Chapter 3The Control Group

After breakfast, Leo disappeared into the study to handle some business. This left me vulnerable, and Seraphina, ever the enthusiast, seized the opportunity. She pulled me onto the sofa to help her choose a wedding dress. She and Leo were engaged, with the wedding just around the corner.

“Nora, what do you think of this one? Isn’t it divine?”

I glanced from her face to the glossy pages of the bridal catalogue. “It’s beautiful.”

“And this one?”

Another glance. “Also beautiful.”

“Nora,” she began, flipping a page with feigned casualness, “I heard you and Rich never had a wedding ceremony.”

I took a loud crunch of my apple. CRUNCH. A beat later, I replied, “We didn’t.”

Seraphina gasped, her hand flying to her lips in theatrical shock. “Rich wouldn’t even give you a wedding?”

I shook my head, offering a simple explanation. “I was the one who didn’t want one.”

Our marriage was an arrangement between two powerful families, a merger of assets, not hearts. There were no feelings involved. Before we signed the papers, he had asked me, “When would you like to have the wedding? A church or a beach ceremony?”

At the time, I held no grand illusions about our union. We were strangers who knew each other only by name. The thought of standing before a priest, exchanging rings and a kiss with a man I didn’t know… it was absurd.

“Let’s just skip it,” I’d said without a second thought. “It feels pointless.”

I remember how he’d watched me then, his gaze deep and unreadable. After a long silence, he’d simply agreed.

Whenever anyone asked, he told them it was his decision not to have a ceremony, shouldering all the gossip and judgment himself.

Seraphina seemed not to have heard me, lost in her own monologue. “Every woman dreams of her perfect wedding day,” she lamented, her voice dripping with sympathy for me. “How could Rich deny you that?”

Seeing her pitying look, I decided it wasn’t worth explaining further. I just stayed silent.

“Leo told me he’s going to give me the wedding of the century,” she went on, her tone a delicate blend of complaint and boast. “I told him not to be so extravagant, but he insisted. He said he would never give me a single reason to regret marrying him.”

She sighed dramatically. “But all of these gowns are just so exquisite. I’m completely overwhelmed with choices!”

It was a performance of blissful agony, and her fans online were eating it up.

[Leo spoils her so much! Seraphina is the luckiest woman alive.]

[This is what I’m here for! Sera and Leo are so sweet, it’s giving me a toothache.]

[Talk about a reality check. Look at Nora’s face, she’s totally sour.]

[Can you blame her? Her marriage is just a business deal. I bet Rich was the one who refused to have a wedding.]

“Nora, my head is spinning,” Seraphina said, pushing the catalogue towards me. “Why don’t you pick one for me?”

I idly flipped through a few pages, then pointed to a design. “This one’s very elegant.”

Seraphina gave it a dismissive glance. “The waistline isn’t very flattering.” She snapped the book shut. “Oh, never mind. I’ll just have Leo help me choose later. He has impeccable taste.”