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."

A vicious voice rang out beside me. I looked up to see several men who looked like thugs grinning at me lewdly.

"Boss, why are we kidnapping this old woman?" A blonde thug stepped forward to size me up.

"Shut up. Don't ask why. It's Ms. Zeigler's orders."

So it was Nadine! My whole body shook, and my nails dug deeply into my palms.

"Heh. I'm just curious. But this old woman's probably all shriveled like a prune, right? Why don't we check the goods first…"

The blonde thug let out a disgusting laugh. As he spoke, they dragged me into an alley and tore at my clothes.

I glared at them fiercely. I swore that if I ever had the chance to go back, I would make Connor and Nadine pay the price!

Just then, a sharp shout came from the entrance of the alley. "Police! Don't move!"

Several police officers in uniform rushed in. "Everyone, squat down, hands on your head!"

The leading officer quickly walked over to me and took off his uniform jacket to drape it over me.

"Are you alright, ma'am?" he asked with concern.

Only then did I realize that my clothes had been torn apart by those thugs. My eyes fell on the last four digits of the badge on the uniform—0413. That was the day Connor first came up the mountain—the day I fell in love with him at first sight.

My frail, old body couldn't handle being tossed around so roughly. I started to feel wave after wave of stabbing pain in my heart.

I wiped away my tears and made up my mind.

Firmly, I said to the officer in front of me, "Excuse me, officer. I would like to report that the assets of Garrett Group came from a suspicious and unknown source."

…

Soon, Connor and Nadine's wedding was held as scheduled. To showcase the Garrett family's immense wealth, the entire event was broadcast live nationwide.

My phone kept vibrating beside me, with Connor's name flashing on the screen. I declined the calls again and again. I didn't even need to look to know that it was him calling me.

As for me, I was already seated on a plane heading back to my sect.

Comments popped up on my screen one after another.

"Nadine must have saved the galaxy in her past life to meet a man like Mr. Garrett."

"I heard the Garrett family booked the entire Meldus Islands for the wedding. Wow. I guess poverty has limited my imagination and options."

"Nadine is so lucky. Mr. Garrett built his business empire from scratch after leaving the Garrett family. He's a capable man."

When I saw that comment, I smiled bitterly. Everyone believed his success was entirely his own. No one knew that I had a hand in it.

"Dear viewers, we are now watching the bride, Ms. Nadine Zeigler, make her entrance." The host's voice came through my phone. "This grand wedding is exclusively sponsored by Garrett Group, and the live viewership has already exceeded 50 million!"

My gaze fell on Connor. When he looked at Nadine, there was a tenderness in his eyes that I had never seen before.

Dressed in her wedding gown, Nadine slowly walked in. The two of them stood together like a match made in heaven.

Just as it was time for them to exchange the rings, the doors to the venue were suddenly pushed open. A team of uniformed police officers strode in.

"There has been a report that Garrett Group's funds came from an unknown source. Please come with us for investigation, Mr. Garrett."

The lead officer presented his badge.

At the same time, one of Connor's bodyguards rushed into the hall in a panic. "Mr. Garrett, this is bad! Ms. Sterling has already boarded a flight and left!"