Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

The maroon satin dress felt like a noose tightening around Vivienne Sterling’s self-confidence. Standing before the large mirror in the restroom of a luxury hotel downtown, she stared at her reflection with restrained breaths.

One hundred fifty-eight centimeters tall, eighty kilograms in weight. Two years ago, when she walked down the wedding aisle, her body had been slim and well cared for, with a bright smile that had once made Dominic pause for a moment. But two years of living in a cold marriage filled with rejection changed everything. Stress, depression, and the loneliness that gnawed at her soul drove Vivienne to seek comfort in food until her body swelled out of control.

Ironically, after two years of marriage, let alone having a child, Dominic had never even touched her once. The man treated her as nothing more than an outdated decoration, a humiliating virgin wife.

“Are you planning to hide in here until the event is over, Vivienne?”

That cold baritone voice shattered Vivienne’s thoughts. Dominic Thorne, her husband, stood by the connecting doorway in a custom-made suit that wrapped perfectly around his tall, well-built body. Perfect. A word that contrasted sharply with Vivienne’s appearance tonight.

Dominic walked closer, staring at his wife through the mirror reflection with hawk-like eyes that had never once shown warmth. “Stay close to me, don’t talk too much, and for God’s sake... don’t touch the food. Thorne Enterprises’ reputation is at stake tonight. The way you eat is embarrassing.”

Vivienne clenched her sweaty fingers, feeling the wedding ring that had become too tight around her chubby finger. “I know, Dominic. I won’t embarrass you.”

“Good,” Dominic replied shortly without interest before turning his back on his wife. “Let’s go.”

If it had not been for Dominic’s late grandmother insisting on arranging their marriage as repayment because Vivienne had once saved the old woman’s life, Dominic would never have willingly glanced at a poor girl without education like her. Dominic made sure Vivienne paid for that “obligation” with cruel neglect every single day. Even tonight, he only brought her because of his mother’s insistence, as the woman adored her plus-size daughter-in-law.

The moment they stepped into the grand ballroom, luxury immediately overwhelmed her senses. Towering ceilings decorated with crystal chandeliers, the clinking of champagne glasses, and the light laughter of socialites with model-like figures. Vivienne instinctively straightened her trembling shoulders, trying to endure the judgmental stares directed at her from the very first second.

“Oh, Dominic! You finally came!”

Several of Dominic’s business associates, elegant men from old noble families, approached with their partners who had ideal figures wrapped in couture gowns that exposed their beautiful collarbones.

Their eyes instantly shifted toward Vivienne, sweeping over her body from head to toe with obvious amusement. Instead of greeting her, one of Dominic’s friends, Lucas, laughed lightly while nudging Dominic’s shoulder.

“Dominic, your taste has seriously declined after breaking up with Giselle. I thought you brought a pig with you, but it turns out... it’s your wife?” Lucas mocked carelessly, triggering restrained laughter from the women around them.

Vivienne’s heart twisted as though stabbed by invisible needles. She glanced at her husband. Dominic’s jaw tightened for a brief moment—whether from offense at Lucas’s words or embarrassment, she could not tell—but the man simply offered a thin formal smile to ease the business tension. Dominic let the cruel joke pass just like that, as if confirming that Lucas’s words were not entirely wrong.

“Come on, Lucas. Don’t tease Dominic like that,” said a woman in a gold dress with fake sympathy, though her eyes looked at Vivienne with disgust.

Vivienne clenched her fists beneath the folds of her maroon dress until her nails turned white. The feeling of worthlessness and humiliation piled heavily in her chest, choking her throat until breathing became difficult.

Suddenly, the ballroom lights dimmed. The noisy atmosphere gradually fell silent as everyone’s attention shifted toward the main stage illuminated by a soft spotlight.

“Distinguished guests,” the host’s voice echoed through the speakers. “Tonight, we have a very special guest of honor. An artist who has just returned after conquering stages across Europe and America for the past five years. Please welcome... Giselle Moreau!”

The moment she heard that name, Vivienne felt Dominic’s body stiffen beside her. The hand holding his cocktail glass tightened until the veins protruded clearly.

