“Adrian Cole, you fool, don’t lose your mind!”

“Have you forgotten how desperately you pursued Lila five years ago?”

“So many suitors came to propose, and you chased them all away!”

“If not for marrying her, why risk your life taking on the hardest mission, nearly dying for it?”

“Lila waited five long years for you—how can you forget her?”

But by now, I understood.

Adrian truly had lost his memory.

He had forgotten his promise to marry me, and instead had fallen for someone else.

The room was tense with silence.

Everyone watched me closely, fearful of my reaction—

after all, the last person who crossed me now lay beneath a mound of weeds on his grave.

Adrian, oblivious to the danger in the air, pressed his forehead to the cold floor.

“Please, Master, grant us your blessing.”

My father gave a chilling laugh. “Blessing?”

“Then who will bless my daughter, who waited five years?”

Before anyone could respond, I had already cocked the gun and pressed it to Adrian’s forehead.

His eyes softened with pain as he looked at me.

“Lila, should I kill him for you?” my father asked.

“If Adrian dies, your five wasted years won’t become a laughingstock in others’ mouths.”

Gasps echoed through the hall.

Everyone knew my father wasn’t joking.

For his treasured daughter, the jewel of his eye,

he would truly kill Adrian without hesitation.

But I only smiled, pushing my father’s hand away.

“Forget it.”

That single word swallowed every expectation and bitterness of my five years of waiting.

I turned to the girl behind him.

Since the moment my father drew his gun, she had gone pale as a frightened rabbit.

I smiled faintly at her.

“Congratulations, sister-in-law.”

My gaze dropped to her rounded belly.

“The last time I saw you, you were ready to give up on life. And now—already carrying a child.”

Shock rippled through the room.

Even my father’s six apprentices looked stunned.

“Junior sister, you know this woman?”

Yes. I knew her.

Stella Ray.

Even her name—I was the one who gave it to her.

Years ago, after losing her parents, she nearly fell victim to a gang of thugs.

I brought my men and saved her.

Later, she picked up half a bottle of pills from the street, ready to end her miserable life.

I told her it was better to live, however hard, than to die.

I told her:

“Never believe the world is all darkness. There will always be something, someone worth cherishing.”

But now, she gazed at me with tear-filled eyes, clutching her belly, and collapsed to her knees.

“Sister, I’ve wronged you. I never knew my boyfriend was your fiancé. But it was you who told me—this world still holds people worth cherishing. I found him. He’s my life now. Please forgive me—I can’t give him back.”

Adrian looked at her in shock, something flickering in his eyes.

“Stella, she’s the one who saved you?”

Stella nodded frantically, clinging to him.

“But I’ve betrayed my sister…”

I had no interest in their pitiful display.

Turning, I walked away.

My father quickly followed.

“Lila, what are you thinking?”

“If you still love Adrian, memory loss or not, even if he were crippled, I’d make him obey you.”

Behind him, the six apprentices wore the same worried expressions.

They had all watched me grow up, more like brothers than anything else.

I smiled, turned, and pulled a man’s business card from my pocket.

“You all say he always wanted to marry me? Then I’ll marry him.”

The sixth brother’s face changed. “No! Lila, you heard what we said to Master today… Even if we’re useless, we can’t let you degrade yourself in a marriage alliance with the Vaughn family.”

My father had been silent the whole time.

The eldest brother glanced at him, then added,

“That’s right. We don’t need this marriage tie. Lila, you’re our treasure, the Lane family’s jewel. You deserve to marry for love.”

I lowered my gaze, my eyes resting on Lucas Vaughn’s business card.

“Love?”

“Brother, if I were such a love-addled fool, how could I inherit Father’s mantle?”

My eyes hardened.

“Lucas Vaughn. I’ll marry him.”

That evening, I sat in the garden gazebo reading.

Adrian arrived with six of my brothers. Stella trailed close behind.

I’d heard that on the very night of his return, Adrian moved out of the room beside mine—

claiming Stella needed peace to carry her child, and he would care for her.

“Take it out on me, but don’t trouble Stella,” he said.

After learning I was Stella’s savior, Adrian’s expression softened, though his eyes still carried suspicion.

I smiled faintly, studying him in silence.

These five years had been cruel to him.

I heard he was ambushed during his mission, tumbling off a cliff.

By rights, he should have died.

But fate spared him—Stella had found him at the bottom.

