Chapter 3

Trinity's POV

A man slowly strode over the grass and walked toward my direction.

The setting sun poured its light down behind him, drawing a tall and strong silhouette. His face was hidden in shadow, but the noble aura he revealed attracted everyone's attention.

All the women on the spot inhaled and soon became quiet.

My heart beat faster.

The man had long legs. His body was straight, and his steps were steady. As he walked nearer and nearer, his chiseled features gradually showed up in the light. What a delicate face! It was like he had magic on him that made others unable to remove their eyes away from him.

"How handsome he is! Do the Vaughan pack all look like this?" Briana exclaimed.

"Briana," Marisa scolded her in a low voice.

I once thought that Trystan was the most good-looking man in the world, but compared to this man, Trystan was more like the son of a landlord in the countryside. His clothes and his behavior all looked vulgar. 

Trystan might feel challenged, and his expression became serious. He looked at the man unfriendly.

"You must be from the Vaughan pack," Marisa grinned and walked forward to greet him.

"I'm Antoine Vaughan," the man answered in a cold voice. Everyone was stunned.

He was the man I was going to marry. I stiffened and didn't know how to react at the moment.

He nodded slightly at Marisa and then walked past the others and straight toward me.

Antoine stopped in front of me. He was so tall that he was like a mountain to me. He lowered his head and looked at me. "So, you are my bride."

I was so anxious that I couldn't say anything but nod.

"Sorry for the delay. Something held me up." His voice was deep and soft.

My limbs seemed not to belong to me. I didn't know what to do or where to land my eyes.

When I was panicking, my eyes accidentally met his eyes. His eyes were bright and clear. 

And the way he looked at me. I could feel my cheek burning. I was so shy that I had to lower my head to avoid his gaze.

"Let's begin," he said.

Marisa instantly asked a maid to invite the host. Usually, the host of a wedding ceremony of werewolves would be one of the elders in the pack. This time, it was the eldest in the Webb pack.

 

The elder recited some ancient charms of blessing which I was listening to carefully. When I calmed down a little, I began to observe this man beside me secretly. His suit was old and had pilling in some places. But it didn't look sloppy on him. Actually, I didn't doubt that anything would look good on him.

It seemed that the hearsay was true. He was poor and couldn't afford to buy a new suit for the wedding. Or he just thought it wasn't worthy of doing so.

The elder interrupted my thoughts, "Bride and groom, for some reason, you can't swear to the Moon Goddess now. As a substitute, you can exchange rings as your proof of oath that you accept each other completely and will never separate."

The word "substitute" rang the bell in my mind.

Suddenly, I felt an oppressive aura arose around me. I hadn't experienced such a strong aura before. When I thought I might be suffocated to die, the aura disappeared.

The elder suddenly began to cough hard. I looked around. The others all seemed not to notice anything. I almost thought that it was my illusion.

I was startled and raised my head to look at Antoine. He had no expression on his face.

"Sorry. I forgot about it," he shrugged.

Briana said in a surprised tone, "How can a groom forget the wedding ring? Poor Trinity. That's so humiliating."

Her voice was not loud but was enough for other guests to hear it. They began to whisper. Everyone was looking at me with interest, waiting for me to take a pratfall. What could be better than seeing a drama play at a boring wedding?

Marisa was dissatisfied, but she still maintained her elegance. She asked, "Antoine, do you think you can get one as soon as possible?"

Antoine didn't answer. His eyes fixed on me, seeming to be waiting for my response.

Since I didn't expect anything from this marriage at the beginning, I didn't care if I had a wedding ring or not. So I looked at him, smiled, and said, "I don't need a ring. Just skip this."

I could sense the disappointment from the others who were expecting a quarrel or something. The corner of Antoine's mouth quirked up. He held my hands as an apology, and his thumbs gently stroked the back of my hands.

My heart almost jumped out of my mouth, and I couldn't breathe smoothly. But I didn't withdraw my hands.

My heart drummed as I turned my eyes away. I was sure that Antoine could hear it. Because he was so close to me, and I could see his lips curved from the corner of my eyes.

In order to slow down my heartbeat, I tried to focus my attention on something else. So, I landed my eyes on his hands. His fingers were slender, and his nails were clean and well-shaped. They didn't look like they belonged to a slovenly or hard-working man.

Suddenly, I noticed the watch on his wrist. Although I didn't have many accessories, Marisa and Briana liked to buy and talk about luxuries. So, I also knew some famous brands.

I recognized it was Patek Philippe. But I hadn't seen this style before.

Marisa had wanted to have a watch of this brand for a long time, but it was too expensive even for her.

How could Antoine have such an expensive watch?