His Tenth Abandonment Gave Me a New Life

When Adrian Hale chose Rosalie Quinn for the tenth time, I was hanging helplessly over the cliff’s edge. He clutched a rope in one hand, the web between his thumb and forefinger worn raw and bloody. Rosalie was sobbing so hard she could barely breathe. “Adrian, I’m scared…” He hesitated for only a second before pulling out a dagger and cutting through the rope on my side. “Clara, hold on. I’ll come back for you after I save Rosalie.” The system counted down in my ear. [The tenth abandonment has been confirmed.] [Life countdown: zero.] Before I fell, I didn’t wait for him to turn around like I had the previous nine times. I only smiled at him. “Adrian Hale, we’re even now.” Chapter 1 This was the tenth time Adrian Hale abandoned me. The first time he chose Rosalie over me was three days after her return to the capital. That night, a fire broke out at Hale Manor. The flames began in the east wing and, driven by the wind, licked their way toward the roof of the west wing where I lived. When I woke, choking on smoke, my door had already warped from the heat. Chaos erupted outside. I covered my nose and mouth with a damp cloth and saw Adrian charging through the flames with a sword in hand. After two years of marriage, it was the first time I had ever seen panic on his face. “Adrian!” The moment I called his name, Rosalie’s sobs rang out from the east wing. “My lord, Miss Quinn is still inside!” Adrian stopped. He stood no more than a dozen steps away from me. A few more steps, and he could have pulled me through the window. But Rosalie cried out for him again. He turned and walked away. “Clara, you know the manor better than anyone. Get out through the back window. “Rosalie is terrified of fire. I’m going to get her.” With that, he wrapped Rosalie in his cloak and carried her out of the flames. He never looked back. When a ceiling beam came crashing down, I instinctively raised my arm to shield myself. Blisters immediately erupted across my left arm. I thought I was going to die. Then a toneless voice sounded beside my ear. [Deliberate abandonment detected in a life-or-death choice.] [The Love Reset System has been successfully bound.] [Life countdown: nine.] [Affection remaining: ninety percent. Pain perception removed: ten percent.] The pain scorching my arm suddenly faded. Even the aching tightness in my chest that had nearly stopped me from breathing eased a little. I kicked open the back window and crawled out through the flames. Adrian stood in the courtyard with Rosalie in his arms. Only the cuff of her sleeve was blackened by smoke, and she trembled against his chest. I knelt in the snow, half of my sleeve burned away. When Adrian saw me, his brow twitched sharply. He took two steps toward me. Rosalie suddenly clutched her chest and whimpered in pain. Adrian stopped in his tracks. “Have the house physician examine my wife first.” After giving the order, he lowered his head to soothe the woman in his arms. His voice held a tenderness I had never heard before. “Don’t be afraid. I’m here.” I lowered my gaze to the injuries on my arm. I realized then how little a few words could mean. They were enough to comfort one person, but never me. After I returned to my room, the system sounded again. [Each abandonment reduces the life countdown by one.] [At the same time, ten percent of the host’s affection and ten percent of her pain perception will be removed.] I asked, “Will I die when the countdown reaches zero?” The system fell silent for a moment. [Your current life will end.] The answer was hardly reassuring. But when I looked at my pale reflection in the mirror, I felt surprisingly little fear. I only thought that Adrian might not choose her nine more times. After all, he treated me well during those two years, too. Whenever I felt cold at night, he would tuck a hot-water bottle beneath the covers ahead of time. Once, I casually mentioned that I craved pastries from the southern quarter, and after finishing his duties at court, he went halfway across the capital to buy them for me. On my birthday last year, he even strung a pearl bracelet for me himself. Exactly ten pearls. He said, “May the years ahead bring you perfection in every way.” I laughed at him then. A man who led armies into battle had suddenly learned to say something so sentimental. He must have done something to feel guilty about. He pinched my cheek. “Don’t be ridiculous.” I was still wearing the bracelet. But at some point, the pearl closest to my wrist bone had developed a thin crack. Adrian came to see me the following morning. He stood beside my bed for a long time. “I misjudged the situation last night.” I