I had just learned that I was the long-lost daughter of a wealthy family—missing for twenty years—when my boyfriend called to break up with me.

He had just gained the right to inherit his family’s fortune, and the first thing he did was tell me I was no longer good enough for him.

“Melinda, we’re done.”

I answered Derick Benson’s call, and the voice on the other end was so cold it almost sounded like a stranger.

“The Benson family officially acknowledged me today. From now on, my name is Jeff Benson.” His tone was full of arrogance. “My marriage, my connections, my inheritance—none of them are things I can decide on my own anymore.”

I stood by the window of my stone cottage, my fingertips still stained with the bitter juice of the herbs I had just picked.

Ten minutes ago, the man sitting across from me at my wooden table had told me I was the biological daughter of the Loftus family, the daughter they had lost twenty years ago.

I hadn’t even had time to process that shocking news before Jeff’s call came.

“So?” I asked.

Jeff let out an impatient sigh. “We’re not from the same world anymore, Melinda. I admit you saved my life, and I’ll remember that. But at the end of the day, you’re just an herbalist guarding some little country garden. You have no family background, no connections, and you don’t understand a single rule of high society.”

He paused, his voice filled with unquestionable pride.

“My future wife must come from a family equal to mine. She needs to bring business deals, resources, and status to the Benson family. You don’t meet any of those standards.”

I lowered my eyes to the small glass bottle on the wooden table.

Inside were three dried leaves, silver-blue in color.

Last month, at a private auction in London, the same kind of leaves had been sold to a European duchess for an eight-figure price in pounds.

And in my backyard, I had half a field of them.

A newly recognized heir, who hadn’t even secured his position yet, was actually looking down on me.

How entertaining.

Jeff was still talking. “Of course, I won’t mistreat you. For old time’s sake, before I officially get engaged, you can still stay by my side. Even after I marry, as long as you behave, I can—”

I let out a low laugh and cut him off. “Save it. Breaking up is fine. But from now on, don’t contact me again.”

Then I hung up and deleted every trace of him from my phone.

Across the wooden table, a man had been quietly watching me the whole time.

He sat in a wheelchair, but his posture was still straight and composed. His dark suit looked completely out of place in my rough stone cottage, yet he seemed perfectly at ease.

Zack Neagle.

The eldest son of the Neagle family. Once, he had been the most promising heir in the capital’s upper-class circle.

Ten minutes ago, he had appeared at my door and told me I was the Loftus family’s missing daughter.

He raised an eyebrow slightly. “What incredible timing. The newly found Loftus heiress gets dumped for not being glamorous enough.”

“Funny, isn’t it?” I said, half smiling. “One moment, you tell me I’m the lost daughter of a rich family. The next, my ex-boyfriend calls to say he has entered high society and needs to cut ties with me.”

I paused.

“Honestly, with heirs and long-lost daughters showing up one after another, this almost sounds like a scam.”

Zack gave a low chuckle. “It isn’t a scam. You really are the biological daughter the Loftus family lost twenty years ago.”

I gave a calm “oh” and poured the herbs from my basket onto the table, sorting them slowly.

“Fine. If I’m their daughter, why didn’t my biological parents come here themselves? Why did you come instead?”

Zack’s gaze moved over the herbs as he explained, “Last night, the Loftus family sent word to the Neagle family. The marriage arrangement originally meant for Shirley Loftus, they suggested, could be transferred to the real Loftus daughter.”

My hands froze.

“I don’t like waiting for the elders to arrange everything,” Zack continued. “So I looked into you first, then came here myself.”

“Let me get this straight. What exactly are you to me?”

“If the Loftus family’s plan goes smoothly, I’ll become your fiancé.” He nodded slightly. “Zack Neagle. The man who was originally supposed to be engaged to Shirley.”

Fiancé.

The word almost made me laugh from anger.

I looked him up and down, my gaze finally landing on his legs.

“So what you’re saying is, the Loftus family isn’t bringing me back because they missed their biological daughter. They’re bringing me back because you had an accident, and they don’t want the daughter they raised to marry a man in a wheelchair. So they want to push me into her place?”

A trace of approval flashed through Zack’s eyes. “You understand things very clearly.”

“How ridiculous.” I sneered. “I just got dumped by my boyfriend, and you just got rejected by your fiancée. Looks like we’re both in the same miserable boat.”