A melancholic and dramatic piano melody began to flow. From behind the velvet curtains, a woman appeared. Giselle Moreau. She was the true embodiment of perfection. Tall, slender, and moving with extraordinary grace in a thin contemporary dance costume that displayed the ideal curves of her body.

Giselle danced with vivid emotion, telling a story of longing and regret. And in the middle of her mesmerizing performance, her eyes locked onto a single point in the crowd. The place where Dominic stood.

Vivienne slowly turned toward her husband. Her heart throbbed painfully as she saw the expression on Dominic’s face. The cold man stared at the stage without blinking. There was longing, admiration, and pure desire shining in his eyes—an expression he had never once given Vivienne throughout their two years of marriage.

The whispers around Vivienne became sharp once again.

“Look at that... their viral love story from five years ago clearly isn’t over yet.”

“It’s truly heaven and earth compared to the fat woman beside Dominic. Dominic must suffer every single day.”

Every word and every admiring glance toward Giselle became fuel that burned away the last remains of Vivienne’s patience. Her insecurity slowly disappeared, replaced by pure burning anger in her chest. She was tired of being the doormat in this forced marriage.

Thunderous applause filled the room as Giselle ended her dance in an elegant pose, and once again, her eyes locked onto Dominic.

“Giselle truly is a perfect work of art,” Lucas praised loudly, deliberately provoking them. “A real woman should have elegance like that in her blood. Right, Dominic?”

Dominic finally tore his gaze away from the stage. He turned toward Vivienne, seeing his wife’s flushed face and uneven breathing. Instead of embracing her, Dominic looked at her with a disgusted frown.

“What’s wrong with you, Vivienne? You’re sweating, and your appearance looks messy,” Dominic whispered sharply near her ear. “Go home first with the driver. Your presence here only embarrasses me in front of my colleagues.”

Bang.

Something inside Vivienne shattered. Her final line of defense broke into pieces. The heartbreak that had piled up for two years of neglect and untouched loneliness finally exploded into reckless courage.

Before Vivienne could turn around to leave, a familiar sweet fragrance drifted through the air. Graceful footsteps wrapped in thin fabric parted the crowd. Giselle Moreau suddenly stood directly before Dominic.

“How are you, Darling?” Giselle said, her voice flowing sweetly without shame.

The woman immediately wrapped her slender arms around Dominic’s neck. And right before Vivienne’s eyes, Dominic—the man who always behaved like an untouchable block of ice—looked completely alive. Without hesitation, Dominic returned the embrace, holding his former lover’s slim waist tightly in front of hundreds of noble guests.

“Well... it seems like old love is about to bloom again,” Lucas commented provocatively, triggering meaningful smiles from the surrounding guests.

Vivienne’s blood boiled hot, rushing all the way to the top of her head. Her plump fingers clenched so tightly at her sides that her knuckles turned white, suppressing the violent trembling spreading from her chest throughout her body. Her breathing grew heavier and faster beneath the cut of the maroon dress that now felt suffocating. Vivienne’s chest tightened, no longer because of her weight, but because her dignity had just been crushed into ruins.

She would not allow herself to be destroyed as a pathetic joke.

With a rough motion, Vivienne stepped forward. Her curvy body stood tall, her chin lifted high against the wave of judgmental stares surrounding her. Her sudden and forceful movement instantly broke Dominic and Giselle’s intimacy.

Vivienne stared directly into Dominic’s cold eyes before shifting her sharp gaze toward Giselle. Her voice no longer trembled. Instead, it rang out loudly, clearly, and firmly, cutting through the remaining conversations around them until several tables suddenly fell silent.

“If everyone here admires elegance so much... then I can dance just like my husband’s first love too!”

The grand hall instantly fell silent like a graveyard. Dominic’s eyes widened, blazing with horror and fury at his wife’s audacity. Meanwhile, from the darkest and most exclusive VIP balcony, that silence instead captured the attention of four pairs of eyes that had been watching the boring event with cold expressions.

Four pairs of eyes belonging to the most powerful men in the country were now completely focused on the woman in the maroon dress who had just ignited the flames of war in the middle of the ballroom.