waited for him to say more. Instead, he said, “Rosalie was caught in a fire as a child. She still has panic attacks whenever she sees flames. You’re strong enough to understand.” I touched the cracked pearl. “Of course. I understand.” Adrian’s expression relaxed. “I’m glad you can see it that way.” He didn’t know the truth. I hadn’t suddenly become more understanding. Something had already been taken from me. It was part of the love I felt for him. And the second time came soon after. Chapter 2 After spring arrived, the Princess Royal hosted a banquet on Willowmere Lake. Rosalie attended as well. She was once Adrian’s fiancée. Three years earlier, bandits kidnapped her on her way to a chapel, and she disappeared without a trace. The Hale family assumed she was dead. A year later, the king arranged my marriage to Adrian. For two years, we lived together in quiet harmony, but Rosalie suddenly returned. She had endured great hardships, which left her with a chronic heart condition, and she had lost both her parents. When Adrian brought her to Hale Manor, he said she would stay for only three months. “Once she recovers, I’ll find her another place to live.” I agreed at the time. I even personally prepared the east wing for her and chose the softest bedding. But three months passed, and she still didn’t leave. Adrian stopped mentioning it, too. At the banquet on Willowmere Lake, a sudden current jolted our barge. Rosalie and I fell into the water at the same time. Adrian was standing at the bow. He swam to me first. My hand had already reached his wrist when Rosalie cried out from several yards away. “Adrian, my leg cramped…” He immediately pulled my hand away. “Clara, you can swim. Hold on a little longer.” Then he swam toward Rosalie. I was actually a poor swimmer. I had fallen into a well as a child and was terrified whenever my feet couldn’t touch the bottom. I told him about it during our first year of marriage. He had probably forgotten. But when the lake water flooded my mouth and nose, the system remembered it perfectly. [The second abandonment has been confirmed.] [Life countdown: eight. Affection remaining: eighty percent.] I grabbed the rope hanging from the barge and let the boatman haul me aboard. By the time Adrian returned with Rosalie, soaked through, I had already finished coughing up the water I’d swallowed. He took off his coat and draped it over her shoulders. When he saw me, he paused. Only then did he seem to remember that I had just come out of the water, too. Rosalie clutched his lapel and said softly, “Clara has always been strong and healthy, unlike me…” I sneezed. Adrian frowned. “Don’t fight over a coat here. You’ll both be fine once we return to the manor.” That night, I came down with a high fever. Adrian stayed in Rosalie’s wing because she had suffered a nightmare. The next day, when he heard I was ill, he had the steward send me a prized medicinal herb. I added it to the herbal remedy. The second pearl on my bracelet cracked. The third time came half a month later, when we were ambushed. The mountain road back to the city was narrow, and assassins charged out of the woods on both sides. The guards brought over only one horse that hadn’t panicked. Adrian mounted and drew Rosalie onto the saddle in front of him. I grabbed the reins. “What about me?” He looked down at me. The wind howled around us, yet his voice came through clearly. “Caleb will protect you. “Rosalie can’t ride. I’ll get her to safety first, then come back for you.” He always said he would come back. [The third abandonment has been confirmed.] After Adrian rode away, Caleb took a blade meant for me. I picked up the short sword from the ground and held out with the remaining guards until reinforcements arrived. By the time Adrian returned, the assassins had already retreated. Blood spattered the back of my hand. I didn’t know whether it belonged to someone else or to me. He dismounted and hurried toward me. But Rosalie cried out from the saddle, “Adrian, I can’t get down!” He turned back to help her. I stood there and swallowed the words, “I’m hurt.” The fourth time came on the anniversary of my mother’s death. Adrian promised to accompany me outside the city to visit her grave. The carriage was already waiting when Rosalie sent word that she had dreamed about the time she was held captive by bandits. She refused to see anyone and would only allow Adrian to visit her. Adrian handed the flowers back to me. “I’ll go with you next year.” I took them. “All right.” He stared at me for a moment, as if he wasn’t used to seeing me remain so calm. “Is that all you have to say?” In the past, I would have held on to him and asked which