After writing 999 love letters to the cold and aloof campus belle, Maddie Harrison, I finally successfully snag her heart.

But on the day before our wedding, I accidentally stumble upon Maddie's conversation with her childhood friend, where she jokes about the mistakes she's seen in the love letters.

"An elementary school student must have written these letters, from the looks of it! He might as well use AI, to begin with!"

So, I terminate our wedding and withdraw all the funding my family has given to her company.

Maddie can only shriek hysterically in return. "It's just a joke between friends! Must you go so far as to cancel our wedding?"

I show her a virtual fortune-telling prediction of our marriage that's drafted by an AI.

"You like using AI that much, don't you? Then look at this prediction properly! Our marriage is a huge misfortune! There's no way I'm going to marry a walking jinx like you!"

Less than ten minutes after I withdrew the investment, Maddie Harrison kicked open my office door and barged in.

"Can't you even take a joke, Benjamin Caldwell? It wasn't like Sean was wrong either. There really were typos in your love letters!"

I didn't even look up at her and just told my secretary, Tom Mayer, who followed in after her, "Pass the word to invest 100 million dollars in the stocks of Harrison Group's business rivals until they are completely wiped out."

Shock appeared on Maddie's face.

"Are you crazy? Don't you know how much money you'd be losing if you really did that? Wanna bet that I'll call your dad at once?"

Was she seriously still trying to use Dad to threaten me and pressure me into folding?

I simply smiled coldly and gave Tom my orders. "What are you still waiting for? Consider yourself fired if Harrison Group isn't bankrupt within an hour!"

"Wait a minute!"

Maddie was finally afraid now. She walked up to me with red eyes and lowered her head.

"I'm sorry, okay? I was wrong. You can do whatever you want to me, but please don't withdraw your investment. Okay?"

I didn't answer her. She then pulled out a plain silver ring from her pocket.

"This is the wedding ring I personally made especially for our wedding, Benjamin. Please don't be angry at me anymore.

"I only laughed at the typos in your love letters because I actually read every single word in them. I really didn't mean anything else."

I waved my hand at Tom, signaling for him to leave.

When Maddie saw that my attitude was softening, she hugged my neck and gave me a quick kiss on the forehead.

"I made reservations at your favorite steak restaurant. Shall we go now? We can discuss the wedding details there."

I met her expectant eyes and felt my heart skip a beat. Just as I was about to respond, however, Sean Richards barged in again, getting down on his knees with a thud.

"Mr. Caldwell! Please just take out your anger on me instead! Don't make things hard for Maddie. She is your fiancee, not your pet dog!"

Then, he turned to her and showed off the plain silver ring on his ring finger.

"Look, Maddie. The ring you gave me fits perfectly. I promise that this time, I will take good care of you and never, ever let a man as despicable as Benjamin ruin you again!"

I noticed that his ring was a matching pair with the one that Maddie had just given me. Also, I realized that the design she gave me was for a woman, judging from the size and design.

So, in the end, she had just given me a ring she'd actually prepared for someone else.

I laughed in anger, feeling a wave of disgust washing over me.

"Protect her? Why don't we see what's going to happen to you first for barging in and trespassing into the CEO's office without permission."

By then, Maddie had already shielded Sean behind her.

"This is between the two of us. There's no need to get anyone else involved. I already told you, you can do whatever you want to me," she said.

My fiancee was shielding her lover behind her right in front of me.

But I knew what she was really after.

When Sean first noticed that the Harrisons were going bankrupt, he had abandoned Maddie without a word and fled abroad without hesitation.

Meanwhile, I was the one who stayed by her side, ignoring all my shareholders' advice and pouring all my resources into her family's company to help revive it.

When Maddie's parents, Charlie Harrison and Esther Rowland, saw that their company was beginning to recover, they proposed a marriage alliance under the guise of strengthening ties.

However, I knew that they just wanted me to continue pumping money and resources into their company without expecting anything in return.

Also, my grandmother, Rose Hebert, had always been particularly fond of Maddie. She'd even declared that she would only ever allow me to marry Maddie because she didn't want anybody else to be her granddaughter-in-law.

I didn't really care about materialistic things like these, even if I was just doing it for the sake of fulfilling Grandma's dying wish.

At first, I thought that Maddie and I would naturally continue walking hand-in-hand through life after getting married. Yet, Sean's reappearance had ruined everything.

When that thought struck me, I said decisively, "You want to continue being engaged? Fine. But you're going to have to cut off all contact with him."

Ultimately, Maddie deleted all of Sean's contact information and removed him from all her social media accounts right in front of me. She also threw the two unsightly wedding rings into the trash can.

The sullen anger in my heart somewhat dissipated only after I watched Sean leave, looking resentful yet dejected. It wasn't until then that I told Tom to proceed with the wedding arrangements as usual.

After dinner, Maddie insisted on going to bed early to be in the best condition for the wedding the next day. I didn't think much about it and went to my bachelor party that my good friend had decided to throw for me.

Halfway through the party, I realized that my phone wouldn't stop vibrating in my pocket. I looked at it and realized that the bed alarm in our marital home was going off.

Back when I was furnishing the house, I decided to get the best of everything money could buy. The more expensive it was, the better I thought it would be, and I had bought this smart mattress at the salesman's recommendation.

