It's almost Mid-Autumn Festival, yet the air is still stiflingly hot. Is this really autumn? But C City has always been this way, the cold air is slow to arrive, or perhaps a few rain showers would help. Charlotte Miller watched as the plane slowly descended. Sitting inside the cabin, she could almost feel the wind outside swirling dust into the air, like a light gray veil draping over the world...
She returned for her sister's wedding, so she didn't bring any luggage, just a large backpack that seemed about to swallow up her petite frame.
"Charlotte..." As she moved with the crowd, her mother's voice reached her ears. She admired her mother's ability to spot her in such a crowd, especially since it had been two years since her last visit. Her hair had grown longer, and she seemed to have lost some weight.
"Mom, why are you here?" Her mother never liked going out. Although she loved her dearly, personally picking up from the airport was unlike her mother. Charlotte noticed something unusual, an anxiety between her mother's brows and eyes.
Her mother had always been a gentle and serene lady of the house, rarely showing such an expression, if ever. What had happened?
"I'll tell you in the car." Freya Morgon frowned, her heart weighed with a heavy stone. She didn't know how to speak, but she had no choice but to do so.
The car door closed, sealing away the outside clamor. The soundproofing was truly excellent, creating two separate worlds inside and outside the car. The air conditioning inside was so cool that Charlotte's exposed, delicate wrists felt a slight chill when she rolled up her sleeves.
Freya softly instructed the driver, "Head to the Civil Affairs Bureau." She then looked at the girl beside her. There was some resemblance between Charlotte and Luna, but Charlotte's eyes were warmer and brighter, and when she smiled, it was like a pool of spring water.
"Charlotte, your sister eloped with Jack Smith." Speaking of this in front of the driver, Freya felt somewhat ashamed, but there was no time left. Atlas Hallow was a very punctual person, and they had to reach the Civil Affairs Bureau before he arrived.
"Jack Smith?" Charlotte hadn't heard of this name before. Someone named North indeed piqued curiosity.
"The wedding three days from now must still go on, but the bride has to be swapped mid-way. Charlotte, do you understand what I mean? I know it's hard to accept. If there was any other way, I wouldn't ask you to marry into the Hallow Family, but right now, I have no options." Freya spoke with extreme difficulty. No mother wishes to bet on her daughter's happiness, but the Miller Family no longer had the privilege to bet.
Charlotte was now merely a sacrificial offering put on the altar, or perhaps a gift to the Hallow Family.
"Mom, you're saying the bride has to be me?" Charlotte's bright eyes blinked slightly, her trembling lashes revealing her disbelief. She had not yet finished her studies, she was just twenty-one, and now she was to marry a man she had never met?
The most absurd part was that this man had almost become her brother-in-law?
The influence of the Hallow Family in C City was self-evident. Even someone detached from worldly affairs like her had heard about it. But can they truly bend the will to such an extent? She believed if there was any other way, her mother wouldn't have led her onto this path. Yet, with the Hallow Family's power and wealth, couldn't they marry any woman they desired?
"Why does he want to marry my sister? Did she voluntarily agree to marry him? Even if I agreed to marry him, would he be willing to marry me?" Sitting in the car, Charlotte's innocent face was filled with confusion and doubt.
"It's not him, but the Hallow Family. The Hallow Family specifically named a daughter from the Miller Family." Freya sighed lightly, her heart tangled in countless entanglements, seemingly impossible to break free from.
The Miller Family's daughter, what's so special about a daughter from the Miller Family? Is it that a wealthy family needs a refined, gentle lady of the house like her mother? But neither she nor her sister were like their mother's gentle wisdom. Her sister was dazzling and outgoing, whereas she was so quiet she preferred her own company. No one was like their mother, who was a woman as gentle as water.
So it turns out her sister wasn't willing. Charlotte had always thought her sister, being so beautiful and charming, attracting the likes of a mythical business mogul was unsurprising. The union of wealth and beauty was not uncommon in this era. Little did she know her family had hidden so much from her.