George had not intended to humiliate Marcus. He was only passing on his wisdom. Back when his wife had been alive, George had helped her onto her horse in the very same way.

Back then, Amanita had been quite young. When she stepped on Marcus’s shoulder, all she felt was that his shoulders were very broad and strong.

For some reason, her heart had started beating even faster.

She had started falling for Marcus. However, she did not notice that Marcus’s eyes were filled with humiliation.

Amanita assumed that Marcus was a prideful person and did not like for someone to be stepping on him. That was why she had only ever done it once. After that incident, she had never asked him to kneel for her again.

Yet, she was currently watching Marcus willingly kneel to help Risa down from her horse. The sight pained Amanita so much that it felt like she had been stabbed.

She forced herself to look away. Then, she nudged the horse with her knees. “Giddy up!”

The horse obediently started a canter. On the horse’s back, feeling the wind in her face, Amanita slowly started feeling better.

Their lesson that day was to ride through an obstacle course. Amanita had to guide her horse over three barriers. The difficulty was very high.

When a barrier was right in front of her, her horse jumped up for some reason. While they were in the air, the straps of the saddle suddenly broke.

Amanita fell from her horse out of nowhere.

The horse also got a fright. It started running around chaotically. It could trample Amanita at any moment.

At that moment, Marcus, who should have been taking care of Amanita, was still by Risa’s side.

He had not even noticed that Amanita had fallen from her horse.

“Marcus!” Amanita cried out while biting down on the pain in her lower body.

Only then did Marcus realize that Amanita’s horse had been spooked. Sedately, he moved forward and grabbed hold of the horse’s reins with one hand.

Marcus had learned animal taming. That was why George allowed him to accompany Amanita on her equestrian classes.

He should have checked Amanita’s saddle and kept an eye on Amanita at all times to ensure her safety.

Yet, all of his attention was focused on Risa. He had not even noticed that Amanita’s saddle had not been secured properly.

In the end, Amanita fell and broke her leg. She had to be admitted to the hospital.

Perhaps to make up for his mistake, Marcus had taken the initiative to visit Amanita and take care of her while she was in the hospital.

Marcus was very good at caring for others. Before Amanita could say that she was thirsty, he had already brought a drink to her lips.

When her injury hurt, Amanita only frowned a little. But Marcus would come over and give her painkillers.

After feeding her medication, Marcus would even have Amanita’s favorite candy prepared to remove the bitter taste of the medication.

He had always been like this. Despite not loving Amanita, he still took care of her every need. That was why Amanita thought that he did love her and that he was simply more understated about it. She thought he did not know how to say it.

But that was untrue.

With Risa, his eyes were filled with such overflowing love.

After a few days, when Amanita’s leg had gotten much better, she got up late at night to use the bathroom. She inadvertently heard someone speaking in the hallway.

“Marcus, you’ve gone overboard.” The speaker was Dennis. “You sabotaged Amanita’s saddle?”

“You can’t do that even if Amanita did push Risa down the stairs! It’s no small thing to fall from a horse. She could have broken her neck!”

Marcus sighed softly. “I only wanted to punish her a little. I didn’t think she would get so hurt.”

Marcus was very experienced in horse riding. He knew that Amanita would not have gotten too hurt if the horse had not jumped.

He did not expect that day’s lesson to be an obstacle course. Not only had her horse jumped, but it had jumped quite high.

“I’ve made it up to her,” he said. “I’ve granted her every wish over the last few days. I’ve paid her back.

“She’s fine now, anyway. Let’s not talk about this anymore. It’s done.”

Right then, Amanita felt a chill spread through her.

So, Marcus had sabotaged Amanita’s saddle to get even with her on Risa’s behalf!

As for his tender care these few days, it was nothing but penance for his mistake of not expecting things to go so far. It was not because he was affected by how she had gotten hurt.

Amanita bit her lip so hard that it bled. However, she could not feel any pain.

Her heart ached more.

The next day, Amanita was discharged from the hospital. Marcus drove over to take her home. However, she did not even peek at Marcus once. She went straight to Dennis’s car.

Dannis had quite a sense of humor. During the trip, he kept joking with Amanita, but she was unable to smile.

“Are you not happy today, Nita?” Dennis asked gently. “There’s an auction today. I’ll take you. When a woman’s in a bad mood, she should shop. Shopping will turn that frown upside down. Just bid however you like at the auction. I’ll pay for it.”

Amanita glared at Dennis. Sounding unhappy, she said, “That’s very generous of you. But aren’t you spending the Wallace family’s money?”

In the past, she would not have cared. Yet, after she found out her prospective husbands’ secret, it was impossible for her to ignore.

“Don’t underestimate me, alright?” Dennis said with a chuckle. “Marcus isn’t the only genius in the Wallace family. I’ve been making some investments abroad, too. I’ve made quite a bit of money. Just spend whatever you like. I can afford it!”

Amanita finally smiled. “Then, I’ll have to make a dent in your wallet. Drive on! Let’s go to the auction!”

The auction was very well-attended. Many society ladies were there.

It seemed that the biggest ticket for the night’s auction was a piece of jewelry called “The Ocean’s Tears.” It featured the world’s largest blue diamond that was newly mined in South Prisca.

Amanita loved the ocean, so she was determined to win the bid for the piece.

Yet, she had just taken a seat when she saw Marcus lead Risa into the auction hall.

Amanita’s smile froze on her face. She had the feeling that Risa would want “The Ocean’s Tears” as well.

Indeed, when the piece was brought up, Risa raised her paddle.

