To avoid a ridiculous arranged marriage that had been decided before I was even born, I beg my father to send the family a picture of an ordinary-looking woman with a face covered in spots.

I've heard before that Austin Hammond, the most distinguished scion in Jarlesbury and the man I was supposed to marry, has an obsession with looks. If anyone who doesn't meet his standards comes within ten feet of him, he instructs his bodyguards to get them out of his sight.

Since then, I've continued to hide my captivating face and pretend to be a plain, unattractive woman—and one day, Joshua Farrell shows up.

On the day he proposes to me, he holds my hand and promises, "Your looks don't matter to me, Ellie. No matter what you look like, I will still love you."

Believing his words, I ignore my father's protests and insist on getting engaged to Joshua.

Finally, our wedding day arrives. Just when we're about to exchange our wedding rings, he stares lovingly at the surgically-enhanced face of his first love, Isabel Grady, and abandons me at the altar.

The guests mutter among themselves, casting pitying looks in my direction, but I simply smile.

It occurs to me then just how easy it is to see a man's true colors.

It's just as well. This means I can settle for being Mrs. Hammond without a care in the world.

As the wedding march cut off, the undisguised mockery and contempt the guests threw my way nearly drowned me.

"Hah! How embarrassing! She can't even hang onto a man."

"I've been saying from the start that there's no way Joshua Farrell, the heir to his family, would actually marry an ugly hag like her."

"I bet he's regretting it now. After all, who wouldn't get nightmares if that face is the last thing they see at night?"

My fingers clenched around the bouquet, my knuckles turning white.

Joshua was staring at the screen of his phone—at a picture of a sliced-up wrist covered in blood. When he looked up, his expression anxious, he glanced at me with a flicker of remorse and pleading in his eyes.

"Izzy cut her wrist, Ellie! She's been taken to the hospital, and the doctors are still trying to save her. I have to go to her. Just wait for my return. I'll make it up to you then!"

I eyed him coldly, my voice even but loud enough to be heard in the silent hall as I said, "If you step out of these doors today, Joshua, it's over between us."

The moment I finished speaking, Joshua's footsteps faltered. He whipped his head around, his expression conflicted.

"Ellie…"

At the very next second, one of his groomsmen—a childhood friend of his—called out, "Just go, Joshua. Eliza's hopelessly in love with you. There's no way she's leaving you. Besides, with her looks, no one's going to steal her away from you!"

Piercing, mocking laughter spread throughout the entire wedding hall, but I ignored them all. I simply continued to stare at Joshua as I spelled out clearly, "If you walk away from me today, I'll marry someone else."

Joshua stilled for only a moment before his lips curled into a smile I'd never seen before. "Stop kicking up such a fuss, Ellie. Who else besides me would want you? Just wait for me to get back. I'll make it up to you then."

And with that, he rushed off without any further hesitation, running right out of the wedding ceremony.

The moment the doors closed, I was reminded of the first time we'd met three years ago.

A crowd of people had gathered around me to mock me for my unattractive appearance when Joshua appeared like an angel from the sky. He wrapped his suit jacket around me and used his handkerchief to gently wipe away the dirt from my face.

His voice was sweet and gentle as he said to me, "Don't listen to them. You're beautiful."

At the time, the look in his eyes seemed so earnest and genuine.

But now…

A mocking smirk spread across my face.

Joshua was certain that I was too ugly to leave him. That gave him the confidence to blatantly disregard my pride and dignity.

As a mix of sympathetic and contemptuous looks came my way, I calmly took off the wedding veil and tossed it onto the floor.

Without any hesitation, I headed back to the dressing room. Sitting in front of the vanity mirror, I grabbed a makeup removal wipe and started rubbing it across my face.

The spots and blemishes slowly disappeared, revealing flawless, alabaster skin.

At that moment, the door opened, and Dad came in. After seeing me, he let out a heavy sigh.

"Ellie, the Hammonds have sent someone over. Mr. Hammond Senior is asking about the marriage alliance…"

Before he finished his sentence, my phone buzzed. Joshua had sent me a message.

"Izzy's condition is stable now, but she's scared, Ellie. I have to stay with her tonight. Let's have our wedding ceremony some other day, okay?"

Immediately after that, I was notified of a new social media update—Isabel had uploaded a new post. It was a photo of Joshua sitting by her hospital bed, cutting up an apple for her. His expression was gentle and focused.

The caption read, "As long as you're willing to cast everything else aside for me, that's enough for me."

A scornful smile tugged at my lips. Just as I was about to block both Joshua's and Isabel's numbers and remove them from my social media, I got a call from Joshua.

"Ellie, make an announcement explaining that we only called off the wedding because you got sick all of a sudden. Izzy mustn't go through any emotional distress. I can't let her be blamed for having ruined our wedding. Besides, you don't like showing yourself in public anyway."

