Chapter 1

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.

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1

After confirming the arrangements with the life insurance company,

I gazed down at the transfer records, lost in thought.

Five years, 60 months, nearly 300 transfer records.

Each transfer note read:

[Voluntary gift. May Melody get all she desires and be safe and worry-free. May we hold hands into old age in the next life.]

As devout as a believer.

If it weren't for the need to fake my death, I might never have known.

My nose stung slightly. In a few days, you'll get your wish.

A waft of gardenia fragrance filled my nostrils.

Without looking up, I knew it was Cort.

He had changed his cologne five years ago to Melody's favorite, gardenia.

I had never connected the two before.

Cort embraced me, his voice tender, as if he loved me to the bone: "What are you looking at?"

The next second he froze, his brow furrowing involuntarily:

"You... why are you checking the transfer records?"

I looked up at him, "Am I not allowed to? Is there something to hide?"

Seeing my calm expression, Cort let out a breath, "How could there be?"

He kissed my hair, saying softly, "Serenity, I would never lie to you."

Our eyes met, and his gaze was so sincere.The scene and sounds in the study just now were so vivid and real.

Everyone says that when a cold-hearted, aloof CEO like him falls in love,

It's till the end of time, unwavering and eternal.

I believed it, overjoyed, seeing him as my salvation.

Little did I know,

This marriage was my prison from the very beginning.

Marrying me was only for the sake of his beloved Melody.

I tilted my head back and yawned, concealing the tears welling up in my eyes.

Cort took the phone, tapped it a few times, then handed it back to me.

"I have some business to attend to tonight. Get some rest and don't overthink things. I'll make you some chamomile tea when I get back."

He leaned down to hug me, then left like a gust of wind.

Only the lingering scent of gardenias remained, trapping me in place.

I stared at the words "Cannot be queried" on the phone screen, my fingertips trembling slightly.

That night, Cort didn't come home at all.

At midnight, I lit a candle alone and made a wish to the empty air.

"I hope mom is doing well, wherever she is."

My phone kept buzzing incessantly.

Melody's social media posts flooded in one after another.

Some busybodies forwarded them to me, message after message."Raise a toast to Fluffy's four-and-a-half-year birthday! I couldn't think of a better reason to celebrate!"

"Ha ha, truth be told, I just really wanted some cake."

Fluffy was Melody's dog.

The joyous sounds from the video echoed thrice in the lonely mansion.

On the screen:

A cake as tall as a person, an expensive champagne tower.

Melody, dressed in a high-end custom ball gown, adorned with a ruby tiara and necklace.

She looked every bit the noble princess from a fairy tale.

Gallant princes and brave knights surrounded her.

While I felt like Cinderella, my candle extinguished, left only with endless cold.

I wiped my face and dialed the life insurance company:

"Change of plans for the fake death. I need you to stage a kidnapping."

After hanging up, I relit a candle and made a wish:

"Mom, please let everything go smoothly."

Cort didn't get home until early the next morning.

Covered in dew, he hugged me still in bed, apologizing profusely:

"Sweetie, I'm so sorry. I've been so busy with social obligations lately, I completely forgot yesterday was your birthday."If it weren't for those incessant social media posts bombarding me last night,

I might have actually believed it.

The thought that I'm worth less than a dog nearly makes me laugh bitterly.