Just as I wrapped up a top-secret project, my mother called. She told me she'd found a promising match for me.

“He’s good-looking,” she said. “Comes from an excellent family. And the best part? He’s never been in a relationship before so he is completely clean emotionally.”

I couldn’t talk her out of it, so I agreed to meet him just once.

When my superior heard the news, they immediately approved a few days off and encouraged me to focus on this blind date.

I arrived at the hall of a luxury hotel as planned, only to find the place packed with 99 women dressed in couture gowns.

For a moment, I thought I’d come to the wrong venue and turned to leave.

A woman at the front stopped me. She gave me a once-over and sneered.

“How many times did you have to sell yourself to get this opportunity? You think this is enough to marry Evander?”

The other women quickly joined in, venting their frustrations.

“Why does she get to draw the blind box first when we’ve all been waiting forever?”

“If she gets picked, what’s left for the rest of us?”

I finally pieced it together and called Evander.

“I heard there’s a blind box today and if I draw the right one, I get a chance to date you?”

——

“Odette Winters, is it?”

His voice came through, cold and condescending.

“Let me make this clear. I don’t care what tricks you used to get Grandpa to force me into marrying you. If you want to be with me, you’ll have to play by my rules.”

“If you draw the right box, you can stay. If not, get lost.”

Then he hung up on me.

I was speechless. This was the ‘great guy’ my mom was so proud of?

Just as I turned to leave, a girl who called herself Bianca blocked my way.

“Evander is already giving you face by letting you draw. What still not enough for you? You planning to run crying to Henry so he forces the marriage?”

I looked at her flatly. “Where did you get the idea that I care about any of this? I have zero interest in a self-important man who thinks he's God's gift to women.”

I didn’t expect her to slap me across the face.

“You bumpkin,” she snapped. “How dare you insult Evander!”

“Don’t think that just because Henry’s backing you, you can walk all over him!”

My patience snapped.

Do they not understand human speech?

Maybe Evander is a rare gem to them, but to me? He’s nothing.

She raised her hand to strike me again.

I caught her wrist coldly and shoved her back with force. My voice sharpened.

“To me, Evander is a complete stranger. I want nothing to do with him. Move aside now or don’t blame me for being impolite!”

Before I left the office, my supervisor had repeatedly warned me not to get into conflicts with civilians. I truly didn’t want to make a scene.

If she backed off, I was willing to let it go.

But to my surprise, she screamed.

“She’s going to tattle to Henry! If she ruins our blind box chances, we can’t let her leave!”

That one shout stirred the hornet’s nest. A few hot-tempered girls charged at me and yanked my hair.

“You bitch! We’ve waited so long just for the chance to become Evander’s wife and now you want to ruin it for all of us?”

They held me down with brute force, slapping me across the face, one hit after another. Someone dumped red wine and juice all over me.

Bianca, thrilled with herself, barked out orders: “Tie her up. Since she wants to play dirty, don’t blame us for playing rough.”

"Everyone here, take turns slapping her. Let’s see if this bitch still dares to act so arrogant!"

I was furious. “Don’t you dare go too far!”

Just as they were about to pounce, my phone started ringing in my pocket.

Bianca reacted fast. She snatched it before I could move and sneered, her tone dripping with malice.

"Is this the sugar daddy you’ve been sleeping with to climb the social ladder? How many times did you sell yourself before you got Grandpa Henry to pull some strings for you?”

I shouted, "Watch your mouth, Bianca! You don't get to throw lies around like that. You have no idea who you're messing with."

She cut the call and slapped me across the face.

“A country bumpkin like you really thinks she can talk back? Just wait until you draw the wrong box and we’ll make sure you regret it.”

Then she stuffed my phone into her own pocket.

“Forget trying to call your sugar daddy for help. This is Vale Family turf.”

I gave a cold laugh. “Do you even realize the weight that phone carries? You think you're worthy of holding it?”

She scoffed, “I’m Evander’s favorite right now. What, you think I can’t afford to break a cheap phone like this? Even if I smash it, what can you do about it?”

