After that day, I moved into Briarwood Manor by myself.
The Cole residence wasn’t far from the Brown residence. They weren’t on the same street but were close enough that running into each other was always possible.
Since I had chosen to give up the marriage agreement with Nathaniel in this life, I needed to cut things off completely and avoid unnecessary contact.
On my first day back at Briarwood Manor, I started cleaning. I didn’t expect to find the old marriage agreement tucked away in one of the cabinets.
It was the Cole family who had someone write it up years ago.
The agreement had been set here, in this very house.
Two crooked, childish names were scrawled across it—mine and Nathaniel’s.
Back then, we were still little. When I had accidentally found out about the engagement between our families, I told him about it. He had pounded his chest and swore up that he’d marry me. So I secretly wrote our names on it.
Thinking for a moment, I crossed out my name and replaced it with Catherine’s. Then, I sent the agreement back to the Brown residence and handed it directly to Catherine.
She curled her lip and said mockingly, “I never thought you were so good at securing a match without the people involved even knowing about it.”
Despite knowing that she was deliberately mocking me, I held back my temper. I turned to leave, but she grabbed my arm.
“Nathaniel’s taking me to dinner. Why don’t you come with us, so he can admire your little masterpiece?”
I stayed silent.
In my past life, Nathaniel had never once taken me out to eat, saying it was a waste of money.
One year, on his birthday, I booked a table at a restaurant, hoping to make him happy. Various dishes were arranged neatly on it. But instead of a word of praise, I got cursed out, accused of being wasteful.
My fists clenched tight. I shook off Catherine’s hand and turned to leave the Brown residence.
