Secretly Married for 4 Years, He Regrets to Tears After the Divorce-Chapter 213: Going Home

Nia’s tears soaked Adrian Lancaster’s shoulder.

"Tarn, don’t go."

She choked on her sobs, her voice fragmented and trembling with despair.

"Don’t leave Sarankal. Don’t leave, I’m begging you."

Adrian Lancaster stood ramrod straight, his hands hanging at his sides. He didn’t hug her back.

His gaze traveled over Nia’s violently trembling shoulders and settled on the scorched earth in the distance, his eyes filled with an unreadable, complex emotion.

He didn’t hate Nia, but he didn’t love her, either.

"Nia, let me go."

Adrian Lancaster’s voice was hoarse, his calmness bordering on cruelty, like an ice pick piercing through Nia’s last shred of hope.

"No!" Nia shook her head, her nails digging into the flesh of his back.

"I won’t let you go, and I won’t let you leave Sarankal. I saved your life. Without my permission, no one is taking you away."

Her words came faster and faster as she gradually lost control of her emotions.

"Tarn, stay. We can build a life together. I’ll do anything for you."

Nia’s obsessive clinging was suffocating, and Adrian Lancaster’s brow furrowed tightly.

"Nia, please, calm down. Don’t say things like that."

"I’m grateful you saved my life, but that doesn’t mean my life is bound to yours."

"I have a wife, and a family. This place..."

Adrian Lancaster glanced around, his eyes distant and cold.

"This isn’t my home. You aren’t my family. I never planned on staying in Sarankal."

His words pierced Nia’s heart like a sharp blade.

Her body shuddered, and she hugged Adrian Lancaster even tighter, as if that could somehow change her fate.

"Your wife isn’t here! She can’t protect you, she can’t take care of you, but I can! I love you more than she does, why can’t you see that?!"

Adrian Lancaster’s expression didn’t waver in the slightest.

"No matter where I am, my heart belongs only to my wife."

"Sarankal was just a place I ended up when I was stranded. I had to cooperate and act subservient just to survive. Otherwise, I would never have had the chance to leave here alive."

Just then, Barton strode over. His face was etched with authority and anguish. Seeing his daughter lose her composure over an outsider like this made him burn with rage.

"Nia," Barton growled. "Let him go. Let him leave. This is the River God’s will, and it is his choice."

Her father’s reprimand was the last straw, shattering Nia’s frayed nerves.

She flinched as if stung, threw her head back, and shrieked at the sky.

"What River God? What will? I don’t care! I just want Tarn to stay!"

Barton’s expression changed drastically. He lunged forward to cover her mouth while forcefully shoving Adrian Lancaster away with his other hand.

"Nia, have you lost your mind? How dare you question the River God!"

"Father, I’m not crazy! The River God is the one who went back on his word!"

"Silence!" Barton snapped harshly.

Nia’s pupils constricted, her breathing ragged. She suddenly realized something and whipped her head around to see Adrian Lancaster’s retreating back.

"Tarn, stop! You can’t leave!"

Barton grabbed her arm. "Someone, tie the young lady up and take her back to the wooden hut."

Nia wrenched herself free, pulled a sharp dagger from her waist, and turned the tip toward her own heart. Her gaze, full of grim resolve, swept over everyone present.

"Tarn, if you take one more step, I’ll stab myself right now and die in front of you."

Adrian Lancaster stopped and turned back to look at the completely irrational Nia. A pang of misery shot through him.

"Nia, put the dagger down. Don’t do something foolish."

Nia laughed. "Tarn, you do care about me, don’t you?"

"I only feel gratitude toward you, no other feelings."

Nia refused to give up. "I don’t believe you!" she screamed, her voice hoarse. "After all this time together, you don’t like me even a little? Not even for a moment?"

"No," Adrian Lancaster replied curtly, his tone cold and devoid of any warmth.

"The person I love is not you. Nia, forget me."

After a few seconds’ pause, he turned his back to Nia, refusing to look at her again.

"Even if you die in front of me right now, I will not stay."

Those words shattered Nia completely. She felt as though a thousand arrows had pierced her heart, as if she were already dead.

"SPURT!" A mouthful of blood sprayed from her lips.

The light in Nia’s eyes instantly extinguished, leaving them empty and vacant. Her body, like a puppet with its strings cut, fell straight backward.

The dagger in her hand fell to the ground with a CLANG.

"Nia!" Barton cried out in horror, rushing forward to catch his daughter.

Adrian Lancaster’s hands, hanging at his sides, clenched into fists. A flicker of pity and conflict crossed the depths of his eyes, but it was quickly swallowed by a deeper resolve.

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and suppressed all emotion deep within his heart.

’Nia, I’m sorry.’

At almost the same moment, Theodore Lancaster rushed forward and threw his arms around his son in a tight embrace.

"Adrian, Dad finally found you."

His father’s arms were strong and steady, but his voice trembled with the joy and relief of finding what was lost.

Adrian Lancaster raised his arms and hugged his father back. "Dad!"

A thousand unspoken words were contained in that single word.

"Thank you."

Sean Sterling and Caleb Caldwell crowded around, their eyes filled with tears. They hugged Adrian Lancaster, too overcome with excitement and joy to speak.

Adrian Lancaster felt a sting in his nose, his eyes already welling with tears.

"You’ve all worked so hard."

Theodore Lancaster carefully took out an Amulet and handed it to Adrian Lancaster.

"This is the Amulet Wren went to the temple to pray for on your behalf."

Adrian Lancaster held it protectively in his palm, treasuring it as if it were a priceless gem.

Tears of longing fell onto the peace charm, soaking the pattern on its surface.

"Is she okay?"

Theodore Lancaster told him, "Wren and your child are waiting for you, Adrian. Let’s go home."