A continuous, cold, mechanical voice, buzzing with static, ran through his brain. Expressionless, Charles Jennings drained the alcohol from his glass in one go.

The numbing effect of the alcohol slightly dulled the stabbing pain in his head. His phone rang. Seeing the caller ID, his dark eyes shifted.

A nearly imperceptible darkness flashed in his eyes. Heedless of the system’s warning tone, he answered the call, his voice as gentle as water. "Serena, what’s wrong?"

The girl’s soft, smiling voice came from the other end. "Charles, happy birthday!"

"You still remember my birthday? I thought you’d forgotten, Serena..."

The man’s words were gentle, tinged with an undisguised doting affection, yet his expression was the complete opposite—cold and grim.

Serena Sutton let out a melodious laugh, tinged with a girlish shyness. "How could I?~"

She had been completely focused on Simon Lockwood recently and hadn’t contacted Charles Jennings in a long time. Hearing the disappointment in his voice, a hint of smugness appeared on Serena Sutton’s face.

’I can’t believe it. After all these years, Charles still cares about me so much.’ Serena Sutton couldn’t help but feel a little giddy.

Her tone took on a flirtatious quality. "I’m almost there, so I’ll talk to you later."

Charles Jennings said gently, "Drive safe."

"Okay."

「Meanwhile, in a boutique」

Joanna Kennedy was helping Anna Yates pick out a gift.

"Which one do you think is better? This one, or this one?" Anna Yates turned to ask for her opinion.

Joanna Kennedy looked at the vape pen in her left hand and the mechanical cat doll in her right, falling silent.

"......You really hate this fiancé of yours, don’t you?" she asked, a question that cut to the heart of the matter.

Anna Yates looked surprised. "How could you tell?"

Joanna Kennedy: ".........." ’It’s not exactly hard to see.’

Anna Yates read her expression and pouted. "Well, it’s not that bad. I don’t hate him. I just think he’s really fake, just like this mechanical cat."

Joanna Kennedy: "?"

"His smile is just as fake—the curve never changes. It’s so phony!" Anna Yates grew more indignant as she spoke.

The mechanical cat’s reputation was being unfairly tarnished. Joanna Kennedy sighed, her curiosity about this "mechanical cat" fiancé growing.

Unfortunately, Anna Yates would only say that they would be meeting him soon, refusing to reveal who he was.

Carrying the wrapped mechanical cat, they set off. The ride was a bit quiet. Joanna Kennedy felt inexplicably nervous and tried to think of a topic for conversation.

Suddenly, Anna Yates spoke up. "Why didn’t you contact me when you came back to Aethelburg?"

A flash of surprise appeared in Joanna Kennedy’s eyes at the question.

She could sense Anna Yates’s awkwardness and distance but didn’t know the reason.

After a moment of silence, Joanna Kennedy answered truthfully, "I thought... you didn’t want to talk to me anymore."

Back then, before she lost her phone, she had tried to contact Anna Yates many times without getting a response. She assumed Anna despised her for taking Charles Jennings’s money and wanted nothing more to do with her.

Anna Yates became emotional. "I didn’t!"

"But I sent you so many messages back then," Joanna Kennedy said.

Anna Yates’s memory returned to those years. Back then, she truly hadn’t understood Joanna Kennedy’s actions. In her mind, Joanna, though headstrong and spoiled, was fundamentally innocent.

To suddenly become so selfish and money-grubbing—she couldn’t accept it, so she ignored Joanna’s messages. But later...

Anna Yates gritted her teeth and said, "I tried to contact you many times later, too, but you never responded."

"I lost my phone," Joanna Kennedy said. "I had to change all my contact info."

".........."

At this point, there was nothing left to say. There had been no betrayal, only a twist of fate. A youthful friendship, stranded by time for years, was finally being salvaged.

「Twenty minutes later」

They arrived at the bar. Anna Yates gave a private room number, and a waiter respectfully led the way.

Just as they pushed open the door to the room, they heard a girl’s soft, shy laugh. "Charles, you’re teasing me again..."

’Charles? That voice...’

Joanna Kennedy froze for a second, but Anna Yates’s expression suddenly turned ugly. She shoved the door wide open with a loud BANG.

The two people sitting on the sofa turned their heads at the same time and saw them.

Serena Sutton’s sweet smile stiffened. Charles Jennings, however, after a brief moment of shock, fixed his gaze intently on the stunned face of Joanna Kennedy.

His eyes traveled down from her pretty face, then back up to her fair, slender collarbones, where a silver necklace gleamed brightly.

He suddenly relaxed, leaning back. The gentle smile on his lips grew wider, his eyes concealing some hidden emotion. He showed no trace of the embarrassment or panic of being caught in the act.

Joanna Kennedy was completely dumbfounded. ’How could I have never imagined that Anna’s fiancé would be Charles Jennings? Doesn’t he like Serena Sutton?!’

’Why is Serena Sutton here?! And did they already finish cutting the cake?!’

’Charles Jennings likes Serena Sutton, but Charles Jennings is Anna Yates’s fiancé... What the hell is going on?!’

While Joanna Kennedy was still reeling, Anna Yates had already strode over and slammed her purse, worth nearly twenty thousand, onto the marble table with a loud thud.

"Charles Jennings, what is the meaning of this?" Anna Yates demanded, her anger undisguised.

Joanna Kennedy snapped out of it and immediately followed, standing beside Anna Yates. Meeting the man’s inscrutable gaze, she frowned deeply, not understanding.

Charles Jennings finally pulled his gaze away from Joanna and looked at his "fiancée" in name only. His tone remained gentle. "What ’meaning of this’?"

Anna Yates’s face flushed with anger. She pointed at the bewildered Serena Sutton and demanded, "Why is she here!"

"It’s my birthday. Naturally, I want to spend it with someone important."

Someone important...

A blush gradually crept across Serena Sutton’s face.

Anna Yates, however, was stunned. She stared at Charles Jennings, looking like she wanted to say something but couldn’t get the words out. Her expression was one of utter humiliation.

Joanna Kennedy had never seen Anna Yates so thoroughly defeated. A fire ignited within her, and her voice turned cold. "Young Master Jennings, if I recall correctly, you were the one who asked Anna out, weren’t you?"

Charles Jennings’s smile deepened. "I was."

Joanna Kennedy frowned. "Then what are you doing now? Humiliating her on purpose?"

"Not at all," Charles Jennings said slowly. "This is just a business alliance. I have to let Miss Yates know what kind of person I am ahead of time, to save her any regrets after we’re married."

’So, he deliberately had Anna come here to see his affection for Serena, forcing Anna to be the one to break off the engagement.’

’How deeply in love he is.’

Her little face cold, Joanna Kennedy pulled Anna Yates up, ready to leave.

But Anna Yates didn’t move. She stared at Charles Jennings and threw the mechanical cat she was holding into the trash can. "Charles Jennings, I’ll remember this."

Charles Jennings gave a gentlemanly nod and returned her stare with a smile.

The two of them reached the door when Charles Jennings suddenly spoke up. "Miss Kennedy, a friendly reminder: that necklace doesn’t suit you."

’How random.’ The disgust in Joanna Kennedy’s eyes deepened. She didn’t linger.

The private room fell silent again. Serena Sutton spoke up tentatively, "Charles, are you breaking off your engagement with Anna Yates because of me?"