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He Chose His Scholar Over Me So I Married the Heir Waiting in the Capital
Novelix
new
Completed
For three years, I counted on Adrian Huo to help me escape the marriage my stepmother had arranged. At the city's matchmaking gala, all he had to do was choose me. Instead, he handed the only orchid that mattered to the scholarship student he favored, leaving me publicly humiliated and bound for the capital. He said it was just a flower. To me, it was my last chance at freedom. So I left without a word. Adrian stopped the airport to bring me back, but the man waiting for me in the capital had already offered something Adrian never did: the freedom to choose my own future.
Chapters (2)
第1章
At the Harbor City flower gala, a dozen young women stood beneath the ballroom lights while the heirs of the city’s old families chose a bloom to offer. It looked like a party. Everyone knew it was a matchmaking ritual. A flower meant a family was willing to discuss marriage.
I was the ninth daughter of casino magnate Victor Chu—and the only one born to his first mistress. If no one chose me tonight, my stepmother would send me to the capital to marry into the powerful Qin family. I had begged my childhood friend, Adrian Huo, for three years to help me build enough leverage to escape that fate. He’d promised.
Then the host announced the first choice.
Adrian walked past me and placed a gold-edged orchid in the hands of Lillian Hsieh, the scholarship student he’d sponsored through college.
“Let her have one night in the spotlight,” he murmured near my ear. “No one can force you into anything while I’m here.”
The cameras caught his arm around her. They caught my empty hands, too.
“Lillian has grace and a distinguished background,” he told the crowd. “She deserves an orchid.”
People laughed. They heard the insult in the word *distinguished*.
By the end of the night, I had no flower and no way to refuse the capital.
第2章
When the guests drifted away, Adrian found me by the windows with two glasses of champagne.
“They should’ve saved you a flower,” he said. “I told them to.”
“Do you know what tonight means?”
He frowned. “A matchmaking party. It’s mostly for show.”
“An orchid means the heir is choosing a future wife.”
His face changed, but only for a second. “No one said the choice had to be final. I’ll talk to your family. They won’t marry you off.”
“Then ask Lillian to give the orchid back. I only need to take it home. I’ll return it tomorrow.”
He hesitated. “That would humiliate her. I can buy you another flower.”
“The orchid had a gold edge. You can’t buy another one.”
Lillian came back before I could finish. Her cake slipped from her plate and landed on her shoe. She blinked up at Adrian, eyes shining.
“I’m sorry, Cora. I didn’t mean to ruin anything.”
Adrian’s attention shifted to her. “It’s fine. Don’t cry.” Then, to me: “Cora, it’s one flower. Don’t make this ugly.”
He plucked a rose from a passing waiter’s tray and pressed it into my hand. Its stem had been snapped short, its thorns clipped away.
Around us, someone whispered that a casino bastard’s daughter had been pretending she could marry into the Huo family.
I dropped the rose on the table.