Unwanted Fiancée: The World's Coveted Hidden Queen

Evelina Frost POV:

"Private estate. No soliciting or begging."

Two burly guards in custom black suits blocked my path before the five-meter wrought-iron gates of the Sterling mansion. A cold wind whipped my long hair across my face. I pulled my faded denim jacket tighter, my eyes icy.

I didn't get angry. I reached into my pocket, pulled out a smooth jade pendant, and held it up.

"I'm looking for Richard Sterling. Tell him Evelina Frost is here to annul the engagement."

The guards stared at the pendant, unconcealed contempt flashing in their eyes. One pressed his earpiece and reported my arrival, his tone dripping with mockery.

A few minutes later, the gates swung open. A middle-aged butler walked out, looking me up and down like a piece of trash.

"Follow me. Don't dirty the carpets."

I followed him across the manicured courtyard, my old canvas shoes clicking against the marble path.

He pushed open the mahogany double doors. Beneath the crystal chandelier, I spotted the man on the leather sofa-Richard Sterling, head of Sterling Group.

Richard held a thick cigar between his fingers. Without lifting his eyelids, he blew out a cloud of smoke.

I stopped three steps away. Just as I opened my mouth, he beat me to it.

"You're that wild girl from the mountains? Your face is passable, at least."

I narrowed my eyes, ignored the insult, and laid the yellowed betrothal contract on the glass coffee table.

Richard glanced at it with a mocking smirk. He crushed his cigar into the ashtray, pulled out a checkbook, and uncapped a gold pen.

"Your grandfather saved my father's life years ago, and this engagement was the old man's whim. Name your price. How much will it take for you to crawl back to your mountains?"

Looking at his smug face, a cold laugh rose in my chest. My voice remained flat.

"I didn't come here for money. I came to annul the engagement."

Richard's hand froze over the checkbook. He snapped his head up and glared at me as if he'd just heard the biggest joke in the world.

"Annul it? Do you have any idea how many socialites in Crown City are lining up to marry into the Sterling family?"

Just then, confident footsteps echoed from the spiral staircase. A young man in an expensive designer suit descended, hands tucked casually into his pockets.

"So this is the woman Grandpa picked for me? You've got to be kidding. She looks like a damn beggar."

His gaze swept over my faded jacket and scuffed shoes before he flopped onto the sofa, propping one leg over the other as if I were nothing more than an inconvenient servant.

"Listen, little beggar. I never intended to marry some nameless nobody from the middle of nowhere. I've got plenty of beautiful women dying to get into my bed. But you? You're so revolting I can't even stomach kissing you."

I shot Brandon a cold look, my gaze lingering for a second on his smug, pampered face.

"Since you think this marriage is a disgrace, that works out nicely. I find it filthy too."

Brandon's expression darkened. He shot to his feet, eyes narrowing with disbelief-apparently unused to women refusing to flatter him, let alone insulting him to his face.

"You bitch! Who gave you the nerve to talk to me like that?"

He stepped toward me, his finger nearly jabbing into my face.

Ignoring his tantrum, I picked up the betrothal contract and gripped the edges with both hands.

"What are you doing? Put that down!"

Richard's face darkened. Thinking I meant to use the contract as blackmail leverage, he shot to his feet, knocking over his coffee cup.

Watching his tense expression, a frigid smile curved my lips. I wrenched my hands apart. With a crisp rip, the old contract tore cleanly in half.

Dead silence fell over the living room. Both Richard and Brandon stared at me in disbelief.

I didn't stop. Stacking the halves together, I tore them again and again until the contract was reduced to tiny scraps.

Raising my hand, I flung the scraps straight into Richard's stunned face. The white pieces fluttered down all over his suit.

"The engagement is off. From today on, I, Evelina Frost, have nothing to do with the Sterling family."

I dusted off my hands, my tone cutting and cold.

Richard's face turned a deep, mottled purple, the veins on his forehead throbbing. He pointed a trembling finger at me.

"You... you have a death wish!"

Brandon's face twisted with fury. He grabbed the crystal ashtray and hurled it against the floor. The sharp crash echoed through the living room.

"Security! Break her legs! I want her kneeling on this floor, begging me for forgiveness before you throw her out!"

At his order, four burly bodyguards rushed in and surrounded me, cracking their knuckles as they closed in.

I stood my ground without even raising my guard. Lowering my gaze slightly, I calculated how many seconds it would take to cripple these four idiots without exposing my full martial arts training.

Right as the lead bodyguard's massive hand reached for my shoulder, the screech of tires echoed outside the estate gates.

The next second, with a deafening boom, the mahogany double doors were kicked open from the outside. The sheer force slammed the wooden panels against the walls.

Everyone froze, turning toward the entrance.

Framed against the cold light outside, a tall man in a bespoke black suit strode across the threshold. The click of his leather shoes echoed through the silent room.

