13 Chapter 13: Futile Efforts

"Sis, don't be sad, you still have me in this house," Bright Sampton, already a little taller than Jane Sampson, took her to the dessert zone and patted her on the head in an attempt to comfort her, "You will always be my sister."

Jane Sampson slightly curved the corner of her mouth and gave a soft, low laugh as she shook her head. Seeing Bright Sampton's friends calling him from not far away, she pushed him out and told him to go have his fun.

Jane Sampson held her wine cup and sized up the house she had grown up in until she got married. It used to be her haven, but now, it made her feel oppressed, and she wanted to escape.

She had married James Black as soon as they were legally allowed because she was eager to escape the suffocating home.

She didn't love James Black, and naturally, she knew that he didn't love her either. James Black married her out of responsibility, due to a marriage contract they had since childhood, and she married him because she had no other choice. Aside from him, no one could rescue her from the deep mire of the Sampton Family.

And it was to firmly grasp this marriage with James Black that she had always played the role of James Black's wife, demanding herself to live up to the standard of a virtuous wife.

She had been married to James Black for many years, but she hadn't managed to fall in love with him, nor had he with her.

However, Jane Sampson was clear that James Black was a man of strong responsibility. If she married James Black and as long as she was careful not to make any mistakes, this marriage could last a lifetime.

Even if they had no children, even if she and James Black couldn't see each other more than a few times a year.

But it didn't matter. As long as her marriage to James Black existed, she still had a home in this world, a real home that truly belonged to her.

Jane Sampson had been acting since she was 16, playing the child that parents and seniors liked, playing the old-fashioned wife that James Black would like. After acting for so long, she was nearly unable to take off the mask.

Jane Sampson wanted a divorce from James Black because she was tired of acting, tired of the cautious life, tired of constantly living to please others.

It took Jane Sampson a long time to understand that everything she did was in vain.

Those who didn't love her wouldn't spare her an extra glance because of her changes, and those who didn't cherish her wouldn't pity her any more because of her grievances.

She couldn't stop people from withdrawing what they had invested in the past.

Jane Sampson watched Julie Sampton come downstairs in a changed dress, and as their eyes met, Jane Sampson even raised her wine cup to her from a distance.

In Jane Sampson's eyes, no matter how many expensive formal dresses Julie wore, how much precious jewelry she donned, or how much valuable red wine she drank, how discreetly she smiled, there was always an indelible trace of rusticity about her.

Just like Julie's former name.

It took Jane Sampson a long effort to remember Julie's former name. It seemed to be Lily Chip.

Julie Sampton's name was changed after she came back to the Sampton Family, probably to spite her. That's why she deliberately included the same character, Bright, that was in Bright Sampton's name.

Julie Sampton, Bright Sampton, only she was Jane Sampson, a name that appeared to belong to an outsider.

It had been quite an effort for James Black to extricate himself from the crowd. He was weary of dealing with social obligations but had to accompany Father Sampton for Jane Sampson's sake, giving him face.

However, he kept a cold face the whole time, waiting for an opportunity to leave. He searched the living room and finally found that bewitching, fiery figure in a corner of the dessert zone.