Unfortunately, Sophie now realized she had failed to warm William's stone-cold heart.

Ultimately, Sophie headed back upstairs without apologizing to Lily.

"Uneducated wench… She should just die in her old poor neighborhood!" Gloria gently patted Lily's shoulder while hurling insults at Sophie.

William squinted, and his brow furrowed as he held Lily in his arms, feeling uneasy about Sophie's abnormal behavior.

After that, Sophie was left alone in her room, the darkness making it impossible to read her expression.

The roar of William's car engine slightly hurt her ears.

That was the first time in four years she had seen William panic.

She brought out her first aid kit and was halfway through tending to the blisters she had gotten from the fiasco when her phone rang.

The call was from an unknown number.

When she answered, Lily's voice sounded. "It hurts so much, William. After we go to the hospital, will you take me out to race in your car like you used to whenever I'm in a bad mood?"

William's voice, full of affection for Lily, echoed. "I'll do whatever you want as long as you listen to what the doctor says."

"In that case, I want you to bake me a cake too. You'll have to feed me since my hand's injured!"

"Sure. Does your hand still hurt?"

At that point, Sophie hung up, with no intention of listening to the rest of their conversation.

In the past, William had sworn never to race or drink any alcohol after that car crash almost cost him his life. Yet now, he was agreeing to Lily's ridiculous request without hesitation!

Sophie had long heard of Lily's bratty behavior, and that William had been pampering her like a princess.

It became even more obvious that his love for her was unrequited when she flew overseas.

Afraid that Lily would be infuriated, William distanced himself from all socialites. He would even go as far as doing anything Lily wanted, no matter how ridiculous or impossible it seemed.

With everything that had happened, Sophie was convinced that everything she had heard was true.

However, there was no need for her to feel anything about the matter since she had already decided to leave.

She blocked Lily's number, packed her belongings, and hid her luggage behind the wardrobe.

While looking for her charging cable, she found the three diaries she had kept next to her bed.

Each of those diaries contained memories from when she was a naive girl, filled with the love she once had for William.

Sophie took off her engagement ring, placed it between the diaries, and threw them all into the bin as if her love for William had turned to ashes.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door, and William entered with medical patches for burns.

His lips pursed when he saw that Sophie hadn't welcomed him like she used to, unsure of what to say at that moment.

"Does your face—"

"I'm fine," Sophie interrupted him coldly.

She was momentarily stunned when she saw a lipstick stain on William's collar, but it quickly passed as she calmly said, "I'm tired. I'm going to get some rest."

William's expression flickered with concern as he noticed the large blisters on Sophie's face.

He seized her arm. "A woman's face is very important. Come on, I'll take you to the hospital before your blisters turn to scars."

William was startled to discover that Sophie’s arm felt unusually hot.

Placing his hand on her forehead, he tried to suppress his rising panic—but failed. "You're burning up!"

Sophie felt a jolt of sarcasm at William's response.

'You're the one who wanted me to apologize to Lily, and now you're making it seem like you care for me...

'You're the one who injures me, and you're also the one who gives me hope that you do love me somewhat.'

Sophie swatted William's hand away and replied, "The doctors have all gone home by now. I'll go tomorrow."

William sighed in relief. "You're right. I'll take you there with Lily tomorrow since she needs to have her hand checked again. Shall I get you some medicine to help with your fever in the meantime?"

Silence greeted William, and his unease grew as he sensed that something was off.

Just as he was about to speak, Lily suddenly barged in and wrapped her arms around William's.

"Aren't you happy I'm going to be staying with you for a while, William? What are you doing? I want you to read me a story so I can fall asleep!"

Hesitant, William glanced at Sophie before saying, "Why don't we—"

Lily's eyes immediately turned red, and she gave William a pleading look. "But I won't be able to perform in tomorrow's competition if I don't sleep well tonight…”

Reluctantly, William lovingly stroked Lily's head and said gently, "I'll go find a book."

Sophie had already grown used to William's biased attitude toward Lily.

After they left, she picked up her phone to contact Alena Graham, her mentor in the dance troupe.

Alena had always been kind to Sophie, so she wanted to say farewell and handle some final procedures before she left.

Sophie had spent many years with the dance troupe, putting in a lot of effort before gaining success. Now, she had more than a dozen juniors under her guidance.

The reason there were still 29 days before her departure was that she wanted to teach them everything she could.

-

Sophie woke up early the next morning to avoid running into William and Lily.