His godlike face was terrifyingly cold, radiating a murderous aura as his sharp gaze swept over the guards surrounding me.

He parted his thin lips, his voice low and lethal.

"Let's see who dares touch a single hair on my sister's head today."

Evelina Frost POV:

The temperature in the living room dropped to freezing as my brother's voice echoed off the walls. Staring at his tall figure, my nose tingled, and my tense shoulders relaxed on their own.

Intimidated by the pressure radiating from him, the four bodyguards took a collective step back, pulling their hands away as if electrocuted.

When Richard saw the man's face clearly, the angry flush drained from his skin. The fingers holding his cigar trembled violently.

"Alexander... Mr. Blackthorn? What brings you here?"

Richard stammered, panic bleeding through his voice as he instinctively bowed his waist.

Alexander didn't spare him a glance. As the billionaire CEO of Blackthorn Beauty & Pharmaceuticals and my eldest brother, he strode straight to me, positioning his tall frame in front of mine to form an impenetrable shield.

Looking down at me, the murderous chill in his eyes melted into warmth. His rough thumb brushed my cheek.

"Evie, I'm late. Did they bully you?"

I shook my head, a relieved smile tugging at my mouth. "I'm fine, big brother. I just tore up a piece of scrap paper."

Hearing me call him "big brother," Brandon shot up from the sofa, his face twisting between rage and disbelief.

"That's impossible! How could this stinking beggar belong to the Blackthorn family?"

Alexander's gaze sliced toward him, his voice dropping to absolute zero. "What did you just call her?"

The word died in Brandon's throat. Richard nearly lost his soul. He lunged forward and slapped his son hard across the face.

"Shut up! You idiot, apologize to Miss Frost right now!"

Richard roared at him, then plastered a fawning smile on his face as he turned back to Alexander.

"Mr. Blackthorn, this is all a misunderstanding. My son doesn't know any better..."

Alexander let out a cold laugh, cutting him off. "A misunderstanding? Richard, it seems the loan approvals for Sterling Group have been going a little too smoothly lately."

Those words hit Richard like lightning. His knees buckled, and he nearly collapsed.

"Mr. Blackthorn! Please show mercy! We were blind! We would never dare reach for this marriage-we aren't worthy of her!"

Every trace of Richard's earlier arrogance was gone, leaving him groveling like a dog.

I stepped out from behind Alexander. "Remember what you said today. Don't ever let me see your disgusting faces in Crown City again."

Alexander gave me an approving look. "Evie, let's go."

He took my hand naturally and strode toward the door without a spare glance for them.

Walking out the front gates, a stretched black Rolls-Royce Phantom waited at the bottom of the steps. The driver, Arthur, respectfully pulled open the rear door.

"Boss, Miss Frost, please get in."

The cabin was warm. Alexander pulled a bottle of water from the car fridge, unscrewed the cap, and handed it to me in a practiced motion.

"You silly girl, coming down from the mountains without telling me in advance. If Arthur hadn't spotted you on the road, how were you planning to end things today?"

Though he was scolding me, his tone was full of heartache.

I took a sip and blinked playfully. "Even if you didn't show up, those four idiots couldn't have hurt me."

Alexander sighed helplessly and ruffled my hair. "I know you learned a bit of self-defense from your master, but this is Crown City. People's hearts here are far more dangerous than wild beasts in the mountains."

I lowered my lashes to hide the cold glint in my eyes. He had no idea that what I learned wasn't just "a bit of self-defense," but ancient martial arts lethal enough to paint the underground world red.

"By the way, your second brother recently opened a private clinic in the city center. I'll take you there for a checkup in a little while. You were always in poor health as a child. Although your master said you've fully recovered, I still want to make sure you're in good health."

At the mention of a medical examination, panic surged through me. I quickly tried to change the subject. "Second Brother? He's here too?"

The truth was, we weren't related by blood at all. My seven brothers and I had grown up together in an orphanage, but our bond was closer than any biological family.

Even after life took us down separate paths, we'd stayed in touch all these years. To them, I was still the little sister they'd sworn to protect. And that was precisely why I could never let Camille examine me.

I'd gone into the mountains with my master to recuperate because of my poor health as a child. But the hidden illness inside my body was incurable. If my brothers ever found out, they'd lose their minds.

"Yes. He knows you've come down from the mountain, too, and he's already arranged a full checkup for you. Don't even think about changing the subject. You're going!"

Alexander was utterly unyielding on this matter.

"Before we go to the clinic, though, come back to the company with me first. I have an emergency meeting to run."

The Rolls-Royce glided smoothly into the bustling downtown business district and stopped in front of a towering skyscraper-the headquarters of Blackthorn Beauty & Pharmaceuticals.

I followed Alexander into his private elevator, watching the numbers climb to the top-floor CEO suite.