The salesman told me that the mattress could record data based on the couple's sexual activity and frequency. It would even automatically sound the alarm if the frequency was abnormal.

However, Maddie and I weren't officially moving in until tomorrow. So, logically speaking, there shouldn't be anyone in that home right now.

I had a sudden bad feeling about this.

I ignored my friends who tried to get me to stay and drove back as quickly as possible.

As soon as I entered the place, I saw clothes scattered haphazardly across the living room floor, while lewd and intimate sounds came from the bedroom.

I kicked the bedroom door wide open.

Maddie got a huge scare and let out an ear-piercing scream, instinctively hiding behind Sean to hide her naked lower body.

It was so painfully obvious what they'd been doing.

However, Maddie quickly recovered from the initial shock and angrily demanded, "Have you been stalking me, Benjamin Caldwell?"

I held my phone up, the screen still displaying the red alarm bell, as I looked at her coldly.

"So, this is what you meant by getting your 'beauty sleep'?"

A flash of guilt appeared in her eyes. She wrapped her body in the sheets and stood up, trying to defend herself.

"Sean and I grew up together. We didn't just sleep together in the same bed while we were younger. We even showered together often. Also, I was just saying goodbye to him properly. I promise you that we won't see each other again after tonight."

While she spoke, Sean had already put on the robe that I had specifically gotten for myself to wear on my wedding night, walking up to me.

"True love is knowing when to let go, Ben. It's not suffocating control like this. Maddie hasn't even married you yet, and you're already tracking her every move like this. Surely that's not a very gentlemanly thing to do?"

I glanced at him and said disdainfully, "Sure, then I'll let go right now. Let's see if Maddie dares to leave with you."

As soon as I said that, he immediately went over and grabbed her arm.

"Didn't you just say earlier that you have absolutely no feelings for Benjamin? Then, won't you come with me?"

I was also curious about Maddie's decision. Would she choose love or money at a time like this?

After a long time, she finally shoved Sean's hand away.

"You should leave," Maddie said to Sean. "I'm going to officially be part of the Caldwell family tomorrow. We shouldn't meet again after this."

Sean looked like he still wanted to say something, but Maddie shoved him harshly.

He glared at me resentfully. Anyone who didn't know any better would probably think that I was some monster who'd abducted a woman against her own will instead.

Just as Sean was about to leave, I said slowly, "Stand there. Are you that poor that you have to steal my robe? Take that off!"

When I entered the house, I'd noticed that the two of them had been so desperate and passionate earlier that most of the clothes on the ground had been shredded into pieces.

Maddie was well aware of that. She stared at me incredulously.

"Benjamin! How could you humiliate other people like that? Are you seriously telling Sean to go out into the streets naked?"

"Humiliate him?" I echoed, finding it ridiculous. "Have you forgotten something, Maddie? We're not officially married yet. That means that this house doesn't belong to you yet either.

"You broke into private property and trespassed here in the middle of the night with your lover, touching and stealing my things without my permission. What, would you rather that we pay a visit to the police station instead?"

Maddie's face turned red with anger, but she wasn't able to retort.

Just then, Sean shakily loosened the belt of the robe, sounding weak and distressed as he said, "I'm sorry, Ben. I shouldn't have worn your robe. It's all my fault."

He then made a show of showing off the fresh marks and hickeys on his body while taking off the robe. It didn't take much to show just how hard they'd gone at it earlier.

Before I could say another word, Maddie shielded him behind her again and said, "That's enough, Benjamin Caldwell! Isn't it just a stupid robe? Must you drive him to his wits' end before you're finally happy? I'll pay for the robe! Happy now?"

After that, she pulled two hundred-dollar bills and slapped them on my face. The sides of the bills sliced into my cheek, leaving a fine, bloody line in its wake.

She then spoke again.

"I don't even love you. If it weren't for your family threatening and pressuring me into marrying you, I would never even have agreed to the marriage alliance!

"You're also only doing this for your grandmother, aren't you, Benjamin? If that's the case, then you have absolutely no right to interfere in my private matters!"

I glanced at the two crumply notes on the floor and smiled coldly.

She was right.

I had no right to interfere.

I met Sean's challenging stare and just faintly tugged my lips upward.

"Do whatever you please, then."

With that, I turned and left, driving home alone. I'd only just stepped in through the door when I received a text message from Maddie.

"Don't be late for the wedding tomorrow."

I knew that this was her way of giving in to me. She used to do this quite often in the past.

If she went to see Sean behind my back, she would purposely cook me dinner that day. Or if she left in the middle of lunch with my parents for Sean's sake, she would offer to pick me up from work that day.

She refused to humble herself or lower her pride to apologize, using these perfunctory actions to appease me instead.

My best friends who witnessed how Maddie and I got along once advised me to stay as far away from women like her as possible. And yet, I kept giving her second chances again and again.

I kept saying that Grandma was getting older, and her memory was also gradually deteriorating. At times, she wouldn't even recognize me, but she would still insist that Maddie was her granddaughter-in-law.

I didn't want to disappoint her, which was the only reason why I agreed to Mom and Dad "selling" me out to wed Maddie in the wedding alliance.

Still, there had been some sweet moments between the two of us as well. Back then, Maddie had actually been the first one to propose to me in front of the media and paparazzi, telling me that she was going to marry me no matter what.