As she raised her hand, ready to hurl my phone to the ground, I broke free and lunged toward her to snatch it back.

But before I could reach her, someone shoved me hard from behind.

My head slammed into the edge of a table. Blood trickled down my forehead.

A commanding voice rang out behind me.

“Who gave you the guts to lay a finger on her?!”

I looked up.

A tall man strode in, surrounded by a dozen bodyguards.

I had to admit that my mother wasn’t wrong about his looks. Evander was very much my type.

But what good is a handsome face? Any man who collects ninety-nine “blind box” wives is clearly garbage.

Bianca was the first to rush over and throw herself into his arms.

"Evander, I was just helping her hold onto her phone before the draw, but she tried to hit me!”

The way she clung to him made several girls visibly uncomfortable, though none dared to speak up.

Evander gently soothed the woman in his arms, then turned to me with a frosty stare.

“Odette, you were the first one selected to draw. I’ve already given you more than enough respect. What more do you want?”

“Don’t think you can act recklessly just because Grandpa favors you. I can’t stand women who don’t know their place!”

I rose to my feet, brushing blood from my brow. My lips curled into a smirk.

“Sorry, but I’m not the least bit interested in you. Now have your darling hand over my phone. Or I swear, I won’t be polite.”

His face darkened.

“Don’t think I don’t know you were trying to report me. You’re drawing that blind box today, like it or not. That’s how I choose my partner.”

“If you don’t draw the right one, not even Grandpa Henry can help you!”

The smug certainty on his and Bianca’s faces made one thing clear: the draw was rigged.

No matter what, I wasn’t supposed to win. That realization calmed me.

I rubbed my sore arm and swollen cheek, then gave a faint nod. “Fine.”

Evander strode up to the stage and, without hesitation, selected one of the ten blind boxes.

As he began to open it, he mocked, “Odette, if you lose, it’s just fate. So don’t even think about it.”

He froze mid-sentence.

Screams erupted from the audience.

“Oh my god! It’s not a blank!”

Bianca ran up in disbelief.

Sure enough, inside the box was a photo, my photo to be exact.

I froze.

What just happened?

Weren’t they so sure I wouldn’t draw the winning box? Didn’t they already rig it?

Evander’s expression turned pitch black.

He had tampered with the blind boxes, yet somehow things had gone completely off-script.

He stared at me, eyes burning with accusation, just about to speak but Bianca beat him to it.

“Evander, look! I knew it, Odette must’ve cheated. None of the boxes are blanks!”

Evander seized the excuse like a drowning man grabs a rope. His face darkened further as he barked, “So it was you, Odette! A scheming woman like you will never set foot in the Vale Family!”

A wave of contempt swept through the room. The other women began jeering and throwing verbal daggers, accusing me of doing anything and everything just to claw my way into the upper class.

Two bodyguards stormed forward. One twisted my arms behind my back and the other slammed a kick into my knees.

With a sickening thud, I dropped to the ground. Pain exploded through my body as cold sweat drenched my skin.

Evander stood before me, towering, looking down with an icy glare.

“The Vale Family doesn’t take in dishonest women,” he said. “Even Grandpa won’t be able to force me to marry someone like you.”

At that moment, an image of Henry flashed in my mind.

Not long ago, he learned that a confidential government-backed project I led had massive profit potential, just 1% could propel the Vale Family into a new league.

He came to me several times, practically begging for the patent rights. I refused each time. And when he couldn’t get what he wanted, he changed tactics and trying to push a marriage between me and his grandson.

But I was too focused on work, uninterested in love or marriage and rejected the idea outright. So, he turned to the one person I couldn’t easily refuse, my mother.

Out of courtesy, I agreed to one meeting. I never expected to be humiliated like this.

Now, Evander had just crushed the opportunity his grandfather had so painstakingly tried to secure.

As he stood there, arrogantly lording over me, my gaze grew colder.

“Evander,” I said through gritted teeth, “I told you, I have no interest in you.”

