There's a rule in Pine Ridge—women are only allowed to leave the mountain seven times in their lives.

If they aren't able to marry a foreigner who's not from Pine Ridge, they can only marry a local mountaineer and become a guardian of the mountain.

Because of that, I've borrowed some cosmetics from my grandma seven times in a row. Every time, I'm often wearing my prettiest dress and waiting for the man, who has promised to whisk me away from Pine Ridge, to marry me.

But despite having crossed the mountain and reached the same town seven times in a row, Joseph Kingsley is never there.

In the village, the village chief, Arthur Langley, has a smoke pipe dangling from his lips.

"This is your seventh time leaving Pine Ridge just to get your marriage registered. That director boyfriend of yours has gone over to the next village just to shoot more footage of the lass who has a really pretty smile.

"Caroline, your boyfriend is already behaving like this. Why are you still waiting for him?"

I clumsily pull out the phone Joseph has given me before keying in his number. The dial tone goes off three times before the call goes through.

Only then does Joseph explain the truth to me.

"When Gemma took us on a foraging trip, she got trapped by one of the bear traps in the mountain! You do realize that if a woman from Pine Ridge were to get crippled, no villager would want to marry her at all because she'd be a burden to them!

"If I were to leave Gemma alone, her life would be ruined! This is the last time, Caroline! Once I ensure that Gemma's leg gets healed, I'll come marry you right away!"

Joseph has been in Pine Ridge for four years so far. Throughout these years, I've hiked the mountain and braved the elements for him seven times in a row.

But Gemma Watson keeps getting into trouble. Whenever that happens, Joseph will abandon me without hesitation.

As I gaze at the phone, which shows that the call has gotten disconnected, I wipe away my tears quietly.

There won't be a last time anymore.

In three days, I will be marrying someone else.

"There's nothing wrong with life here in Pine Ridge. Even if you really wanted to leave, you shouldn't have pinned your hopes on a man like that," the village chief, Arthur Langley, took a drag from his pipe and coughed.

"He carries that camera around all day, filming one woman after another from every village he visits. If he were really worth a damn, he wouldn't have let you make seven trips to town for nothing."

The sharp smell of tobacco made my nose sting.

For four years, Joseph Kingsley's camera had traveled to every corner of Pine Ridge, filming every woman in every village—everyone except me.

I held back my tears and nodded. "I won't wait around anymore, Arthur. Let's hold the wedding in three days."

On my way back to the village, I ran into Joseph as he was bringing Gemma Watson home. He carried her carefully on his back. When he spotted me standing at the fork in the road, he frowned in confusion.

"Caroline, weren't you supposed to wait for me at the foot of the mountain? We were going to get our marriage license tomorrow. It won't be easy making another trip down now that you've come back."

I lowered my head and looked at my heels, where the skin had been rubbed raw from all the climbing. He was right. It hadn't been easy.

For the sake of a single promise from him, I had gone down the mountain and back up seven times.

I fought back the sting in my nose. "Today. We agreed to get our marriage license today."

Joseph froze for a moment. "I thought I'd explained it to you. Gemma got her leg caught in a trap. That's why I couldn't make it."

I looked at Gemma, draped comfortably across his back. "There were plenty of people in the team. Why did it have to be you?"

"That's different," he argued. "She got hurt while helping me with the documentary. I'm responsible for her."

Yeah, I saw the difference. When Gemma got hurt, it was of the utmost importance. When I waited for him to register our marriage, it became something he could break his promise over.

He might've noticed the tears gathering in the corners of my eyes, so he softened his tone. "I was wrong. Everything had been so chaotic that I forgot to let you know. I shouldn't have made you go down the mountain alone.

"Just wait another three days. The documentary I'm filming about Gemma is almost finished. Once it's done, I'll take you to town to get our marriage license."

My fingers slowly curled into my palm, nails digging into my skin. "This is already the seventh time."

Joseph adjusted Gemma higher on his back, impatience creeping into his voice. "I know what you're trying to say—that old Pine Ridge rule. But I already asked Gemma about it, and she said there's no such rule here.

"You don't have to make things up just for me to marry you, Caroline. I already said I would."

I pressed my thumb into the soft flesh between my fingers. "So, your reasoning for breaking our promise was that there wasn't such a rule?"

He frowned. "Don't make me out to be that kind of person. I understand that you want me to take you away from Pine Ridge, but this isn't the time for you to make a scene."

"Make a scene," I mumbled in defeat.

