Empire of the Ring - Chapter 26

What is love after all, and where does it come from?I can't quite understand it. Perhaps love is just a colorful butterfly, beautiful to look at but forever out of reach.If you try to hold onto it tightly, it will struggle, and in that struggle, it will rub off all its colors and become pale.

“Block him.”“He's technically still my boss.”“Then block him with dignity.”The call ended again.And then started again.I let out a sound somewhere between a growl and a sob, then finally answered with the enthusiasm of a snail crawling through salt.“Yes, Mr. Walton?”“Have you changed your mind yet?”I collapsed onto the towel and gazed at the sky as though it might consume me entirely if I pleaded sweetly enough.“Do you ever take a break?” I asked, shielding my eyes with one hand.“You're avoiding the question.”“Because it's a dumb question.”He exhaled, the sound sharp and irritated even over phone. “It's not a dumb question. It's a business offer.”“It's a weird offer-one that I already said no to.”There was a brief pause, and I could practically hear him clenching his jaw through the speaker.“You are acting unreasonably.”“ Unreasonable?” I sat up. “I'm not the one drafting fake girlfriend contracts like it's a normal Tuesday.”“Isabella-”“Certainly not, Mr. Walton.” I mimicked his tone perfectly. “I told you I'm not doing it. You need to find someone else to play pretend with.”SYNOPSISIsabella Miller thought saying no to her boss’s fake dating offer was the end of the story.But Adrien Walton doesn’t take no—especially not when he’s convinced she’s a gold digger.Suddenly, her student loans are piling up, her father’s vet clinic is on the brink of eviction and her brother is about to be kicked out of college. Coincidence? She thinks not.Adrien Walton is calm, calculating—and he's just pulled every string to corner Isabella into the perfect position.Now she’s stuck choosing between pride and survival.So she agrees to his offer: be his fake girlfriend.No feelings attached. No drama. Just business.Or so she thought.“Conference Room B. Fifteen minutes,” he said, passing by without a glance.The folder he pushed across the table landed with a thud.I opened it. The contract. All of it.---Enemies to lovers? Check.Slow burn? Hmmnyea.Banter so sharp it might file your nails? Yes.Delicious workplace tension? Of course.Tension that could melt steel?Absolutely.Smut?? Wanna find out?Welcome to corporate romance warfare. There’s no escaping this contract.

Orphaned at the mere age of seven and thrown out on the streets with no place to go. Kana lived the life of a street rat. She did what she could to survive from digging through the trash and stealing what she could. But even after almost ten years of surviving, her life still ended short.

After Yan Yu’s family read through the book, they discovered that the protagonist of this ancient novel was the original uncle.

They took their uncle to drink blood, were separated early, and were pulled out for a walk at the end of the full text to show how miserable their lives are.

At this time, the plot is going to the point where the cousin is ruined by others, and the uncle comes to the door to reason and is injured. If the wheat in the field is not harvested, it will be desolate. Twelve taels of gambling debt…

When they were at a loss, [Support Trading Platform] was overjoyed.

Supporting trading platform: Connecting multiple dimensions, aiming to help users who are struggling to survive, overcome difficulties and tide over difficulties together.

Whoooo! move! Yes, we are poor!

A family of three: waiting to be separated by fate, self-reliant, and trying to survive.

But he didn’t want to, uncle, he was reborn! ! !

After some consideration, he decided to protect his family and embarked on a completely different path.

Reality: what? No distinction?

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