I didn't like showing myself in public, huh?

What a joke! Just because I was ugly, he didn't care if my reputation got affected?

I couldn't be bothered to even entertain Joshua's demands, so I ended the call. Looking in the mirror, I continued to wipe away the rest of the makeup on my face.

Once all of the deliberately drawn spots and blemishes were gone, the face that appeared was enough to captivate everyone with a single look.

Dad took in my real face with mixed emotions in his eyes. Sighing, he said, "You foolish child. Why did you even bother to pretend to be ugly if you were going to end up doing this anyway?"

I studied my reflection in the mirror. With these dark eyes and fair skin, I bore a striking resemblance to my mother in her youth.

Mom's marriage into Dad's family, the Scotts, had been an arranged one as well. And after spending over a decade in a loveless marriage with a husband who never shared her bed, she became heavily depressed, dying from the emotional neglect.

On her deathbed, she clasped my hand and said, "Ellie, don't ever put your life in someone else's hands."

That was why, upon learning I was to be engaged to Austin Hammond, the heir to the Hammond family—and a man with exacting standards when it came to a person's looks—I used that to my advantage and destroyed all photographs of me.

I didn't want to go through with the marriage alliance. I didn't want to end up living the life Mom lived.

But Joshua used three years of tenderness to trick me into handing over my heart to him. And in the end, he was just like everyone else.

Since true love and a sincere heart meant nothing, why shouldn't I just choose a life of endless wealth for myself instead?

I turned to Dad, who was still stunned by my face, and said, "Dad, tell the Hammonds that I've agreed to the marriage."

The news of my agreement had barely reached the Hammonds when Austin's grandmother, Mrs. Hammond Senior, insisted on meeting me in person.

That evening, when I showed up at Hammond Manor, Mrs. Hammond Senior couldn't hide the awe in her eyes when she looked at me.

In the past, I would've felt uncomfortable being stared at like that. I would've instinctively lowered my head. But now, I kept my back straight and met her gaze head-on with a polite smile on my face.

Mrs. Hammond Senior nodded approvingly as she lavished praises on me. "Austin is such a lucky man. Those eyes of yours, Eliza, and that bearing! You look even more beautiful than the celebrities we see in the magazines!"

With an affectionate expression, she placed an emerald bracelet around my wrist, saying, "This is a family heirloom. From now on, you're the Hammond family's granddaughter-in-law!"

After the engagement was settled, I was about to leave when Mrs. Hammond Senior said to me in a lowered voice, "Ellie, your face draws far too much attention. It's best if you mask your appearance a little before the wedding.

"My grandson is the jealous type. If he sees how beautiful you are, he won't be able to stand letting anyone else see you before the wedding."

Running my fingers against the emerald bracelet, I thought about Austin, who was rumored to be borderline obsessed with a person's looks.

He was the sole heir to the Hammond family's business empire—and the person I avoided marrying by making myself appear unattractive, which led me to meeting Justin instead.

Even though Austin and I had never met before, to avoid any unnecessary trouble, I did as Mrs. Hammond Senior advised.

The next morning, while I was packing my things to leave the house I'd spent three years decorating to use as my future marital home, the front door abruptly unlocked.

Joshua walked in holding a box of crab cakes, his smile appeasing as he asked, "Are you still upset, Ellie? Look at what I bought you!"

Staring at the crab cakes, I couldn't help but snort mockingly. On the very first day we started dating, I told Joshua that I was allergic to crabs.

Without any hesitation, I stoically picked up the box of crab cakes on the table and tossed it into the trash.

Joshua was stunned. "Ellie! I had to line up for two hours just to get those. How can you—"

But after seeing the way I stared fixedly at him, he slapped himself on the forehead and exclaimed, "I'm so sorry, Ellie! I forgot about your crab allergy."

"Don't bother apologizing. Our relationship's over anyway."

I tossed over all of his belongings, which I'd spent the entire night packing, along with the pair of wedding rings we never got to exchange. Then, I watched as his face slowly drained of color.

He bent down to pick up the wedding rings, his fingers shaking. "Don't do this, Ellie… I know I made a mistake. We can just plan another wedding ceremony—"

But I cut him off before he could say anything else, snapping impatiently, "Save it! Take your things and get out of my house right this minute. From this day onward, our relationship is over!"

Joshua kept his eyes fixed on me as they slowly turned red. "But why, Ellie?"

I noticed his reddened eyes, but it only made me want to laugh. "Why? Because I'm about to marry someone else, of course, and my fiance doesn't want to see me involved with any other man."

"You're marrying someone else?" Joshua's eyes went wide with shock and panic. "Who's your fiance? Ellie, are you just throwing a tantrum because of what my friend said yesterday?"

As a sarcastic smile spread across my face, I calmly looked at him and asked, "Why would I throw a tantrum? You think too highly of yourself, Joshua."