of us mattered more to him, Rosalie or me. The system had already asked him four times on my behalf. The answer was clear enough. “No.” That day, I knelt alone before my mother’s grave, removed the fourth cracked pearl from my bracelet, and buried it in the earth. As I descended the hill, the system reminded me, [Life countdown: six.] I thought six was still a long way off. I never expected Adrian to make his choices faster and faster. Chapter 3 The fifth time came at a royal banquet. Rosalie and I accidentally ate pastries laced with poison. The royal physician quickly prepared one dose of antidote and said the second would take another half hour. The poison would take effect within minutes. Adrian took the pill and walked toward me. For a moment, I felt a flicker of hope I had no right to hold on to. He looked at the blood at the corner of my mouth, and his fingers twitched. Rosalie collapsed behind him. He walked straight past me and placed the pill in her mouth. “Clara, wait a little longer.” Adrian supported her, his voice tense with urgency. “Your heart is stronger than hers. The royal physician will be able to save you.” The poison twisted through my stomach like a blunt knife. I curled up on the floor, the pain so fierce that one of my fingernails cracked. When the system stripped away another ten percent of the pain, I could finally breathe again. [Life countdown: five.] The royal physician’s second antidote arrived in time. I didn’t die. Adrian took that as proof that he had made the right choice. On the way home, he sat across from me and explained, “Rosalie has a heart condition. The poison would have taken effect faster in her.” I stared out the carriage window without saying a word. “Clara, I know I’ve wronged you. Once she recovers, I’ll make it up to you.” I turned my gaze from the window back to him. “How?” He had no answer. Because his idea of making it up to me amounted to sending me another box of jewelry and sharing one meal with me. The next time Rosalie cried, he would still leave. The sixth time came when Rosalie shattered a jeweled goblet presented by the crown at the Queen Mother’s birthday banquet. Her face went deathly pale with fear. But Adrian pulled me aside. “You’re the lady of Hale Manor. Just say it was an accident. At worst, the Queen Mother will make you apologize and confine you to your chambers for a few days.” “Rosalie isn’t married yet. If word gets out that she disgraced herself before the Queen Mother, her reputation will be ruined.” I asked, “What about my reputation?” His expression darkened. “You’re already the lady of Hale Manor. Why make an issue of something like this with her?” Rosalie stood a short distance away, tears slipping down her cheeks. “This is all my fault. Don’t make things difficult for Clara, my lord. I’ll confess.” She started to leave, but her feet remained firmly planted. Adrian grabbed my wrist. “I’m asking you.” It was the first time he had ever asked me for anything. However, it was for another woman. I took the blame for Rosalie, apologized before the Queen Mother, and was confined to my chambers for three days as punishment. While I was confined to my chambers, Adrian stayed by Rosalie’s side. When the system announced the new number, I could no longer feel my knees. [Life countdown: four.] The seventh time, a wooden frame hung with oil lamps came crashing down. Adrian pulled Rosalie into his arms, leaving me to tumble down the stone steps. The eighth time, an unseasonable freeze struck as we traveled back to the capital. Only one carriage was still roadworthy, and it could hold only two people. Adrian took Rosalie, whose heart condition had flared, and left me and the guards behind at an abandoned chapel. He promised to return before dawn. But heavy snow blocked the road. I spent the night in the roofless chapel. When I woke the next morning, frost covered my eyebrows and eyelashes. The system told me I had only two marks of life left. I lowered my head and counted the pearls on my bracelet. Only two remained uncracked. After we returned to Hale Manor, Adrian had someone send me a fox-fur cloak. I refused to accept it. He came to ask me himself, “Are you still angry?” “No.” “Then why won’t you take it?” “I don’t need it anymore.” He stared at me, unease appearing in his eyes for the first time. “Clara, you haven’t been yourself lately.” I smiled. “Wasn’t this what you always wanted? For me to be more understanding? You wanted me to be sensible, didn’t you? Now that I am, you’re unhappy?” Adrian opened his mouth, but no words came out. In the end, he only said, “Don’t say things you don’t mean just because you’re angry.” After he left, a wave of