Chapter 5 I Am at the Age to Have Kids

Registering marriage? At the city hall? Gardenia's brain almost shut down on her. "Are you crazy, Ansel Leager?" He wanted to get married to her? "You've certainly grown bold in the five years since you left me. You even dare to address me by my full name now," said Ansel. He stood up straight, which forced Gardenia to look up at him, before continuing, "It's just as well. It would be strange for you to keep referring to me as Mr. Leager after we're married." She said nothing. "It'd be good for you to accept your fate soon rather than later, Fleur. Even if a gardenia like you were to wither, you should wither in my garden." Gardenia shook her head, defiance written in every line of her body. "We can't get married! Marriage is a lifelong commitment and requires both parties to love each other mutually for it to work out!" Ansel's eyes darkened at that. "So, are you trying to tell me that you and that Chandler brat are mutually in love?" "I—" He cut her off coldly, "You were the one who begged to join me by my side back then, Gardenia. You started this whole game, so I have the final say in when or how it ends." She yelled, "But I'll never be able to fall in love with you! I'll try my best to run away from you again!" He spread his hands with a smile. "Do I care?" From the moment he became a part of society, he knew that he would do whatever it took to get what he wanted. It was pointless to dwell on the process and the finer details. As long as the results were to his liking, that was enough. Gardenia was speechless. "You—" She gritted her teeth before saying, "You're eight years older than me. I don't want to marry such an old man. I like younger men." Ansel patted her face. Instead of getting angry, he smiled. "I wouldn't even have remembered how old I am if you hadn't mentioned it. It turns out I'm already 33 years old this year." He then nodded. "You're right. I'm old." Gardenia didn't understand what he meant, but intuition told her that he wasn't accepting her argument. As expected, he sighed and said, "I even asked my assistant to prepare more birth control products and have them delivered here just now." She stayed silent as he continued, "They probably won't see any use now. After all, I'm at the age to have kids." … Ansel Leager was an unpredictable man. In the first two years after he adopted her, Gardenia could actually count on her fingers the number of times she saw him. She didn't know what he was busy with, but of course, she didn't care about such things, either. All she knew was that the debt collectors stopped looking for her after that, and she no longer had to live in fear every day. Every day, apart from traveling to and from school, a driver would pick her up to go back to Ansel's villa. The person she had the most interaction with was the cleaning lady, Agnes Moore. As such, her initial impression of Ansel was mostly formed from Agnes' opinions of him. Agnes said that Ansel suffered from severe mysophobia. She also said that he had a terrible temper and drank excessively. She warned Gardenia to behave and not make him angry. When Gardenia turned 17 years old, Ansel was seriously injured to the point he almost lost his life, so he returned to the villa back in his home country to recuperate. Later on, he recovered from his injuries and even spent her 18th birthday with her. "Sign it," ordered Ansel. Now in the city hall, he tossed a piece of paper and a pen toward her. Upon hearing Ansel's harsh tone, the employee handling their case glanced curiously at the handsome Ansel and the beautiful Gardenia in front of him. But in the end, he didn't dare to say anything. Knowing she couldn't get away from this anymore, all Gardenia could do was strive for better benefits for herself. "Sure. I can sign it, but I have a request." "Tell me." "You can't make things difficult for the Chandler family, including Ian." Ansel frowned, but after a pause, he replied, "Sign it." "I have one more request!" A hint of impatience flashed through his eyes, but he suppressed it and said again, "Tell me." Gardenia lowered her voice. "I won't bear you a child." "I can't agree to that." "Why not?" Ansel rolled up the sleeves of his shirt and leaned his tall, slender frame back against the chair. "Because I have a throne to inherit."