Chapter 5

Evelyn was astonishingly quick to decide that she wanted to call off our engagement.

Soon, both families gathered again to discuss the cancellation. I went door to door collecting the invitations and informing everyone that the wedding had been canceled. The news that Evelyn and I had broken up caused a huge commotion.

My mother sighed and comforted me, telling me not to be sad and that I wasn’t the one at fault.

“There’s no need to cancel the banquet. Ethan and I can use it for our wedding.” Evelyn spoke as if it were the most natural thing in the world. “I’ll reimburse you in cash.”

My mother frowned when she heard that, finally seeing how shameless Evelyn was. She snapped, “Absolutely not! Evelyn, don’t push us too far! This wedding banquet must be canceled.”

“My son is not someone you can humiliate.”

I could tell that Ethan wanted to use this situation to show off how completely Evelyn obeyed him.

Evelyn glared at me coldly without giving an inch. “Gavin Blake, why are you being so petty? When did Ethan ever try to humiliate you?”

“Do you think I want to use this banquet? Ethan said it would save you some money! You should learn from his generosity instead of using your filthy mind to make assumptions about him!”

My mother’s face flushed with anger at Evelyn’s twisted reasoning. “Evelyn... you...”

“That’s enough!” Evelyn’s father, who had been silent until then, roared at her. He cut off her tirade and apologized to my mother. “Gavin is a good kid. Evelyn simply isn’t lucky enough to marry into your family.”

“I apologize to Gavin on Evelyn’s behalf.”

“Apologize for what?” Evelyn protested. Her eyes reddened as she pointed at me, her gaze filled with hatred. “If you hadn’t broken Ethan and me up back then and interfered in our relationship, I wouldn’t have been separated from Ethan for so many years!”

“I hate you. All I want is to make it up to Ethan!”

Her words left my heart in agony. The pain made my breathing turn frantic, as if I had fallen into a bottomless abyss.

When Ethan abandoned Evelyn, our families had already been close for generations. Her father had exhausted himself worrying about her and arranged for Evelyn and me to meet. That was how I managed to take advantage of her vulnerability and enter her life.

I had never told Evelyn the truth because I wanted to protect her feelings.

I never expected that, in Evelyn’s eyes, I had become an accomplice in her father’s attempt to separate her from Ethan.

“I agree.” I looked quietly at Evelyn and spoke without any emotion.

What she didn’t know was that my heart had already gone numb from the pain. Those three words had taken every ounce of strength in my body to force out, and I collapsed onto the sofa with a deathly pale face, gasping for breath.

Evelyn froze for a moment. Then, wild delight flashed through her eyes. She clearly hadn’t expected me to give up so quickly. With happiness written all over her face, she walked out to share the good news with Ethan.

The sight pierced my eyes. At that moment, it felt as if an invisible hand had clenched around my heart, stopping it from beating. I no longer even had the strength to stand and leave.

Evelyn’s father stormed out, leaving his unreasonable daughter behind.

“Gavin, are you all right?” My mother supported me as we walked out of the hotel, her voice full of concern.

At that moment, Evelyn was gently pushing Ethan’s wheelchair and scolding him fondly. “You’ve only just started recovering. How could you come out here? What if something happened?”

Ethan, sitting in the wheelchair, was already too lazy to keep pretending. He gave me the smile of a victor. “I wanted to discuss the wedding with you and meet your father while I was at it.”

The two of them happily discussed their future, while I felt like a passerby who had brushed shoulders with Evelyn. Even so, I couldn’t stop myself from turning around to look at her.

Soon, the system appeared again. After detecting that Evelyn’s favorability toward me had dropped to its lowest point, it said, “Host, the memory erasure is about to begin. Are you certain you want to exchange all your memories for Evelyn’s life?”

This was the deal I had made with the system a long time ago. Back then, I had been afraid Evelyn might do something irreversible, so I had made the trade to save her.

As the system began carrying out the punishment, it reminded me again, “Host, the terms of the deal can still be changed.”

“No.”

I smiled bitterly. Let this grand gift serve as my wedding present to Evelyn.

At that moment, my entire body felt strangely light.

The system’s cold, mechanical voice rang out. “Host, the deal is confirmed. Prepare yourself.”

“All right.”

I had endured countless forms of punishment, but I never expected this one to become something I would remember for the rest of my life.