Chapter 186: A Bride Again

Celine wasn’t give the chance to voice a word of protest, she was dragged into getting dressed in a wedding gown hastily by the women.

The lover’s test games weren’t violating any rules of human consent since all the participants were evidently already married couples. Hence it wasn’t considered abnormal to have the couples retake their wedding vows in a mass wedding.

Celine’s heart was pounding the whole time, never would she have expected, the lover’s test that started casually, would come to end In this.

Celine and Tristan hadn’t been married before, however, in order to get the contract and obtain the lands on the Rowena islands, they had come to this agreement to momentarily pretend to be a couple, which after obtaining the lands, they would leave the islands separately and no one would come to know that they had pretended as a couple.

Celine was stuck, unsure what excuse to give to back out of the final rounds without revealing the truth – that she and Tristan were never actually married.

The residents of the Rowena islands had trusted them, during this time they’d stayed here, Celine had come to see that they lived a simple and normal lifestyle away from the outside worlds and held firmly to their beliefs. Furthermore if it was suddenly revealed that they weren’t a married couple in the first place, the island chief would not only be upset, but the deal of the land acquisition would be completely lost.

Though Tristan had said he didn’t love her, and had walked out on her, she had wanted to at least help him in reclaiming his company before she’d walk out of his life for good. However, if she made an act to protest about the wedding or even attempted to refuse, it would raise suspicion.

However, Tristan hadn’t returned since the time she had confessed her feelings for him, she couldn’t help but doubt if he ever will. But then it would be much better if he didn’t show up, at least it would save her the trouble of having to admit the truth that they were never married. At most, people would assume that there was a problem with their marriage.

Celine sat frozen at the vanity, her eyes drifting aimlessly across the mirror, not really focusing on anything. Her face was beautifully made up, delicate features accentuated. Her blue eyes looked calm, but a hint of sorrow lingered beneath. A white veil was tucked into her bun and the white wedding gown flowed down in a full skirt, which pooled around her as she sat down.

The final rounds of the lover’s test wasn’t really a challenge, it was a way to strengthen a couple’s bond by having them take the vows of marriage once again.

“Wow Celine, you look beautiful!” Hailey walked into Celine’s part of the room also fully dressed up herself.

Celine turned around and forced a smile on her face, “You look even more beautiful.” She commented politely though honestly. Hailey looked like an angel in her fluttery white dress.

Despite Celine’s smile, Hailey could already see the pain in her eyes, she held her shoulders comfortingly, “Don’t worry Celine, you and Tristan just need a new start, with this wedding everything will be alright.”

Once again, Celine forced a smile.

“Now, are you ready to be a bride again?” Hailey asked beaming while letting down her veil.

Celine felt a wave of deja-vu wash over her. Five years ago she had been a bride, a bride getting married to a man she had no feelings for, she had been fooled into this sham of a relationship and had almost fallen Into marriage had it not been for a moment of courage brought by the eyes of a stranger, a stranger whom she had now fallen in love with, she had finally been able to flee the marriage leaving the groom at the altar.

Now five years later she was once again a bride, a bride getting married through a sham to a man she was truly in love with, but there was a possibility that she was going to be stood up at the altar, now karma had come for her, and she was going to be an abandoned bride, just like she had been five years ago.

“Let’s go?” Hailey asked after looking down at her wedding dress over and over in the mirror.

Celine took in a deep breath, her heart was beating so fast, she felt like it would burst out of her ribcage. When she had almost gotten married to Ian, she had felt nervous and scared and reluctant, now all she felt was anticipation as well as disappointment because she knew that it would never happen.

After making an effort to compose herself, she finally nodded to Hailey who stood side by side with her,

“Since none of us have our families here, the brides can only walk down the aisle on their own, let’s go together okay?” Hailey crossed her elbow for Celine to take, which she did with a grateful smile before they both stepped out of the room.

The wedding hall was a huge cathedral that had incredibly sky high ceilings, a vastly spacious hall where seating areas had been arranged on either sides. A long red carpet spread up to the altar.

The altar itself was spacious enough to fit a number of couples since it would be a mass wedding. A priest standing ready to officiate the wedding vows.

The hall was already packed with guests, most of them residents of the old dwellings, among all the couples none had their family members or friends from the city in attendance and the people present were just to witness the ceremony.

On the altar were the grooms all standing in a line while waiting for their brides to arrive, however, among the eight couples who were to be married, only seven were present, with one space standing empty at the side.

Simon, in his black shiny suit looked at the empty space beside him with a worried frown on his face, he had been calling Tristan for some time now but he wasn’t picking up. Was something wrong, or did he not plan to show up today?

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