Chapter 5 Wedding Night

The sight of him froze Madeline's heart as her body perspired cold sweat.

Her heart raced faster and faster as she reckoned what happened.

The arousing lovemaking that happened that night suddenly became crystal clear in her memory. The more she ignored the flashback, the more she recalled every single detail of it.

Blake shook off her wet hand in disgust and said, "She does."

His words awakened her senses, and she found herself in the spotlight of shame as the priest and everyone in the room stared at her blankly.

"Again, Miss Luo..." the priest said. He wanted to reiterate the question, but he was unhappily interrupted by Blake. He exclaimed, "Didn't you hear me? I said, she does!"

Seeing the overwhelming displeasure on Blake's face, the priest moved along and said, "In the name of the Lord, I now proclaim you, husband and wife! You may kiss the bride."

It was clear to Madeline that Blake answered her vows for her, and that was okay. It would have been far more difficult if she said those words herself.

The white veil was lifted, and it revealed more of her beautiful face. Then, Blake swiftly kissed her on the cheek to complete the ceremony.

She was startled from the beginning to the end. The applause roared, and the wedding was congratulated! It was against her will to be here, but all that was left for her to feel was the relief that everything had come to an end.

Now, her concern shifted to the fact that the man who took her virginity was her husband's cousin!

Yosef was on cloud nine that day. He greeted Madeline with a smile and a pat on the shoulder as he prayed to have a great-grandson as soon as possible!

She should have replied with a delightful nod, but Yosef interrupted her with an apology for not being able to arrange a honeymoon. Blake had some work cut out for him recently, but they made sure to make up for it as soon as the opportunity posed itself in the future.

Her answer was the same smile that she wore throughout the evening. The show had finally come in its consummation as her strength seemed to have been drained from all of this.

When it was time to bid farewells, Lyle did not say anything to her. He just looked at her with remorse before he left in a hurry with his wife and daughter.

She stood there frozen as she watched her father disappear in the distance. It had been five years since they met last time, and her father's figure was no longer as brawn and straight as it was before.

She only hoped that what she had done today could help them in the future!

The crowd slowly vanished one by one as Madeline stood on the stairs and waited for Blake's car.

A memorable fragrance suddenly filled her noses as her heart pounded like a drumroll.

She noticed Bryan from afar, but she did not dare to stare at him a second longer for her face was lit with burning crimson.

Suddenly, he was there, and his handsome face loomed in front of her blushing cheeks.

Her breath seemed to have been taken away as she stood incredibly still.

Her heart leaped a couple of beats at this moment!

What was he trying to do?

Was he going to kiss her in public?

He was her husband's cousin!

She was so terrified of him that her face turned pale.

He seductively wiped her face with his perfect nose and said in an enticing tone, "Hi. I'm Blake's cousin. My mother is his aunt."

After his short introduction, he left and disappeared right in front of her.

When she melted from her glacial state, she could only capture the light fume of smoke that his fancy sports car left.

Everything happened so fast, but she felt as if she was there for hours!

Did he recognize her?

If the Li family knew what happened to them, then Rory and her father would be finished, wouldn't they?

She was still in a trance as this familiar kind of fear crept through each nerve in her body.

The darkness loomed over the skies as the night grew late, but she was still waiting outside the hotel as she sat on the entry staircase's steps.

Until now, Blake was nowhere to be seen.

She had no idea what the address of her new home was, and all she could do was wait.

Finally, a car stopped in front of her.

"Ma'am, I was sent to pick you up," said the man. He was the driver of the Li family.

At long last, she stood up and dragged her numb legs into the backseat.

"Apologies for keeping you waiting, but Mr. Blake was too drunk to fetch you," the driver explained.

She woefully shook her head and said, "It's fine."

The only thing that ran in her mind the moment she entered the wedding hall were the incredibly terrible consequences of this marriage, but at that point, she could not care less about it.

She wanted to see Rory for the last time today at the wedding.

But there was no sign of him.

She thought that it was right for him to not come.

It was too cruel to watch the woman he loved to marry another man.

Indeed, the Li family's mansion was luxurious. It was double the size of the Luo family's villa, and it nearly took them twenty minutes just to walk from the gate to the building.

On their way, they passed through lush lawns, peach and maple plantations, a colorful garden, a long corridor, and an artificial lake.

Madeline expected that Blake had already gone to bed, but to her surprise, he was there as soon as she entered the house.

His drunken eyes were blinking in a daze, but the hatred in them was as clear as crystal.

A couple of years ago, Yosef moved to a different villa on the hillside of a mountain near a river to recuperate, and only Blake and his cousin were left to occupy this enormous mansion.

Although there were only two residents in the manor, dozens of servants roamed the halls and kept everything neat. At this time, all of them were standing on a line across both sides of the room in anticipation.

They were waiting to see who was the bride-to-be and the new resident of the house.

A steward named Kim introduced the head servants to Madeline as she greeted each one of them with a tender smile.

Throughout the day, she had been forcing a perfectly pretentious smile. So, she thought that maybe by now her grin was stiff as a stone.

"Ma'am, dinner is ready for you. Do you want to have supper already?" asked Anne, the head of the kitchen area.

Madeline hadn't eaten a piece of bread nor taken a sip of water since morning.

She said, "Yes. Thank you, Anne."

"Don't you have work to do today, Anne?" Blake roared all of a sudden. His voice echoed in the hall and everyone fell silent.

The smile on Anne's face froze. She humbly lowered her head in a jiff and did not dare to say anything more.

It seemed like he didn't want her to eat.

But Madeline was in no place to starve to death. So, she walked to the kitchen by herself and dined.

The table was beautifully set with myriads of cuisine as mouthwatering aromas filled the air! She quickly picked up a bowl of rice and nipped some food onto her plate. But before her chopsticks could even touch the dishes, a plate flew right across the room.

The sound of the porcelain plate crashing on the floor resonated in the four corners of the kitchen. In Blake's wrath, he flipped all the dishes in one hurl as he tossed the table cloth upside down.

Food spilled and fell on the ground, and Madeline was left with only chopsticks and her trembling hands.

"Our food is not a feast for all!" shouted Blake as he glared at her.

"Then why did you let me in?" said Madeline as she gently put her chopsticks on the table.

"Didn't you beg my grandfather to marry me? From now on, you will personally know what it takes to be my wife!"

Madeline suddenly choked on her emotions, and it felt as if her throat was barred with a prickly stone that made it harder for her to breathe. Her eyes started to swell as tears clung to her eyes, but she held her tears back and gnashed her teeth hard.

"You just don't want me to eat, do you? Well, if I could starve to death, then that's probably better," she said. Every word and sound that came from her mouth gagged her even tighter. So, she chose to stand up and walk out of the kitchen immediately.

Her escape made Blake more furious as he chased her to pull her back by the wrist.

"What did you just say? I don't let you eat this once, and now you want to die?" he asked.

"Then what do you want me to do?" she retorted as she looked at him straight in the eye.

The tension was rising until footsteps came towards the commotion.

"Welcome back, sir!" greeted Kim.

Everyone's attention turned to Bryan. When Bryan entered the kitchen, he arrived to see the brutal scene. With food on the floor and a newly wedded couple caught in a fight, he knew far too well that something was wrong.

"Don't you have any other things to do?" he said as he looked at every servant that stood in the room.

All of them left as quickly as possible upon hearing his inquest. It was as if they were awakened from a nightmare.