Chapter 3

The moment I stepped into my bedroom, the tears I'd been holding back came pouring out like a broke dam.

Every corner of my room still bore traces of Enzo's, Otto's, Marcela's, and Raphael's thoughtfulness, but I knew that everything had already changed, and there was no going back.

I dried my tears and gathered everything they'd given to me over the years, including the nightlight Marcela personally crafted, the custom body pillow Raphael ordered, the special aromatic blend Enzo created, and the thousand paper cranes Otto folded for me.

I packed them all into a cardboard box and instructed the butler to take it away and burn it.

New messages kept popping up on my phone in the group chat that had the six of us in it, including Lia. Lia had posted photos of herself cooking in the kitchen.

"Miria, I noticed that you didn't eat dinner, so I made your favorite beef stew."

Marcela was the first to respond, sending her a thumbs-up emoji. "You're the kindest person I've ever met, Lia."

The next to respond was Enzo, who sent her a sticker of petting her on the head. "That's very thoughtful of you, Lia. You barely ate anything either. Make sure to save a bowl for yourself."

Raphael tagged me outright in the group and wrote, "If you were just half as kind and understanding as Lia, @Miria, I would even have considered proposing to you at the banquet tomorrow."

In the meantime, I saw that Otto kept typing a message for a while, but after a long moment of silence, he deleted his message the moment it was sent. Yet, I still managed to catch a glimpse of it before he deleted it.

"Lia, the person marrying you would be the luckiest person alive."

Lia responded to their messages with three "embarrassed" emojis.

So, as it turned out, the kindness that the men had shown to me was just part of their mission, and marrying me was simply something they were forced to do.

I immediately exited and deleted the group chat before blocking all of their numbers and social media.

A knock sounded at the door, and Lia walked in with a tray in her hands.

"Miria? I've brought you some stew."

When I remained silent, she picked up the bowl and walked over to me.

"How about I feed you?" she asked, moving the bowl toward my lips. I instinctively reached out to push the bowl away, but the moment my hand grazed the rim, the bowl shattered across the floor, spilling stew everywhere.

The door burst open, and Lia hurriedly dropped to her knees, weeping as she gathered the broken shards on the floor.

"I know that you're still mad at me, Miria, but you really shouldn't hurt yourself just to spite me."

Enzo was the first one to rush up to us. He quickly lifted Lia up with concern, anxiously checking her hands. "Lia! Are you hurt?"

Marcela glared at me ferociously. "You really are vicious!"

Raphael grabbed my wrist without even realizing that the entire back of my hand was scalded and swollen. "I take back the part about proposing to you. You can't even compare to Lia's pinky toe at all!"

Otto didn't even say a word before marching up to Lia and picking her up bridal-style. "Get the Famiglia doctor at once."

Then, the four of them stormed out of my room without sparing me another glance, slamming the door behind them.

I reached out, staring at the reddened, blistering back of my hand, and the mark Raphael's fingers had left around my wrist. Yet, I couldn't feel any pain. All I felt was just a stuffy feeling in my chest that made me queasy.

Just then, Papa sent me a text message.

"Are you absolutely sure that you want to marry Lorenzo Vaccaro instead?"

A minute later, he sent another text message.

"There's still time for you to change your mind."

I replied without any hesitation, "I'm very sure, Papa. The engagement banquet tomorrow can go on as planned."

After a brief silence, I received one more message from him.

"Very well. Tomorrow's engagement banquet will be the grandest and most luxurious event Sivilly will ever see."