What had she been doing all that time in the past?

Once, I had thought about marrying you, believing you would treat me well. But when the day came to set a date for our wedding, panic suddenly gripped me. My mind and heart were occupied by Marcel; marrying you would bring material wealth but leave me spiritually and emotionally impoverished. Marriage is a significant life event, and the most beautiful moment for a woman is when she marries the man she loves most, wearing her wedding dress. I didn't want to spend my life with you full of regret, so... I betrayed you, Ruby Bluen said with bitterness. Thinking of Marcel Horne's indifference towards her, her heart clenched with pain. Even now, she hadn't turned on her phone, not knowing what kind of expression Marcel might have had after her departure. Hah, why am I still thinking of him? What sort of expression could he have, other than one of getting what he wanted?

Glades Horne suddenly stood up and moved from behind his desk. His tall, imposing figure walked over to the coffee table with an oppressive air. Resting his hands on the coffee table, he leaned forward, closing the distance to Ruby Bluen. His gaze darkened with a hint of gloom as he coldly stared at her pretty, round face.

"Why didn't you say so clearly? You never gave me an answer when you ran away from the wedding. If you had told me outright that the person you loved wasn't me, but Marcel, I would never have let our parents set a wedding date. In your heart, am I some kind of domineering, unreasonable man, wicked enough to force a woman to be his wife?"

It seemed that when he and Julia Bluen had registered their marriage, he had used a bit of coercion, getting Julia to fill out the forms, sign her name, and receive their certificate in a daze.

"Our families were hopeful..."

"You know it's 'our families,' but marriage is just between the two of us. When it came to me, you considered the family, unwilling to go against their wishes. But when it came to Marcel, did you ever consider your family? If..." Glades Horne's eyes suddenly turned icy, radiating an anger that slammed into Ruby Bluen like a massive wave. His tone was chilling, a coldness Ruby had never heard from him before. "If the person I truly loved wasn't Julia, do you think your family could still be living so comfortably and carefree right now?"

Ruby Bluen froze.

He truly was in love with her sister!

Hearing him admit it, she felt a wave of relief wash over her; all the guilt, all the apologies, vanished without a trace. It turned out they were both fools. She had foolishly loved Marcel Horne, yet ended up engaged to Glades Horne. And Glades, who had seemed to adore her, truly loved her sister. Now, he and her sister were finally a couple, while she and Marcel were separated, worlds apart.

"Go back," Glades said, his voice devoid of warmth. "You don't need to feel sorry for me about what happened. You can also tell Marcel that the person I truly love is Julia, and that you and I have nothing more to do with each other. You can pursue the man you love most in your heart, openly and without any worries. However, I must remind you: because you ran away from the wedding, my family is extremely biased against you. Even if Marcel accepts you, my Second Uncle and Second Aunt might not. Whatever the outcome, it's the choice you made."

Glades Horne stood up straight, looking down at Ruby Bluen, bluntly laying out the potential difficulties she and Marcel might face.

"Glades..." Ruby Bluen cried.

Marcel was already going to marry Emma Wright; how could she still pursue the man she loved? It was all her fault! If she had confessed to Glades earlier that she didn't love him, that she loved Marcel, perhaps she wouldn't be in such pain now.

What Glades had accused her of was right. When it came to him, she considered her family, but with Marcel, she disregarded them completely. If Glades' true love wasn't her sister, with his temperament and power, could her family still be living so happily?

"Marcel is going to marry someone else. The marriage application is all prepared. I..."

As for her, after all this time, all her efforts had come to naught.

Hearing this, Glades Horne's brow furrowed. Marcel had never had a girlfriend, so why was he suddenly getting married? How could I not know about this?

Though he and Marcel rarely kept in touch, it didn't mean he was ignorant of Marcel's affairs. If Marcel were truly in a relationship, wouldn't his Second Uncle and Second Aunt know? Let alone something as significant as marriage. The Old Madam was most eager to see all five of her grandsons marry and start families. Now that I'm married, her attention would naturally shift to the other four. Besides Marcel, the remaining three are all twenty-eight, prime marriageable age. Moreover, Marcel is my Second Uncle's only child. If he were getting married, my Second Aunt would have likely broadcasted the news to the entire city with a megaphone by now.

As for Ruby saying Marcel was getting married... Glades Horne's eyes shifted as he considered a possibility: Marcel was putting on an act, deliberately trying to force Ruby to come back and face him. That kid is a true brother to me. Since Ruby was my fiancée, Marcel would rather devise a ploy to make her return. If Marcel saw how haggard and pained Ruby looked now, wouldn't he be heartbroken?

The astute Glades Horne had realized after hearing Jonathan Allen's report that it wasn't just Ruby who had fallen for Marcel; Marcel had fallen for her too. Otherwise, given Marcel's respect for him as an older brother, he would have called Glades the very day Ruby arrived in Tibet. And now that Ruby had returned, Marcel didn't dare to call him, which indicated he wanted to protect Ruby, to prevent her from becoming the spark that would set them against each other.

Marcel was surely suffering too; after all, he had fallen in love with a woman he shouldn't have. But that foolish kid still forced Ruby to come back for my sake. That marriage application must be a ploy devised by that foolish kid to make Ruby give up hope and return. That foolish kid probably thought my men hadn't found her because their skills had deteriorated. He likely assumed that if Ruby returned quietly, the Horne family wouldn't discover she had run off to Tibet to find him, thus preventing any resentment within the family due to her actions.

He had a truly good brother.