A Warm Marriage After Rebirth

’I don’t get it! I just don’t understand! It’s so confusing! What in the world are those two up to?!’

The crowd could only bury the question in their hearts and puzzle over it. In any case, Seraphina Sterling and Martin Quinn certainly weren’t going to give them any answers.

The club’s doctor rushed over. His diagnosis was the same as Wyatt Gallagher’s: just a dislocated wrist, nothing more serious. Shannon had been crying so pitifully for two reasons. First, it genuinely hurt like hell, especially for someone like Shannon Gable, who had never suffered so much as a minor scratch. Pain like this was truly unbearable for her.

Second, she had always been invincible when it came to riding. She had never even lost a race, let alone been thrown from a horse. She had never been so humiliated, especially not in front of Seraphina Sterling—an opponent she had underestimated. She couldn’t accept it, so she used her tears as an outlet.

Of course, the most important reason was that Wyatt Gallagher was a doctor, and she was the patient. She cried so pathetically simply because she wanted him to pay more attention to her, to feel a little more sympathy for her.

In truth, her injury wasn’t that severe. After so many years of riding, she knew the basics of how to protect herself during a fall.

With the doctor’s diagnosis as proof, Jay Gable couldn’t say anything more. After all, everyone had seen it clearly: Shannon Gable had been the one to whip Seraphina Sterling’s bay horse, nearly causing her to fall. Only then did Seraphina retaliate. Now that even the doctor had confirmed she was fine, he had no excuse to cause trouble for Seraphina.

The crowd followed the doctor as they carried Shannon Gable out of the riding arena and into the main hall, where they stumbled upon a very interesting scene.

"Terrence Grant, you said it yourself! Even if we tie, it counts as my win! And if I win, you have to grant me one request! I want to be engaged to you. You can’t go back on your word!" A spoiled, demanding voice rang out, causing the crowd to frown instinctively.

They were just so lucky today. They had managed to run into the two most difficult women from Aethelgard’s high society: Shannon Gable and, standing right in front of them, Skylar Thompson.

Shannon Gable chasing Wyatt Gallagher and Skylar Thompson chasing Terrence Grant were hardly secrets. It was just that the two "sisters-in-arms" had been trying for years with nothing to show for it. But they’d just heard the word ’engagement.’ Could it be that Skylar Thompson’s perseverance had finally paid off, and she was finally making it official with Mr. Grant? The gossip fiend in everyone stirred to life. They stared, unblinking, at the pair, eager to witness this sacred and momentous occasion with their own eyes.

And of course, this included Seraphina Sterling.

"That request is off the table. Pick another one!" Terrence Grant’s tone was harsh. No, "harsh" wasn’t the right word. He was flat-out furious.

"Fine! Then we’ll skip the engagement and get married directly!" Skylar Thompson was refreshingly direct, blurting it out without a second thought.

’This girl’s got guts, proposing marriage just like that!’ The crowd silently gave Skylar Thompson a thumbs-up. Mr. Grant was notoriously difficult. Did she really have the nerve to marry him? Weren’t she afraid of what his infamous temper would be like at home?

"Skylar Thompson! Engagement, marriage—neither is ever going to happen. Get that through your head!" Terrence Grant’s rejection was even more blunt, delivered without a moment’s hesitation. "If you have any intention of getting married while you’re still in your prime, you’d better find a new target and fast. Stop wasting your life chasing me, or you might never get married at all!"

Terrence Grant clearly had no qualms about being harsh with women. His words were brutally direct, telling a woman in her mid-twenties that she’d end up an old maid. How could a man be so odious? If they hadn’t seen it with their own eyes, they would have never believed it.

"I don’t care! I, Skylar Thompson, am sticking with you for life! I won’t marry anyone but you!" She didn’t seem the least bit fazed. Terrence Grant had always been sharp-tongued; she was used to it by now and had built up an immunity.

"Ethan Thompson, if you don’t want to be my sparring partner, then get over here and get your precious sister under control! The way she is now, who in their right mind would marry her?" Terrence Grant yelled, singling Ethan out from the crowd.

The only person who would dare speak to Ethan Thompson like that was probably the Grant Family’s own Demon King of Chaos. Not even Mr. Quinn would use such a tone with Ethan. In a way, this made Terrence Grant even more formidable than Martin Quinn.

"Brother, come here and be the judge! It was Terrence Grant who said that if I could ever beat him at the shooting range, or even just get a tie, he would grant me one request! I just tied with him, but now he’s going back on his word! He won’t get engaged to me, and he won’t marry me!" Terrence called for reinforcements, so Skylar started pleading her case.

It was for the sake of that promise that she had practiced her marksmanship until her hands were calloused, though she was still leagues behind Terrence Grant. She should have been guaranteed to lose this competition, but for some reason, out on the shooting range just now, Terrence had performed uncharacteristically poorly. That was the only reason she’d managed to scrape a tie. It was a victory granted by the heavens, and there was no way she was giving up this chance! Nothing anyone said would change her mind.

Ethan Thompson looked at Terrence Grant in utter shock. "You lost to Skylar at the shooting range? Are you seeing things, or are you hearing things?"

Terrence Grant’s eyes swept over Seraphina Sterling in the crowd. ’If I hadn’t seen her with Wyatt Gallagher, would I have messed up? If I hadn’t heard her heartfelt confession, would I have been so angry that I fired without even looking at the target?’

"Brother, what are you talking about? Why can’t I beat Terrence Grant just once? That’s not the point right now! The point is I want him to agree to marry me! I have to marry him!" Skylar Thompson cried out desperately.

Ethan Thompson was out of ideas. He gave Terrence Grant a helpless shrug. ’You’re the one who lost. You can solve this problem yourself.’

"Then you’re out of luck. Because I, Terrence Grant, will never marry anyone in this life but her!" he declared, pointing a finger directly at Seraphina Sterling, who was standing at the back of the crowd.