Chapter 478


    The p stumped Peachlyn.


    Though she was the rkes'' foster daughter and never got along with Mna, her foster parents


    adored her. From the time the rkes fostered her at age seven, no one had everid their fingers on


    her. However, Mna had just given her a tight p!


    At that, she held her cheek and looked at Mna with incredulity. "How could you? Who are you to p


    me?!"


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    "Who am I? Why don''t you tell me that yourself?!" With that, Mna gave her another solid p and


    said through gnashed teeth, "Why did you have to elope with Hugo? You could''ve just said it if you


    didn''t want to marry Zachariah! Why did you have to hide it from everybody and elope?! Do you know


    how much we have to bear because of your actions?!"


    "As if I hadn''t!" Peachlyn held her cheek in pain as tears welled up in her eyes. "I talked to Mom and


    Dad about it, but they said the marriage was already set in stone, and we couldn''t go back on our word.


    Was I supposed to let you guys make me marry a paralytic instead of running away?! Also, the one I


    love is Hugo, not Zachariah, but you guys insisted that I marry Zachariah anyway. Had any one of you


    considered my feelings?"


    "Wow, excellent chicanery." Mna sneered. "Back when we were considering forming a marriage


    alliance with the Soulsbys, Mom and Dad had specifically asked you if you liked Zachariah, and remind


    me what you said? Right, you''ll leave it up to them. Then, when you learned Zachariah was paralyzed


    after an ident, you went back on your words and eloped, disgracing us!"


    "What else was I supposed to do?!" Peachlyn retorted with red-rimmed eyes. "Do you expect me to just


    stay and wait to marry Zachariah instead of running away with Hugo?! Would you have married him if


    you were in my spot?!"


    "I would''ve!" Mna asserted. "You''re but our family''s foster child. My mom only took you in because


    she thought you were helpless after your mom passed away from an ident. We fostered you for


    about two decades, and you agreed to marry Zachariah yourself. However, you called off the marriage


    as soon as he met with an ident, causing our family''s coboration with the Soulsbys to fall apart


    and our family to suffer a grave loss. I wouldn''t do something this treacherous if I were you!"


    "Easy for you to say!" Tears pooled in Peachlyn''s eyes as she retorted, "You''re right. I''m just your


    family''s foster child, so who cares if my marriage will be a happy one?! Who''s going to help me if I don''t


    do anything myself?! You are Mom and Dad''s real daughter. They will naturally call the marriage off


    before you can say anything if you''re the one engaged to Zachariah!"


    She wouldn''t want to elope with Hugo either if she had a choice, but she didn''t.


    When she learned that Zachariah had sustained serious injuries from the car crash, resulting in him


    being paralyzed from the waist down, she nearly broke down.


    No way was she going to marry a paralytic!


    She waited for the rkes to call off the marriage, but no one mentioned anything about it at all.


    Her marriage to Zachariah was getting closer by the day, and if she continued to do nothing, she would


    really have to marry a paralytic! Desperate, she made the first move.


    She told her parents she didn''t want to marry Zachariah anymore, but they said his paralysis was only


    temporary, and the Soulsbys were seeking doctors for him. They were hopeful the young man would


    walk again.


    Plus, if word got out that she called off the marriage as soon as ill fate befell Zachariah, it would cause


    a gravely damaging impact on her and the entire rke Family.


    However, she couldn''t ept such a justification. She knew they had forsaken her.


    What mattered to them was the marriage alliance and what it could bring for their family. As for her


    happiness, nobody cared about that.


    They wanted to sacrifice her happiness for the rke Family and the Soulsby Family''s interests.


    If no one was going to care about her fate, then she would take matters into her own hands.


    Hugo has liked her for a long time, but Zachariah was much more outstanding than him, and the


    Soulsbys were more influential than the Sanburnes. That was why she ended up agreeing to marry


    Zachariah in the first ce.


    That said, she also had feelings for Hugo. Thus, she didn''t reject him outright, only telling him the


    marriage alliance was her parent''s decision. She was the rke Family''s foster child, and she had an


    obligation to repay them for fostering her. Hence, she could only obey her parents'' arrangement.


    After Zachariah had met with an ident, resulting in his paralysis, Hugo sought her out again and


    tried to convince her to call off the marriage.


    To that, she wept and said her foster parents insisted that she marry Zachariah, noting that couldn''t call


    off the marriage at all. Hence, Hugo told her to run away with him.


    Only by running away with Hugo could she escape the rke Family''s control and absolve her fate to


    marry Zachariah. As such, she agreed to it.


    Sure, the Sanburnes weren''t as influential as the Soulsbys, but they were still affluent. What was more,


    Hugo was the direct descendent and the eldest of his generation in the Sanburne Family, and he was


    hot and suave. Though he was lesser than Zachariah before thetter got into a car crash, he was still


    an outstanding character among the younger generation.


    Though marrying Hugo was a little lesser than the marriage she imagined having, it wasn''t her fault


    Zachariah met with an ident, was it?!


    She had no choice but to make do either when fate came into y.


    She figured if she and Hugo ran away, did the irreversible, and waited until the tumult died down, she


    would be able to marry Hugo and be Mrs. Sanburne. However, who''d have thought the


    Sanburnes dered Hugo no longer a Sanburne soon after she and Hugo eloped?


    At the same time, all of Hugo''s bank and credit cards had been frozen, and just like that, the high-


    spending son of the affluent Sanburne Family became impoverished in a snap of a finger.


    From that day on, the two had been spending her money.


    Of course, all of her bank ounts had been frozen since the day she ran away. However, Peachlyn


    was prepared; she gathered a lot of cash and jewelry before leaving home.


    As the direct descendent and the eldest of his generation in his family, Hugo grew up loved and


    pampered. Naturally, he didn''t expect his family to cut ties with him when he and Peachlyn had just


    gone into hiding for a few days. Even more so, his parents wouldn''t give him a sliver of aid when he


    called them for help.


    Since he wasn''t prepared, he didn''t have anything valuable with him at hand. Thus, he became entirely


    broke when his bank ount was frozen.


    Now, away from Wingston with no resources, no connections, and no money, Hugo, the affluent son of


    the Sanburne Family, became an average Joe just like that.


    Sure, Peachlyn had taken a ton of money and valuable jewelry with her, but the two grew up living


    comfortably. With no ie and spending money like water, the cash she took with her ran out pretty


    quickly.


    The jewelry, on the other hand, was valuable when she bought them, but when she tried to sell them,


    they were heavily discounted. Still, she managed to sell a few of them.


    They were running out of cash, and she couldn''t bear to sell the remaining pieces of jewelry, for they


    were her favorites. The two could only look for jobs, but neither were people who could endure


    hardship.


    Those offering well-paid jobs found them underqualified, while they thought they were too good for


    poorly paid ones. Thus, the two remained jobless after surviving a month.


    As their money bottomed out, they couldn''t afford to livefortably anymore but only scrimp and


    save. They were living the worst days of their lives.


    However, that wasn''t the scariest part; the scariest part was that they didn''t know when days like this


    would end.


    Hell, their lives would be a living hell if they had to live like this for the rest of their lives!


    The notion finally scared them, and they were worried that their current situation would be


    permanent. Thus, they began deliberately exposing their whereabouts instead of staying hidden,


    hoping that their family would look for them and take them home.