A Match, the Wang Clan Patriarch Should Marry

It’s not that she “doesn’t love”—it’s that she “cannot love.” Just a single word apart, but the meaning is worlds away. William Wang Jinling understood what Serena meant, and it was precisely because he understood that it hurt.

But Serena didn’t think that deeply, nor did she realize her words could hurt him. She’d lived two lives, but her days were always just two points and a line: studying and sleeping, then later, working and sleeping.

When it came to love, she was like a child—she didn’t understand much, only knew love or not-love. The first time she understood what love was, she fell for a man named Nolan Dongling.

With someone as stubborn as her, once she fell in love, it was for life. She knew she could never stop loving Ninth Royal Uncle.

Where in this world could she find another man like Ninth Royal Uncle—clever and sly, yet impossible to hate, impossible to let go…

Where in this world could she find someone who truly understood her, who was willing to accept all her flaws and all her willfulness? She knew she wasn’t perfect, but as long as Ninth Royal Uncle could accept her, that was enough.

Serena lifted her head and smiled sweetly toward the direction of Skyvault Palace. She believed that as long as Nolan was with her, she could resolve the Assassin Alliance bounty issue.

Elsewhere, a certain man preparing to seize his “runaway wife” was smiling in satisfaction. A Wang Clan dark-guard, meanwhile, stood pale-faced and frozen, not daring to move.

As a dark-guard, being subdued from behind by another group of dark-guards was a disaster. Lowering his head to the blade at his neck, the Wang Clan dark-guard felt miserable, while the Ninth Clan dark-guard was smug.

Serves you right—my suffering wasn’t for nothing!

Ahem, the man with the hidden wild side was satisfied, so he stopped hiding and strode openly down the mountain. At least, what Serena and William saw was him coming down from the mountain—with the aura of someone walking out of the Imperial Palace itself, almost dazzling Serena.

“Ninth Royal Uncle? You’re here already? Is the battle over?” Serena saw Nolan from afar, lifted her skirt, and ran to meet him, surprised at how quickly he’d arrived.

William also strode toward Nolan. As he approached, he heard Nolan say, “No, it’s still going.” In other words, the fighting at Skyvault Palace wasn’t finished—he’d slipped away.

“Ah…” Serena responded, lowering her head in guilt, admitting fault in front of Nolan. She didn’t need to ask—she knew it was because of her.

To Serena’s surprise, Nolan wasn’t angry at all; instead, he comforted her: “Don’t worry, Storm Cloud Bu is there.” He wasn’t the type to shirk responsibility.

“Mm.” Serena let out a breath of relief—at least she hadn’t ruined things for everyone else.

“The battle isn’t over, and you, the commander, just ran off? Aren’t you afraid people will say you love beauty more than the realm?” William teased.

“The outcome’s already decided. Whether I’m there or not makes no difference. If my men can’t win a small fight without me, what good are they?” Nolan replied, unfazed, surprising William.

After saying this, Nolan ignored William and pulled Serena to his side. Noticing the dirt on her sleeve—and despite his notorious obsession with cleanliness—Nolan wiped it off with his bare hand.

Serena raised her brows, puzzled by Nolan’s odd behavior. But seeing how seriously he cleaned her sleeve, she stayed quiet, obedient as a child, letting Nolan fuss over her.

William watched the two, utterly absorbed in their own world, and knew this was Nolan’s way of warning him. He just smiled, unconcerned.

He was nothing like Nolan, not so petty. Since he’d declared himself Serena’s confidant, he would play that role perfectly while Serena and Nolan were together—never causing her trouble.

After all, standing by Serena’s side as her confidant was far better than being rejected and never seeing her again.

When it comes to love, whoever falls first loses; whoever loves deeper loses harder. Unfortunately, he’d done both.

Thanks to Nolan’s patient attention, Serena’s sleeve was spotless, but now Nolan’s fingers were dirty. Serena saw him staring at his hand, face twisted in distress, and couldn’t help laughing out loud.

Nolan shot Serena an annoyed glare, making her hastily stifle her laughter and obediently pull out a handkerchief to wipe his hand.

You clean the dirt off my sleeve, I wipe the dust from your fingers—these two were truly a pair of oddballs.

William rolled his eyes at Nolan, just as Nolan shot him a teasing smile—a glint of danger in his eyes.

Uh-oh… William suddenly felt a wave of dread and froze, wondering what had gone wrong. Before he could figure it out, his premonition came true.

Once his fingers were clean, Nolan whistled, and a black stallion galloped up and stopped at his side.

“It’s getting dark. We should go.” Nolan lifted Serena onto the horse and climbed up after her.

Serena settled in smoothly. “Okay.”

She knew William’s horse was nearby, and his guards were around, so she wasn’t worried. Besides…

Now that Nolan was here, and their cold war was over, it was only natural for her and Nolan to share a horse. Serena saw nothing wrong with it.

William didn’t see anything wrong either, but he couldn’t shake a vague sense of unease.

Nolan didn’t give William time to think. As soon as he was in the saddle, he snapped the reins and rode off with Serena. Before leaving, he called back, “Grand Heir, I’m taking Serena to Lyndaria. If you’re not busy, come along. If you need to be home before the New Year, forget it.”

On the surface, it was telling William how to find them, but really it was a message for Serena: if William didn’t join them, it meant he’d gone back to Eastlyn for Wang Clan business before the New Year.

At that moment, William finally realized what his uneasy feeling had been about.

Nolan had used him and then left him behind, not wanting him to tag along to Lyndaria. That’s why he suddenly took Serena away instead of waiting.

“Shameless—used me, then left me to fend for myself. Nolan Dongling, who gets away with things like this? If you won’t let me go, I’ll go anyway.” The usually composed Grand Heir didn’t notice he’d started a rivalry of pride with Nolan.

Originally, after leaving Skyvault Palace, William planned to head straight back to Eastlyn. With the New Year approaching, his clan had a mountain of affairs waiting for him—this was his first New Year as patriarch, and he was determined to do it right.

But after Nolan’s stunt, William decided to set Wang Clan matters aside for now. If Nolan didn’t want him tagging along, he’d show up anyway—and if Nolan had the guts, let him marry Serena!

But soon, William realized…

Reality was harsher than he’d imagined. He waited and waited, but no horse came; finally, William understood something was wrong.

His horse was missing, and his dark-guards were nowhere to be found!

“Nolan Dongling, you bastard!” The usually composed Grand Heir finally lost it, cursing at the top of his lungs. But Nolan was already long gone and couldn’t hear him.

Even if Nolan heard, he wouldn’t care.

There were plenty of people in the world who cursed him and wished him dead. If he cared about them all, he’d worry himself sick.

When William returned to the Wang Clan, he knew his father would pressure him to marry—probably hating him even more…

Let them hate. He didn’t care. He’d promised William would learn the cost of ‘eloping.’

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