Mr. Devilish's Substitute Bride

VALERIA “Yes! How did I not think of that?!” My mom was the first to leap to her feet, clapping her hands in excitement. Her eyes sparkled as she stared at me, and for some reason, my stomach twisted. Her expression reminded me of how a hungry dog might look at a fleshy bone. A disrespectful description, I know. But that's just how I felt. She continued, voice bright with enthusiasm, “Nessa and you are identical twins, and most importantly—when we made the agreement with that man, we never specified which daughter it would be!” "Shut up!" "Mom!" The moment those words left her lips, both my father and Aaron shouted at her in unison. Their sharp voices cut through the room, and for some reason, their reactions made my heart sink. If I hadn't seen it wrong, they seemed afraid. Anxious. But afraid of what? These two weren’t the type to lose composure over just anything. And then—my mom’s words echoed in my head again: "…and most importantly, when we made the agreement with that

AARON The issue hanging over our heads had finally been resolved—or so it seemed. But none of us still in the living room felt even remotely relieved. Especially me. I stared at the spot where Valeria had disappeared, my heart weighed down by a tangle of emotions I couldn’t name. I turned toward Dad, hoping to make sense of things, but my attention caught on Mom first. She was fidgeting, her eyes glued to the staircase, unable to hide the worry etched into her features. To be honest, I still don’t fully understand the kind of person my mother is. For all her outward affection and devotion, she’s always been someone who prioritizes her own interest above everything else. A calculative person. Yet, there were moments when she didn’t seem like that. Moments like now. Moments she seemed genuine, controlled by emotions, rather than reason. It made it hard to judge which side was the real her—if either even was. It was exactly because of how unpredictable she was, that, when Da

VALERIANot long after Mrs Hale left, one of the helpers around the house came to knock in the door. She told me that the people sent by the man I would be marrying were here. I wasn't surprised to hear that my to-be groom himself didn't come since I didn't consider myself important enough to make him who had never shown his face do so now.Honestly, I would be lying if I were to say that I wasn't nervous or apprehensive about the fact that I would be marrying a man I knew virtually nothing about. Nothing except for what the public generally rumored him to be - Ruthless, Vicious, Heartless.There were more, but they all roughly meant the same thing - that my groom-to-be wasn't exactly what you would call a good person.But thankfully, I had a trump card in my hand and planned to use it to negotiate with him. Initially, the trump card was meant to be used to negotiate with my dad to exchange for my freedom when the time came for him to choose me a husband that would help the family's bu

VALERIABefore today or rather before meeting the man before me, I had no idea that I even had a special fetish for voices or that it would even affect me that much. The only thing I knew was that after I heard him speak, my insides literally turned into mush and I had to use a hundred percent of my willpower while biting my lips to keep myself from making a funny sound. While I do feel some regret at the fact that he and I had happened to meet at the wrong time, I also felt fortunate at the same time. Fortunate that all I was feeling towards him at the moment was nothing more than pure attraction and not love at first sight.The former I knew would fade over time because although he was my ideal type come true, I hadn't really gotten to know him that well so except for feeling some regret every now and then whenever I remember him, nothing would really change. However, the latter would definitely have been a huge problem.From the time I stepped forward to apologize to the time I fel

ZANE(In my study)Valeria and I sat facing each other. I saw her look around the room and then exclaim. "Woah. Your boss treats his employees a little bit too good, ain't it?""Who would have thought that in addition to having your own room, you would also have your personal study INSIDE your boss's own house! That's too good of a treatment even for an exclusive assistant."Her words made me involuntarily raise my eyebrows as I thought inwardly to myself.'Did she really not suspect my true Identity at all or was she just pretending not to?'Not to mention the fact that the lies I told her about myself were full of obvious loopholes, the truth was that I never really planned to hide my true Identity from her (of course I meant the one on the surface here) since she would sooner or later know of it after we leave Meteor City for the Capital.Yes, you got that right. I am not a native of Meteor City. I only came here about a year ago which also happened to be the time when I got betra