Alas, their paths still crossed when she was saying goodbye to Alena.

With a huge smile, Alena grabbed Lily's hand and introduced her to Sophie.

"This is Lily Manse, the rising star among pianists. She's a straight shooter and a passionate young woman. I collaborated with her once, and she just finished her performance. I've just received word that she's the champion of this competition!"

Lily clung to Sophie's arm as though they were close friends.

With an embarrassed smile, she said, "I'm nowhere near as good as you make me sound, Alena. Also, Sophie and I are the best of friends."

Surprised, Alena raised an eyebrow. "You two know each other? What a small world! Well, I'll leave you two to it then. I have some things to instruct my troupe about."

Lily nodded, revealing a ring on her finger. "Isn't this a lovely ring? William insisted I take it because I won first place.

“My goodness, why would he give me a ring of all things? People might think he's proposing to me…"

None of their circle knew that William and Sophie were engaged, so it was clear Lily was saying this deliberately.

However, Sophie had no intention of playing along with Lily's games.

As she turned to leave, Lily grabbed her arm and tugged at the ring on her own finger.

Sophie barely had to struggle, and Lily ended up falling to the floor with a loud thud.

"Sophie! What are you doing?!"

William rushed over in a panic and pushed Sophie aside. Dropping to his knees, he anxiously checked Lily's injuries.

Sobbing, Lily extended her ring finger, which bore the unmistakable signs of being pulled—marked by a deep red laceration.

"I did what you asked. I apologized to Sophie, but she lost it when she saw the ring. She insisted I take it off and tried to snatch it from my finger when I refused!

"I know I have a bad temper, but you know I'd never lie, right? I just don't understand… Why would Sophie do something like that after I apologized?"

Lily bit her lip, struggling to hold back her tears, stubborn yet delicate.

Heartbroken, William gently stroked Lily's head and wiped away her tears. "It's all right, Lily. I'll take you to the hospital—or anywhere you need to go. I'll do whatever it takes."

Lily's eyes brightened. "Really?"

"Of course!"

William turned to Sophie with a cold expression. "Since when did you become so violent? I gave Lily her ring. If you're upset, you should be angry with me, not her! Besides, don't you also have a ring?"

William glanced at Sophie's ring finger, only to find it empty.

Confused, he raised his voice rose slightly. "Where's your ring?"

Sophie sneered. 'I see… So I should wear my ring to show others…'

Four years ago, William had carefully placed the ring on Sophie's finger.

Even his usually composed demeanor had softened into a smile as he vowed to dedicate his life to her, declaring she was his only fiancée.

At that moment, Sophie had fallen deeply in love with him, thinking they would live happily ever after.

But four years later, she had endured rumors that she was only marrying into the Lockes for their wealth, not to mention the insults from William's own nanny.

Their marriage had never been formalized.

Nonchalantly, Sophie replied, "I left it at home."

Her answer momentarily piqued William's curiosity, but it quickly shifted to anxiety as he almost lost his grip on Lily, who would have fallen.

He remembered the time when Sophie lost her ring while swimming. She had searched the pool for hours that night before finally finding it.

Afterward, she had cried in William's arms, promising never to take her ring off again.

'It's true I've been focused on Lily since she returned, but Sophie's always been understanding. She should know why I'm doing this, right?'

William thought back to how Sophie would always make him a warm glass of milk the morning after he had yelled at her or given her the cold shoulder.

At the thought, his gaze softened, and he said gently, "Let's go to the hospital together. You should get your face checked too."

Lily's eyes widened in shock, and she stomped her foot angrily. "William! Have you forgotten what she's done to me?!"

William found himself in a difficult position, unsure whose side to take.

Sophie needed to pick up her prescription from the hospital that afternoon, but she couldn't bear being around William and Lily any longer.

Calmly, she turned down William's offer and hailed a cab to the hospital on her own.

-

After consulting with the dermatologist, Sophie unexpectedly ran into William.

"What did the doctor say?" William asked.

He reached for Sophie's mask to remove it, but she quickly evaded him.

At that moment, a nurse approached and said, "Are you Sophie Queen? The doctor mentioned you'll be leaving in two days and would only like to collect half of your prescribed medication. Is that correct?"

William's heart skipped a beat.

He grabbed Sophie's hand, his gentlemanly demeanor replaced with urgency as he shouted across the hallway, "You're leaving? Where are you going?!"