A bodyguard handed me file after file, detailing Adrian’s years away.

He and Stella had built a cabin in the woods and lived there for two years.

They held a simple ceremony under the sky, vowing themselves as husband and wife.

When sick with fever, they clung to each other for warmth.

They…

“Enough.”

I cut the bodyguard off, narrowing my eyes at Adrian.

“Why is it you forgot my father, remembered my six brothers—but somehow forgot me?”

Adrian stiffened, then lifted his head sharply.

“It’s my fault. I always felt someone was waiting for me, and I swore I’d fight my way back alive. But when I saw Stella, it was love at first sight. No one else mattered.”

“Lila Lane, I hear you’re my junior sister. For the sake of our childhood bond, forget me. Let me and Stella be.”

Without hesitation, Adrian knelt before me.

Stella quickly followed, tears brimming, her voice trembling.

“Sister, I don’t want anything—only Adrian. Please, I beg you…”

I laughed, rose to my feet, and tore the stack of files to shreds.

“Stella Ray, since you call me sister, why don’t I host your wedding?”

Both Adrian and Stella jerked their heads up, eyes wide with disbelief.

I plucked a rose from nearby and tucked it into Stella’s hair.

“This wedding—I’ll officiate.”

With my word, preparations began immediately.

Stella’s eyes shone with gratitude.

Even Adrian, long wary of me, finally allowed himself a sigh of relief.

Stella no longer stayed in the guest room.

She naturally moved into Adrian’s bedroom, but the very first day she entered, her face went pale.

Inside hung a large framed photograph—

a picture of me and Adrian kissing.

He used to love it, insisting on placing it in the most prominent spot in the bedroom as if to declare his claim.

But now—

when Adrian saw it, his own face turned white. He hurriedly hid the photo away.

“This isn’t real. Even if it was, it’s all in the past,” he said, rushing to soothe the pale-faced girl in his arms.

“Stella, I don’t even remember Lila Lane.”

Stella sobbed pitifully into his chest, murmuring, “I believe you.”

But when she lifted her head, her eyes toward me carried unmistakable resentment.

In the following days, Stella often stroked her pregnant belly and found subtle ways to provoke me.

For instance, she would clasp my hand warmly:

“Sister, the first time I met you, I knew you were kind. I’ve always thought of you as my real sister.”

“In five months, your little niece will be born. Why don’t you sew her a pair of baby shoes?”

I pulled my hand away coolly.

“My hands are made for killing, not for sewing.”

Stella withdrew, sulking.

A few days later, she dragged Adrian before me to discuss baby names.

“I said Lily sounds lovely, it means purity. But Adrian insists on calling her Grace…”

I went quiet for a moment.

“Sorry. Pick another name.”

They both stared at me in confusion.

I said flatly,

“That was the name Adrian once planned for our child. If you use it now—it will only bring bad luck.”

The room froze. Both of their faces turned ashen.

I ignored them and walked away.

Later, the new maid Mary rushed to me excitedly.

“Miss, I don’t think Adrian really forgot you. He still loves you.”

“Oh? And why do you think that?”

Mary chattered eagerly:

“The other day I passed by his study. I saw him staring at your photo, lost in thought. He must still be thinking of the past.”

I gave a bitter smile and shook my head.

“Don’t ever say that again. He’s about to be a father.”

And I was about to be married.

As the wedding drew near, the Lane Estate buzzed with preparations.

Stella stared in disbelief at the luxurious wedding gifts before her—rows of jewelry boxes, stacks of property deeds.

“These… these are all for me?” she gasped, covering her mouth.

Adrian, too, was surprised, his eyes filled with gratitude as he looked toward my father.

“Master, thank you for your generosity.”

He thought all this was dowry Mr. Lane prepared for his marriage.

He had no idea—

once the ceremony ended, he would be formally cut off from the Lane family.

From then on, his life would have nothing to do with us.

On the wedding day, I sat stone-faced as they exchanged rings and kissed.

Stella blushed shyly, rising on tiptoe to kiss him—

but Adrian turned his head away.

Instead, his gaze drifted slowly toward me, heavy with something complicated.

I lowered my eyes, sipped my tea, and ignored him.

Just then, my sixth foster brother burst into the hall:

“Master, Lucas Vaughn, heir of the Vaughn family, has arrived.”

Adrian’s head snapped up, his eyes clouded with confusion.