"We were all fooled by her! That wench!" "You guys might not know this, but Arthur and Tia were actually engaged since childhood." "Yeah, two years ago, she humiliated Arthur in public, broke off the engagement, and got together with Zac, that scheming illegitimate son of the Gray family." "Now that Zac is useless to her, she’s trying to climb back up by latching onto Arthur!" "She and Zac are two of a kind! They deserve each other! Lock them together and throw away the key!" As soon as the official statement was released, the internet exploded. The same people who had been hurling insults at Arthur were now seething with anger at Tia. Her name was officially ruined. She had scored well on her SATs, and her university admission had already been confirmed. However, the university had also come across the news about her scandal. At Arthur and Ashley’s home, Ashley handed Arthur a slice of watermelon. With an apologetic expression, she said, "Arthur, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have doubted you last night." When she had opened the door and seen Arthur inside with Tia, whose clothes were in disarray, she had panicked. She hadn’t been able to stay calm at all. She had been scared—scared of losing Arthur. She had barely held herself together. The only reason she hadn’t broken down on the spot was because her last shred of rationality told her she couldn’t let Arthur be humiliated in front of the reporters. Arthur waved it off. "You were just as shocked as I was. Under those circumstances, anyone would’ve misunderstood. After all, Tia put in a lot of effort to set me up." "Oh, right." Arthur suddenly thought of something. "Did your parents contact you? They don’t have any misunderstandings about me, do they?" Earlier that morning, while Spencer and Nancy had called Ashley, Arthur had been in the bathroom and hadn’t overheard their conversation. Hearing the mention of her parents, Ashley looked even more guilty. She stuck out her tongue sheepishly. "They called me this morning." Arthur immediately tensed up. "This morning? What did they say?"That was Ashley’s family. If they misunderstood the situation, it could affect her. And in the future, he would still have to interact with them. Since he respected Ashley, he naturally wanted to earn the respect of her parents as well. Ashley’s voice was small as she admitted, "After they heard what happened… they scolded me." "Huh?" Arthur was stunned. "They scolded you? Wait, did they scold you or me?" "Of course, they scolded me," Ashley confirmed. "They said I shouldn’t have doubted you. They scolded me for not standing by your side from the very beginning. They said I was too gullible for falling for someone else’s trick so easily." Even though her parents had given her a harsh scolding, Ashley had learned an important lesson from this ordeal. She had grown up sheltered, protected by Spencer, Nancy, and Yano. Even though she was part of a wealthy family, and her father held an important government position, they had never exposed her to the ugliness of the world. She had only now realized how complicated things could be. Hearing that her parents hadn’t misunderstood him, Arthur finally let out a deep breath of relief. He took Ashley’s hand in his, looking her straight in the eye. "We have a long future ahead of us. Let’s grow together." Ashley lifted her head, her eyes shining brightly. She nodded firmly. "Okay!" Seeing her like this, Arthur suddenly said, "Ashley, let’s get engaged." "Huh?" Ashley was caught off guard. Where had this come from all of a sudden? As she processed his words, a wave of excitement surged through her. Her face turned crimson, and her heart melted with sweetness. When it came to marriage, she reverted back to being a shy girl. "W-Who said I wanted to be engaged to you?" Arthur pulled her into his arms, his eyes brimming with warmth. "Of course, it’s you. It can only ever be you. I will never marry anyone else in this lifetime!" If they weren’t still so young, he would have married her on the spot. At least with marriage, fewer people would dare to have ulterior motives.Ashley’s blush deepened. Summoning her courage, she leaned into his ear and whispered softly, "I do." Arthur’s smile grew even wider. Gazing at her soft, rosy lips, he leaned in and kissed her deeply. The next day, Arthur made an official announcement, Cloudia Corporation and all its subsidiaries would permanently refuse any and all business dealings with Fraser Group. The moment the news broke, the public was once again in an uproar. In South City, being blacklisted by Cloudia Corporation was almost equivalent to going bankrupt. Even Gray Corporation, which was once a corporate giant, was now barely hanging on, let alone a small company like Fraser Group. As expected, the moment Arthur declared Fraser Group blacklisted, their original business partners, fearing they might offend Cloudia Corporation, immediately cut ties with them.