Chapter 1

“My dear, you smell really nice…”

In the dark, a man’s hoarse and magnetic voice echoed into Eliza’s ears.

She was kneeling on the bed. Her hands were tied up with a leather belt and her eyes were covered in a black silk cloth.

Now that she couldn’t see anything, her other senses were even more sensitive than before.

Trembling, she shrunk her body into a little ball as she endured the stabbing pain inflicted on her body.

In complete darkness, she could only feel the man raping her from behind.

“Now, be good. Let’s change into another position, okay?”

……

Eliza Lawson forced her eyes open, only to find herself breaking out in cold sweat.

She covered her burning forehead with her palms. It had already been five years since that incident.

Why would she still dream about something that had happened such a long time ago?

She rose from her bed and walked towards the bathroom to wash her face. She felt refreshed after splashing her face with cold water.

Holding on to a cup, she went downstairs to retrieve some water.

“No! I don’t want to do it! I don’t want to be married to that perverted old man!”

“The third son of the Valentine family is an old and ugly man! Everyone knows about that! No woman in Krine dares to get married to that man!”

“He was involved in a fire accident five years ago. Besides ruining his face, that fire also changed his personality! He’s a monster inside out! I heard that he likes torturing his previous two girlfriends as well.

You can’t just marry me off to this monster!”

A woman was shouting from the top of her lungs in the living room. “Plus, I shouldn’t be the one to be married off to him. Eliza should do it instead. She’s not even a virgin anymore! She has given birth before, so I’m sure she is a lot more experienced in this field! Eliza should be honored to be given this opportunity!”

“Esme!”

Esme’s father, Riley Lawson scolded her in a stern tone, “Eliza is your sister!”

Esme Lawson gritted her teeth and said with a cracking voice, “Dad, I’m your biological daughter, not Eliza. She’s just someone whom you mistook for as your biological daughter when we were born.

Because of her, I had to endure living a poor life for the past 18 years! Now that I’m back to the Lawson family, I’ve built my own career from scratch. You can’t just force me to marry this man now!”

“She’s right.”

Presley Stafford, who was standing at the side, added on, “Esme has created a name for herself in the business industry. She is our pride and honor. How can we sacrifice her just like that?”

“Besides, we’ve raised Eliza for 23 years. It’s time for her to repay our kindness.”

After Presley finished speaking, the family of three looked at Eliza, who was standing on the second floor.

Eliza’s fingers turned white from tightening her grip on her cup.

Everything was clear to her now.

The Lawson family wanted to establish good relations with the Valentine family. However, they didn’t want to send off Esme for the task. That was why they were thinking of sacrificing Eliza for the marriage.

Eliza heaved in a deep breath and walked downstairs. Then, she reached out her hand at Riley and said, “Let’s discuss the terms and conditions for this.”

Riley was confused as he asked, “What do you mean by that?”

“If you want me to pay off my debts by getting married to that man, it’s only fair for me to set up a contract between us. If I don’t do this, I’m sure you’ll still use the same excuse to force me to do all sorts of things for the Lawson family.”

Riley was shocked when he heard that. The rest of the family were stunned as well.

“You don’t want to do it? Fine.”

Grabbing a paper and pen, Eliza wrote down a few lines of words and signed the contract. “You don’t have to put on an act around me anymore. I agree to get married in Esme’s stead.”

After Eliza finished speaking, she went straight to the kitchen to get some water. Then, she walked upstairs.

Esme rushed towards the table and took the piece of paper.

Everything was written in black and white.

“I, Eliza Lawson, have hereby cleared my debts. I have repaid the Lawson family’s kindness of raising me for 23 years by getting married to the Valentine family.”

Everything went as the Lawsons wanted. It was almost unbelievable.

Esme looked up and stared at Eliza, who was walking up the stairs. She muttered, “Mum, is Eliza out of her mind? Is she really abandoning her boyfriend by agreeing to this?”

Almost instantly, Presley covered Esme’s mouth with her hand. Then, she looked up at Eliza. She was worried that Eliza might change her mind.

However, Eliza had heard everything.