The truth was that the old Pine Ridge custom had been abolished years ago. Still, for four years, I had crossed mountain after mountain for Joseph.

The ridges here stretched endlessly into each other, layer upon layer. Among the women here, seven trips out of the mountains before marriage were considered the limit.

I dipped my head and looked at my leg, swollen like a turnip. "Go on. I'm sure Gemma's leg is more important."

Joseph walked past me with Gemma on his back. After a few steps, he suddenly turned and said, "I was harsh just now. Don't be upset."

"I'm not."

He continued toward the village. "I know you. You're kind. You'll understand."

I forced a smile. It wasn't that I wasn't upset. There was simply no point in being upset anymore.

In three days, I would be marrying a man from the neighboring village.

Grandma always said that a woman would only get married once in her life. Therefore, a bride should wear a smile on her wedding day. Only then could it be called a perfect union.

The next morning, the mountain fog hung thick over the village.

By the time Joseph came back, it was already noon. He found me and pulled out his phone. The screen displayed photos of many different elegant wedding dresses.

"You saw these on my phone before. I remember you said you liked them," he said excitedly. "Pick one. Once we go down the mountain, you'll wear it for our wedding."

I lifted my rough, chapped hand and gently brushed my finger across the screen.

The women of Pine Ridge spent their days working. Year after year, we wore dark, coarse clothes stained by sun, dirt, and labor.

Four years ago, Joseph had shown me photos from his best friend's wedding. That was the first time I had ever seen a white wedding dress, the first time I saw anything so pure and beautiful.

Back then, all I wanted was the chance to wear one someday and walk out of these mountains with him. Now, that chance was gone.

"It's not needed anymore," I said, shaking my head.

Joseph's grip tightened. "Are you still upset?"

"No," I answered, looking calmly at him. "Grandma already made my wedding dress."

The night before, Grandma had taken the satin cloth Arthur brought over and measured me for a wedding dress. After all, I was getting married soon.

Joseph smiled and casually swiped through the photos on his phone. "Sure. As long as you like it."

He went on talking about where we would hold the wedding, what kind of invitation cards we would design, and all the other little details.

I didn't hear much of it. It felt as if my ears were filled with water, and all I could hear was a dull ringing.

Then, he suddenly stood up with a faded smile. "The documentary's entering its final shoot. Just three more days of rushing to finish it, and I'll take you down the mountain."

He turned and walked away, never seeing the tears that had reddened my eyes. I watched his figure gradually disappear into the endless mountains.

Ignoring the pain in my feet, I crouched down and opened the wooden cabinet tucked against the wall. Inside were all the photographs we had taken together over the years.

He had written something on the back of each of them. I flipped through them one by one.

On the photo taken in the village, he had written, "I'll love Caroline Brown for the rest of my life."

On the one where we had watched the sunrise together, he had written, "Caroline's smile is even more breathtaking than the sunrise."

After a brief hesitation, I tossed them all into the trash. I sorted through everything piece by piece until only a single wooden hairpin remained in the box.

Four years ago, Joseph had placed it in my hand and promised he would take me out of these mountains one day. Something prickled my chest. I clutched the hairpin, slowly tightening my grip.

"I should give it back to him."

Limping on my injured foot, I made my way to the neighboring village. There, among fields of flowers and sunlit rocks, Gemma stood in a traditional Arin pleated skirt embroidered with bright patterns.

Silver ornaments adorned her hair, glittering beneath the sunlight. Meanwhile, I stood in the shadows, covered in dust and grime, gloomy as a rat hiding in a corner.

"Caroline? What are you doing here?"

Joseph looked genuinely surprised to see me. Just moments ago, he had been crouched on the ground, carefully applying medicine to Gemma's injured leg.

"Am I interrupting something?"

I stood off to the side, my throat so tight it felt as though something was lodged there.

He frowned. "You're making this sound weirder than it should be. All I'm doing is just treating her injury."

Then, without another glance at me—or at the wound on my leg—he lowered his head and gently lifted Gemma's leg again, carefully spreading the ointment over the bruised skin.

Suddenly, Gemma turned toward me and switched to fluent Arinese. She knew Joseph couldn't understand a word of it, so her tone immediately sharpened.

"What are you doing here?"

I met her gaze. "To give you two my blessings."

She sneered, her eyes full of mockery. "Playing the victim card, I see. I don't believe for a second that you'd let Joseph go. And do you seriously think he's going to leave the mountains with you?