The seconds trickled by. After ten long seconds, he took a long look at my expression and snapped through gritted teeth, "Fine! If you're seriously marrying someone else, then tell me who you're marrying! There's no way that any man apart from me would want to…"

But he didn't finish his sentence. He simply stared at me.

I was about to say Austin's name when a weak cough rang out from the doorway. A pale-faced Isabel showed up on my doorstep, looking all pitiful.

After coming in, her greedy eyes scanned the entire lavish penthouse duplex.

Finally, her gaze locked onto the wedding gown hung up on the wall, the one I had spent a full year hand-sewing stitch by stitch.

"This is such a pretty house, Joshua! And I adore that wedding gown. It's such a shame I'll never get the chance to wear something that gorgeous…"

Once I saw the undisguised smugness and provocation in Isabel's eyes, my smile only deepened.

As expected, Joshua immediately pulled her into a hug, his eyes filled with tender pity. Then, he turned to me with a pleading look.

"Ellie…"

I couldn't resist laughing when I saw his expression. "Joshua, don't tell me you're seriously going to ask me to let her stay in this house and even give her that wedding gown."

Joshua's lips parted, but before he could speak, his eyes widened—because I'd grabbed the scissors off the table and slashed the wedding gown right in half.

As the scraps of fabric drifted to the floor, I announced clearly, "I would rather ruin my things than let a filthy piece of trash touch any of it."

Isabel screamed in fear before burrowing even deeper into Joshua's arms. "She's gone mad! Joshie! She's lost her mind!"

Joshua stared at the shredded wedding gown on the floor before turning to me with a look of sheer disbelief.

"Ellie! It was just a wedding gown! Even if you didn't want to give it away, you didn't need to destroy it. What are you going to wear for the wedding now?"

Smirking, I replied, "You don't need to worry about that. The Hammonds will prepare a new gown for me."

Joshua stiffened. "The Hammonds? Are you talking about Austin Hammond, the most distinguished scion in all of Jarlesbury?"

His eyes flashed with shock, but he soon let out a scornful sneer. "Ellie, everyone knows that what Austin hates the most is…"

Giving me a pointed look, he didn't complete his sentence, but I knew what he was referring to.

In the past, I'd masked my true features in order to find true love that wasn't motivated by anything worldly or superficial. And right now, I couldn't be bothered to continue arguing with Joshua about this.

I took out a makeup removal wipe. I wanted to wipe off my disguise, shut up the man who still didn't believe a word I said, and leave.

But since I hadn't said anything, Joshua reached out toward me. "Oh, stop. Why are you even taking that out? No matter how hard you rub your face, it's not like you can change it—"

Before he could finish, my phone started ringing. When I took the call, the respectful voice of Boaz Lowe, the Hammond family's butler, rang out loud and clear, "Ms. Scott, Mrs. Hammond Senior has settled on a wedding day. It'll be three days from now."

The call ended, and the house was completely silent.

Joshua turned ghostly pale.

"That's impossible! Why would the Hammonds…" Joshua's instinctive reaction was to refute me, his eyes awash with panic.

"She's definitely lying, Joshie! The Hammonds would never… She's just angry that you ran off from the wedding, so she hired a few people to put on this act and scare you!"

Isabel insisted I was lying, and Joshua's gaze lingered briefly on my face. The uncertainty in his eyes vanished almost instantly.

"That's enough, Ellie. I know you're upset that I left you for Izzy's sake, but you shouldn't joke around like that when it comes to marriage. Austin…"

He paused to take another look at my disguised face before clenching his teeth, saying, "Austin cares a great deal about looks. Why would he ever marry you? As long as you admit that you're just lying and apologize to me, I can still—"

"Still what?" I cut him off evenly. "Still continue treating me like your backup plan? Keeping me on the hook until you get tired of your first love before you finally come back to me?

"Do you really think I'm so pathetic, Joshua? That I can't live without you?"

My questions rendered him speechless, and his expression shifted between varying shades of anger.

Seeing this, Isabel immediately leaned into his arms like a frail woman and said in a tearful voice, "Let's go, Joshie. We shouldn't stick around any longer. It'll only make Ellie even angrier.

"I'm sure she's just too angry to think straight right now. Once she comes back to her senses, she'll see who truly cares about her."

After saying that, she didn't forget to shoot me a taunting look.

Meanwhile, Isabel's words had given Joshua the out he needed. He exhaled heavily and looked at me. "I'll give you some time to calm down, Ellie. Once you've thought things through, you can call me anytime."

Then, with his arms supporting Isabel, he walked right through the door without looking back.

Ironically, just moments after he left, the doorbell rang. Boaz showed up with two assistants to deliver a massive box to me.

Upon opening the lid, I saw a custom-made wedding gown crafted by a renowned international designer. The diamonds sewn into the fabric sparkled in the light.