Chapter 2 National Treasure

• The entire room was silenced as soon as Skylar stormed in.
• Skylar was able to recognize the girl of his dreams, Yvonne with a single glance.
• "Hey Yvonne, it's me, Skylar. I'm back to fulfill the promise I made to you all those years ago. I'm back to marry you!" He sounded quite emotional when he said that as he grabbed Yvonne's hand. As remorseful as he seemed, he looked very responsible as well when he made that claim.
• "It's you?" Yvonne snapped out of her trance as her expression grew bitter before saying, "I'm busy. I need you to leave now. We can talk later."
• "I know you're going to marry this man! Tell me, were you forced by your family? Don't worry, I'll help you deal with them right now!" Skylar exclaimed while taking a quick glance at Harry.
• "Who do you think you are, scumbag! How dare you disrespect me like this?" Harry was displeased by how disrespectful Skylar was.
• "How dare you claim that her family has forced her to do any of this when we're both madly in love with each other. Oh, I remember now. You're Skylar, that poor footsoldier who was obsessed with Yvonne five years ago!"
• "A footsoldier?" Skylar frowned.
• Harry scoffed and said, "Aren't you? Oh, do you really think that by giving Yvonne your life savings that she'll foolishly wait for your return? Look, I'm not here to burst your bubble, but you should really be a little brighter, you know? You can't even afford to host a birthday party for her, let alone marry her. Oh please, keep dreaming now!"
• Hearing this only made Skylar feel worse as he wondered just how a complete stranger even found out about him giving his life savings to Yvonne back then.
• "Tell me Yvonne, was it true that you're not forced to marry him? Was it true that you both are madly in love?" Skylar shifted his gaze to Yvonne.
• Feeling cornered, Yvonne decided to be blunt and replied, "That's right. No one has forced me to do anything. I met him willingly."
• Hearing this stunned Skylar for a brief moment before ripping a wooden pendant off his neck as he got on one knee and told Yvonne in a sincere tone. "I know how difficult the last five years have been for you, Yvonne. Look, what I'm saying is, I understand. I can't leave my post because I had to defend our country, but I'm back now, so could you please marry me? Could you please give me the chance to make it up to you for everything?"
• "Pfft!"
• Harry burst out laughing before Yvonne could respond.
• "Have you gone mad, Skylar? Did you really think that you'd be able to propose and marry Yvonne with that chunky piece of wood? Did you expect you'd be able to leech off her family by being their son-in-law?"
• "A chunky piece of wood? This is none other than the Dragon Seal. This is more valuable than the lives of your entire family!"Skylar exclaimed as he gave Harry a cold glare.
• One should know that anyone with the Dragon Seal had the authority to command all the troops stationed at the Northern borders. It was more valuable than the entire city, so one could consider it as a national treasure.
• Therefore, how could it be inappropriate to be used for a proposal?
• "Hahaha. Oh Yvonne, look, even if you want a rebound, you should really pick someone that isn't mentally impaired, right? Good gosh, what is this? A play? Dragon Seal, please. Have you gone mad by watching too many fantasy dramas? Did he really think that you're some naive woman that could be fooled this easily?" Harry mocked.
• Yvonne was incredibly embarrassed when he said that, so she furiously exclaimed, "What Harry said was right, Skylar! You are nothing more than a rebound to me! You told me that you loved me and would give me a life of glory when you finally made a name for yourself back then. However, did you know that I had to live paycheck to paycheck in the last five years. I had to work so hard for so little pay and I can't even afford to buy myself a bag. How could you even claim that you'd be able to give me a life of glory then? Just look at yourself. You are dressed in rags. All you have is that chunky piece of wood. You can't even afford to buy me an engagement ring. All your claims about making a name for yourself, yeah, they're nothing more than lies!"
• "Yvonne, you…"
• Hearing that made Skylar's heart sink.
• It did not matter what other people thought of him. However, he felt very awful when the woman he owed so much to for the last five years said those things to him.
• "What is there left to say? All right then, tell me, what rank do you even hold while you're at the military? Don't even think about speaking to me if you're not at least a sergeant or have a couple billion dollars as your pension!" Yvonne interrupted Skylar.
• Skylar was completely speechless when she said that.
• Although a sergeant or a couple billion dollars was nothing to him, he was baffled by how different Yvonne really was compared to the image he had in his mind.
• "What's the matter? Do you have nothing left to say? Hmph, perhaps I might be touched if you were to propose to me two days ago. But, I happened to be the one who was invited to the Commander's retirement party. My family's reputation has skyrocketed all thanks to me. You are nothing more than a penniless brat. Do you really think that you can marry me with the empty cheque you gave me five years ago? I would've become everyone's laughing stock if word about this got out!"
• Hearing this rendered Skylar even more speechless.
• So, did she really think that she would be able to gain fame just by getting an invitation from the Commander? But, I'm the Commander though!
• However, when he realized that he had indeed wronged her all those years ago, Skylar decided to tell Yvonne that he was the Commander himself.
• Meanwhile, Yulia could no longer bear to watch as she said, "Hey Yvonne, although I have no idea why Skylar would be this obsessed over you, he has given you his life savings five years ago and still decided to propose to you as soon as he returned. Look, even if he isn't rich, he's still very sincere though. Why don't you accept his pendant for now and decide whether or not you'd want to marry him later."
• It was only then did Skylar notice Yulia as he gave her a thankful glance.
• Although Yulia did not have much makeup on, she was still a lot more stunning than Yvonne.
• Yulia only spoke up because she did not want the last five years of Skylar's obsession to be worth absolutely nothing in front of another man. She could not stand by and watch how disrespectful Yvonne was when she had spent every penny Skylar gave her in the last five years.
• The only reason why Yvonne even brought Yulia along was because Harry was never interested in her. Instead, he was more interested in Yulia. However, things were different then. Since Yvonne was invited to the Commander's retirement party, Harry would obviously pour all of his attention on her.
• Yvonne also wanted to use this opportunity to humiliate Yulia, so she said, "Oh Yulia, do you really think that I have low standards like you? I'm not going to talk about how you were pregnant before you were even married. You don't even know who your daughter's father is! Tell me, which bastard of a man did you even sleep with that winter night five years ago? Oh, your father had to come over the next day to beg us to move away. My father only agreed because he felt bad then… If we knew that you'd turn your back against us, we shouldn't have…"
• Skylar's mind was in a complete mess as he listened to Yvonne's rants. He thought to himself, Wait, Yvonne wasn't the girl from five years ago. So does this mean that the girl from back then was none other than Yulia? The girl who stood up for me?