ManyWriters

A high-society wedding broadcast worldwide.
My childhood sweetheart broke our seven-year promise, proposing to Melody, a girl from an underprivileged background, right in front of everyone.
Just as I became the laughingstock of the entire city, on the verge of a breakdown and despair,
My usually cold and aloof adoptive brother, Cort, publicly married me right after the wedding.
I thought he was my saving grace, and I fell deeper and deeper under his unwavering devotion over the next five years.
Until I accidentally overheard a conversation between two people:
"Is it really worth sacrificing yourself by marrying someone you don't love, all for Melody's sake?"
"We agreed from the start: whoever Melody chooses, the other one would marry Serenity."
"I'd do anything as long as Melody can be happy."
Only then did I realize that this marriage of redemption was nothing but a thorough conspiracy from the very beginning.
Two acts performed by old acquaintances, with Melody as the sole protagonist.
I personally orchestrated a kidnapping.
Watching Cort and Zoran rush towards Melody, I smiled as I pressed the detonator.
For the rest of my life, I hope to have no more entanglements with any of you.

A Global Wedding Broadcast

They jerked their heads up as the duty officer opened the final video.


"This last video is called 'The Song Ends, Old Friends Part.'"


In the video, Serenity printed out a divorce agreement and a family severance agreement.


Holding up the divorce papers, she said, "I, Serenity, hereby divorce Cort. From this moment on, I am free to marry as I choose, and we are no longer connected."


Her eyes were red-rimmed as she continued, "Cort, brother, you are free now."


She wiped her face and forced a smile, then held up the family severance agreement.


"I, Serenity, hereby sever all family ties with Cort and Zoran. From this day forward, we are strangers, unknown to each other."


Zoran, who had been barely holding it together, cried out, "No, Serenity, don't..."


Cort and Zoran looked utterly shattered.


In a daze, they returned to the mansion where Serenity had lived.


They hoped to find some trace of her former presence.


Chapter 8