Chapter 5
“Sir Kaiden!”
The viscount’s gaze locked onto Kaiden. Then it shifted to Chloe, to the dress she was wearing, and finally, to the hands the two of them were holding.
“You’ve arrived earlier than expected, my lord,” Kaiden greeted.
“Is it true? Are you really getting married, Sir Kaiden…?”
“Yes. It is,” Kaiden replied, holding out his hand to show the ring.
The viscount gasped and clamped a hand over his mouth.
And he wasn’t the only one left speechless by the shocking news.
“Are you insane? Marriage? You never said anything about that,” Chloe hissed, covering her mouth with her hand so the viscount wouldn’t see.
“You said it couldn’t be repaid with money.”
“But I never agreed that marriage was the price!”
Today was the wedding of Melvin and Dür. Just two days—that’s all this was supposed to be. The price for two days of pretending to be a couple shouldn’t be a surprise wedding ambush. No matter how she thought about it, it didn’t add up.
She hadn’t even proposed the fake relationship in the first place. He had not only suggested it, but seemed to relish every bit of the absurd play. And now he dared to ask for this outrageous payment? Kaiden Verder was out of his mind.
No, this went beyond madness. This was fraud. Clear and shameless fraud.
“Calm down. It’s not a real wedding,” Kaiden said soothingly.
“Then what, a fake one?!”
“Something like that. Think of it as a show—no, a performance.”
“What kind of crazy—”
“Ahem,” Kaiden cleared his throat.
Their conversation was cut short. The viscount gave them a sharp look for whispering too much. Kaiden turned his head away from Chloe and back toward the viscount.
“In any case, I came by to look at the venue before the ceremony. If we’re going to hold a wedding, this would be the place.”
“Quite right. There’s no wedding hall in the Empire as grand and spacious as our Cent Hotel,” the viscount beamed.
“And our Chloe happens to be in a white dress today. It makes imagining things easier,” Kaiden added.
So that’s why he had me wear white. That’s why he even pinned flowers to my bag.
“Imagining Chloe in a wedding dress just makes my heart—ow!”
Chloe stomped down on Kaiden’s foot with her heel. A short grunt escaped his overly smooth mouth.
“Are you alright?” the viscount asked.
“My heart… it just started pounding so hard I couldn’t help it,” Kaiden replied, covering the moment naturally.
He turned his gaze to Chloe again. Her eyes now looked like they could kill.
“Haha, you two look great together. Truly. But…”
The viscount’s hearty laughter faded into hesitation. By the time Kaiden finished speaking, he wore a troubled expression.
“You probably already know, but… young master Harun’s wedding is scheduled for next month. Right here.”
Harun Verder. The eldest son of the Verder Duke—Kaiden’s half-brother.
“If you plan on holding your ceremony here, I suggest at least six months after that.”
“I don’t intend to wait that long,” Kaiden said flatly.
“Then…?”
“You said my brother’s wedding is next month?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“When is the venue scheduled to be completed?”
“In about a month… so, a week before Lord Harun’s wedding.”
The viscount’s face darkened like a man clutching a bomb right before it explodes.
And Kaiden lit the fuse.
“Then I’ll schedule my wedding on the completion date. A week before my brother’s wedding, so they won’t overlap.”
The viscount’s jaw dropped—literally.
“But the first person scheduled to use the Cent Hotel’s wedding hall is Lord Harun. I’m sorry, but… have you discussed this with him?”
“What is there to discuss? I was originally the one who reserved the hall first.”
“Well, that may be true, but…”
“Besides, Viscount, didn’t you make me a promise?”
“I-it was more of an informal understanding…”
The viscount rubbed his beard nervously, clearly flustered.
“I’ll look into revising the completion schedule. For now, perhaps it’s best if you… returned. I’ll need to discuss this with His Grace.”
“Pity, but very well.”
Kaiden stepped back without protest. Chloe, still stunned, followed him out of the venue.
Thud.
The sound of the door shutting behind them snapped her back to her senses.
Eyes wide, she spun on him.
“Kaiden! What the hell was that?! You and I are getting married? Next month?!”
“Calm down, Chloe.”
“You want me to calm down? When I’ve just been roped into a shotgun wedding?!”
“I’m not actually marrying you. Like I said, it’s just a show—like the act we put on earlier for your sister and ex-husband.”
“A show?”
The word pierced her. Her chest heaved.
Marriage—if anything—was one of the most important events in a person’s life. And hers had already been wrecked by it once.
But to him, marriage was just a show. Just a performance.
That infuriated her. It didn’t matter how petty it seemed.
He saw how much she’d suffered because of marriage. And yet he treated it so lightly, dragging her into this madness without even a word of warning.
She yanked her hand out of his grip.
“There are things you just don’t do, no matter the excuse. How could you involve me in something as serious as marriage without even explaining it first?!”
The hand-holding, the pretending—it was all because of this so-called marriage. If she hadn’t failed at her own, if it weren’t for Dür and Melvin’s wedding, she would’ve never gotten involved with Kaiden Verder.
“And that viscount is your family’s vassal, isn’t he? Now the whole Verder family is going to think we’re getting married! How are you going to clean up that mess?!”
“Chloe.”
“This is the end. I’m done playing along with your ridiculous schemes. You explain things to your family yourself.”
If playing along with this lunacy meant letting people think she still liked Dür—or being labeled a pitiful divorcée—she’d rather go alone to the wedding.
“I felt guilty accepting your help for free, but now it works out. You helping me earlier—consider that your payment. We’re even.”
As she turned to leave, she suddenly remembered: everything she was wearing was his.
“Take it all back. I want a clean break.”
She threw her handbag on the floor. Took off the earrings and necklace. Then kicked off her shoes. The silver heels rolled and stopped in front of Kaiden’s feet.
“Chloe, I bought these for you. Don’t do this. You can’t walk around barefoot.”
“I don’t want anything connected to you.”
With a firm voice, she turned away and stormed off barefoot.
Without the heels, her dress dragged on the ground and kept getting caught under her feet. She irritably lifted the hem, but it snagged again and tripped her.
“Ah!”
Expecting to land on her butt, she squeezed her eyes shut and braced with her hands.
But the impact never came.
“Are you alright?”
Kaiden had caught her.
Her face turned crimson as she found herself in his arms. His scent—cool yet heavy—was so close.
“I told you to wear the shoes.”
“I’m fine.”
Flustered, she pushed away from his chest. Thankfully, he let her go without protest.
Determined to end this embarrassing situation, she said,
“Come to think of it, this dress is yours too, isn’t it?”
She was trying to shift the focus.
“I’ll wait in the lobby. Send someone to collect the dress later.”
“Chloe…”
“I’d strip it off right here if I could, but I can’t walk around naked. Goodbye.”
She stepped away and gave him a stiff, formal bow.
“I hope we never see each other again.”
Without hesitation, she turned and walked away. Guests stared at her as she wandered the hotel barefoot, but she didn’t care.
Why are all the men in Chloe Garrett’s life like this? Why am I so unlucky with men? The thought twisted in her gut.
But Kaiden was different.
Standing alone in the hallway, he watched her shrinking figure and slowly smiled.
“So much for the calm personality.”
You’ve got more fire than I thought.
“…I like it.”
He licked his lips absently as he muttered, and in his dark eyes, Chloe’s retreating figure shimmered—then vanished.