“She isn’t my fiancée,” Zack said calmly. “At least, not officially. There were no feelings between Shirley and me. From beginning to end, it was only a business deal.”

“So after you couldn’t stand anymore, she didn’t want to marry you?”

“More accurately, the Loftus family didn’t want her to. But they didn’t dare offend the Neagle family directly, so they remembered you.”

They hadn’t remembered me for twenty years.

But the moment he was injured, they suddenly found me.

I looked down at the herbs on the table, my voice turning cold. “Maybe they knew where I was all along. Maybe I simply had no value to them before, so they didn’t care whether I lived or died.”

Zack didn’t comfort me.

Strangely, that made me feel better.

At least he wasn’t fake.

He asked, “You don’t seem very sad.”

“Because of Jeff?” I scoffed. “A man who barely touched the doorstep of power and immediately couldn’t wait to look down on the woman who saved his life? He isn’t worth it.”

Two years ago, I had found Derick Benson badly injured and unconscious by a mountain road.

Back then, he wasn’t Jeff.

After he woke up, he became strangely devoted. He helped repair my herb garden, carried firewood for me, and chased away strangers with bad intentions.

He said I was his life.

He seemed obedient enough, and he was good-looking, so I gave him a chance.

Who would have thought that the moment he turned into a wealthy heir, he would change his face completely?

Zack said lightly, “I’m not sad either.”

I looked at him and suddenly smiled.

“At least you’re honest.”

“There’s no point in lying.”

“Then I’ll ask directly too.” I set down the herbs. “Since you know the Loftus family is using me, why are you still going along with it? You could cancel the marriage arrangement.”

Zack lowered his eyes to his legs.

“Last month, I was ambushed. Both of my legs were badly injured. The best medical teams examined me for a month. They all reached the same conclusion.”

He looked up at me.

“I’ll never stand again.”

He said it calmly.

Then he continued, “But I looked into you. You’ve treated patients that hospitals had already given up on. You’ve also grown rare medicinal plants that shouldn’t even exist on the market. So I came here not just because of the marriage arrangement. I wanted to see whether my legs still had a chance.”

I appreciated his directness.

“You’ve seen me with your own eyes now.” I spread my hands. “I live in a place like this. I don’t dress like a socialite, and I don’t understand your upper-class etiquette. The Loftus family only wants me back as a replacement. Even so, you still want to accept the engagement?”

Zack looked at me.

“After meeting you, I’m sure of at least one thing.”

“What?”

“Compared to Shirley, you’re the person I’d rather work with.”

A faint rustling sound suddenly came from the corner of the room.

Zack’s gaze shifted slightly.

Without turning my head, I said, “Don’t worry. Just a little thing I keep at home. It doesn’t bite guests.”

The sound quickly disappeared into the shadows.

I stood up and walked over to him.

“Roll up your pant leg. Let me take a look.”

Zack didn’t hesitate.

His knees and calves were still covered in large bruises, old injuries layered with new ones.

I crouched down and pressed my fingers along the side of his knee and several nerve points. Then I pulled a thin silver needle from my leather needle pouch and inserted it into the outside of his calf.

His fingers tightened suddenly.

“Does it hurt?”

“A little.”

“That’s good.”

He looked at me. “Can you treat it?”

“Your legs can still be treated.”

A faint light appeared in Zack’s eyes.

I brushed the dust from my hands and sat back down on the wooden chair.

“I accept this engagement.”

Zack looked at me. “What are your conditions?”

I tilted my head slightly and smiled brightly.

“What conditions? You’re so good-looking. If I heal your legs, won’t I be the one getting a treasure?”

Then my smile faded a little.

“If they think they can use me however they like, I’ll make them pay for it.”

Zack watched me quietly for two seconds, then let out a low laugh.

“Deal.”

He took a black business card from the inner pocket of his suit and pushed it toward me.

There was only one name and one private number on it.

I picked up the card and casually tucked it into the old medical book beside the table.

Zack turned his wheelchair and left.

When he reached the door, his gaze swept once more over the cluster of tiny purple flowers growing beneath the stone wall.

A gust of wind passed, and one flower snapped off, falling beside the doorstep.

He bent down, picked it up, and gently held it between his fingers.

I saw it, but I didn’t stop him.

Zack raised his eyes. “I’ll wait for you to return to the Loftus family.”

Leaning against the doorframe, I looked out at the fading sky.

“Don’t worry.”

Since they had invited me back, of course I would attend this little banquet properly.