"Harold White is dead!"

"The Whites still want to go through with the engagement but there won’t be a wedding ceremony."

"We'll have the chauffeur take you to the White's place. You’re part of their family now," said Eva Miller, with an icy tone.

"You should know why the Evans took you in," she continued.

Crystal Evans kept her head down, she knew it all too well.

The Evans and the Whites had an arranged marriage planned but now the groom was deceased. The Evans didn't want their daughter, Dora, becoming a widow and that’s why they had brought back Crystal to take her place.

When Crystal was around 15, she discovered that she was, in fact, the real daughter of the Evans due to a hospital mix-up at birth.

Even after finding out that she was their biological daughter, the Evans had a deep bond with Dora. Fearing that Dora couldn’t handle the situation, they let Crystal stay in the countryside.

They only recently sent a driver to fetch Crystal to have her marry a dead man instead of Dora.

Eva glanced at her watch, "The Whites are here. Let’s move."

Biting her lip, Crystal whispered, "Will my father and brother come..."

"They ain’t got the time," Eva answered, noticeably impatient, "Today is Dora's graduation ceremony."

Crystal released a soft sigh as Eva prodded her, "Come on, hop in the car. We don't want to piss off the Whites."

The White's fleet of luxury cars lined up outside made quite a spectacle. Crystal got into one of the cars and took one last look at the Evans' villa, her home she hadn’t visited for 15 years and now no longer belonged to her!

As everyone left, Eva’s smile vanished and she said with disgust, "Finally, she's out the door."

The housemaid chimed in, "Ma'am, you didn't need to see her off. She’s just an orphan girl."

She gave the housemaid a side-long glance, "You don’t understand. I'm no less than the lady of the house here but don’t have kids. I gotta play my cards right, otherwise, folks will start gossiping and making a mockery of me."

"You can't comprehend this. The Whites are quite a handful. I'm worried Crystal might land in hot water. Be it as it may, she ain't fond of me, I still felt the need to bid her adieu one last time!"

.

.

.

The Whites were an influential family in City W, with a lineage spanning over a century.

At this moment, the White's ancestral home was veiled in white, filled to the brim with guests who came to pay their respects. There was a strange contrast when Crystal stepped out in her bright bridal dress, like a fish out of water.

"Is she the new bride of the late Mr. White? I heard they picked her up from a countryside, explains her lack of class."

The guests were having a field day gossiping about her.

"Mrs. White was so fretted about her grandson dying alone, she ensnared an unlucky girl to marry him...Poor kid is a widow in her prime, what a tragedy..."

"Why are you feeling sorry for her? She’s gonna outlive him. If that fella was still breathing, she would've been a goner within three days!"

The White's butler, Uncle Howard, turned a deaf ear to this idle talk and led Crystal into the mourning hall. He told her, "Ma’am, it’s your duty to guard the master's soul," with a cold sternness.

Crystal obliged and kneeled before the deluxe gold-plated mahogany casket which was underneath a man's portrait.