"It's been four years. He was just bored and using you to pass the time while he was stuck here. He much prefers someone like me, radiant and confident, instead of a dull mountain lady like you who spends all day crossing ridges just to wait for him.

"Besides, you've already wasted all seven chances to leave. Your fate was sealed a long time ago."

My fists clenched. "I know. That's why I'm getting married to someone else."

I surmised she couldn't believe that I, the woman everyone in Pine Ridge called the devoted fiancee, would ever let go of Joseph. So, she put on a show and burst into tears.

With a dramatic sob, she switched back to the local language. "Caroline, I swear nothing is going on between Joseph and me! How could you say such horrible things about me?"

Joseph couldn't understand Arinese, yet without the slightest hesitation, he decided I was the one at fault and immediately defended Gemma.

"Caroline, there should be a limit to your jealousy! Gemma got hurt because of me. There has never been anything improper between us!"

I looked at him, then snapped the wooden hairpin in half before tossing the broken pieces onto the ground. My tongue pressed against the root of my mouth as I forced the words out.

"Don't worry. It won't happen again. We're over, Joseph."

Joseph's grip tightened around the tube of ointment. The green medicine squeezed out between his fingers and spilled all over his palm. "Caroline, what did you just say?"

"We're over," I repeated.

For some reason, he looked more repulsed than shocked. "I told you I'd marry you. Can you stop using this kind of trick to force me into doing so?"

I met his distant gaze and nodded. "Yeah. I failed in forcing you to marry me, so now, I'm marrying someone else."

He sneered coldly. "If you really wanted to break up with me, you wouldn't have come here and put on this act today. Weren't you humiliating Gemma just now because you wanted to pressure me into marrying you?

"I said I would! Why do you have to keep getting jealous over nothing?"

With that, he turned around and continued tending to Gemma's wound, ignoring the tears gathering in my eyes.

I stared at his back. My legs were growing heavier by the second, trembling beyond my control. Still, I gritted my teeth and walked away as best as I could. I just wanted to get far away from the sight of them.

Suddenly, Joseph called my name. I stopped. Deep inside, a flicker of hope was still aflame.

"The filing schedule is too tight, so I won't be going home tonight," he said. "I'll stay at Gemma's. Once the filming is finished in three days, we'll head to town and get our marriage license."

I said nothing and kept walking. The 30-minute mountain path took me a full hour to finish.

When I finally reached home, my legs gave out. I collapsed onto the doorstep. Grandma heard the commotion and rushed out. "Caroline, what happened to you?"

I parted my lips, but no sound came out. Overwhelming me was the burning, throbbing sensation in my leg. The moment Grandma pulled up my pant leg, she gasped in horror.

The flesh around my ankle was blackened and badly infected. My whole foot was so swollen it looked thicker than a turnip. It was almost impossible to recognize what it had once looked like.

The women of Pine Ridge survived with their hands and feet. Farming, carrying firewood, climbing mountains, working from dawn till dusk—everything depended on their legs.

Grandma's eyes reddened. She knelt down and gently held my leg, her voice cracking with heartache. "Silly child, why don't you ever take care of yourself? That man has broken your heart a million times.

"Now that you've ruined your leg for him, how are you supposed to live the rest of your life now?"

I looked down, tears silently falling onto the back of my hand.

Of course, I could feel pain, exhaustion, and fear. I used to always hold onto a small piece of stubborn hope, believing that if I tried just one more time and waited a little longer, I would eventually get what I wanted.

Grandma wiped away my tears, her voice hoarse. "It's a good thing your marriage has been arranged. Let's proceed in three days. Your future husband is honest and kind. He'll know how to cherish you."

I closed my eyes. The endless ache spread from my chest to every inch of my body.

The next day, Joseph returned. Gemma was still on his back. "Why are you sitting here?"

I kept quiet. It wasn't until he walked closer and saw my badly infected ankle that he looked startled. The next second, though, his expression darkened.

"What exactly are you trying to do here, Caroline? Gemma hurt her leg, and you did the same to yourself? Do you know her leg got infected again? Are you trying to use something like this just to get my attention?

"I told you I'll leave the mountains with you. Can you stop acting so petulant just because you have my love?"

Petulant…

I tried to lift my leg. No matter how hard I tried, it wouldn't move. Even when I had come down to this miserable state, to Joseph, I was just acting petulant.

I closed my eyes, tears finally rolling down my face. "I'm getting married to someone else."

He glared at me. "Again with this tantrum? I'm taking Gemma to town to see a doctor. While I'm away, you'd better reflect on yourself."

With that, he left without looking back.