A Test

Aciel let go of Ivan's hand and then smirked. Ivan was gritting his teeth while glaring at Aciel.

"You bastard! Why are you here? You are not a guest here." Ivan said while holding the hand Aciel crumpled.

Aciel chuckled. "Not a guest? Your parents invited us."

"Us? What do you mean by us?" Ivan frowned?

Then heard a murmur from the guests. "Is that Luciano De Silva?"

"They said he never accepted any invitation. And look, that's Martin, his Consigliere."

"This party is really something. Making the De Silva Clan attend this party has a huge impact in the Harlow's."

Aciel looked at Ivan. "I don't think it's a good idea to get mad at me."

Before Ivan could answer, his parents got closer to them with Luciano and Martin.

"Son, is something wrong?" Yelena asked Ivan.

Aciel stared at Ivan and waited for him to answer his mother.

"N-Nothing, mother. I'm alright." He stuttered.

Xylia was just standing on the side and couldn't say anything. She was a bit embarrassed and conscious because of her dress. It was not the time to think about Aciel's thoughts but she couldn't help but wonder whether he liked it or not.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet the head of the De Silva Clan. This is my son, Ivan and his chosen fiance, Xylia from the Antonov Clan." Ivan's father introduced them to Luciano.

Xylia saw Aciel's expression change. Even hearing that she was someone else's fiance irritated him and Luciano knew that his son was trying his best to control his temper.

Luciano only nodded as if he wasn't interested in Xylia. Then Victoria Antonov and her father, Hugo stood beside her.

"Oh, I almost forgot, these are Hugo and Veronica Antonov, Xylia's parents." Theodore Harlow said.

Xylia felt rage inside her when she heard her mother's name. She wanted to tell everyone that the woman in front of them was Victoria, her mother's twin sister. To her surprise, Luciano suddenly laughed. It was so loud that everyone inside the hall caught their attention.

"I didn't mean to be rude. But I thought you are Victoria. I knew Veronica very well and she has a mole right beside her left eye." The head of the De Silva Clan said.

The Harlow's were confused and turned their eyes to the woman who was introduced as Veronica. It was obvious that she became pale and tiny droplets of sweat were visible on her face.

"But I have not seen Veronica for decades, so maybe I was wrong." Luciano gave Victoria a meaningful look.

Victoria met Luciano once. They didn't get a chance to talk because Veronica was the one close to Luciano. She was the first born of the Antonov Clan and the heiress at that time so they got acquainted and met at some parties.

"Well, since everyone is here, we would like to take this opportunity to give an important announcement." Theodore Harlow said to cut the tension between the two families.

Xylia's heart started to pound. It was the moment she had been waiting for. She glanced at Aciel when Ivan pulled her in front of everyone. But Aciel wasn't looking at her.

She bit her lip and was a bit confused when he turned his back to join the other guests. Her knees started to weaken and she felt like she was about to fall. Was he ditching her? Did he lie to her? She thought inwardly.

"To our dear guests, we thank you for being with us on this wonderful night. We would like to take this opportunity to announce the engagement of our son, Ivan, to the one and only heiress of the Antonov Clan." Theodore announced.

Xylia felt like everything went blurry and unclear. She couldn't hear anything around her, but she knew the guests were applauding at the sudden announcement.

Then Ivan faced her and kneeled in front of her, and in his hands was a tiny red box with a ring in it.

"Xylia, will you marry me?" He said.

If he was the man she wanted to be with, she would jump into his arms and say yes. But that wasn't the case. This was all a mistake. She turned her head to the crowd, looking for Aciel. But he was nowhere to be found. She saw Luciano and Martin standing among the guests, but they didn't look like they had a plan. There were no emotions beyond Luciano's eyes. It was cold and distant.

Her lips were trembling and her heart was about to explode. How could Aciel do this to her? She tricked her. There was no plan from the beginning. But he said to trust him.

She replayed everything in her mind again. From the moment they talked in the music room until he dropped her off in front of the school. She saw no lies behind his eyes. It was all real. She just has to wait for Aciel to save her, but then she suddenly realized something.

She looked at Luciano again. His expression was the same and then she knew, he was testing her. She confessed her feelings to Aciel and told Luciano that she would rather be in hell with his son than be with Ivan.

Xylia's expression changed. She stared at Luciano and smiled. Then she turned to Ivan.

"I will never be your wife." She said.

Then she looked at her family. "I will never be your puppet."

The people in the hall started to murmur with each other. They were confused by Xylia's reaction.

"What are you saying? You're my girlfriend. You are mine!" Ivan said with gritted teeth while composing himself.

"I am not and I will never be yours!" She firmly answered.

Ivan suddenly grabbed her arm, but everyone was shocked when a gun was pointed at Ivan's head.

"Let her go. Or I will kill you."

Xylia wanted to cry hearing Aciel's voice. She didn't see where he came from, but that's not important. She was relieved that he was finally here to save her.