Stella finally looked up at Noel. There was a tinge of excitement in her voice, which was a change from her coldness in the past few days.

"Your uncle is back in the country?"

Noel was relieved and smiled when he saw Stella back to normal.

"That's right. Are you so eager to marry me? Don't worry. I'll be at the wedding. Just stop acting like this in the future. You can play hard to get a couple of times, but it's annoying if you do it too often," Noel said as he opened the car door.

Stella knew it was pointless to explain anything to him. She stayed in the car and said, "I want to go home. I want to put on some makeup and change my clothes."

Noel figured she must love him a lot to put so much effort into this dinner. She probably wanted to leave a good impression on his uncle. He raised an eyebrow and agreed to something she wanted for once.

After Stella got ready, they headed to the old Chilton mansion.

Many people were attending the dinner, and they were not surprised to see Stella there. All of them greeted her.

After she returned their greeting, she sat in a corner and waited for Eric to appear.

Stella had no idea what it was going to be like when they reunited. She was distracted the entire night, and her heart kept beating wildly.

Noel was next to her and quickly noticed that she was out of sorts. He looked at her unhappily.

"I'm here, aren't I? What's with that dazed look on your face? I'm warning you one last time. I've already agreed to marry you. Take that look off your face, or I'll break my promise to you."

Stella wanted to refute his words but stopped herself.

He was about to find out that he was not the groom. There was no need to waste her time on him.

The doors to the hall finally opened after a few minutes.

Everyone turned to look expectantly.

However, Eric did not appear. Old Mr. Chilton walked in instead.

He walked up the stage unsteadily and announced to everyone, "Eric met with a minor accident and couldn't make it to his flight on time. He's still out of the country and won't be able to attend tonight's dinner."

Stella immediately stood up when she heard the news. Her voice was filled with worry.

"How is he, Grandpa Chilton? Is it serious?"

Old Mr. Chilton waved his hand and comforted her, "He's fine. It won't affect anything. Don't worry, Stella."

Noel frowned and pulled her down to sit. He began lecturing her in a low voice.

"The marriage alliance has been set in stone. Stop trying to show off your place as a Chilton wife by showing so much concern about my uncle when you haven't even officially married into the family. This isn't appropriate!"

Stella could no longer take it. She was about to say something when Old Mr. Chilton coughed. The entire hall turned silent.

"We've asked everyone to be here today to announce the marriage alliance between the Chiltons and the Judds. The wedding date has already been set. It will be in a week at Southridge Mountain Villa.

"The married couple will be the daughter of the Judds, Stella…"

While Old Mr. Chilton was announcing the couple with a hearty voice, Noel received a message from Sophie.

Something must have happened to her because the look on his face changed. He left the dinner quickly and did not finish listening to Old Mr. Chilton's announcement.

"And the groom is the head of the Chiltons, Eric!"

The entire hall boiled with excitement at the unexpected reveal of the groom. Everyone began whispering to each other.

"Did I hear things wrong? Eric? Isn't it supposed to be Noel?"

"Yeah. Why is it Uncle Eric? I thought he avoids women. Why is he marrying a young woman?"

Their discussion filled the entire hall. Even though everyone was shocked, no one dared comment much because of Eric's status within the family. Everyone got up to congratulate Stella.

After the dinner ended, Stella went to see Old Mr. Chilton because she was still worried about Eric's accident.

Old Mr. Chilton patted her shoulder. He looked happy.

"Eric took some pictures. I had a look, and his injuries are really minor. He'll recover very soon. Just focus on the wedding, Stella."

Stella was relieved to hear this.

She stayed at home for the next few days preparing the wedding invitations, the gown, and everything else. She ignored whatever was happening out there.

During this time, Stella received numerous messages from Noel's buddies, but she did not read any of them.

That was until one day, when she accidentally clicked one of their messages while she was taking a break. That was when she noticed all of them were talking about the same thing.

"Noel was hospitalized because he got hurt. He's been admitted to the Central Hospital. He's now in Ward 609. Aren't you coming to see him? Remember to bring along Noel's favorite chicken soup."

"Why aren’t you replying to our messages? Are you still playing hard to get? This is getting old. Isn't it time to end this?"

"Come on, Stella Judd. What are you doing? Stop your pretences, bootlicker, and come over quickly!"

It was nothing but a joke to Stella when she read those messages.

She took a few seconds of her time to type out a message for them.

"You guys, Noel has nurses and Sophie to take care of him after his accident. What has it got to do with me?"

Stella started to check her social media after sending out the message.