She laughed bitterly. Two days ago, she still had a boyfriend, who was in a relationship with her for 6 years. Her boyfriend was a good person who was willing to give up everything for her.

But now, everything perished in front of her eyes.

Eliza thought that it didn’t matter who her marriage partner was. After all, the only difference was that she would only be living in another place.

……

Three days later, Eliza arrived at the Valentine family.

Mr. Valentine did not register their marriage right away. Instead, he wanted her to live in the family’s villa for a period of time before making the decision.

Although none of the women in Krine was willing to be married to this man, Mr. Valentine wouldn’t just marry any other woman either. In other words, he was also a picky man.

Riley informed Eliza that she must establish a good relationship with Mr. Valentine. After they got married, Riley hoped that the Valentines would provide funding for Lawson’s Group.

At night.

Eliza sat inside the bedroom quietly as she waited for Mr. Valentine’s arrival.

“Pop!” After she heard that sound, the entire villa was shrouded in darkness. It seemed like there was a power outage.

Facing the total darkness, Eliza trembled with fear.

She was really afraid of the dark.

After what happened to her five years ago, she was terrified of the dark. She would even need to switch on her night light at her bedside for her to fall asleep peacefully.

Now that she was in a new environment, she was already worried in the first place. She couldn’t believe that there would be a power failure the moment she entered the household.

Subconsciously, Eliza hugged her knees as she shivered in the dark.

She was so terrified that she didn’t even notice that the door swung open.

In pitch-black darkness, she could feel something touching her legs and it got onto her hands as well.

A cold and slimy substance was rubbing on her hands continuously.

All of a sudden, Eliza’s complexion turned pale and the blood drained from her face.

She let out a scream of fright as she retreated backward. As she was backing off, she hit her back against the ice-cold wall. It was so painful that she almost fainted.

In the dark, the unknown creature kept crawling towards her.

A low and hoarse voice echoed into the air as it said, “My wife, my beloved wife, I’m… I’m your husband…”

All of a sudden, the lights in the room lit up.

Finally, Eliza could see the creature in front of her.

It was a man with a distorted face!

Looking closely, he didn’t resemble a man at all…

The man had a hunched back and he looked like a dwarf. Even his hands and legs were in black. She couldn’t figure out what was wrong with his arms and legs.

Clad in a bathrobe, he laid on the bed as he stared at her with his black and hollow eyes.

His face…

That wasn’t a face at all. There were a lot of scars on it and his facial features were contorted in different angles. He looked like a monster from the depths of hell!

“Ahhhh!”

Even though Eliza was mentally prepared to meet Mr. Valentine, she couldn’t suppress her fear when she saw the creature in front of her calling out her name.

Mr. Valentine giggled as he said, “Oh my pretty wife, why are you screaming? Are you afraid of me?”

“You’ve already agreed to get married to me…”

Eliza was almost going crazy!

Shivering from head to toe, she crawled down the bed frantically as she stormed outside. She wouldn’t even dare to look back as she ran.

Eliza was so frantic that she didn’t even realize that she had knocked into a flower pot in the corridor and hurt herself.

“Hahaha!”

When Eliza disappeared into the hallway, the ‘man’ on the bed crawled out from his bathrobe. He took off his mask and gloves, revealing his mischievous and adorable face. “Don’t even dream about being my mother!”

The small kid jumped down the bed and ran towards the study excitedly. Then, he said, “Bro, I scared another woman away!”

In the study, a little boy, who looked exactly the same as him, lowered his head as he read his book. He replied in a soft tone, “Okay.”

The little kid felt angry as he sat on his chair. He said unhappily, “Do you even care for our daddy? It’s obvious that he refuses to get married, but grandpa still insists on finding him another fiancé. This is the third one, you know?”

The kid’s brother raised his eyebrows as he replied, “Yeah.” He seemed unusually mature for his young age.

The little kid was speechless when he heard his brother’s reply.

Though his brother was smart, he had a cold personality and he didn’t like to talk much. The boy was exactly like his father!

The little kid flattened his lips and ran towards the main study on the third floor. He pushed the door and said, “Mr. Beau Valentine, I have to say, I’m not impressed by your third fiancé!”