The Sweet Rival (Mango Shen and Nathaniel Ye)

Chapter 270

Mango had not wanted to talk about it at first, but she recalled a very innportant thing now as Nathaniel reminded her of it.

She looked over at Edolie, who was sleeping soundly before she spoke with some concern in her voice, "Let's talk about this outside."

Nathaniel's brow furrowed deeply and it was clear that he disagreed with that suggestion.

Mango's body temperature was fluctuating, and it was clear that she was about to have a fever. Furthermore, Mango wouldn’t have been like this if it wasn't for Edolie, and she even wanted to talk outside out of consideration for the younger girl. So, Nathaniel couldn't help but want to kick Edolie out of the tent.

Obviously, Mango noticed Nathaniel's intentions so she pulled on his arm to stop him and she said, "Why are you being so harsh to a child?"

"You’re the only one here that's treating her like a child."

Nathaniel couldn't do anything to Edolie because Mango was stopping him, so he had no choice but to wrap Mango up in the blanket before he carried her out of the tent.

Then, Edolie who was supposedly fast asleep opened her eyes. She had a thoughtful expression on her face as she watched them leave the tent. However, she did not say anything else and she fell asleep again.

Of course, Nathaniel noticed the gaze that followed him, but he only paused for a moment and he did not point it out to Mango. Honestly, Mango was the only one who was stupid enough to still care about Edolie's wellbeing.

Then, he sighed and said, "Mango, you really are far too kind towards others. What would you do without me by your side?"

Mango felt annoyed as Nathaniel belittled her and she said, "I can't be that useless, am I?"

"There are worse things I haven't mentioned."

"Then why do you love such an incapable person?"

Right now, Mango was really becoming quite annoyed.

However, Nathaniel's tone was plain when he said, "I don't really have much of a choice. My life has been smooth- sailing up until now, so I'm not really interested in independent women, perhaps I prefer taking care of women who are accident-prone like you."

"Nathaniel Ye, do you wish to be beaten?"

Right now, Mango felt that Nathaniel was simply despicable.

Then, she reached out her hand from under the blanket and began to tickle Nathaniel.

However, Nathaniel just smiled and said, "You'd better think carefully about what you' re doing because you' re going to fall straight onto the ground if I let you go."

Only then did Mango realize the position they were in.

After that, she snorted and said, 'TH spare you for now."

"Oh, then I'll have to thank you then."

Nathaniel still carried Mango in his arms as he sat down on a rock outside the tent, he was obviously much gentler to her now.

Mango enjoyed seeing Nathaniel doting solely on her like this, and she would very much rather spend time in their own personal space for a few more days. Alas, that wish of hers was impossible to fulfill as there were too many things happening right now.

As they watched the scenery outside, the sun had already begun to rise and the warm light illuminated the area around them. At the same time, Mango felt like the warm sunlight was pushing away all the darkness around her. Hence, she discarded the feeling of narrowly escaping death from her mind as she lay in Nathaniel’s arms.

Mango encircled Nathaniel’s waist with her arms as she said, "What do we do now? Suddenly, all I want is to stay here with you until we grow old together, which is free of any outside interruptions or people trying to tear us apart. Plus, we could do whatever we want..."

Nathaniel’s eyes narrowed and a flash of hurt crossed his eyes as he heard Mango’s words.

"No one can separate us. They failed to do so five years ago, and they will never succeed if they ever try again in the future."

"Even so, there are too many things happening out there and all of it is a mess. Honestly, I don't know what will happen after this or how things will develop in the future."

Mango's voice sounded delicate as she said that.

Nathaniel hugged Mango tightly as he muttered, "You've suffered a lot of hardship because you married me. If you had fallen in love with a regular person instead, perhaps your life would be different now. You could have had a normal job with your husband, or you'll be the sole breadwinner for the family. Either way, you would have never needed to experience so much hardship and worry."

"Do you regret marrying me?"

Mango raised her head, and the bright smile on her face made Nathaniel’s heart soar.

Nathaniel shook his head as he replied softly, "I could’ve let you go if I never loved you, but right now I only want you by my side even if I have to walk through the fires of hell to achieve that."

"Ah Nathaniel, you're overbearing, barbaric, and not to mention especially unreasonable."

Regardless, Mango still smiled contentedly.

Then, Nathaniel suddenly lowered his head and he captured Mango’s lips in a soft kiss. After he was done, he said, "Don't you prefer me being like that?"

"Ugh, you're so shameless!"

Mango panted for breath due to the kiss, but she was clearly in a jovial mood.

She cherished dearly all the time she spent with

Nathaniel as times like this were few and far between.

Mango spoke as she lay in Nathaniel’s arms while listening to his steady heartbeat. "How did you meet Zack?”

Nathaniel paused for a moment as the topic of Zack was brought up and he muttered, “We entered the military at the same time, and we were batch mates. After that, we were both deployed into the battlefield as close comrades, and we remained very close friends even though we've retired."

"What if this close friend of yours betrays you?”

Mango asked softly in a tentative voice, but then Nathaniel tensed up as if he realized something?

"Is Zack the traitor?”

Nathaniel could not believe what Mango told him.

Even if he interrogated everyone on the base, he would have never imagined that the traitor would be Zack.

