The Billionaire Can't Escape His Shameless Heiress Wife!-Chapter 2: The Man with the Black Cane

After Emma left, Isabella didn’t immediately leave. She walked toward the window and pulled the velvet curtain aside to let the moonlight fully enter the room.

Raising her eyes to look at the moon, a serenity that she seldom displayed on her face somehow slipped.

It has been ten years. Her parents’ death had been a tragic and traumatic incident that she could never forget. Even now, it still haunted her in her sleep, depriving her of having any sweet dreams.

Perhaps they resented her. She was, after all, the reason why they had to be buried six feet deep underground. And what they worked so hard to attain was easily handed over to someone else. As for Isabella, their daughter, she was powerless and had to watch this happen right before her eyes.

However, it wouldn’t be long before everything was over.

Moments later, Isabella left the room and headed towards the ballroom where the heat of the party was still going.

She took a pause to look at the glass of wine she grabbed from a passing waiter. A plain-looking girl stared back. She wore a conservative gray satin dress that made her appear as though she had come from a monastery. Her hair was tied into a braid with a few wisps of untamed hair curled against her neck. Round dark spectacles framed her eyes, perched on the bridge of her nose, where dots of freckles flecked her skin.

Anything about her screamed ordinary in comparison to all the luxury and beautiful scenes at the party. Even a passing waitress would look much better than her.

But no one would expect that this ordinariness was deliberate. Makeup of today’s time was fearsome.

When people wanted to look their best and prettiest, Isabelle wanted the opposite. The more ordinary she was, the more people mocked her, the better for her to fool everyone else.

No one would suspect her of anything. The plain, old, and useless Isabella Harrington. Who would dare desire her?

The only mishap in this situation was her uncle’s forceful arrangement. Knowing that few people would take notice of her and agree to marry her, he made sure to match Edward with her.

That would of course end today. And he would never expect it would end in the hands of his own daughter.

Isabella inwardly sighed, praising herself over the success of her plan.

However, she knew her uncle, Bard Harrington, was a stubborn old man. There was no guessing what he might do next.

"Why are you hiding here, Miss Harrington?" a voice came from behind her. "Aren’t you the star of tonight’s party?"

Isabella turned to look. The newcomer was a slender and pretty young woman, dressed in a red champagne dress. Her eyebrows were raised with a mischievous and arrogant arc, and her lips bent in a mocking smile.

Beside her, two other ladies also focused their attention on Isabella.

Isabella knew very well who they were. These three were the ones who loved to mock her in front of everyone. They seek pleasure in belittling and bullying people they deem weaklings and an easy target.

Francheska, Elisse, and Chloe. The three of them were inseparable. Wherever one was, the two would follow.

To others, they were sorority girls.

To Isabella, they were the mean girl version of Cerberus.

"Look at you all alone." Francheska sneered, her lips curling in disdain. She said derisively, "Don’t tell me no one approached you, even though your family publicly announced such a great prize just so they could find someone to marry you?"

"Pfft! Her family must have pitied her so much." Chloe joined in with a twinkle in her eyes.

Elisse, on the other hand, shook her head. "The Harrington family really doesn’t live by their name. The older sister is desperate to marry. Meanwhile, the younger sister can’t even keep her legs closed for a single evening. How... very distinguished."

Chloe let out a peal of laughter. "Truly the picture of elegance."

Isabella lifted her gaze, her calm smile didn’t waver, but the iciness in her eyes made Chloe choke down the rest of her words. "Thank you for your concern. But I’m surprised you understand Vanessa so well. It takes one to have the same experience to recognize that kind of behavior."

Her words stumped the three girls. Isabella was calm without a waver as she raised her cherry lips and casually said, "How fortunate the three of you do."

She took a sip of wine and sweetly smiled at them. Turning away from the frozen three girls, her body swaying gently and with a grace that oozed from her elegant bearing.

A sudden stir changed the atmosphere in the ballroom.

The door that had been closed for almost an hour now suddenly opened, welcoming an unexpected guest.

Heads immediately turned toward the direction of the entrance where a man, tall and impeccably dressed, entered. His striking appearance took several breaths away. He looked cold and distant, yet something in the calm set of his mouth and the gentle lines of his face made people instinctively move closer, as if moths to a flame.

But their distractedness soon vanished as soon as the sound of the black cane striking against the marble floor entered their sight.

"Why is he here?"

"He looks much more handsome than the tabloids."

"I really want to get close to him. Do you think he’ll notice me?"

Several girls couldn’t help but whisper in admiration. Good-looking things would always draw something inside their hearts.

But admiration alone would not be enough to make them move past their hesitation.

The black cane reminded them that Kaelian Rei Veyron was not only the nation’s most desired man but also a man who could no longer see.

Another laughed. "What’s the point of a face like that if he’s blind?"

The quiet snicker reached Isabella’s ears. Her grip on her wineglass tightened; it loosened as she stepped closer to the man who mocked him. She tilted her wrist, sending a beautiful arc of red wine spilling onto the man. Followed by the crisp noise of the glass breaking on the floor.

"Oh—my mistake," Isabella said sweetly, "I didn’t see you standing there. You were almost invisible."

She added with a crescent curve of her eyes, "Imagine... having perfect sight and still going unnoticed. Some people manage it effortlessly."

The man stiffened.

Just a few meters away, Kaelian paused mid-stride, his lashes moved ever so slightly, as her words had reached him, too.