Chapter 2Pretended Ugly, Married the Heiress

The wedding march came to an abrupt halt.

The undisguised mockery and contempt from the guests nearly swallowed me whole.

"How humiliating! He can't even keep his own woman!"

"I told you so. How could Diana, the heir to the Peters family, actually marry such an ugly freak!"

"I bet Miss Diana regretted it. I mean, with that face, you'd have nightmares just looking at it at night!"

My knuckles turned white as I gripped the bouquet. In my line of sight, Diana was staring intently at her phone screen.

On it was a shocking crimson photo of slashed wrists.

She looked up, her face full of anxiety, her eyes showing a hint of guilt and pleading as she looked at me.

"Julian, Manuel slit his wrists. He's in the hospital being resuscitated right now!"

"I have to go. Wait for me to come back, and I'll definitely give you an explanation!"

I looked at her coldly, my voice not loud, yet it carried clearly throughout the silent chapel.

"Diana, if you walk out that door today, we're completely finished."

The moment my words fell, Diana's footsteps suddenly froze.

She turned around, her face full of struggle.

"Julian..."

But the next second, from her bridesmaids behind her, one of her childhood friends loudly chimed in:

"Diana, just go! Julian loves you so much, he's not going anywhere, right?"

"Besides, with Julian looking like that, who would dare to steal him away!"

Sharp laughter instantly filled the entire banquet hall.

I ignored those voices, just quietly watched Diana, and said word by word:

"If you dare to leave today, I dare to marry someone else."

She froze for a moment, then a smile I'd never seen before appeared at the corners of her mouth.

"Julian, stop making a fuss. Besides me, who else would want you?"

"Wait for me to come back, I'll definitely make it up to you!"

With that, she turned around without hesitation and rushed out of the wedding hall resolutely.

The moment the door closed, what surfaced in my mind was three years ago, the day I first met Diana.

I was being surrounded and humiliated for being ugly, and she descended like a god, draping her coat over me.

She gently wiped the dirt from my face with a handkerchief, her voice as tender as spring water:

"Don't listen to them. You're good-looking."

Back then, her eyes were clean and sincere.

But now...

A mocking smile curved at my lips.

She was certain I was ugly, certain I couldn't leave her, so she dared to trample my dignity so brazenly.

Under all those sympathetic yet contemptuous gazes, I calmly pulled off my tie and threw it on the ground.

I turned around and walked toward the dressing room without looking back.

Sitting in front of the vanity mirror, I picked up a wet wipe and slowly wiped my cheeks.

The dense acne marks were wiped away, revealing a handsome, striking face.

The door opened, and my mother walked in. Looking at me, she sighed heavily.

"Julian, the Williams family sent someone. They're asking about the arranged marriage again..."

Before she could finish, my phone vibrated with a buzz.

It was a message from Diana on SnapChat:

[Julian, Manuel's been resuscitated. He's very scared. I need to stay with him tonight. Let's postpone the wedding, okay?]

Immediately after, there was a new notification on Ins—it was Manuel's post.

A photo of Diana peeling an apple for him at his bedside, her profile gentle and focused.

The caption read: [As long as you abandon everything for me, that's enough.]

A mocking arc formed at the corner of my mouth. Just as I was about to block and delete both of them, Diana's call came through.

"Julian, issue a statement saying you suddenly fell ill, that's why we canceled the wedding."

"Manuel can't handle stress... and besides, you don't like seeing people anyway."

Don't like seeing people?

Ha! Just because I'm ugly, my emotions don't matter to her?

I couldn't be bothered to deal with Diana anymore and hung up directly.

Then, facing the mirror, I used makeup remover to wipe away the makeup on my face bit by bit.

A stunningly handsome face appeared in the mirror, striking enough to shock anyone.