"Mom..." Yara Quincy pouted, her eyes filled with misery. "I really know I was wrong. Please, help me. I don’t want to go to jail."

Mrs. Quincy let out a long sigh. "I’ve already looked into the matter. We’re all family; there’s no need to drag this to court. I’ll go talk to your brother in a moment. If he doesn’t agree, then I’ll just go have a word with Claire Sinclair. If she truly has his best interests at heart, she won’t let our family suffer such humiliation."

"But... Mom, Claire Sinclair still doesn’t know she had a miscarriage. What if you tell her and she can’t take the news?"

"She has to find out eventually. Besides..." Mrs. Quincy paused, her eyes narrowing slightly. "A miscarriage takes a huge toll on a woman’s body. If she can never get pregnant again, then she isn’t fit to be a daughter-in-law of the Quincy Family."

Yara Quincy’s face lit up with hope. "Mom, I agree! She’s not good enough for Big Brother. If she can’t get pregnant again, you have to drive her away!"

’If that woman can’t get pregnant, I won’t have to feel sick to my stomach every day just from seeing her. That would be the best news ever! Haha...’

Mrs. Quincy patted the back of Yara Quincy’s hand and said in a low voice, "You just stay put at home for now. Leave this to your mother. I promise I won’t let you go to jail."

"Okay, okay! Thank you, Mom!" The dark cloud over Yara Quincy’s heart instantly vanished.

’I’m saved after all.’

...

「Evergreen Garden.」

The Eel and Red Date Congee had cooled enough to be eaten.

Adrian Quincy carried the congee into the dining room. His eyes swept across the living room, but he couldn’t find his beloved wife. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a petite figure sitting in the garden pavilion. He could feel the aura of loneliness and melancholy surrounding her, even through the window.

’She’s probably letting her imagination run wild again.’

Adrian Quincy walked out into the courtyard and came up behind her. "Claire, the congee’s ready. Let’s go in and eat."

"I’m not eating." Claire Sinclair had decided to go on a hunger strike to protest; she would rather die than eat the congee he had made.

"Why not?"

"I don’t want to."

Adrian Quincy’s brow furrowed slightly. He walked around to face her and knelt on one knee. Reaching out, he took her small hand in his and lifted his gaze to meet hers.

"Claire, why don’t you want to eat?"

"Every time I brought up divorce before, you’d just say you were too busy. Now you’re clearly not busy—you’re spending every day with me—but you still refuse when I ask. The truth is, you’ve always had time to divorce me. You’ve just been playing games with me."

’So she still hasn’t given up. She still wants to escape...’

Adrian Quincy had no choice but to summon more patience to continue this back-and-forth. "I completed my last mission flawlessly, so I do have some time to spend with you now. But I’ll be busy again in a few days."

"Then let’s finalize the divorce before you get busy again."

"Claire, don’t be like this."

As he spoke, the man lowered his other knee to the ground.

Realizing what he was doing, Claire Sinclair’s eyes flew open. She quickly reached out to pull him up. "Don’t kneel to me! I’m not worthy of it!"

Adrian Quincy had no intention of getting up. He gripped her small hands tightly, his tone resolute. "If you insist on the divorce, I will stay kneeling here indefinitely."

"Are you crazy? Get up! This is embarrassing!"

"I don’t care."

"A man’s dignity is in his knees. Get up—"

"I don’t care," the man emphasized in a low voice.

Claire Sinclair was about to say something more when, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed several of his men staring in their direction with awkward expressions. A complicated feeling stirred within her.

’Does it take great courage for a man to cast aside all his dignity to keep a woman from leaving?’

’If the roles were reversed, and I had to kneel and beg a man not to leave, I know I could never do it.’