As she saw Nathaniel’ s surprised expression, Mango knew that he was very upset right now.

Nevertheless, she whispered, "It’s him. I personally overheard the truth.”

Next, Mango told Nathaniel about everything she had overheard earlier.

Nathaniel remained silent for a long time, but he hugged Mango closer to him.

He very nearly caused the death of his wife!

No matter how he looked at it, Nathaniel never imagined that the traitor would be Zack.

He knew that Zack’s wife had divorced him and she also took custody of their child, but he never expected that Zack's family would be under Nanny Zhang's control.

Thus, Nathaniel couldn’t wait to kill Nanny Zhang with his own two hands.

How could a woman like her be his biological mother?

How could a woman's heart be so cruel?

Clearly, Mango knew that Nathaniel was processing this piece of information as he was silent for a long time, so she patiently waited for him to speak.

At this point in time, no one could comfort Nathaniel.

They were comrades who had been through countless life and death situations, but now they had become enemies. Obviously, anyone who experienced this wouldn’t be so easily consoled. © 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

Alas, there were some hurts that only one would know and only one had the ability to deal with.

Nathaniel waited for a long time before he finally reacted, and he said to Mango, "I'm sorry for putting you in danger.”

"It's fine. Anyway, you are here for me though."

Mango stroked his hand comfortingly.

Then, Nathaniel's gaze grew darker.

"To tell you the truth, I’d already left the island by then and I decided to go across the sea by dinghy. However, I don’t know why I kept feeling uneasy as if something bad was going to happen and I came back even though I was halfway home. I didn't expect the base to be in such disarray, sirens were blaring all over the place and every agent on the base had been deployed, so that's how I knew that something bad had occurred. Then, I went to look for you, but I couldn't find you or Zack. I became worried, so I decided to leave the base and find you."

Fear lingered in Nathaniel’s chest as he brought this up.

If he had ignored the uneasy feeling in his chest, he would’ve been back at Ocean City preparing for Rita' s surgery by now. If that happened, he would've never known the fate that had befallen Mango.

Nathaniel's faced paled considerably when he thought of the consequences.

Furthermore, his chest tightened with fear as he realized that he had nearly lost Mango again.

Tm sorry, I really didn't think of...¹'

"No one could have anticipated that, but does Zack really not know about this place?”

Then, Mango suddenly thought of this query.

Then, Nathaniel shook his head and said, "No, this might be the only place on this island that Zack isn’t familiar with. Previously, I had wanted to gift Zack this island and I’ve even had a lawyer draft up the documents. Unfortunately, I’ve been rather busy recently so I haven't had a chance to discuss it with Zack, but I never thought that something like this would happen."

Nathaniel's tone was rather sad and helpless.

Mango was unable to understand the feeling of betrayal between close comrades, but she would rather be hurt instead of Nathaniel when she saw his expression.

"Hey, you still have me, as well as the children."

"I know."

After that, Nathaniel hugged her tightly as he suddenly felt a chill sweep through him.

If he couldn't trust a comrade who had been through life or death situations with him, then who else could he trust?

Nevertheless, he couldn't blame Zack.

If the roles were reversed, where Mango, Rita, or Zion were in danger, would Nathaniel have made the same choice as him?

In fact, Nathaniel already knew the answer to that question but the sensation of betrayal still left a bitter feeling in his heart.

Mango waited for him to calm down a little more before she said, "There's something else I need to tell you."

"What’s the matter?"

Nathaniel realized that Mango had discovered a great deal of information even though he had just left the camp. Furthermore, he would have never known this as these messages may be usually hidden under the surface of goodness.

If so, was this the true purpose of the Dark Night Empire's existence?

Frankly, Nathaniel was unsure of the answer, but he doubted if he could bear it if there was any more bad news.

However, Nathaniel started to feel like he could cope with it when he saw Mango's face.

He was a man, and he needed to protect his wife and children. So, he did not have the right to avoid anything.

Nathaniel’s gaze became determined as he thought of this.

Meanwhile, Mango noticed the shift in his demeanor before she muttered, "Nanny Zhang wants to hurt Rita. Earlier on, I overheard that Sisi had found someone to infiltrate the hospital, and they’re planning to kill Rita during the surgery."

"What?"

A wave of anger suddenly rose in Nathaniel’s chest.

Nathaniel could not forgive someone hurting his wife and children, but at the same time, they were his weakness. However, his biological mother, Nanny Zhang was constantly searching for ways to

hurt Mango and their children.

Frankly, Nathaniel wanted nothing more than to confront Nanny Zhang and ask her the reason why she was so heartless.

Meanwhile, Mango knew that Nathaniel was upset, so she softly continued, "Nanny Zhang just doesn't want you to give Rita your kidney, that's all.”

"But that’s my daughter! My biological daughter!"

"Aren’t you Nanny Zhang's son too? Although I'm pissed off that she has done this, after some consideration, I’m not surprised that she did it because I knew long ago that Nanny Zhang only cares about you. Furthermore, she might have thought that you were her only family for the rest of her life. However, the thing I'm worried about is Rita. What happens to her while we're both here?"

Mango’s expression was forlorn as she talked about this.