"Rest in my office for a bit, or go down to the employee bistro to grab a bite. I'll come find you as soon as the meeting is over."

Alexander pressed an unlimited black card into my palm and hurried off toward the conference room.

Looking at the heavy black card, I smiled helplessly. Just as I turned to head down to the bistro, the heavy doors of the CEO's office were suddenly pushed open.

A young woman in a champagne-gold designer gown walked in, diamonds glittering in her earrings. Her chin was slightly raised, carrying herself like someone who had never been told no.

The moment she saw me, her expression turned cold and hostile.

"Who are you? What are you doing in Alexander's office?"

Evelina Frost POV:

"Where I am is none of your business."

I slipped the black card into my denim jacket pocket and stayed seated on the leather sofa, my tone flat.

She let out an exaggerated scoff, as if she had just heard the funniest joke of the year.

"Nobody in Crown City dares talk to me like that. I'm Serena Vale, daughter of the Vale family-and sooner or later Alexander will be my husband. So what are you? Some little gold-digger who crawled into his office off the street?"

At the insult, the warmth vanished from my eyes. My fingers tapped twice against the leather armrest.

"Watch your mouth. This is Blackthorn Group, not your family's drawing room."

I stood up, not bothering to waste another word on her, and walked toward the door.

Serena swept sideways to block my path, her gaze raking over my faded denim jacket, a venomous smirk curling her lips.

"What, running away because I hit a nerve? Alexander's taste has really gone downhill lately."

I looked at her the same way I would look at a pile of garbage.

"Get out of my way."

Instead of stepping aside, she raised her hand to slap me across the face.

"Quite the temper. Let me teach you some manners-"

Before her palm could land, my right hand shot out, clamping onto her wrist and twisting it downward, while my left foot snapped squarely against the back of her knee. Serena shrieked as her legs buckled and she crashed onto the thick carpet, cold sweat beading across her forehead.

"Next time you raise your hand at me, I'll break it."

Releasing my grip, I pulled a wet wipe from the desk, wiped my fingers clean in disgust, and dropped the used wipe onto her ruined gown before walking out of the CEO's office.

I took the elevator down to the company bistro on the second floor. Lunchtime, and the room was packed with white-collar employees in sharp business attire. My worn-out clothes stood out like a sore thumb, drawing probing, disdainful stares.

Ignoring the whispers, I ordered a simple salad and pasta and took a corner seat by the window.

I had barely taken two bites when the chatter suddenly died. Serena came storming toward me, clutching her wrist, two security guards trailing helplessly behind her.

"That's her! This bitch attacked me upstairs!"

She jabbed a finger at me, her features twisted with rage.

The surrounding employees gasped in unison, looking at me as if I were already a dead woman.

I set down my fork and dabbed the corner of my mouth with a napkin, not even bothering to stand.

"What, that lesson upstairs wasn't enough to teach you manners?"

My nonchalance pushed her completely over the edge. She lunged forward, seized the edge of my table, and heaved it upward. With a screech of scraping metal, the table flipped, sending salad, pasta, and shattered plates across the floor.

The instant she flipped it, I tapped my toes against the floor and slid backward half a meter along with my chair. Not a single drop of sauce touched my clothes.

"You're dead today! I'll make sure you can't survive in Crown City!"

Screaming, she snatched a steak knife from an adjacent table and lunged straight at my face.

Screams erupted from the crowd. The guards turned pale, too far away to stop her in time.

Watching the blade rush toward me, I didn't retreat. I leaned my torso slightly aside, dodging the edge by a fraction of an inch, and my right hand struck the pressure point on her wrist. The knife clattered to the floor.

Grabbing her collar, I used her own momentum to haul her up and slammed her flat onto the messy floor with a crisp shoulder throw.

The heavy thud silenced the entire bistro. Serena curled up on the floor, gasping, her designer gown smeared with sauce.

I planted one foot on her custom high heel and leaned down slightly, my voice devoid of warmth.

"I told you, this is Blackthorn Group, not a place for you to run wild."

Right then, urgent, synchronized footsteps echoed from the edge of the crowd. Alexander's executive assistant, Kevin, parted the onlookers with a squad of black-clad bodyguards.

Spotting Serena on the floor and me standing over her, he nearly jumped out of his skin and rushed forward.

"Miss Frost! Are you hurt? The Boss is coming down right now!"

Hearing the title "Miss Frost" and seeing the top executive assistant all but kneel in apology, Serena's eyes bulged from the floor as if she had seen a ghost. The watching employees froze, their disdain instantly replaced by sheer terror.

Ignoring everyone's reactions, I pulled my foot back and glanced down at the pathetic woman at my feet.

Just then, my phone buzzed in my pocket. A text from an unknown number: [The Matron is missing. The orphanage is about to be demolished.]