Chapter 1

"Hurry up and come to Prime Hospital, Nadia! Cae's been hospitalized after being injured!" A sudden phone call roused Nadia Creswell from her sleep. She hurriedly threw something on and ran out. It was late at night, and the cold wind blew in her face. When she arrived at the hospital, she felt cold to the core. She didn't have time to warm up. Nadia was about to enter the hospital ward when she heard the voices inside. "Your wedding to Nadia, that doormat, is in a month, Cae. You raced with your life on the line just to get that necklace Josephine wanted, and you almost destroyed your car and killed yourself. Aren't you afraid Nadia will get mad and run off when she learns about this?" Nadia's hand froze on the doorknob. She didn't move as she waited to hear Caesar Gray's answer. Soon, she heard him snort and say mockingly, "Run? Why would she do that when she's head over heels for me? She wouldn't leave even if I were to drive her away!" This was the answer she'd expected. She pursed her lips and opened the door, entering the hospital ward. Everyone turned to look at her when they heard her come in—a few rich kids in racing outfits sat or stood in the room. None of them looked nervous or anxious at having their conversation overheard. In fact, they became more excited. They all looked at Nadia mockingly and raised their voices. One said, "It takes you at least half an hour to get here from home, doesn't it? Look at you, getting here in less than 20 minutes. Are you that worried about Cae?" She looked at Caesar. Her face was devoid of the humiliation or awkwardness at being mocked. She nodded and said, "Yes, I am. He's very important to me." Everyone burst into laughter at her words. Someone said, "Cae was just telling us that he was bored just lying there. Since you're so in love with him, why don't you dance for him and alleviate his boredom?" Someone else chimed in. "A simple dance is so lame! How about a strip dance?" Their overt nastiness took Nadia aback. She knew Caesar's friends had never liked her and took pleasure in humiliating her, but she didn't expect them to ask something like this of her. She parted her lips to reject them. However, Caesar spoke before she could get the words out. "What? You don't want to do it? Didn't you say that you loved me and could do anything for me?" Her head snapped up as she stared at him. All she saw was the indifferent look on his face and the look in his eyes that made one thing clear to her—they wouldn't let her off the hook that night if she didn't do the strip dance. Nadia thought about their wedding, which was happening in a month. She didn't want anything to change that, so she nodded. "Alright. I'll do it." The moment the words were out of her mouth, jeers and gasps erupted around her. At the same time, a wave of humiliation washed over her. Over the years of her relationship with Caesar, she'd gotten used to shattering her dignity to please him and his friends. She could even calmly accept their brazen mockery. However, they were at the hospital. Even with the door shut, all of Caesar's friends were still present. The shame of doing a strip dance in public enveloped her, making her body go numb. She stepped forward, feeling rigid. She took her clothes off one after the other, allowing the chill to seep into her bones. She bit her lip and reminded herself that she could do this. She just had to endure this for a little longer before it would all be over. Finally, she reached the last garment she had on—a thin camisole. Amid everyone's jeers and whoops, Caesar's cold, sharp voice suddenly rang out. "That's enough! You really are shameless!" He looked pissed and sounded like he was forcing the words through gritted teeth. When he opened his mouth again, his tone was commanding. "I'm hungry. Go get me something to eat." Nadia kept her head lowered. She didn't take his disdain of her to heart. Instead, she silently heaved a sigh of relief before putting her clothes back on with a nod. Then, she left. "As expected of Jeriton City's top doormat! Look at how she didn't get mad at that! She's even gone off to buy you food, Cae." The mockery faded as Nadia walked off. Plenty of eateries were outside the hospital, but she strode past them without a second glance. Caesar was a picky eater and only went to a select few restaurants when he ate out. When she returned to the hospital after getting the food, Caesar was alone and asleep in the hospital ward. Nadia gently placed the food on the bedside table. Just then, she heard him mumble, "I won't marry her as long as you tell me you still love me, Josie…" Nadia felt her blood run cold at his words. She turned ashen and froze. All she wanted was a wedding—he could do whatever he wanted after they were married! Couldn't he give her just that? Suddenly, the system's voice rang out in her mind, shattering the silence of the night. "Your mission progress has already hit 99%, Nadia. You'll complete this once you and Caesar go through with the wedding. You'll get your reward after that." That made her snap to her senses. She exhaled deeply and mentally comforted herself. This was fine—Caesar was only thinking of not marrying her. He hadn't called everything off. Nadia unlocked her phone and looked at the countdown to the wedding on her home screen. Caesar was the prince of Jeriton City, and Josephine Birch was the princess. Everyone in the upper crust called them a match made in heaven. They were each other's first loves. Perhaps their love for each other ran so deep that their relationship had been fiery from the start. It had also ended in a spectacular, devastating fallout. Josephine had left the country in a fit of anger, even claiming that whoever was the first to ask for a reconciliation would be a loser! Caesar was so proud that he was unwilling to humble himself to go after her despite how much he loved her. All he'd done was drink the bar dry and claim he didn't care. At the same time, he'd been unable to stop himself from paying attention to how she was doing… until he learned she'd gotten another boyfriend abroad. That was also the day he'd finally agreed to make Nadia, whom his friends had always called his doormat, his girlfriend. It was something he'd done out of spite. Josephine didn't return to the country after that, though. Instead, she shared photos of her and her boyfriend being intimate, which had made Caesar so jealous that he'd almost lost his mind. Then, almost as if wanting to compete with Josephine, he'd announced that he and Nadia were getting married. Everyone had laughed about how desperately Nadia loved Caesar—so much so that she was willing to give up her life for him. And now, through sheer madness and persistence, she'd gotten him to finally agree to marry her. However, Josephine had returned before the wedding. Her presence made the years of Nadia's companionship and devotion vanish in an instant. Once again, she was cast aside. Everyone made fun of her for ending up with nothing despite all she'd done, but she didn't mind. She didn't care who Caesar loved or whether she would ultimately be kicked to the curb. All she cared about was that the wedding would ultimately go on without a hitch because it was the mission the system had assigned her when bringing her into this world. Caesar was her target, and she had to have a wedding with him. To achieve that, she'd pursued him without regrets or resentment for a whole decade. It was all because the system had told her it could fulfill one of her wishes once she completed the mission. Nadia's wish was to revive the man she truly loved—Theodore Camden.