Betrayed During the Mating Ceremony Chapter 07

Betrayed During the Mating Ceremony Chapter 07

A gust scattered leaves over his shoulders. For a moment, I was back on our university campus.

In college, my parents were divorcing. My father, in anger, cut off my expenses.

Heartbroken, I scrambled to make ends meet. Once, his mistress called, taunting my mother and sending her to the hospital.

I was penniless because a shady boss had withheld my wages, and I couldn’t cover the medical bills.

At my most desperate, when my father had shut the door, Elias reached out.

He paid the hospital fees and slipped me five hundred dollars. “Isabella, take this.

Buy nutritious food. If it’s not enough, tell me, your health comes first.”

I refused. So, he brought me three meals a day. Classmates joked that Elias was a rich playboy, spending to win me over.

Only later did I find out the truth, Elias was an orphan, his life even harder than mine. That money was his entire savings, scraped together over years.

He gave it all to me without a thought. He hid in his dorm, surviving on water and buns, so I could have meat.

He worked to collapse, yet forced a smile.

When I learned all this, I cried until tears ran dry. Two lost souls, we found each other.

Because of him, both my mother and I believed in love again. When he needed help, we gave everything, time and again.

But we’d forgotten. Human hearts are fickle. Some people can only share hardship, not prosperity. My father was like that. So was Elias.

His affection ran deeper, his betrayal cut deeper. What Elias destroyed not just my love, but my belief in happiness.

He brushed leaves from his shoulders. As he walked closer, I realized, so much had been my wishful thinking.

Elias was no longer the boy from that summer. He had changed. Lines framed his eyes, his gaze sharp.

He’d become the man he wanted, but lost who he was.

“Isabella.” his face was unreadable. “Come back. I’ve been worried.”

“No need,” I replied, steady. “I’m living well. I’m happy.”

Moonveil Pack was a company we’d built. Once I confirmed his affair, I’d sold all my shares.

Before the scandal, the pack’s future seemed bright. The money was enough for me to live freely anywhere.

After thought, I reapplied to the design school. It had been my girlhood dream.

In university, I’d had a chance to study abroad, but turned it down to stay with him.

At that crossroads, I’d made the wrong choice. One misstep led to another, until I lost everything.

But I was still young. I had a chance to pick up the pieces and start over.

He looked bewildered. “Isabella, have you lost your mind? At your age, back to school?

And after you graduate? Wouldn’t it be better to come back, be Luna, spend your days at the spa? What’s so bad?”

Bad.

When I stepped back, he had made me the same promise.

But gradually, everything changed.

He resented my idleness. He criticized my cooking, found fault with the house. I couldn’t share his burdens like I used to, nor could I be his confidante like Morwen.

So, work consumed his time, and he came home later. Until tensions ignited that night.

The memory prompted a question.

“Elias, do you truly believe that was my fault? I was delivering documents for you when attacked by your rivals.

Because I didn’t fight to the death, lost my ‘purity’… you think that was my fault?”