In my fifth year with the fallen heir, Connor Garrett, I make 99 wishes for him. As a result, I age and turn into an old woman. He, on the other hand, rises to become the richest man.

However, he immediately turns around and proposes to his first love, Nadine Zeigler.

He says to her, "Nadie, you have no idea how much I went through to marry you."

Nadine toys with a diamond ring worth billions and asks, "What about that follower of yours who grants wishes?"

Connor gives a carefree scoff. "She's just a tool who traded her youth for my fortune. Does she really think I will marry an old woman?"

I stand in the shadows and silently make my final wish.

Without my help, I would like to see how he will rise again this time.

Amid the crowd's blessings, Nadine Zeigler took Connor Garrett's hand.

Her gaze passed over the crowd and landed directly on me. One corner of her lips curled into a victorious smirk.

From the shape of her moving mouth, I could read the taunting words she directed at me. "You lost."

I looked at myself in the mirror. My hair was white with age, while Nadine was young and radiant, like a blooming flower.

I turned around and shuffled away from the scene of the proposal.

I had wanted to quickly pack up and leave the Garrett residence, but my old body simply couldn't keep up.

After finally managing to pack everything, I stepped out the door, only to find that Connor had already returned. His car pulled up right in front of me.

Upon seeing me carrying bags of all sizes, he frowned and asked, "Where are you going?"

I held my bags and kept some distance from him. "I'm leaving."

"What? Are you throwing a tantrum again because you heard that I was going to marry Nadine?" Connor let out a soft laugh, his eyes full of mockery.

Then, he went on, "Alright, stop making a scene. You're nothing but a shriveled old woman now, Willow Sterling. Do you really think I would marry you?"

The hand holding my bags began to tremble as a wave of overwhelming grievance surged up within me.

"Fine. Connor, you're the one who begged me to come down the mountain back then. Now we're even," I said.

Hearing my words, he froze for a moment before frowning again. "Haven't I given you everything you wanted? I gave you all the wealth and luxury in the world. You have more riches than you could spend in several lifetimes. Nadie has nothing. Why are you being so petty?

"Fine. If you want to leave, I'll go with you."

With that, he got out of the car and snatched my luggage. Then he shoved me inside his car brusquely.

The fragrance in the car was his favorite cedar scent. Back then, I would stay up all night blending perfumes for him. Now, all I felt was a sharp cramp in my stomach.

I bit my lip hard, trying to stop my tears from falling.

Connor turned and saw my upset expression.

His tone softened as he comforted me. "Alright, Willow. In my heart, you'll always be first. It's just a title. Nadie is childish. Just let her be."

I was just about to refuse when his phone suddenly rang.

From the other end came the voice of Nadine's friend. "Mr. Garrett, Nadie is drunk and insisting that you come pick her up."

Connor looked anxious. He asked me to get out of the car and drove off without looking back.

Not long after, my phone suddenly vibrated. Nadine had posted a new Instagram update. In the photo, she wore a vivid green emerald necklace while leaning into Connor's arms. On his face was a gentle expression I hadn't seen in a long time.

The caption was simple. She wrote, "Finally, someone came to take me home too."

I stared at that necklace for a moment and let out a self-deprecating smile.

At last month's auction, I had fallen in love with that emerald necklace at first sight. I had asked Connor for it three times during the auction.

But he said, "Sorry, that necklace has already been purchased by someone else."

So it turned out that he had bought it for Nadine.

Thinking of this, I let out a bitter laugh.

Then, I dialed a number I hadn't called in a long time. "Kieran, I want… to come home."

On the other end, Kieran Evans was overjoyed. "That's fantastic! We've all missed you so much. Get things ready over the next few days. I'll send someone to pick you up."

I responded with a soft hum and hung up the call.

My legs had gone numb from standing outside. After snapping back to my senses, I started to head back into the house.

Connor's Maybach pulled up at the entrance.

When I saw Nadine step out of the car, I froze for a moment. Reflexively, I clenched my fists, and my fingers dug into my palms.

"Nadie has been drinking. I didn't feel comfortable sending her back alone," Connor explained to me.

"Willow, you don't mind me staying over at your place for a night, do you?" Nadine looked at me with a twinkle in her eyes, smiling.

I didn't respond. My gaze was drawn to the emerald necklace around her neck.

Noticing my stare, Nadine lifted the emerald necklace and gave it a little shake. "I heard from Connor that you wanted this emerald necklace too. I planned to give it to you, but Connor said this kind of necklace looks better on young people. Don't you think so, Willow?"

Connor's body stiffened slightly. He frowned and glanced at me.

"Willow, green doesn't suit you," he said.

But five years ago, he had whispered in my ear, "Green suits you best."

I replied, "It's fine. I don't want secondhand goods anyway."

I smiled at them and turned to walk back into the house.

Once I was back in my room, I lay on the bed. My thoughts drifted back to five years ago.

Back then, I was the youngest wish granter in the sect.

Connor had lost a vicious power struggle within his family. He pushed through countless obstacles and knelt before my mentor, Augustus Regnier, and desperately begged him to let me help.

With pleading eyes, he had held my hand tightly and promised, "As long as you help me, I will never let you down."

