We soon arrived at the venue for the event and saw that the organizers had placed choral risers on the stage for the ninety-nine couples to stand on. That way, neither of them would have their faces blocked by the person standing in front of them.
Their wedding attires looked a lot more vibrant under the warm lighting, and the colors were reflected on the faces of the guests standing close to the stage.
Instead of the overwhelming euphoria that I experienced during Ashton’s proposal earlier, seeing the couples boldly make their vows on stage had a kind of soothing effect on me. It helped suppress my feelings of unease temporarily, and I silently gave them my most sincere blessings.
Ashton then brought me out of there after the couples completed the ritual.
“If you like it, we can have people organize their weddings here every day,” he said as we casually strolled down the street.
Knowing that he was trying to distract me, I teased him by asking sarcastically, “Aren’t you supposed to do that for me alone? What, is it too expensive for you?”
Ashton arched an eyebrow at me and replied with a smirk, “I’m fine with that. You might not be able to handle it, though.”
“Are you underestimating me? Besides, it’s not like it takes a lot of effort to play the role of the bride. All I have to do is walk a few steps and sit in the carriage…” I mumbled softly as I followed behind him.
Ashton simply chuckled in response and said nothing further, which struck me as a little strange.
It wasn’t until we moved further away from the crowd that I realized Ashton was headed outside of the area.
“Are we heading back now?” I asked as we got closer to the entrance.
I kind of feel like spending some time with him alone. It is our wedding night, after all. Honestly, it has been ages since I felt like just clinging to Ashton and spending lots of time just doing nothing in particular. Maybe it’s because we’ve already gotten to that stage where everything is stable in the relationship.
“Not yet,” Ashton replied and continued heading toward the parking lot.
He then found the black MPV that Joseph had parked there and opened the door before helping me into the car.
The car was empty, save for a laptop that Ashton began working on after sitting down.
He then pulled up a bunch of pictures on the screen and zoomed in on them so I could have a clearer look.
They were all pictures of “me” attending high-end social events with different men, but the woman in the picture obviously wasn’t me.
In the last picture, I was able to clearly see the incomplete photograph that was in the woman’s purse.
Although I had finally found out that the mysterious man was none other than Nathaniel, it was nothing worth being surprised about.
After all, Nathaniel was incredibly adept at making comebacks. Given how he had taken out the entire Hall family, it would make perfect sense that he was the mastermind behind everything.
“Feel safer now that you know who’s behind all this?” Ashton asked casually, showing no signs of pressure from Nathaniel’s actions whatsoever.
“A little, I guess.” I let out a long and deep breath and stared at the pictures on the computer in confusion. “Nathaniel hates the Hall family and has always wanted to be free from it. Why would he still do this to us now that he already got what he wanted?”
“Don’t bother trying to understand a madman’s logic!” Ashton replied with a sarcastic chuckle.
Having found someone to target my emotions at, I exclaimed angrily, “It’s really annoying, though. We could all go our separate ways and live our lives peacefully! Why won’t he just leave us alone?”
As much as I hate to accept this fact, there are always people who can’t stand others living happily and will do everything they can to take that happiness away. When will this madness end? Are they planning on fighting until one of them is dead?
After taking a moment to calm myself down, I turned toward Ashton and suggested, “Should we take the initiative to arrange a meet-up with Nathaniel and see what he wants? It doesn’t matter if he wants money, power, or even an apology. We’ll just give him what he wants in exchange for him to leave us alone.”
