After Rebirth, I Refused to Marry the Major, and He Panicked Chapter 07

After Rebirth, I Refused to Marry the Major, and He Panicked Chapter 07

Colt’s pupils contracted. Despair and regret flooded his face, then the light left his eyes entirely.

But it didn’t matter.

Reid had been silent since he stepped in front of me. Now he took my hand and led me away.

Back in his apartment, the coldness in his gaze melted.

He looked at me, hesitant.

I snapped, “Just say it.”

He relaxed. Then he asked me what I’d meant by those words.

So I told him. Everything. The past life. The murder. The swamp.

I expected disbelief. Instead, his eyes blazed with fury.

“Colt dared to do that to you! I’ll make him pay!”

I held him back and laughed. “What are you going to do-punch a dying man?”

He reddened, remembering that Colt was already on his last legs.

And I remembered-years ago, in the pine grove behind the base housing.

A quiet, handsome boy named Reid Sterling, cornered by a pack of officers’ brats.

“Hey, it’s the bookworm!”

“Heard your mom’s a teacher? No wonder you reek of poor!”

Reid’s face burned, but he turned away, refusing to engage.

They grabbed his copy of Military Strategy.

His jaw tightened. Outnumbered, he held his ground in silence.

Then I appeared. I picked up the book and handed it back to him.

His eyes went red at the edges.

I asked, “Why didn’t you fight back?”

He murmured, “…Don’t want to cause trouble for my mom.”

We talked for hours that day.

He told me he loved pine trees. During winter survival training, he’d seen the snow-covered pines still green,

and thought they were beautiful. Resilient.

He said he wanted to be like them. Quiet. Unyielding.

That was when I’d started calling him “Little Pine Tree.”

Now, years later, Reid pulled something from behind his back.

A small glass vial with a pressed pine needle inside.

He placed it in my palm.

“Now,” he said softly, “Little Pine Tree belongs to you.”

“Colt may be my cousin, but I’m nothing like that snake.”

“You saved me. I’ll protect you with my life.”

I smiled and tucked the vial away.

Then the comm unit buzzed: Colt had gone mad.

The general sent for me again. I sighed and shook my head at Reid.

At the hospital, Colt was screaming. “Penelope Shaw! You lied to me! I’ll kill you!”

Penelope cowered in the corner.

“It wasn’t me! The antidote was real! Someone swapped it out last night-I saw it!”

But Colt wouldn’t listen. He flailed at her, weak and pathetic, his hair wild.

He almost looked insane.

When he saw me, he scrambled to smooth his hair.

Then he dropped to his knees, clutching my sleeve.

“Please, Elena, you broke the curse once, you can do it again!”

“I don’t trust anyone but you now!”

I pushed his hand away.

“My ability-the purifying constitution-can only be used once. I already gave it to Reid.”

“I warned you. You should have found another way.”

“No! No, I’m the heir-I’m the Sterling legacy-I won’t accept this!”

He lunged for me again. Reid caught his arm.

Colt finally noticed Reid standing behind me. His laugh turned manic.

“You! You must have swapped Penelope’s vials!”

He clawed at Reid’s face. Reid shoved him to the floor with contempt.

“Touch Elena again, and I’ll forget every ounce of decency I have.

Colt sat there, tearing at his own hair.

“How did it come to this? All my years of effort-wasted!”

“I killed my own parents to win Grandfather’s favor, and the curse still took me!”

His gaze shot to Reid, venomous.

“It’s all your fault! Why couldn’t you be the one to die? I’ll kill you!”

He pulled a pistol from his sleeve.

A guard kicked it away.

General Sterling stepped through the door, his face carved from stone.

“Grandfather-Grandfather-my father wouldn’t want to see me like this-”

Colt crawled toward him, expecting mercy.

He got a slap that echoed through the room.

“You monster! You killed your own father!”

The general’s eyes were wet with rage.

All these years, he’d blamed himself for not noticing his eldest son’s illness sooner. He’d showered Colt with

love and favor out of guilt.

Now he knew the truth.

That day, Colt Sterling was stricken from the family succession and stripped of all inheritance rights.

“Reid… I’m old. The family is yours now.”

The general withdrew to his estate, broken.

Reid took over immediately. The first thing he did was put my name alongside his on the family trust.

“Mrs. Sterling,” he said, gentle and firm, “this home is yours to lead.”