?Chapter 1559:

“I’m tired. Please leave,” Corrine responded, rising to leave.

But Nate suddenly grasped her wrist and drew her into his embrace.

He wrapped an arm securely around her slim waist. Corrine struggled briefly, but his hold was unyielding.

Then, close to her ear, Nate’s deep,pelling voice broke the silence. “What do you want to know?” he asked.

Corrine turned her gaze out the window, her lips pressed tightly together, determined to ignore him.

“Amelie Hamilton was actually Aliza Quinn, Elva’s cousin,” Nate exined with a soft sigh. “I kept you out of this to protect you.”

“Should I be grateful for your protection then?” Corrine scoffed coldly.

The situation had targeted her directly, making her involvement inevitable.

Nate insisted he wanted to keep her out of it.

This made Corrine question his sudden naivety.

She was convinced that Aliza wouldn’t even be aware of her existence without Elva’s meddling. Given their intent to destroy her, Corrine realized she couldn’t remain on the sidelines.

“What do I need to do to make things right with you?” Nate asked softly, sensing Corrine’s distress.

Despite knowing Nate intended to protect her, Corrine didn’t want to be shielded from reality.

She was prepared to share life’s joys and challenges with Nate.

When he had publicly revealed their rtionship, it was in response to her own wishes.

She couldn’t grasp why he had suddenly altered his course.

Was it really to avoid upsetting Elva?

Corrine took a deep breath to steady herself and looked Nate directly in the eye. “If Bruce hadn’t left me that day and you hadn’t driven by, and if our paths hadn’t crossed repeatedly, would you have been married to Elva by now, per your family’s n?” she asked, her eyebrows raised.

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Corrine hadn’t banished the memory of why Nate first journeyed to Lyhaton—to sever their marriage arrangement—nor could she dismiss Moses’ recent words. Had their bond not deepened through each subsequent encounter, they would have already been liberated from their arrangement’s constraints.

As her assumptions hung in the air, Nate’s eyes crystallized with cold intensity. He fixed Corrine with an unwavering stare, his gaze cutting like winter’s first frost.

“If our arrangement dissolved, you’d be untethered. With your position and status, even if Elva doesn’t be your bride, countless exceptional women will orbit your life. You would simply select a suitable match from among them, wouldn’t you?”

In truth, Corrine couldn’t pinpoint the source of her mounting distress. She had convinced herself that as long as Nate’s heart belonged genuinely to her, she could magnanimously overlook Elva’s shadow in their lives.

But she had misjudged the tangled web of emotions that rtionships wove. Especially after Elva conspired with Aliza to harm her, Elva had transformed into a persistent thorn lodged in Corrine’s heart.

The pain wasn’t searing, but it would pierce unexpectedly, a recurring reminder of Elva’s lingering presence.

Darkness swirled in Nate’s eyes as he studied Corrine, his pupils deep and enigmatic as a midnight abyss, rendering his thoughts imprable.

Gradually, his arms unwound from her waist, while a ghost of a smile touched his lips. “Is that truly how you perceive me?”

Though his voice remained soft, it carried unmistakable currents of self-mockery and barely concealed frustration.

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