Sophie smiled and tried to pull her hand from his grip. "I'm going with the dance troupe for a show."

William let out a sigh of relief, but his anxiety lingered. "How long will you be gone? Where are you going? We can't keep delaying our marriage, you know?"

'He still remembers we haven't gotten married,' Sophie thought with a sarcastic smile.

"We'll be performing in a small town for a few days," she replied.

William paused to think, checking his schedule. "I'll come with you. I don't have anything else planned for the next two days."

Sophie frowned, impatience creeping into her voice. "You don't need to. It wouldn't be convenient for you to come with us."

"I won't be in your way. Just do what you need to do."

William was determined to accompany Sophie, and he was never one to take no for an answer.

Sophie knew that he would insist even more if she refused.

After a moment of thought, she came up with an idea. "Lily's competition is in two days, right? Aren't you going to go?

"You should bring her with you next time we go out. Otherwise, she'll just give me an earful."

As expected, William fell silent for a moment before nodding with a faint smile. "You're right. I should accompany Lily. We'll have plenty of chances to spend time together in the future."

After that, William drove Sophie home before returning to his room to work.

Meanwhile, Sophie's phone rang with a text message from Alena.

Alena: [I'm sorry to ask, but you're the most flexible and adaptable performer I know. I promised someone I'd perform with them, but I injured my leg. Would you be able to perform on my behalf? Or, if you're busy, you could have one of your girls perform instead.]

Sophie stared at her phone, lips pressed together.

She didn't want to get involved with anything right before her trip. Yet Alena had been her mentor for so long, charging Sophie only half of her usual fee due to her family's financial struggles.

After a moment's consideration, Sophie decided to perform on Alena's behalf as a way to repay her kindness.

Shortly after sending her response, Lily knocked on her door.

"Hi Sophie. Alena originally promised she would perform with me at my next competition, but she accidentally injured her foot and asked you to perform for her instead."

Lily deliberately paused mid-sentence.

Sophie was shocked, only just realizing that the person Alena had mentioned was Lily.

However, Sophie couldn't muster a friendly act, nor did she want to waste any time on Lily. "I'm busy."

Seeing Sophie's cold response and noticing that she was about to close the door, Lily quickly stopped her and dropped her goody-two-shoes act.

"You can't back out! You've already promised her!" Lily snapped.

"We don't have the right synergy, so we wouldn't perform well together. More importantly, I'll be busy that day, and I'll have one of my apprentices replace me," Sophie retorted.

Lily sneered, her disdain evident as she asked, "Are you afraid?"

At that moment, William appeared after hearing the commotion.

Lily immediately switched back to her pitiful persona, pursing her lips and clutching the edge of her dress.

"William! Sophie and her dance troupe are trying to go against our agreement and won't dance with me during my performance.

"What am I supposed to do? My competition is just three days away, and I'll definitely lose if I don't have a partner to dance with.

"All of my efforts over the past five years will be wasted! I'd rather die than let that happen…"

Suddenly, Lily began to convulse, her hands clenching together and her pupils dilating.

Panicked, William quickly held Lily in his arms and fumbled for the medicine he always carried to help her. "Lily! Lily! Stay with me!"

Without getting to the bottom of the situation, William stood up and shouted, "Don't you know Lily suffers from severe anxiety? Why won't you perform with her? What's the point of doing all those stretches every day if you're not going to dance?

"You'd better hope Lily's okay, or I promise I'll make sure your dance troupe never performs again!

"I'll crush your dreams because of your selfishness!"

Sophie stood frozen, momentarily dazed as she looked at William's cruel expression.

William knew all too well that the children in her dance troupe came from ordinary families, and that they trained tirelessly—sometimes until their feet bled—just for a chance to perform.

In the past, William had always tended to Sophie's wounds whenever she was injured during training. He would even hold her in his arms and comfort her, saying he would help the children in her troupe.

Now, thanks to Lily's manipulation, he was willing to crush the very dream Sophie had cherished for over 20 years.

He was ready to destroy the lives of more than 30 children in the dance troupe just to make Lily happy!

Lily couldn't suppress a snicker when she saw how pale Sophie had become. She curled up in William's embrace, laughing and sticking her tongue out at Sophie.

As if that weren't enough, Lily even gave Sophie the finger.

After a while, Sophie's vision blurred as tears welled up in her eyes.

With a hoarse voice, she struggled to speak. "Fine, I'll be Lily's dance companion. Just leave my dance troupe alone..."