Chapter 722

“Ugh, my head hurts. Why did I have to end the night listening to so many lectures from that annoying Cale?”

Naomi rubbed at her eyelids with obvious reluctance before hugging her pillow again and rolling lazily across the bed. Her hair was a mess, strands falling over part of her face, while her eyes remained half-closed from just waking up.

The morning sunlight slipped through the gaps in the large curtains, bathing the room in a warm glow. But none of it did anything to ease the irritation still lingering in her head.

She let out a long sigh. If cursing Cale Miller could somehow make her feel better, Naomi would have been doing it nonstop since earlier. Last night, he hadn’t given her a single chance to win their argument. The man had even looked at her with that infuriatingly calm expression while telling her she needed to start thinking before speaking recklessly.

Annoying.

Unbelievably annoying.

And somehow, that was exactly why she couldn’t stop thinking about him since last night.

Slowly, she rolled onto her back and stared blankly at the ceiling. The more she thought about it, the harder it became to deny one thing.

Cale was right.

If Falcon really knew something about her, going to meet him recklessly would only make everything worse. Naomi wanted to put an end to all of this, she truly did, but after hearing Cale’s explanation last night, for the first time she felt afraid of something much bigger.

This was no longer just about the debt that had once tied them together. No longer only about Falcon obsessively chasing her.

It was about something else entirely. Something even she herself didn’t understand.

Naomi closed her eyes for a moment. Her chest tightened at the thought of Lydia and Cale being dragged into this

chaos because of her.

Before she came into their lives, they had seemed perfectly fine. Happy, like a couple genuinely in love with each other.

“If only we’d never met back then,” Naomi murmured with another long sigh. “You’d probably all still be living your normal lives. Me in Berlin, and the two of them enjoying their happy little marriage.”

Slowly, Naomi climbed out of bed and walked toward the large window in her room. She pulled the curtains open, revealing the mansion’s front yard, already busy with morning activity.

The black car Cale usually used was parked outside. Several guards stood around it, along with Liu, the man who faithfully accompanied Cale everywhere he went.

Not long after, the front door opened.

Cale stepped out first, dressed in a black suit that made him look even colder and more untouchable than usual. Then, a few seconds later, Lydia followed behind him, adjusting the light coat draped over her shoulders.

Naomi watched them without realizing it.

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+25 Bonus

Lydia said something she couldn’t hear from that distance, but it was enough to make the corner of Cale’s lips lift faintly. More than that, the man whose gaze always turned cold and rigid whenever he spoke to Naomi looked completely different in front of his wife. Warm. Gentle. Filled with unmistakable affection. Naomi was certain Lydia was someone deeply precious to him, important enough to make a man like Cale lower the mask he always

wore.

“What a strange man,” Naomi murmured softly.

So someone like Cale could actually show expressions like that in front of Lydia. The thought made Naomi sigh quietly. She rested her forehead against the cool glass of the window for a moment.

“Why did the two of you have to get dragged into this because of me?” she whispered.

And just as always, whenever Naomi started blaming herself, Cale’s voice echoed through her mind again.

If you keep talking like that, I’m really going to get angry.

Naomi immediately frowned. “Look at that. Even when he’s not here, he still manages to annoy me.”

Knock. Knock.

The sound at the door made Naomi turn her head.

“Miss Naomi?” a servant’s gentle voice called from outside. “Breakfast is ready.”

Naomi almost replied that she wasn’t hungry. But then she remembered the worried look on Lydia’s face last night, and the words died before they could leave her mouth.

“I’ll come down,” she answered quietly.

A few minutes later, Naomi entered the dining room at an unhurried pace. The scent of toasted bread and warm tea immediately filled her senses, making the morning feel far more comforting than the past few days had been.

But her steps slowed slightly when she noticed someone standing near the dining table.

That old man.

The same servant who had first greeted her when she arrived at the mansion.