Chapter 5

Surprisingly, he replied quickly.

"Deal."

Meanwhile, I received a message from Derek.

"I'll confess, all these years, I've indeed been working with your father, using your feelings for me to ensure you stayed. But I only cooperated because I knew your father's intentions were good. "

"You're quite naive, and your father was worried that if you left us, you'd be deceived and harmed by outsiders."

"While it's true that I love Olivia, my feelings for you over these past three years weren't entirely false. I know you're deeply in love with me. So, how about this: after Olivia and I have our bonding ceremony, I can come see you three days a week?"

He finally laid everything bare, but my heart remained utterly still.

"However, I hope that on the day of our ceremony, you'll stay quietly at home and not come to the venue."

He phrased it delicately, claiming he was worried I'd be heartbroken.

In reality, he was just afraid I'd cause a scene at his bonding ceremony.

He was so arrogant, thinking I was so madly in love with him that I'd willingly agree to be his secret mistress.

But I wouldn't be that foolish anymore.

I didn't reply, but Derek seemed to take my silence as agreement.

In the days leading up to the ceremony, I had been secretly in contact with my betrothed, plotting something.

News about the union of the Derek family and the Olivia family blanketed the city's airwaves.

Everyone envied their profound and enduring love.

Especially a few days ago, Derek and Olivia went on vacation to the seaside.

But Olivia accidentally fell into the water, and it was Derek who jumped in to save her.

This incident was widely publicized by the media, and Derek's past as a swimming champion was also dug up.

A swimming champion? So, rescuing me and the emergency resuscitation when I was unconscious – it was all an act.

All that talk of love, of selfless devotion—it was all a show.

The bloody truth turned into a dagger, stabbing my heart to pieces.

In the blink of an eye, it was already seven days later.

Coincidentally, my union ceremony and Derek's were on the same day, and also in the same hall.

Dressed in a custom-made gown and wearing crystal high heels, as I walked in, I saw Derek flattering my mate.

"Bro, I heard you're also having your bonding today! I immediately found out the location of your ceremony so I could book the same for mine."

"Although we weren't born in the same year and month, it's truly fate that we're having our bonding ceremonies on the same day."

I had never seen Derek so enthusiastic, but the man in front of me merely glanced at him indifferently.

"Who are you?"As the words left his lips, Derek’s smile nearly slipped, and the surrounding guests were all visibly struggling to suppress their laughter.

Yet, shamelessly, he pressed close to the man once more, reintroducing himself.

He was the spitting image of a fawning dog, wagging its tail and begging for scraps.

It was only then that I realized just how formidably powerful and influential the family of my intended was.

The ensemble I wore, every piece, had been chosen by him, and while Olivia's ceremonial gown was also magnificent, it was noticeably less splendid than mine.

This was the first time in my entire life that I had outshone Olivia.

As I was lost in a reverie, the man abruptly turned his head, his gaze locking with mine.

When I saw his face clearly, my breath caught in my throat.

Ferocious and cruel, with a face full of coarse, brutish flesh? He was nothing of the sort!

I had never seen such a devastatingly handsome man. If Derek was a ten, then this man was a resounding hundred.

He impatiently swatted Derek's hand away and strode towards me.

Each step he took seemed to land directly upon my heart, a resonant beat.

Just then, a gentle breeze swept by, lifting my veil.

At that moment, Derek was still trying to catch up to the man, but when he saw my unveiled face, he stopped dead in his tracks.

Then, his face instantly contorted with sheer terror.