“Fill out this mate registration form quickly and submit it,” Adrian Northgate said, tapping the table impatiently.
I stared at the mate bond registration form. The familiar scene made me feel dizzy and disoriented.
In my previous life, I had devoutly written my own name on the application form, then happily discussed the details of the marking ceremony with Adrian.
However, he scolded me harshly. “Once we get the mate certificate, we’ll be legal mates, but the ceremony is all just for show. As for marking, that can happen anytime — it doesn’t have to be during the ceremony.”
He was busy planning to hunt a fox pelt for my sister, Sophia Harrington, because she mentioned feeling cold when going out in winter. At this moment, he kept glancing at his phone, his expression showing signs of restlessness.
My fingertips gently traced the smooth paper as I suppressed the bitterness in my heart. “If you have something to do, go ahead. I’ll finish filling this out and submit it myself.”
He visibly relaxed and spoke to me with a rare tone of gentleness, “Don’t worry. You’ll be my legal mate from now on. I’ll take responsibility for you.”
After saying this, he frowned slightly and added, “Stop targeting Sophia all the time and ruining her reputation. You two need to get along, understand?”
I remained silent. I had tried explaining countless times in my previous life that I had never ruined her reputation or bullied her, but no one believed me. In his eyes, I was just a jealous, malicious sister who could not tolerate her gentle, kind younger sister.
He did not wait for my answer. After speaking, he hurriedly turned and left.
I took a deep breath, trying to calm my heart from the grievances I had accumulated over two lifetimes. My mind was filled with everything that happened in my previous life.
The night Adrian marked me, he used the excuse of caring for my injured sister and never came home. When he went south with the troops to fight, he only took Sophia with him, saying that she had never seen the sight of other packs.
Even when our son was born, he did not come back to see him, focusing only on comforting Sophia, who had lost her mate.
I devoted my entire life to our family. Even on my deathbed, my son was still trying to convince me to dissolve the mate bond.
“Mom, just break the bond with Dad. He loves Aunt Sophia, but has been forcing himself to live with you. He’s so pitiful! You should let him go!”
I lay weakly on the hospital bed, looking at my indifferent mate. He said nothing, just stood silently beside our son, agreeing with what our son said.
When I thought of the frustration from my previous life, tears of grievance kept falling down my cheeks. A wave of sorrow surged through my heart.
Since they loved each other, I would fulfill their wishes. In this lifetime, I would live for myself.
I picked up the pen and slowly wrote Sophia’s name in the mate section.
“Adrian, since you love her so much, let it be as you wish.”
I submitted the completed registration form to the city hall staff and soon received the mate certificate. I was not sad. Instead, I felt an indescribable sense of relief.
My sister and I lost our parents in the territorial wars, and Adrian’s family adopted us. I was someone who worked quietly without fighting or competing, while my sister had a personality that knew how to please others.
She would sweet-talk everyone constantly and, even without doing anything, she could make the entire Northgate family happy. Adrian’s mother had long ago decided Sophia would be her daughter-in-law.
However, Sophia looked down on Adrian when he was just an ordinary warrior. She used the excuse of not wanting to compete with me, supposedly allowing Adrian to willingly mark me instead.
She wanted to find a better mate, but could not bear to give up the Northgates’ affection for her.
Everyone praised her as a good sister who sacrificed her happiness for her older sister. However, in secret, she framed me repeatedly, deliberately hurting herself to make others think I was jealous.
I cherished our sisterly bond and gave in to her every time, thinking that if I showed genuine care, they would eventually see who I really was.
Despite this, in my previous life, even until the moment I died, I never received the recognition I deserved.
