Chapter 1

“It’s getting late. Go to bed.” The man’s deep, husky voice pulled Cordelia Jenner out of her reverie abruptly. When she looked up and met his deep eyes, there was an emotion that she could not decipher in them. She clung to the hem of her dress nervously and could not help feeling the pace of her heartbeat picking up. Since she had entered the room, she had been sitting by the edge of the bed. She had stayed in the position for so long that her back was numb from being so tense and straight. She had not even changed out of her wedding dress. It was not until the man had taken a shower and exited the bathroom that realization had struck her. She was going to spend the night with this man as a newlywed. However, she had no idea how to interact with him. What was more, she had gotten married as a substitute. She was the illegitimate daughter of a rich family, so she had married this broke man in place of her elder sister—just to fulfill a marriage pact made by the last generation of the two families and receive a substantial amount of money. Cordelia knew that her mother would only get treatment and her younger brother would only continue studying with that sum of money. It was how their family would be able to survive. She took a deep breath and inched toward the bathroom like a frightened bunny. “I… I’ll take a shower too.” The man’s gaze darkened. Cordelia darted into the bathroom. Just as she was about to lock the door, she discovered that the run-down wooden door did not even have anything that resembled a lock. This made her enter a daze. No matter how bad life had been in the past, she had not been this impoverished. Her eyes went red around the rims as she stood there, hesitating in the bathroom and not taking off anything. The man outside the door seemed to read her mind, as he suddenly informed her, “I’ll have a smoke outside. Take your time.” Cordelia tensed up. Putting her ear against the door, she heard the man’s footsteps going farther away and the door creaking before she heard nothing else. The bright décor on the peeling wall looked withered. A typhoon had ransacked the city a day before the wedding, so broken billboards and snapped trees were everywhere along the roads. Cordelia had gotten married amidst a disaster. There had been no decked-out wedding car to pick her up. She had walked a long way before getting into an inconspicuous van and spending more time than she could keep track of to reach the village. The muddy road had soiled her shoes and wedding dress. The elders had always said that people who got married in weather like this would not end up happy, but Cordelia had long given up on her own happiness. She came out of the bathroom, patting her hair dry. Her husband was not back yet. It seemed that he really took his time smoking. Cordelia looked at the two-room cottage, where rain leaked in through some spots. The place was pretty bad, but it would make a cozy home with some cleaning up. She smiled and started simply tidying up around the house before the man came back. When she was on her knees pulling the sheets off the bed, the man walked in. Cordelia turned back—a big move—and the only thing she had on her, her towel, slipped off. Gasping, she wrapped her arms around herself instinctively, but the man had already seen everything. Cordelia frantically tugged at the sheets to cover herself, blushing as red as a tomato. The man swallowed, and his gaze grew darker and harder to read. He strode over to her, his deep, impassive voice a little husky and tempting. “It’s getting late. Let’s go to bed.” He emphasized the word “let’s” this time. Cordelia’s heart was very close to leaping out of her throat. With her eyes shut tight, she suddenly felt a strong force wrap around her waist and then fell into the man’s arms before getting pinned against the bed…