Chapter 5

After a few moments, the door leading into the private room was pushed open, and two men walked in.

One of them was wearing a silver mask and had a slender figure. He slowly walked in as the hotel lights beamed on him. The eyes hidden beneath the mask were as dark as ink; he exuded the presence of a king.

He was covered up tightly, wearing a high-collared shirt under a long coat. They couldn’t even see his neck.

The other man was someone tall and lithe, his brown bangs covering the other half of his face. His eyes were beautiful, like light shining through the darkness.

“My apologies for the long wait.” The masked man glanced at everyone from the Hunt family before looking at Eden sitting in the chair, who didn’t even glance at him when he came in. He quickly withdrew his attention.

When the masked man opened his mouth, everyone from the Hunt family stood up.

“We’ve only just arrived, Alain. Please have a seat.” Catherine’s voice was respectful.

Even though they had never seen Alain in person, the rumors of his face being disfigured were well-known. They didn’t even have to guess to know that the one wearing the mask was Alain Ward.

“We will be family soon, so don’t worry about it. Have a seat.” Even though Alain was wearing a mask, and they couldn’t see his face, just speaking with him was already putting a lot of pressure on the rest of the Hunt family.

Even someone like Catherine, who had decades of experience and had seen so much the world had to offer, didn’t dare look Alain in the eye. It felt as if those eyes belonged to a wolf stalking in the shadows at night, capable of shredding her with a glance.

The members of the Hunt family sat down, all with fawning smiles, except for Eden.

“Hello. I’m Horace Brooks,” the other man said, giving them his name and saying nothing else.

Everyone’s expression changed. Horace was from Rielton City’s Brooks family. They didn’t expect that he would attend the engagement banquet as well.

They heard that Alain and Horace were good friends... The rumors weren’t fake.

After introducing themselves, Alain simply nodded. The Hunts were afraid of him, and no one dared to speak first.

Melinda, who was next to Eden, tugged at Eden’s sleeves, signaling for her to proactively speak to Alain. She didn’t even glance at Melinda.

After a long time had passed, no one else entered the private room. Catherine felt compelled to ask Alain, “Alain, when are your parents coming?”

Alain raised his eyebrow and said, “They have something else on and won’t be attending. It’s fine. The engagement is just a formality.”

He scanned everyone’s faces for a while before stopping at Jasmine. He then placed his arm on the desk, slightly slouching. “You must be Jasmine Hunt.”

Jasmine froze. When her eyes met Alain’s inquisitive stare, she quickly looked down.

Melinda thought that Alain didn’t know they'd switched and was worried that he would fall for Jasmine, refusing to marry no one else but her. Melinda anxiously explained, “Since Jasmine isn’t eighteen yet, it won’t be appropriate for her to be engaged to you. That’s why we’ve decided to have my eldest, Eden, marry you instead.”

“Oh?” Alain’s tone was raised, but he said nothing else.

His black eyes moved behind the mask, and they fell on Catherine. He stared at her, as if waiting for an explanation.

Catherine could feel her heart skip a beat, and she said, “Please don’t misunderstand our intentions. Even though Eden isn’t biologically related to us, she’s still Edmund’s stepdaughter. She’s still a daughter of the family.”

Horace, who had remained quiet the whole time, suddenly chuckled. It sounded a lot like a jeer. “Really? How does a stepdaughter compare to a lady from the Hunt family? Don’t tell me that once you were aware of Alain’s disfigurement and that he only had two years to live, you chose to have him marry a nobody?”

With that, Horace’s smile quickly faded, and his expression turned cold. “You’re quite brave, aren’t you? Are you mocking us?”

As soon as he said that, the entire Hunt family became anxious and could no longer sit still as they abruptly stood up.

“We would never!” Catherine said as her hands trembled and her voice broke. “We don’t have anyone of age. That’s why we’re forced to marry Eden off. If you insist on having Jasmine marry you, then the engagement...”

Catherine looked at Jasmine, clearly vexed, and finally said, “Maybe we can wait for Jasmine to turn eighteen before she gets engaged with you.”

In all honesty, Catherine wasn’t willing to marry Jasmine off to Alain.

Jasmine was precious to the Hunt family. All these years, Jasmine was the only one who could bring honor to their family name other than Jerred.

But Jerred had passed away. If Jasmine was gone too, she couldn’t even imagine what the future would bring to the Hunt family.

When the Ward family proposed for a marriage and specifically asked for Jasmine, she had no choice but to agree to it.

Afterward, Melinda said she could make Eden take Jasmine’s place. She believed that it was a good choice, but she didn’t expect that it would enrage Alain.

“Since you’re already dying, why drag the girl down with you? Can’t you see she doesn’t want to be a widow?” Just when everyone in the Hunt family was looking for a solution, Eden suddenly raised her head and said to Alain while she was still on her phone.

She said that in a very patronizing tone.

She was also drawing attention to herself.

The faces of everyone from the Hunt family became pale.

Melinda clenched her fists tightly and yelled, “What are you saying? Who told you that you could speak? Get out!”

Catherine was also quite incensed, but she controlled her anger because Alain was still around.

Daliah was the one who lost her temper first as she immediately pointed her finger at Eden and cursed, “You fool! You just won’t give up until the rest of the Hunt family is in trouble! Get out right now! The Hunt family doesn’t welcome you anymore!”

At this point, everyone knew that Alain didn’t want to marry Eden. They had finally lost all their patience and flew into a rage.

All of them started yelling at Eden, their words nothing short of humiliating her.

Meanwhile, Alain simply sat on his chair languidly with his arms folded. His black eyes were looking at Eden with astonishment.

From the moment he came in, the woman had not glanced at him even once. When even members of the Hunt family were scared of him, she showed no fear. She played with her phone as if everything happening in this room had nothing to do with her.

No matter who they were, when Alain was around, they would either fawn over him or quake in fear.

Except her. She was simply sitting there, relaxed and looking somewhat like a hooligan.

Faced with the curses from the Hunt family, she didn’t even blink. Her rosy lips formed a faint smile as the eyes under the baseball cap slowly lifted. Her ice-cold eyes looked at Alain, seemingly piercing his heart.

The two of them gazed at each other for a very long time before Alain turned his attention to Catherine, glancing at her before slowly saying, “Cursing my fiancée in front of me... Am I invisible to all of you?”

With just one sentence, Catherine was instantly stunned.

What did he mean by that?

His fiancée?

Alain was willing to accept Eden?

“Silence, all of you!” Catherine suddenly growled at the Hunt family, her wrinkled face hideous. “Apologize to Eden!”

Someone as cunning as her wouldn’t ask Alain if he wanted Eden.

She simply wanted to deal with this gracefully so that Alain’s anger could be quelled.