Soon, Risa noticed that Amanita was also bidding for the piece. She hesitated for a few minutes before lowering her paddle. Her eyes turned red.

“It seems that Nita wants ‘The Ocean’s Tears’ too.” Risa forced a smile. “I don’t want it anymore, then. I can’t steal away something Nita wants.”

After saying this, Risa looked down. Tears welled in her eyes, and she looked immensely pitiful.

Marcus’s expression immediately turned chilly. When he looked at Amanita, his gaze was hateful.

“Risa, I’m here. You don’t have to give in just for the sake of peace. You don’t need to feel wronged.” Marcus also added, “Just bid for whatever you want. I’ll handle it.”

Before Risa could answer, Marcus raised his paddle. “100 million dollars.”

The whole auction hall went quiet. Many of the society ladies gasped, stunned by the astronomical sum.

Everyone started gossiping.

“What’s going on? Isn’t Marcus Amanita’s prospective husband? Why is he buying another woman jewelry?”

“And he’s bidding for a piece of jewelry Amanita wants. Isn’t this a clear insult?”

“Poor Amanita! She’s an heiress, but her own prospective husband is undermining her!”

Amanita wordlessly clenched her fists. She had been spoiled by her father growing up, yet Marcus had turned her into a joke.

Humiliation crept up within Amanita. In a fit of pique, she made a little hammering gesture, indicating that she would outbid everyone no matter how high the bid went.

No one would ever undermine her this way!

“Did you see that? Ms. Wallace will outbid everyone!” the auctioneer said enthusiastically. “Congratulations on winning the bid for ‘The Ocean’s Tears,’ Ms. Wallace!”

Right then, Amanita felt the anger in her chest dissipate. She finally felt better.

However, when she was going to pay, the auction house staff told her that her card had been frozen.

“That’s impossible.” Amanita frowned. “My card is limitless. It won’t get frozen no matter how much I spend.”

She had the auction house staff try the card again. Still, the transaction would not go through.

Dennis gallantly strode over. “Didn’t I say I would pay today? Use mine.”

He smiled and handed over his card. Yet, the transaction did not go through either.

“How can this be?” Dennis frowned, and his expression turned disbelieving.

There was a commotion in the crowd, and someone laughed openly. “Has the Wallace family gone bankrupt? Can’t you even pay for a set of jewelry?”

“If you don’t have the money, don’t say that you want to outbid everyone. How embarrassing!”

The wave of jeers made Amanita’s face go red.

After enjoying watching this play out, Marcus finally stood up languidly.

He took out a black bank card and gave it to the auction house staff. “Use mine.”

This time, the transaction went through. The auctioneer gave “The Ocean’s Tears” to Marcus.

Then, in view of everyone, Marcus took the necklace and put it around Risa’s neck.

In that instant, Amanita became the laughingstock of the auction house.

Her eyes stung and became red-rimmed. However, Amanita tried her hardest not to cry a single tear.

“That cad!” Dennis called lowly. “Marcus must have done something so our cards couldn’t be used. He’s a top hacker. I saw him use his laptop earlier. He must have blacklisted our accounts, so our cards would be frozen!”

Amanita let out a laugh. At that moment, she could no longer hold back. Her tears started flowing.

So that had been Marcus’s doing. He had intentionally humiliated her.

Marcus was so powerful. With a wave of a hand, he could manipulate so much. With a push, he could send her to the depths of despair…

After putting the necklace on Risa, Marcus turned his cold eyes to Dennis. “If you’re incapable, don’t go playing the white knight.”

Then, he looked at Amanita. His tone was icy as he said, “You should have taken my car.”

Amanita let out an abrupt laugh. “You already had someone else in your car.”

After saying that, she turned to leave without a single glance back at Marcus.

After embarrassing herself at the auction, Amanita spent the next few days locked up in her room. She did not want to go outside at all.

Dennis had been by a few times. He had brought her favorite desserts.

But Amanita never responded to him, because she knew that he did not really like her.

He had said it himself that night. To get her to keep her distance from him, he had even been willing to throw himself off a building.

“Amanita has shut herself in her room for days. We have to think of a way to coax her out. If Mr. Wallace finds out about this, we’ll be in trouble.”

“How annoying. I don’t want to go. I want to spend time with Risa.”

“You think I don’t want to spend time with Risa? Let’s do this how we usually do it. You have to spend time with Amanita before you can go see Risa.”

Amanita’s prospective husbands were gathered in the living room. Each suggested that the other person should do the dirty work. No one wanted to go upstairs and tease Amanita out.

What they did not know was that Amanita could hear everything they were saying.

Ever since the last time, when she had accidentally found out their secret, Amanita had hidden mini cameras and listening devices in all corners of the house.

She did not want to be an ignorant fool. She wanted to hear everything they said about her behind her back.

“Well, I’m not going.” Dennis looked furious. “Every time Marcus upsets Amanita, we're the ones forced to talk to Amanita. How’s that fair?”

“Whoever made her upset should go talk to her!”

Just then, Marcus’s tall figure showed up in the surveillance feed.

“You don’t have to go,” Marcus said coldly. “I’ll deal with my woman. You don’t need to worry.”

After saying this, he turned to head upstairs. He was holding a gift box.

Amanita hurriedly shut off the feed, so she did not see that all her prospective husbands looked enraged.

“He’s much too arrogant.” Felix’s fists were clenched. “Amanita hasn’t even picked him. How can he say that she’s his?”

When he heard this, Dennis let out a dejected laugh. “Does it make a difference that Nita hasn’t said anything? She will definitely choose him. We’re all just… here to round out the numbers.”