“If you don’t let me go right now, you’ll regret everything you did today.”

The moment those words left my mouth, a sharp voice rang out from the entrance.

“Oh? Is that so? I’d love to see who’s the one that ends up regretting it.”

“Mom?! What are you doing here?”

Evander quickly rushed over.

Madam Astrid strode in, casting me a disdainful glance before turning to her son and ordering coldly:

“Evander, you will marry this woman.”

Evander snapped, “No way! I already said it. If someone wants to marry me, they have to go through the blind box draw. But she rigged it. There’s no way I’m letting a manipulative woman like her into our family!”

A brief silence fell.

Then Madam Astrid spoke, voice like ice.

“That blind box… was my arrangement.”

The entire room went still.

No one could understand why she, Madam Astrid herself was standing up for an outsider like me.

Evander’s fury exploded.

“Mom, are you out of your mind?! Why are you defending her? What did she do to brainwash you all?!”

Madam Astrid gave me a sideways look, her voice thick with mockery.

“Your mother isn’t so easily brainwashed. This came from your grandfather himself. He gave a clear order and if you don’t marry her, forget about inheriting the Vale Family.”

Gasps rippled through the crowd as dozens of stunned eyes turned toward me.

No one could understand what kind of power I held, or what kind of charm I had, that made Henry issue such an ultimatum.

But inside, I laughed coldly.

Clearly, Henry had no intention of letting go of the patent opportunity.

Unfortunately for him, all he’d done was guarantee that Evander would hate me even more.

Sure enough, Evander’s rage boiled over.

“That old man… he’s completely lost his mind!”

Before Evander could finish his sentence, a loud slap echoed through the hall.

Madam Astrid had struck him square across the face.

“How dare you say such nonsense?” she snapped. “The Vale Family doesn’t revolve around you alone!”

That single sentence shut him up completely.

His jaw clenched tight, fists curled at his sides. After a tense silence, he reluctantly nodded. “Fine. Since Grandpa insists, I’ll marry her. But don’t expect me to be happy about it.”

I scoffed coldly. “Do any of you even care what I think? I already said that I don’t want this marriage!”

Bianca, mistaking my refusal for arrogance, was beside herself with rage. She lunged at me again.

“You bitch! What did you do? How did you force Henry to make Evander marry a woman he doesn’t even like?!”

Before she could strike, Madam Astrid stepped in.

“Enough!” she barked. “The matter is settled.”

She turned to me, her eyes sharp and cold.

“Odette, I don’t care what you did to make the old man side with you. But since you got what you wanted, don’t you dare play coy.”

“This was your choice. You two are getting your marriage certificate today. The rest can wait.”

Before I could speak, she signaled her bodyguards to seize my bag. They snatched it away, pulled out my ID and ordered someone to begin the registration process.

My blood boiled.

“Are all of you deaf? I said I don’t agree to this marriage! Give me my ID back right now!”

But no one listened. No matter how I resisted, they ignored me completely.

Not long after, the marriage certificate was done.

Bianca and the others watched in disbelief as the red booklet was handed over. Hopelessness settled in their expressions.

“Unbelievable… What’s so special about her?” one of the girls muttered bitterly. “She’s just some backwater nobody. Why is Henry protecting her of all people?”

“We all had a chance to marry into the Vale Family and now it’s ruined because of her.”

Bianca clutched Evander’s arm tearfully. “Evander, now that you’re married does this mean I have to move out of the Vale estate?”

Evander, face full of pity, pulled her into his embrace. “Don’t worry. I’ll buy you a villa. You’ll be my golden canary. That certificate means nothing. She doesn’t get to control me.”

I stared at them, rage surging like a storm tide. I wanted nothing more than to slap every one of these people across the face.

But Madam Astrid misunderstood my glare. She thought I was jealous.

She sneered. “Odette, now that you’ve married into the Vale Family, you’re one of us. If you don’t want him to keep a mistress, then you’d better learn how to win his heart.”