She noticed Noel had posted his selfies in the hospital after scrolling for a bit.

Stella remembered how Noel rarely updated his social media and found it a little strange.

However, she was not bothered by it and left his page after a quick glance. She went on to inquire about Eric from other Chilton family members whose contacts she had added to her phone a few days ago.

Stella visited her family's aquafarm the next day after finding out Eric enjoyed fish. She wanted to catch a few fish to practice cooking them for Eric in the future.

She had just picked a fish she liked when she turned to see Sophie walking toward her. Stella had no idea how Sophie had managed to get inside.

Sophie was wringing her fingers while looking pitiful.

"Miss Judd, are you angry because you found out that Noel got hurt from a fight while trying to protect me? This is entirely my fault. Blame me if you must. I know you're his fiancée. I'm just the daughter of a maid and not worth any of his time…"

Stella frowned when she heard Sophie's tone, which was not as innocent as it sounded. She turned to leave.

Sophie grabbed her hand. Stella was bewildered until she saw a taunting smile on Sophie's face.

Before Stella realized the reason behind Sophie's change of expression, she saw Sophie raise her hand to slap herself hard several times. She wept uncontrollably after that.

"You can yell at me and hit me as much as you like, Miss Judd. I won't blame you for it. All I ask is for you to stop being mad at Mr. Noel. I'll let you do anything you want to me if you agree to visit Mr. Noel. I promise I won't resist."

Stella's eyes twitched when she saw Sophie's abnormal reaction. She realized something was wrong.

She was about to pull her away and leave when she saw Noel barging in with a group of people angrily. They surrounded Stella and Sophie.

"Why did you hit Sophie, Stella? I've already promised you a wedding. Stop pushing things too far!"

Stella looked at him coldly. "I didn't hit her. There's a security camera over there. You can check the footage for yourself."

She wanted to leave after that, but Noel was filled with rage and glared at her without listening to her explanation. His voice was cold.

"I used to think that you were just pampered and spoiled because of the way you were brought up. It now seems like you're just rotten to the core!”

He got his buddies to hold Stella down while he held up Sophie's hand.

"I won't allow you to suffer any humiliation, Sophie. Hit her back!"

Sophie initially sobbed and claimed she did not dare to do it. However, once everyone around her encouraged her and declared their support, she stopped pretending and slapped Stella hard with everything she had.

Stella's cheek became swollen following the loud echo of the slap. Her forehead, which had not completely healed, began bleeding.

She felt a burning sting from her cheek that hurt tremendously, and her ears started to ring.

While no one was paying attention, Sophie took the opportunity to push Stella, who was still reeling from the pain, into the water. After that, she pretended to look worried while insisting on saving Stella.

Noel watched all of this coldly and left with his men.

"Ignore her. The water isn't deep. She won't drown."

Stella struggled in the water for a long time. She was about to be exhausted when someone finally noticed her and pulled her out of the water.

She ran a high fever that night after returning home. It did not die down by the next day.

Stella dreamt a lot about her past that night and kept muttering nonsense with tears in her eyes.

"I feel horrible, Noel. Didn't you leave to get me strawberry tarts? Why aren't you back yet?

"It's my fault. I'm sorry, Noel. I promise I won't ever hide the love letters other girls give you again."

Noel happened to walk in and was taken aback when he heard her muttering. He was reminded of how Stella used to follow him everywhere and how he was happy to let her do so while pampering her. The memory softened his heart.

"How did things end up this way for no good reason? If you didn't insist on marrying me, I would have treated you as my sister forever."

Stella heard him while in a daze and woke up.

When she opened her eyes, Noel was back to his arrogant self and growled, "Grandpa said you were sick, so he made me come over to visit you. Don't read too much into this. I was forced to come here. Otherwise, I would never have stopped by."

Sophie walked in timidly the next second and began to apologize in a fluster.

"It was my fault for everything that happened yesterday, Miss Judd. Please forgive me."

Stella had been slapped for no reason and pushed into the water. She had only just managed to get herself together and had lost the strength to argue.

She tried her best to sit up and kick them out, but then she saw Sophie staring intently at her neck.

Stella touched her neck. She was wearing a necklace Noel had gifted her as a coming-of-age present.

Noel noticed it as well. He knew how important the necklace was to Stella, and his eyes lowered slightly. "I'll custom make another necklace for you when I get back, Sophie…"

However, he stopped talking halfway.

Stella pulled the necklace off and flung it away. She forced herself up and picked up a box she had previously packed. She took the box and necklace over to Noel.

