When I woke up, it was already noon.

The alcohol had made me sleep especially deeply.

I sat on the bed for a long time before my senses gradually returned.

I got married.

A year after my sister died, I married Nathaniel Brooks in her place.

At the wedding, Nathaniel Brooks looked grim, as if attending a funeral rather than his own wedding.

My mother quietly pulled me aside and whispered to me.

"Charlie, even though Young Master Brooks seems indifferent to you, you must do everything you can to win his favor, otherwise..."

She trailed off.

"Otherwise, no one will pay Earl Rivers's gambling debts," I coldly completed her...