Chapter 3

"Of course not." Cecilia walked over with a smile. "Everyone knows just how Elina feels about Luca. Besides, even Don Lamond said that his illegitimate son was ruthless. Anyone who gets close to him could lose their life at any moment.

"Elina is a coward. She might just die from fear just before actually marrying that illegitimate son. She's hoping to become the future Donna here. How could she accept that?"

She spoke loudly, as if she were worried that other people could not hear her. Her mocking laughter echoed in the banquet hall.

In my previous life, I would have started trembling in the face of this mockery and looked to Luca helplessly for help.

But I did not.

I just stared at Cecilia's smug face coldly and said, "Whatever you say."

At this moment, all I wanted was to get away from the center of attention and be as far away from these people as possible.

So, I turned around and intended to step past Cecilia, but when I brushed shoulders against her, Cecilia suddenly moved and crashed into me. She also grabbed my hand and placed it on her shoulder.

Before I could react, I saw her let go of my hand and fall down with a scream. Her head struck the edge of a table, knocking over all the wine glasses on it. The glass shards from the red wine glasses splattered everywhere.

"Cecilia, are you okay?!" Luca lunged over and squatted next to her to help her up gingerly.

Cecilia was covered in red wine, and blood flowed from her head because it had hit the table.

She shrank into Luca's arms and wept. "Luca, Elina shoved me! I'm so scared…"

"I didn't!" I quickly defended myself, but when I saw the others' expressions, I could tell that they didn't believe me.

I gave a bitter smile to myself.

That made sense. If Cecilia dared to set me up right before everyone's eyes, she must have been ready. To them, I had pushed Cecilia, and I had no way to prove otherwise.

Luca helped her up and glared at me. "Elina, do you really think that you can do whatever you want just because you're about to get engaged to me? Apologize to Cecilia right now."

I met his gaze and repeated, "I told you before, I didn't do it."

"Slap!"

My head snapped to the side, and my mind went blank for a moment. Then, I tasted blood in my mouth.

"Stop lying. Elina, you disappoint me," Luca snapped in annoyance. "Everyone saw you push her. Why are you still trying to defend yourself? I'm already going to get engaged to you. Why are you still trying to antagonize Cecilia?

"Are you going to hang that favor from your father over my head for the rest of my life?"

When I saw his disappointed gaze, I remembered the first day I came to the Catani family.

My father had once been Don Lamond's underboss, and he died to protect Lamond. Then, Lamond brought me to the Catani family. He gave me the promise of marrying one of his sons and that this son would become his successor.

On the first day I saw him, Luca said, "Don't be scared. I'll protect you."

However, he had clearly already forgotten his promise and even saw our engagement as a burden and a way for me to threaten him.

When they saw that the argument was getting heated, some people wondered whether they should step in to stop it, but they did not dare come forward. To them, Luca was already the future Don. No one dared to make him angry at this point.

"Looks like you still haven't learned your lesson," Luca said coldly. "The future Donna of the Catani family cannot be a petty woman. Once we're engaged, you'd better work on that temper of yours."

Engaged?

I laughed. "Luca, I won't—"

Just then, a commotion outside the banquet hall interrupted my words.

Lamond had arrived.