Chapter 86 Would You Fall For Me
A Free Coins
He wanted someone who could protect him from his father and help him escape from him.
Back then, all the younger Julius had wanted was for someone to save him. But now, he was strong, no longer afraid of anyone. Why, when facing her, did he nearly let his most fragile side slip out?
“Quinn, if one day I could be exactly the man you described, love you only, never betray you, stand beside you through life and death, never leave nor abandon you, would you fall for me then?” His voice drifted softly through the air.
Quinn said, “Are you joking?”
After all, Julius just didn’t seem like the kind of person who could do such a thing.
She couldn’t even picture what it would look like if a man like him really fell in love with someone.
“Yeah…” Julius slowly closed his eyes, taking in the subtle scent that lingered on her.
It wasn’t perfume or anything artificial. It was a natural smell from her–a clean, sunlit hint of fresh herbs.
It made him feel comfortable and at ease.
“Maybe I am just joking,” he murmured against her shoulder.
He just wanted to lean there a little longer, surrounded by her presence.
The nausea he’d felt after that call from his father seemed to fade with every breath he took near her.
In the following two days, Quinn visited the Bridger family’s ancestral hall every day. She would check on her parents‘ urns and pay her respects to the memorial tablets of the family’s ancestors.
When she stood before the tablets of the fifth branch, her eyes welled with tears. Next to the names of her grandparents were now the newly added tablets of Montague and Arlene.
The once–flourishing fifth branch of the Bridger family had become nothing more than names on memorial tablets.
But none of them would have regretted it. They had all done what needed to be done.
For their country and their family, they’d die a hundred times over without regret!
Quinn knelt down and bowed deeply before the memorial tablets.
“Dad, Mom, I will find Rowan. And one day, he and I will come back together to this hall, to pay our respects to you and every ancestor of the Bridger family.”
Rowan had gone missing five years ago. The military had launched a search, but he was never found. She had once ventured to the borderlines in search, but her efforts had still been in vain.
All these years, she’d kept searching online, gathering every scrap of information she could to find him.
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07.10
Chapter 86 Would You Fall For Me
Yet, neither the official missing persons notices posted by the military nor her personal efforts had turned up anything.
Once everything in Yarburn was settled and her assignment to protect Julius was complete, she planned to head back to the border. Maybe she’d finally find a clue.
As she left the ancestral hall, Quinn ran into Marley again.
“Quinn, don’t think that just because Great–grandpa dotes on you, you can act like you’re above everyone else. Your whole fifth branch is cursed. Everyone’s dead except for you!” Marley said, her eyes gleaming with malice.
It was Quinn’s fault she’d had to kneel all night in the ancestral hall, humiliated in front of the clan!
Quinn’s expression turned cold. She strode forward and, before Marley could react, slapped her across the face.
Slap!
The crisp sound rang out clearly in the still air of the ancestral hall.
Marley held her face, stunned. “You… you actually slapped me?”
“You insulted the fifth branch. Why wouldn’t I hit you? Even if you run crying to Great–grandpa, I’d still do it,” Quinn said coldly.
The fifth branch of the Bridger family had a legacy of loyalty and honor. She would not allow anyone to speak of them with contempt.
“You!” Marley’s face flushed red. She didn’t dare complain to Murren, but she couldn’t swallow the insult either. She spat out, “You think you can rely on Great–grandpa forever? He only pities you!”
“I hit you not because he spoiled me, but because you deserved it. A true member of the Bridger family would never smear their kin out of selfishness, Quinn said sharply.
Marley burned with humiliation and rage. She raised her hand to slap Quinn back.
However, Quinn moved swiftly, sidestepped behind her, and kicked the back of her knee.
–“Ah!” Marley stumbled and dropped to her knees, right in front of the fifth branch’s memorial tablets.
“These people didn’t die because they were ‘cursed. They gave their lives for the nation, for the family. If you can’t even show them respect, how are you worthy of being a Bridger?” Quinn’s voice was sharp with
anger.
“I… My place in the family isn’t yours to judge!” Marley snapped, struggling to get up.
However, Quinn pressed a hand to her shoulder, forcing her to remain kneeling “Apologize to them.”
ore the tablets.
“Why should I apologize?” Marley shouted, still resisting.
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