A chill ran through Noel's heart when he noticed the coldness of her actions.

"What's the meaning of this?"

Stella pushed the box into his hands and said softly, "I'm getting married soon. My future husband might misunderstand if he sees the things you gave to me before. I'm returning them to you, Noel Chilton. From now on, there's nothing between us."

Noel knew she was trying to be difficult again. He tossed the box aside, and everything fell out. He looked at her grimly.

"You were the one who hit Sophie first, yet you're acting up now? Aren't I your future husband? What do you mean there's nothing between us? Let's see how you continue this act on the wedding day!"

He vented angrily and let out everything that was bothering him before leaving in a huff with Sophie in tow.

Stella smiled at the mess on the ground and softly called for somebody.

"Clean up this mess, and toss everything into the garbage can."

Stella received a message one day before the wedding.

It was short and to the point. "I'm going back. See you tomorrow."

The message had no name or remarks, but she knew who it was from.

It was him.

Eric Chilton.

Her unsettled heart finally settled down, and she had a good night's sleep.

A fleet of cars from the Chiltons arrived at the Judds at ten in the morning the next day. Cameras followed behind them.

This was a marriage alliance between two major families, and it was about to be streamed live for the entire city for the public to watch.

Noel got out of the car and went upstairs. He was stunned when he saw Stella in a white gown.

For some reason, he felt deja vu and was out of sorts for a while.

It was not until someone gave him a gentle reminder that he reached out his hand to her.

However, Stella did not take it. She looked at him calmly and said nonchalantly, "You came to the wrong place, Noel Chilton. You should be seated with the guests."

Her words infuriated Noel, and his face fell right away.

"Are you doing this again? Don't you know that the wedding will be live-streamed to the entire city? Are you really planning to continue making a fuss until both our families are humiliated?"

Stella did not bother to argue with him. She pulled up her skirt and headed downstairs.

Noel's empty hands clenched into a fist.

He took a deep breath and tried his best to force down his anger before following her out.

He was about to get into the backseat when his phone rang.

He closed the car door a minute later and looked at Stella, who was inside the car.

"I have something important to deal with. I can't be at the wedding. Head over to tell our parents and family to cancel the wedding."

He thought Stella would get upset and be humiliated after hearing it. She might even cry. However, all she did was look at him calmly.

"I told you before that it doesn't matter if you attend the wedding."

It was because he was not the groom.

Noel felt a tinge of panic when he saw how nonchalant she was acting, but he still growled, "I said to cancel the wedding! Do you want to end up the laughingstock of the city by having a wedding without a groom?!"

This time, Stella did not even bother to explain. She instructed the driver to start the car.

The fleet of cars quickly left.

Noel was not in the mood to talk her out of her decision. He stopped a car by the road.

By the time he arrived at the hot spring villa outside the suburbs, he saw Sophie surrounded by his buddies. He frowned.

"Didn't you say Sophie was in danger?"

His buddies dragged him inside while laughing.

"It was a trick. You wouldn't have run away from your wedding if we didn't lie to you."

"We just wanted to see how Stella Judd would humiliate herself today."

Noel's expression changed when he heard them. He quickly pushed away the hand on his shoulder and turned to leave.

"This is ridiculous!"

Sophie hugged his arm and blinked with tears in her eyes. She began to plead with him.

"I really have a headache, Noel. Please stay with me. This place is too far from the wedding venue. You won't be able to make it."

That was true, but Stella…

While he hesitated, his buddies were fooling around and turned on the live stream.

The wedding was going on as expected.

Everyone laughed sarcastically when they saw Stella was stubborn enough to keep the wedding going.

"She's really not going to stop the wedding? It will be so humiliating when the groom doesn't show up."

"Does she want to get married so badly? She's risking the respect of both families. What a joke it would be if this doesn't end well."

Noel had no idea what Stella was thinking. His expression was quite grim.

As he considered giving his family a call to inform them about the situation, he heard yelling from beside him.

"The wedding is starting!"

Noel looked up to see Stella's father holding her hand to walk her toward the center of the stage.

She stood under the spotlight alone for a long time. No groom appeared.

Comments started to pop up on the stream asking if the groom had run away from the wedding.

Everyone in the room with Noel started laughing so hard that they could hardly sit up straight.

Noel had expected this. There was a cold look on his face and anger in his voice.

"Moron!"

He could not stand to continue watching and reached out to click the button to leave the stream. That was when the host made an announcement.

"Let's welcome the groom!"

The door, which was shut tight, opened wide the next second.