Chapter 3: I Should Marry You


    After trying on the dress, Dolores stepped out of the changing room and once again looked toward the


    changing room where the man and woman had been speaking. The door was tightly closed.


    “That dress suits you well. It matches your temperament.”


    The salesperson had good judgment and taste in fashion; she could pick clothes that fit her customers


    by just looking at them. The long pale blue dress Dolores wore made her skin look even paler. The


    ribbon around her waist highlighted her slim figure. She was underweight, but it just made her look


    more delicate.


    Feeling satisfied with the dress choice, Randolph went to pay for the dress. He then only realized the


    dress cost nearly five thousand dors. However, since it was the Nelson family she was going to meet,


    Randolph gritted his teeth and paid the money. He then turned to Dolores and spoke to her in an icy


    voice.


    “Let’s go.”


    Dolores had felt his cruelty for many years, both as a child and after he abandoned her, yet his


    indifference still made her ufortable and caused her heart to ache. She lowered her head and


    followed him to the car.


    After an ufortable ride in silence, the car soon stopped at the main entrance of the Flores vi.


    The chauffeur opened the door for Randolph. Randolph got out of the car and Dolores followed close


    behind.


    Standing in front of the vi, Dolores was in a trance for a few seconds. While she and her mother had


    been struggling to scrape by because of her brother’s condition, her father was happily living in a


    stylish vi, enjoying life with the other woman. Dolores couldn’t help but clench her fists.


    “Why are you still standing there?”


    Having sensed that Dolores was not following him, Randolph turned and saw her stupefied expression


    as she stood at the entrance. Dolores hurried after him. Hearing from the maids that the Nelson family


    still hadn’t arrived, Randolph let Dolores wait in the living room.


    They ced a piano near the French window in the living room. It was a Seidel piano and was made in


    Germany. The price was exorbitant. Her mother bought it for Dolores’ fifth birthday. Dolores liked piano


    since she was a baby and started learning piano when she was four and a half years old. After


    Randolph had sent them away, Dolores hadn’t had another opportunity to y. She couldn’t help but


    reach out and touch it, feeling familiar and excited at the same time. She lightly pressed a key and a


    melodious tinkle rang through the room. Because she had not yed it for a long time, her fingers were


    very stiff.


    “Who allowed you to touch my piano?” a clear and angry voice called from behind.


    Her piano? Dolores turned and saw Annabelle Flores standing behind her, fists clenched. Dolores


    remembered Annabelle was one year younger than her and recently turned seventeen. She had


    inherited her mother, Beh Shawn’s, good looks. Though the way she had contorted face made her


    looked quite ferocious at the moment.


    “Your piano?”


    Beh and Annabelle had destroyed her mother’s marriage and spent the money that was supposed


    to be theirs. And now even Dolores’ piano had been also theirs? Dolores slowly clenched her fists and


    kept on telling herself not to act on impulse. She still had to wait to regain the things that rightfully


    belonged to her and her mother. She had to endure it! She was no longer the little girl that only knew


    how to cry after being abandoned by her father eight years ago, she had grown up!


    “You’re… Dolores Flores?” Annabelle only then remembered that today was the day the Nelson family


    was arriving and her father had brought Dolores and her mother back here.


    Annabelle could still remember Dolores’s pitiful look when Randolph was sending them abroad. She


    knelt on the ground and wrapped her arms around Randolph’s leg, begging him not to send her away.


    “I’m sure you’re thrilled that you were able to guilt your farther into bringing you back,” Annabelle


    scoffed, crossing her arms in front of her chest and staring at Dolores with contempt. “You shouldn’t be


    happy though, as the reason Dad brought you back was only so you would marry the son of the Nelson


    family instead of me. It’s said that the son—”


    As she spoke, Annabelle covered her mouth and jeered. She couldn’t help but gloat over Dolores’


    misfortune that she had to marry a disabled man. Marriage was a huge life event. Having to marry such


    a man would mean the rest of her life was ruined.


    Dolores frowned, but before she could say anything, a maid walked in.


    “The Nelson family is here.”


    Randolph weed them personally at the door and led them into the living room. Dolores turned and


    saw a man in a wheelchair being wheeled inside. He had defined facial features and a charming look.


    Even though he was wheelchair-bound, nobody showed him any contempt.


