?Chapter 1285:


    Today should have been the first day of her life with Marc, yet everything had slipped into a direction she never imagined. If she had known someone would break the ceremony and pull her away, she would have chosen to marry Marc much earlier.


    Lying on the soft yet unfamiliar bed, she stayed near the edge. The space held no warmth she could im.


    She wrapped herself tightly in the nket. The scent of the fabric mixed with her thoughts of Marc.


    He filled her mind. She wondered how he was holding up or if he was trying to reach her.


    Suddenly, she remembered what William had said earlier. He imed Marc had not called her, suggesting that he felt nothing for her.


    The moment that thought entered her mind, a sharp ache hit her heart as if someone had pulled a string inside her chest.


    Even when she faced William and insisted that Marc would never leave her behind, she felt no certainty echo within herself. After all, she had been with William. If Marc learned the truth, she questioned whether he would still choose not to despise her.


    These doubts circled endlessly in her mind. Sleep refused toe.


    William’s cold warning lingered in the air like a spell she could not break. It settled deep within her as though it intended to stay.


    She felt like a porcin doll robbed of strength. The moonlight made her seem as if she had cracked in silence.


    She hugged herself tightly. Her nails pressed into her skin as she tried to use the sting to quiet the despair and fear swirling inside her.


    “William…” Her voice barely rose above a whisper. Her teeth knocked together as she tried to steady herself.


    She silently mouthed his name. The sound trembled in her throat.


    The name still felt foreign on her lips, yet it had already be a shadow threatening to cling to her forever.


    She searched her mind for any memory of him. The effort only brought a piercing headache and a cloud of confusion. No matter how hard she pushed herself, she found no trace of any past with him.


    Was he lying to her, or had her mind truly erased so much?


    Yet Marc had assured her that everything she saw had been nothing more than dreams. He had said they were not real.


    The moon hung high. Its pale glow became her onlypany inside the silent room.


    She could not tell how much time had passed. Tears blurred everything and the rush of events drained every bit of strength she had until her eyes grew heavy and she slipped into a restless sleep.


    In the days that followed, William vanishedpletely. She did not see him appear in the vi again.


    Yet for her, his absence felt like another punishment.


    She remained trapped in the luxurious vi. The master bedroom upstairs and the dining and living rooms downstairs became the limits of her world.


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