nausea suddenly came over me. The house physician checked my pulse. “Congratulations, my lady. You’re nearly two months pregnant.” I stared at the last two uncracked pearls on my bracelet and remained silent for a long time. That night, the system asked me: [Once the life countdown reaches zero, the host may sacrifice all remaining affection and pain sensitivity to create a replacement body and escape.] [Pregnancy detected. Should the unborn child be transferred with you?] Chapter 4 I had originally planned to tell Adrian about the pregnancy. After all, this child had come so quietly. It was as if, when I had nothing left, the baby had reached out and gently held one of my fingers. I bought a pair of tiny baby booties embroidered with little fox faces. I had embroidered only one eye when Rosalie slit her wrist in the east wing. Half a basin of water turned red with blood. Adrian carried her out of the manor, and I was waiting for him in the entrance hall. “Adrian.” He didn’t stop walking. “We’ll talk when I get back.” “My stomach hurts a little.” He finally turned around. His gaze paused on my face for a moment. Rosalie lay in his arms, barely breathing. “My lord, don’t worry about me…” He immediately tightened his hold on her. “Clara, have the house physician examine you.” “She’s lost a lot of blood. I have to get her to a doctor.” I watched him step over the threshold. The ninth pearl cracked around my wrist. [The ninth abandonment has been confirmed.] [Life countdown: one. Affection remaining: ten percent.] So, this was what it felt like when only ten percent of my love remained. Adrian didn’t return until the next day. The house physician said the pregnancy had been disturbed and I needed complete bed rest. His eyes were bloodshot as he sat beside my bed and held my hand. “Rosalie was badly hurt yesterday.” “I know.” “Why did your stomach hurt?” I looked at him for a moment. “It doesn’t hurt anymore.” The system had removed ninety percent of my pain, so of course I felt nothing. Adrian misunderstood. He let out a sigh of relief. “I’m glad you’re all right.” I nudged the little booties farther beneath my pillow. In the end, I still didn’t tell him. Half a month later, Adrian was ordered to clear the Westfall Hills of bandits. Rosalie secretly followed him. She left a note saying that the bandits were the same ones who kidnapped her three years ago, and she wanted to watch them die with her own eyes. When Adrian discovered her, he had no choice but to keep her by his side. I had no reason to go. But before Rosalie left, she sent someone to deliver me a letter. It contained only one sentence. “Clara Bennett, do you dare see for yourself who he’ll choose the tenth time?” She didn’t know that I didn’t need to guess. But I went anyway. I wanted to find a place for the last pearl on my bracelet to come to rest. When the bandits were driven back, they captured Rosalie and me. They tied us to two ropes and lowered us over a cliff. The ropes were looped over the same dead tree. The combined weight of our bodies slowly pulled the tree’s roots loose. By the time Adrian arrived, the bandits had already fled. He rushed to the cliff’s edge and grabbed one rope with each hand. “Don’t move!” The webbing between his thumbs and forefingers soon rubbed raw and bloody. Loose stones showered down the cliff face. Rosalie trembled violently as she sobbed. “Adrian, I don’t want to die!” I lowered my head and looked at the bottomless ravine below. A dull tightness gripped my lower abdomen. The system asked me, [Would you like to activate the New Life Protocol?] “Not yet.” I wanted to see whether Adrian would be any different the final time. The dead tree on the cliff leaned outward another inch. Caleb shouted urgently, “My lord, the two ropes are tangled together. If this continues, all three of you will fall!” “We have to cut one rope and pull one person up!” Adrian’s arm trembled from the strain. He looked at Rosalie first. Then he looked at me. “Clara.” The moment he called my name, I already knew the answer. “You’ve always been strong. Trust me one more time.” He drew his dagger, and its blade flashed. Then he cut through the rope on my side. The last pearl on my bracelet shattered at the same time. I plummeted. The wind rushed into my sleeves as the figures on the cliff grew smaller and smaller. Adrian sprawled at the cliff’s edge, seemingly shouting my name. But I could no longer hear him clearly. All I heard was the system’s final countdown. [The tenth abandonment has been confirmed.] [Life countdown: zero.] [Affection: zero. Pain perception: zero.] I lifted my head and smiled at the blurred figure above. “Adrian Hale, we’re even now.”