    Seeing his face, Dolores realized he was the man who was flirting with the woman at the boutique.


    Was he the eldest son of the Nelson family? Back at the changing room, she had seen quite clearly


    that he could stand up when he put her arms around the woman. He hadn’t been using her for strength


    at all either. What was going on?


    While Dolores was still figuring out why Matthew was pretending he was disabled, Randolph called her


    over.


    “Dolores,e here. This is the eldest son of the Nelson family.” He then bowed in respect and a maid


    brought over a chair so Randolph could be the same height as Matthew. “Mr. Nelson, this is L.”


    Randolph felt sorry that a dignified man with such charming looks had be disabled.


    Matthew’s eyes fell onto Dolores and gauged she was still at a young age. Noticing how skinny Dolores


    was, most likely from malnutrition, he wrinkled his eyebrows. This was a marriage arranged by histe


    mother. As a son, he could not break the promise in good conscience. And it was because of that, he


    spread the word that he could not be detoxified and had be paralyzed after being bitten by the


    venomous snake abroad, just to make the Flores family change their mind. However, the Flores family


    didn’t do so.


    Matthew fell into silence and his expression fell. Randolph thought Matthew was dissatisfied with


    Dolores and quickly exined. “She’s still young and has just turned eighteen. If she could have a


    good life, she must be a beauty.”


    Matthew sneered to himself. He couldn’t tell whether Dolores was a beauty or not, but he did sense


    Randolph’s peculiar behavior, and the fact that he wanted to marry his daughter to him so much he


    didn’t even care that he was a “cripple.”


    With an icy look, he lifted one of his eyebrows. “I was injured during my business trip abroad and I’m


    afraid I can no longer walk. I can’t fulfill a husband’s duty—”


    “I don’t mind that,” Dolores replied instantly.


    This content ? N?v/elDr(a)m/a.Org.


    Randolph had promised her that as long as she surrendered to the marriage, he would return her


    mother’s dowry. Even if it meant marrying Matthew and getting divorced the next day, Dolores would


    agree to that. With a moment to ponder everything, Dolores had understood Matthew’s true desires. He


    could stand, yet he chose to sit on a wheelchair and she guessed it was because of the woman


    Dolores had seen him with. He didn’t want to keep his promise to his mother and wanted the Flores


    family to terminate the arrangement. Yet, he hadn’t expected Randolph was willing to sacrifice his one


    unloved daughter to fulfill the promise.


    Matthew narrowed his eyes and gazed at her. A chill ran down Dolores’ spine from his gaze and


    bitterness coated her tongue. Why would she want to marry him? If she didn’t agree to the marriage,


    she would most likely be sent away again and would never retrieve her mother’s fortune or her piano.


    Dolores pulled up the corner of her lips and forced out a smile. She was the only one that knew the


    bitterness behind the smile. “We’re destined to marry each other since we were children. Therefore, no


    matter what happens to you, we’re already married. There’s a reason ‘in sickness and in health’ is in


    the wedding vows”


    Matthew’s eyes grew darker and Dolores had to resist the urge to shrink away. Matthew had to admit


    that Dolores was good at talking.


    Randolph, not sensing anything amiss, carefully asked, “So, regarding the wedding date—”


    Matthew’s expression changed in a split second and went back to looking calm and demuring.


    “ording to the arrangement, it was already decided between two families, how could we break the


    promise?”


    Dolores lowered her eyes and didn’t dare to look at him. He was as unhappy with the arrangement as


    she was, perhaps more so. His consent was merely because a promise was a promise.


    “That’s great.”


    Randolph was delighted to hear the news. To connect to the Nelson family via an insignificant daughter


    was certainly a good thing. Although the Flores family was rich, it was no match for the Nelson’s.


    Randolph stood and bowed deeply to Matthew. “I’ve asked my chef to prepare dinner, please have a


    meal here before leaving.”


    Matthew frowned, disgusted by Randolph’s going-after-wealth-and-power behavior.


    “No, thank you. I still have some things to deal with.,” he said, rejecting the offer and waiting for Abbott


    Baron to push him outside in the wheelchair.


    Upon passing by Dolores, he raised his hand gesturing Abbott to stop, and lifted his eyes. “Is Miss


    Flores free afterward?”