CHAPTER 1: CHAPTER 1: DO YOU THINK I WANT TO MARRY YOU?

Fate is unpredictable, and you are destined.

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"It hurts..."

A tearing pain suddenly attacked, causing Ann Vaughn to cry out in surprise. Just as she was about to say something, a strong smell of alcohol choked her, leaving her momentarily dazed.

It’s him.

"Cynthia, Cynthia..."

A soft, indulgent murmur suddenly spilled from Cyrus Hawthorne’s lips. The dark eyes that always looked at Ann Vaughn with only detachment and disdain were unexpectedly gentle.

Ann Vaughn’s delicate body stiffened. She opened her eyes wide, looking at Cyrus Hawthorne in disbelief, her heart filled with a flood of embarrassing emotions.

"Cynthia..." Cyrus Hawthorne didn’t notice her shock and abnormality, his dark eyes were intoxicated.

Smack—

Ann Vaughn’s shoulders trembled, unable to endure it anymore, she lifted her arm and slapped Cyrus Hawthorne across the face!

"Cyrus Hawthorne, look closely, I am Ann Vaughn, the wife you married into the Hawthorne Family, not my sister Cynthia Vaughn!"

Throughout this half-year of marriage with Cyrus Hawthorne, their relationship as husband and wife was just a facade. Unless it was to see Grandpa Hawthorne, he wouldn’t even return home.

Ann Vaughn still remembers how Cyrus Hawthorne humiliated her on their wedding night, saying she was nothing but a pawn in a transaction between the two families. Even if she tried her best to marry into the Hawthorne Family, she shouldn’t expect him to touch her.

She had long been in love with someone else, and Cyrus Hawthorne also didn’t love her, yet the two of them were inexplicably bound together.

But no matter what, she couldn’t stand being treated as a substitute by Cyrus Hawthorne!

The slap was so heavy that Cyrus Hawthorne’s chaotic mind gradually cleared. He lowered his head, his dark eyes touching Ann Vaughn’s face filled with humiliation and stubbornness.

In an instant, all the tenderness faded away, leaving only coldness and disgust.

"Ann Vaughn," Cyrus Hawthorne gritted his teeth, glaring at the damn woman before him, his handsome face full of anger, "You know exactly how much of your schemes and plots were involved in this marriage!"

Ann Vaughn was stung by his words, her eyes welled up, "Do you think I wanted to marry you? Cynthia ran away..."

"Shut up!" Cyrus Hawthorne angrily interrupted her words with a sneer, "At this point, do you still want to accuse Cynthia? If it weren’t for something you did, why would she remain missing?"

Who else but Ann Vaughn could benefit the most from Cynthia Vaughn’s disappearance?

If it weren’t for Grandpa insisting on him marrying Ann Vaughn, he would never have let her into the Hawthorne Family!

"I didn’t!" Ann Vaughn bit her lip wanting to argue, but the thought of her parents pleading with their lives suddenly silenced her.

She couldn’t say.

If she hadn’t married Cyrus Hawthorne half a year ago, she would still be a student at The Herbalist Hospital, and wouldn’t have been forced to leave school because the Hawthorne Family disapproved of herbal medicine.

No matter how deeply wronged Ann Vaughn felt, she could only swallow it silently.

Seeing that Ann Vaughn couldn’t utter a single word of defense, Cyrus Hawthorne was more convinced of her ulterior motives, chuckling coldly.

"Didn’t you try everything to replace Cynthia? Then don’t be pretentious, bear it all!"

Ann Vaughn struggled to push him away, but how could her strength compete with his madness?

In that moment, she saw a gleam of revenge in his eyes...