bad luck really started with me, then shouldn''t you all have had a string of disasters years ago? Didn''t you all have plenty of good times before? Isn''t it only in thest six months that things have gone wrong? Maybe someone among you did something so awful, the whole family''s paying for it now."


    She barely finished speaking before someone snapped, "ra! Are


    out


    than &


    your mind? How dare


    tover


    you


    say


    at the Ferguson shrine