Chapter 9

"No choice? Was betraying me also no choice? Fine. Audrey, weren't you supposed to be dying? Do you want to explain? Alright! I'll grant your wish. My engagement to Heather is canceled. Instead, we're getting married next month. You'll prepare the wedding, and then I'll listen to your explanation once."

Audrey stared at Duncan in disbelief. He knew she loved him, yet he wanted her to prepare his wedding, to hand over the man she loved to another woman with her own hands.

His cruelty and coldness far exceeded her imagination.

But she had no choice. She didn't want to leave with his hatred.

He could marry another woman, but he couldn't hate her.

To be hated by the man she loved with all her heart—that was crueler than anything else.

Audrey couldn't accept such an outcome.

She wouldn't. Not even in death.

"Alright, I promise you. I'll help prepare your wedding, and you'll give me a chance to explain." These were probably the most difficult words Audrey had ever spoken in her life.

Her already wounded heart bled at the thought.

Duncan, unwilling to look at Audrey any longer, turned to leave. "Tomorrow, we'll choose the wedding dress. Show me your sincerity."

With that, the door slammed shut.

Audrey couldn't hold back and coughed up blood onto the floor. No amount of makeup could hide her weakness and pallor.

She collapsed on the ground, too weak even to lift a finger. It was a nurse doing rounds who found her and called for a doctor to rush her to the emergency room.

Regarding Audrey's condition, the hospital could only express helplessness. They couldn't diagnose her illness; it was a rare condition, perhaps even the first of its kind.

They could only use medications to alleviate her organ failure, but this merely treated the symptoms, not the cause.

The patient wouldn't live much longer.

Yet despite the severity of her condition, when Duncan called, she still agreed to go out.

At the entrance of Beloved Wedding Boutique, Duncan and Heather stood before her like a perfect couple.

Heather, arm linked with Duncan's, smiled dazzlingly yet piercingly. "Audrey, I'm surprised you're so punctual."

Audrey nodded, her gaze falling on Duncan's ice-cold face. However, Duncan, as if touched by something filthy, immediately averted his eyes and walked towards the boutique.

The boutique staff recognized Duncan, Heather, and Audrey.

But they had three distinctly different attitudes towards them.

Admiration for Duncan, envy for Heather. Only for Audrey did they show disdain and contempt.

She could only steel herself and walk in, hearing the staff's gossip around her.

"This woman is so shameless. She ran off with another man using Mr. Millington's money, and now she has the nerve to come back."

"Yeah! If I were her, I'd drown myself in a puddle of spit."

"Keep your voices down. This woman is cunning. Look, even though Miss Leverton is about to marry Mr. Millington, he still keeps her around."

Heather's gaze fell on Audrey, a flash of malice crossing her face before she turned to Duncan with a radiant smile. "Duncan, why don't you sit over there? Audrey and I will go to the fitting room to try on wedding dresses."

Duncan nodded, never once looking at Audrey.

Outside the fitting room, Heather said, "Audrey, could you try on the wedding dress a French designer custom-made for me? We have similar figures, so it’s most suitable for you to try it."

Audrey was stunned. Try on a wedding dress?

She had never worn a wedding dress in her life. Who would have thought that her first time would be trying one on for the fiancée of the man she loved? How laughable! How ironic!