I was young and naive. Bewitched by his good looks and sincere words, I decided to go with him.

Augustus couldn't dissuade me.

He let out a sigh and lamented, "You'll regret this."

At the time, thinking myself clever, I made Connor swear, believing it would bind him to me for a lifetime. I didn't realize it was nothing more than youthful ignorance.

"Connor, I'm scared of sleeping alone. Can you come keep me company in my room?"

My thoughts were interrupted by voices outside the door. I tilted my head and listened.

"But Willow is…"

"Connor, she's so old. Haven't you had enough of looking at her?"

There was a moment of silence outside. Not long after, I heard suggestive, amorous sounds coming from the room next door.

I stared at the ceiling and couldn't help but laugh. If I had known it would come to this, I would rather have never left my sect.

Augustus was right. I regretted it dearly.

Old people tended to sleep less and wake up earlier. What I didn't expect was for someone to wake up even earlier than me.

"You're up, Willow. Come try my cooking," Nadine chirped.

When I saw the various dishes cluttering the table, I frowned. "You made so much. There's only the three of us. We can't finish all of this."

Nadine froze, and tears welled up in her eyes. "Uh… I just thought…"

"Nadie woke up at 5:00 am to make breakfast to thank you for letting her stay last night. How can you trample on her kindness so cruelly, Willow?"

At some point, Connor had appeared at the doorway. His expression was frighteningly grim.

Nadine ran over and tugged at his sleeve while glancing at me. "Don't be mad, Connor. Willow is probably just getting old. She doesn't have much appetite in the morning and is afraid of wasting food. That's why she said that."

Connor's expression softened slightly. He held Nadine's hand tightly with a gentle expression.

"You've worked hard, Nadie," he said lovingly.

Even though I had already decided to leave, the sight of their intimacy was still an eyesore to me.

"Eat up, Willow," Nadine said, placing a crab cake onto my plate.

I stared at the greasy lump. A nauseous feeling surged in my stomach. Without hesitation, I picked it up and threw it straight into the trash.

Nadine's eyes instantly reddened with unshed tears. "Willow, I know you dislike me, but you can't just waste food like this."

"That's enough. Stop making a scene," Connor chastised me, shooting to his feet with undisguised disappointment in his eyes.

Looking at how anxiously he defended Nadine, I let out a mocking laugh.

"I'm allergic to crab," I stated plainly.

The moment those words left my mouth, Connor was stunned for a moment.

In the past, I had always lived in the mountains. So, I had never had any seafood. I had no idea that I was allergic to crab at all.

Not long after I made my first wish for Connor, his company finally secured an investor. To celebrate, he took me to eat the most famous seafood restaurant in Ayrond.

As a result, I was rushed straight to the emergency room after taking a bite of crab meat.

When I woke up, I saw Connor kneeling beside my bed with reddened eyes, holding a glass of medicine. After that, every time we ate seafood, Connor would carefully pick out any crab meat for me.

But now, the young man who once patiently removed every bit of crab for me five years ago was gone.

"Alright. Let's not talk about this anymore. Willow, our wedding is next week. You must come." Nadine suddenly broke the silence.

"I'm leaving." I picked up my glass of milk and swept a calm gaze over the two of them.

My fingers absentmindedly rubbed against the bottom of the glass. Suddenly, I felt an indentation. I lowered my head to look. I was reminded that this was the first gift Connor had ever given me.

After being cast out by his family five years ago, he pawned the last valuable thing he had. Yet, he still insisted on buying this pair of vintage cut-crystal wine glasses for me.

He had said, "On the day we get married, we'll use these to make a toast to each other."

At the bottom of the wine glass, there was the crooked engraving, "C&W", that he had carved himself.

But now, he was going to marry someone else.

I froze in my reverie. Those beautiful moments seemed to have only happened yesterday.

Connor's fork stopped midair, and he frowned hard.

"What? No!" Two voices rang out at the same time.

"You can't leave. You still have one wish left." Nadine spoke first with a displeased scowl on her face.

"You can't have it anymore," I stated blandly.

What they didn't know was that the final wish had already been used up. Since all Connor wanted was wealth and glory, I would let him experience what it was like to have nothing.

"Why do you want to leave?" Connor's face turned ashen.

"I know you can't bear to leave Connor and want to get his attention, but you shouldn't joke about something like this," Nadine chimed in right away.

Sure enough, Connor's knitted brows eased slightly upon hearing her words.

"Enough, Willow. After Nadie and I get married, you'll stay at home and be her personal maid. Stop overthinking things. In your current state, how can you survive without me?" Connor said.

He looked me up and down. Then, he brushed his fingers lightly over the wrinkles on my face.

He added, "After all, besides me, who would want an old woman like you?"

Without waiting for my reply, he left hand in hand with Nadine.

I stared blankly at my reflection in the glass beside me. I had a face full of wrinkles, and my hair was as white as snow.

In the end, all I did was let out a soft sigh.

This was the man I once defied my sect for. This was the man I fought so desperately to be with.

My chest felt tight as I walked out of that place that no longer brought me any joy.

Not long after I stepped out, a black cloth unexpectedly appeared from the darkness, covering my mouth and nose.

My eyes widened as I struggled with all my strength.

"Stay still, old hag."