The Sophia Cathedral stood majestic and sacred under the golden sunlight.

Charlotte, dressed in a soft lavender gown with a matching floral wreath, looked as beautiful as a saint.

Today was the wedding day of her cousin, Olivia. As the maid of honor, witnessing her sister’s marriage brought her even more joy than if it were her own.

Gazing at the tightly closed church doors adorned with pink bouquets, Charlotte inhaled the sweet scent of roses and, with a smile, pushed the doors open.

But! The church was completely empty!

The pink guest seats, pink wreaths, and pink balloons were all arranged in a grand and elegant manner.

Yet the hall, which should have been bustling with excitement, was eerily silent.

What was going on?

The wedding was about to start—had all the guests vanished into thin air?

"My heart belongs only to you, not her..." Suddenly, a jarring ringtone shattered the silence. "Hello, is this Charlotte?"

The unfamiliar voice startled her for a moment. "Yes, it’s me."

"Hehe... Let me play something for you..." The voice on the phone let out a lewd chuckle, followed by a desperate female voice: "Charlotte... save me..."

Charlotte froze. Wasn’t that her cousin?

Her cousin was the bride today—why was she crying?

Before she could ask, the sneering voice returned: "We’ve kidnapped Olivia and her family! If you don’t want them to die, you’ll do exactly as I say!"

"What?!"

The words struck like a bolt from the blue!

Charlotte frantically demanded, "Who are you? What do you want? Don’t you dare do anything reckless... My sister is supposed to marry Henry today! Henry, the legendary head of the Whiteman family! Aren’t you afraid of their retribution?!"

The only response was her cousin’s piercing scream, followed by an eerie silence.

"Cousin! Cousin!" Charlotte shouted, panic gripping her. She struggled to regain her composure and yelled into the phone, "What do you want? What have you done to my cousin?!"

"I told you, you’ll do as I say."

"I’ll do anything, just please don’t hurt her!"

The man seemed pleased with her response. "Good girl. Don’t try to contact anyone. Do exactly as I say. Now, put on the wedding dress and take your sister’s place as the bride."

Charlotte’s eyes widened in disbelief. "What?!"

The man’s voice turned icy. "Enough. Don’t test my patience, and don’t even think about exposing me, or else..."

The line went dead with a series of beeps.

Charlotte immediately tried to call back. The phone rang, but no one answered. She then dialed her aunt and uncle’s numbers, but their phones were all turned off.

Could the kidnapper be telling the truth? Had they all been taken?

The sound of her cousin’s scream was all too real. There was no time to find them now.

With a determined clench of her teeth, Charlotte decided to face the challenge head-on. Now that her father was gone and her mother lay ill in bed, she was the only one left in the Mason family who could take charge.

Reluctantly, she made her way to the bridal dressing room.

"Are you Olivia?" a woman dressed in red, presumably the makeup artist, asked coldly upon seeing her.

Charlotte took a deep breath, forcing herself to remain calm, and nodded mechanically.

Half an hour later, Charlotte gazed at her reflection in the mirror. The pristine mermaid-style wedding gown and the exquisite bridal makeup were every woman's dream. Yet, she felt no joy. This was not the wedding she had envisioned.

Once the ceremony was over, she would get to the bottom of this. If she found out who had kidnapped her cousin's family, she would make sure they paid dearly.

Dressed in her wedding gown, she followed the makeup artist to a door.

"Go in," the makeup artist said emotionlessly.

Without much thought, Charlotte pushed the door open. But the sight of the room filled with "double happiness" characters and lavish decorations shattered her composure.

"This... looks like the bridal chamber?" Shouldn't the wedding ceremony come first?

"Yes, you're going straight to the bridal chamber now!" the makeup artist's eyes were icy cold.

"What? Straight to the bridal chamber after makeup? No wedding ceremony?" Charlotte was shocked. She had a sinking feeling that this wasn't a wedding but a sinister plot.

"Someone like you, dreaming of a wedding ceremony? In your dreams!" With that, the makeup artist waved her hand behind her. "Take her in!"

"Ah! How can you do this?" Charlotte tried to resist, but she was forcibly pushed into the bridal chamber.

Bang!

The door slammed shut from the outside...

Charlotte pounded on the door several times, but there was no response.

What's going on? Could it be the Whiteman family who kidnapped my cousin's family? But my cousin was supposed to marry into the Whiteman family. Why would they need to kidnap her family?

Thinking of the Whiteman family, she suddenly remembered the man her cousin was supposed to marry.

Henry, the young master of the Whiteman family, was now a figure that both the underworld and the upper echelons of City A spoke of with fear.

Henry himself wasn't terrifying; what made him fearsome was his prestigious background.

His grandfather, Old Master Edison whiteman, had started from scratch in his youth. With his ruthless tactics and sharp mind, he had made the Whiteman family a force to be reckoned with in just twenty years, causing competitors to steer clear.

Now, in all of City A, the Whiteman family was like the local emperor.

But the groom, Henry, was said to be blind, having suffered a severe illness in his childhood that left him with some disabilities. There were even rumors that he was infertile.

Thinking of her cousin marrying such a man, Charlotte felt a pang of pity. Wouldn't that be almost like living as a widow?

Before Charlotte could finish her thoughts, the previously unmoving door made a slight noise.

Someone was opening the door...

At this moment, it must be the groom!

Charlotte, like a startled rabbit, immediately turned her gaze toward the door.

"Emma! What am I going to do?" Charlotte's heart raced, her palms slick with sweat. She had managed to walk into the church and even don the bridal gown, but the thought of the wedding night... that was absolutely out of the question!

Her eyes were glued to the door, as if some monstrous beast was about to burst through. Slowly, almost ominously, the door creaked open on its own.

There stood a tall figure, but his attire was... unusual. Black sunglasses, short black hair, a black arrow-collared shirt, a black bow tie, a black tailcoat, and even his trousers and shoes were black. Charlotte frowned. If it weren't for her own pristine white wedding dress, she would have thought this man was attending a funeral, not a wedding.

Yet, the stark black of his suit only accentuated his strikingly pale and handsome face. His features were chiseled, his jawline sharp and defined. Even with half his face obscured by the sunglasses, it only added to his air of aloof nobility.

But his presence... it was cold, overpowering. Even from several meters away, Charlotte felt a shiver run down her spine, her arms breaking out in goosebumps.

Was this the legendary Henry? But wasn't he supposed to be disabled?