He Used Me for Her, I Walked Away

"Ms. Veridian, this is the toad venom mixture prepared by the fortune-teller. Take this medicine, and you will be able to temporarily erase your identity as the Veridian family's eldest daughter. After that, you can take a new name and completely break free from the family's restraints." Assistant Veyra, dressed in blue, held a white medicine bottle and hesitantly handed it to Zairine Veridian. "This medicine will leave you gravely ill for seven days, you'll look exactly like you've passed away. The process will be extremely torturous, and if there's even the slightest mistake along the way, you'll never wake up again... Are you truly certain about this?" Zairine's face showed no trace of emotion. She poured the pill from the bottle and swallowed it directly, without water. The pill was unbearably bitter, yet it was nothing compared to a tenth of the anguish in her heart. She raised her hand and patted Veyra's shoulder, forcing a faint smile. "Don't feel sorry for me. This is liberation for me. In seven days, there will be no more Zairine Veridian, the Veridian family's eldest daughter, only the Aetheris family's supposedly deceased wife." To break free from the chains of the Veridian name and escape this place filled with painful memories, she was willing to gamble with her life. Looking around, the villa's living room was covered with bright red wedding decorations. In Zairine's eyes, there was only overwhelming bitterness. The whole world whispered that Rynell Aetheris, the eldest son of the Aetheris family, was obsessed with Zairine, the Veridian family's eldest daughter. As a young man, he had entered a church to become a cleric just to pray for her. Now, he had dared to break the church's commandments and endured celestial trials to return to the mortal world, all just to marry her. Only Zairine Veridian knew the truth. The real reason Rynell Aetheris was determined to marry her, no matter the cost, was to protect her half-sister, Seralyn Veridian. When they were children, Zairine was engaged to Cyprian Quiroga, the son of the Quiroga family, in an arranged childhood betrothal. At fifteen, her sister Seralyn Veridian had accidentally fallen into the garden fountain. Without a second thought, Cyprian Quiroga had jumped in to save her. The young girl, soaking wet, had been carried back to the guest room by him the entire way. There was an unwritten, strict rule in the local upper class. If a man and woman had extensive physical contact, the man must marry the woman. Otherwise, the man would face industry blocklisting, and the woman would be completely shunned by the entire elite circle. To take responsibility for Seralyn, Cyprian Quiroga had broken his engagement to Zairine on the spot. That same day, the elders of both families had finalized his engagement to Seralyn, agreeing to hold the wedding once she turned eighteen in three years. Zairine Veridian had originally thought Cyprian Quiroga had only compromised out of necessity, bound by the rules, until one day, she had caught sight of him and Seralyn hugging tightly, crying tears of joy. "Seralyn, we can finally be together openly!" At that moment, Zairine understood everything. But the rules of the upper class were exceptionally cruel. If a man was jilted by his fiancée, almost no other prominent family would be willing to form an alliance with him. And once a woman turned eighteen, she must be engaged, otherwise, the family would force her to marry an older widower for convenience. She could almost see her own future, a well-known young elite, eventually forced to settle for a life with a middle-aged widower. Just as she was drowning in despair, Rynell Aetheris, who had gone to the church to practice years earlier, had the Aetheris family send a marriage proposal to the Veridian family the very next day. Dressed in his cleric's robes, he had ridden a white motorcycle, followed by a line of extravagant betrothal gifts that stretched the entire length of the street. "I, Rynell Aetheris, am actively asking for Zairine Veridian's hand in marriage!" He had taken off the star-patterned prayer bracelet from his wrist and handed it to her. "I have to endure eighty-one celestial trials to leave the church. Wait for me for a while." Zairine had waited three years, until Rynell had completely finished his training at the church, before their wedding finally arrived. ***** Seven days earlier, she had accidentally overheard a conversation between Rynell and his friend, and the truth had been laid bare; the man who had made such a grand show of coming to propose had, from the very beginning, only been afraid that she would ruin Seralyn's wedding. That day's conversation echoed clearly in her ears. "Rynell, you don't even like Zairine, why go to all this trouble to propose to her?" Rynell's friend asked, leaning closer with a furrowed brow, clearly baffled by his actions. "Cyprian Quiroga was her fiancé once. Now Seralyn is about to marry him, and on the wedding day, I was afraid Zairine would cause trouble and ruin Seralyn's happy day," Rynell replied, his voice steady but lacking warmth. He stared off to the side, not meeting his friend's eyes as he revealed the truth behind his grand gesture. Rynell's words had hit Zairine's heart like a heavy hammer. At that moment, she had finally woken up. The two people who had grown up with her had only ever had her sister Seralyn in their hearts. And she herself was nothing more than an obstacle standing in the way of their happiness. She had stayed awake all night. ***** The next morning, the sound of gongs and drums outside the villa had rung out across the entire street, followed by a series of firecrackers. "The auspicious time has come, take the bride to the Aetheris family!" Dressed in a custom-made wedding gown, Zairine had followed the wedding planner out of the Veridian family villa. But when she reached the door, ready to get into the wedding car, she had frozen in place. Waiting to pick her up was not a flower-covered wedding car at all, it was a dark, black coffin!