Sebastian Ford’s pupils shook when he heard the words.
"What did you just say?!"
Was Eleanor Valerius proposing to him?!
The uncontrollable anger that had just erupted was instantly shattered by her, leaving an unprecedented panic in his chest.
He never thought about marriage, let alone that Eleanor would bring it up.
"Do you want to marry ?"
Eleanor repeated her question, her expression and gaze still calm.
She was well aware that her relationship with Sebastian had reached a freezing point.
Either break through and develop further, or collapse and end.
Sebastian’s emotions were uncontrollably turbulent, yet when he t her gaze, it was as if he fell into an ice cellar.
"Eleanor, do you really want to marry ?"
Stunned by her sudden blow to his heart, he suppressed his voice and calmly re-assessed her.
In her expression, there wasn’t a trace of a shy expectation that typically accompanies a proposal!
Sebastian, rarely thrown off balance, was filled with conflicting and complex emotions.
"Are you proposing, or forcing marriage?"
Her thoughts mattered a lot.
Even though he never considered marriage and wouldn’t marry.
But Eleanor brought up marriage for the first ti in their relationship.
What he cared about, of course, was her attitude towards him.
Eleanor continued to observe Sebastian.
As expected, his gaze only faltered montarily before regaining its sharpness.
"Marrying you is what I want."
She hid her covert tests towards him.
"What?"
Sebastian frowned, listening cautiously to her answer.
"You said if I asked you, I could get what I wanted. But rather than asking you to solve all my problems, I think marrying you is the best solution."
Eleanor answered candidly with a smile: "I want real power. Not to borrow a knife to kill, but to beco the knife myself. You’re the head of the Ford Family; marrying you would make the envy of all as Mrs. Ford. The identity of being the mistress of the Ford Family is what I want."
She laid out her calculations bare.
At that mont, shadows covered Sebastian’s eyes.
"I’m the head of the Ford Family, is that your only reason for wanting to marry ? If another person were in this position, would you propose to soone else? Does it even matter if it’s ? You’re only after the status of being Mrs. Ford?"
"Why is Master Ford angry? You are the head of the Ford Family; no one else can take your place."
Eleanor knowingly deflected without denying.
"I don’t want to be a lover hidden in the shadows. If you help , I have to ask you first. I’d rather wield power by myself to feel more secure. Master Ford, it’s not that I don’t trust you, but I trust myself more.
You said I separated love and desire. If I beca your Mrs. Ford, there would be no need for separation."
At this point, Eleanor seed very pleased with her proposal, her eyes glittering with calculated intent.
What she deliberately hid was her own disarray.
Yes, she loved, but he did not!
The car fell into silence for a long ti.
The initially subtle tension turned uncanny.
Sebastian squinted at the radiant smile of Eleanor Valerius, his thin lips tightly pressed, the anger in his eyes erupting like a volcano.
"Ha, are you using marriage to manipulate ? Can even marriage be a bargaining chip?"
Eleanor’s proposal was a ploy to force him!
His uncontrollable fury was because he had actually wavered at the ntion of marriage!
Even a brief consideration made him feel manipulated!
"Marriage is a transaction to begin with."
Eleanor smiled and retorted: "If it’s not power that I’m after through the status of Mrs. Ford, then what else is there to gain in this marriage?"
"Eleanor! Isn’t marriage supposed to be about love?"
Sebastian questioned sharply.
"Love? Hahaha, how can those two words describe our relationship!"
Eleanor seed to have heard the biggest joke, letting out unbridled, sharp laughter from her eyes.
"Sebastian, do you love ?"
The question seed to grip the deepest, most fatal weakness within him.
He was the prey, just as much as she was!
Sebastian’s eyes were guarded, his expression suppressing indifference, avoiding the question: "You’re the one who proposed marriage, so shouldn’t you be the one who loves !"
"I love you, haven’t I said it many tis?"
Eleanor spoke the most ambiguous three words in an especially perfunctory manner.
The more she behaved this way, the angrier Sebastian beca.
"You’re lying to !"
Sebastian laughed in fury, extending a hand to touch her face, his motion gentle and intimate, yet his voice suppressed with anger: "Those words of love you spoke on the bed were all to deceive , but I warned you, you have no chance to regret."
It mattered to him so much that on the bed, he demanded she say she loved him.
Even if they were lies, as long as Eleanor was willing to say it her whole life, he could still revel in the rules of this ga.
However, Eleanor’s current forced marriage was clearly a precursor to fleeing.
The possessiveness in Sebastian’s eyes was spiraling out of control, his large hands gently pinching her waist, holding her captive.
"Eleanor, if I believe it and you don’t follow through, I’ll imprison you by my side. Continuing to love will be your punishnt."
After saying this, Sebastian seed pleased with his decision.
He signaled the driver to head back to the villa, intending to confine her there.
"If you don’t behave, I have ways to teach you obedience."
Sebastian no longer restrained his loss of control.
It was right for Eleanor to try to manipulate him first, so she deserved the punishnt.
Within the stubborn dominion was Sebastian’s hidden unease.
He couldn’t give her up, so how could she think of escaping?
Eleanor’s calculations weren’t just about the forced marriage; she was using his addiction to her as leverage.
At this mont, Eleanor looked at him and suddenly started to laugh.
"Sebastian, why do you care so much about ? Is it because you haven’t won?"
Their lover’s gas were a mutual, unspoken pursuit.
Yet, her marriage proposal beca an emotional breakthrough.
All the pretense was dropped!
Eleanor exposed Sebastian.
"You want to imprison because you want to own my body and soul completely. You don’t want to lose, especially not to . You want to be the one to abandon after tiring of this relationship. You know I’ve been scheming, using ’hard to get’ to lure you. Now that I no longer wish to play, are you so angry because you’ve been breached?"
"..."
Sebastian’s gaze deepened.
He didn’t refute, as even Wayne Wainwright had exposed this true intent of his before.
"Breaking the ga rules makes it aningless."
"I’m exiting and no longer need to observe the ga rules."
Eleanor saw Sebastian’s honesty, well aware their relationship was slowly crumbling.
"Master Ford, I admit I’m a selfish and self-serving bad woman. I was the one who actively pursued you, and I dressed up sweet words to deceive you. For a man like you, dangerous and high above, I won’t lose too miserably without so tactics.
If you want to satisfy you, then I require marriage. At least when you get tired and decide to abandon , I’ll have once been the enviable Mrs. Ford."
Eleanor took a deep breath, casually speaking of the consequences of continuing to entangle with Sebastian.
"I am willing to hold on to your na as a wealthy abandoned wife, provided that, in a divorce, I want half of the Ford family’s fortune as compensation."
This statent completely enraged Sebastian.
"Absolutely impossible!"
The audacity of the woman to even dare to plot for the Ford family’s wealth?!
What infuriated him more was her complete lack of feelings for him.
As if in the past few months of passion and warmth, he was the only one who fell deeply, unable to detach!
"Alas, what a pity."
Eleanor lowered her eyes with a sigh, masking the sorrow in her heart.
Using such matters to push Sebastian to his limits was also a way to force herself to see reality.
"Stop the car, I want to go ho. You disagreed with marriage, so why go crazy over a breakup?"
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