Chasing The Vengeful Villainous Heiress-Chapter 88: The bride appears

"Sorry, I had to make the guests wait." Max said as he strode through to the altar, and the cameras started shuttling nonstop, taking pictures of him in his designer black suit.

His hair parted to one corner was simply heavenly, as it gave one a full view of his handsome and flawless face.

He strode in without a care in the world and got to the altar.

Lucy, who had been angry, felt relieved. Even if he was late, at least he came. That was all that mattered.

"I should probably state my reason for arriving late, right?" He said and stood in front of Lucy who started blushing at the close proximity and how handsome he looked up close.

"It... It’s fine." She said. "As long as you’re here now."

"Oh, but you’re not the one I want to tell." He said and turned around to face the guests. "I went to pick up my bride."

Hearing that, Lucy felt a little shiver.

"What?"

"Well, she woke up with a nasty temper today and so I had to soothe her carefully with nice words." He said and laughed. "She was so charming."

Everyone was confused. What was he saying? But furthermore, that laugh. They made sure to take note of it and take shots of all angles of such a charming laugh. This was the first time they were seeing such a genuine laugh from him.

"Did he really say bride?" The photographers asked each other, while the reporters jotted down that important note.

"Lucy Ross has been here all the while, right? Is that a joke?"

"What if he’s talking about some other girl?"

This sparked more discussion among the guests and reporters.

"And after calming her down," Max continued. "...she needed to get her makeup done and that did not go as planned. It took longer than any of us anticipated and that’s why we’re so late. My bad." He smiled, causing the crowd to be smitten by his looks once more but they quickly snapped out of it as they were all confused as to who the bride he was referring to was.

Lucy was practically livid, trembling in anger. Was he trying to joke at such an important moment?

"What are you talking about?" She asked, drawing all attention to her and she managed to put up a smile. "You shouldn’t joke like this. You’ll make everyone misunderstand."

"Oh? And what is there to misunderstand?" Max asked. "I just said I went to pick up my bride. Is that too hard to understand?"

"But... But I’m your bride. Don’t you remember? We went to pick my wedding gown together. You even came to my house for dinner after that. You... You spent time with me and said we’d get married. What do you mean?"

"Hm," Max stood in a thinking pose. "I don’t know if it was my actions that led you on but I feel you’re misunderstanding something." His eyes fell coldly on her as he declared. "YOU aren’t the one I want to marry."

Those words fell heavily on her and she almost stumbled.

"Wh-what do you mean? I’m Lucy Ross. Your Lucy. I’m the only one considered as a good match for you. We... We’re a great match." Lucy blurted out, trembling.

"That’s just something you decided by yourself." Max said. "You’re not someone I would ever consider marrying. Ever!"

"What sort of nonsense is this?" Bernard flared, getting up from his seat to point at him. "How dare you insult my daughter in front of me? You were the one who clearly said you wanted to marry my daughter, so why are you acting all mighty and arrogant now?"

"Did I?" Max snapped his fingers and Jeremy walked forward with a letter in his hand. "In this letter contains my marriage proposal. Let’s read it, out loud shall we?"

He opened the letter, cleared his throat, and read out,

"I, Maximus Stewart, a representative of Stewart, would like to get married to ’Ross’ Heiress’." He read, lowered his hand, and smirked. "That’s what I said."

"And that’s what you got." Bernard yelled at him. "My daughter is the only heiress, so she’s the only one you can get married to."

"Hm, I don’t think so." Max said, handing the letter back to Jeremy. "Your daughter is no heiress. And I want to get married to the ’real’ heiress."

Lucy flinched. It wasn’t what she was thinking, right? Why did that sound so ominous? She felt chills run down her spine like things were going to go wrong. Horribly wrong.

"What do you mean?" Lucy asked him and attempted to hold his hand but he brushed her aside and said,

"Don’t touch me. You disgust me." He glared at her and she shrieked in fear.

No, this was not how things were supposed to be. He was supposed to smile sweetly at her and whisper sweet words to her as he always did. What made him change all of a sudden?

This sparked yet another round of murmuring.

"Wait, he doesn’t mean ’that’ heiress, right?"

"Is he crazy? Why would he want to get married to a crazy murderer?"

"Hey, why is he so hostile to sweet caring Lucy?"

Lucy had started trembling behind him, clutching her gown. What did that mean? What was he saying? It wasn’t what she was thinking, right? He wasn’t referring to that bitch, was he?

"Now that it’s all settled." Max said and checked his watch. "I think it’s about time we commence this wedding ceremony." He raised his head and smiled at the entrance. "It’s time for my bride to shine."

Everyone turned their gaze to the door where Max had his sight on.

"Unlike a pretentious righteousness, I would rather marry a villainess." He said, and the doors opened, causing him to smirk. "My wife can only be one person and that is no one other than Valerie Ross." He declared and just like that, Valerie emerged in a sparkly white gown with a bouquet in her hand and a proud smile, and the cameras all pointed at her.

People got up in shock, wondering what was going on. This... Why was Valerie Ross here? Wasn’t she supposed to be locked up in an Asylum? 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

Those were the words that screamed out of their shocked expressions and Valerie stride slowly with her long cape flowing from behind.

She stopped in front of Max who gave her a hand and turned to the crowd.

"Now, the wedding can begin."

The hall was filled with so many confused gazes and expressions. People were panicking, scared, and terrified at what was going on.

The only ones who seemed calm were from Stewart, those who were in on his plans the whole time.

Lucy stared at Valerie in shock. What... How... Why? How was this possible? And... She looked at her dress. Wasn’t that the gown she wanted to wear? The one that was reported as ruined?

How did Valerie get her hands on it? Why was she wearing her dress?

"You seem to like my wedding gown." Valerie said, and leaned her head on Max’s arm. "Well, why wouldn’t you? It’s what my husband got for me. And the things my husband picks for me are the best." Her eyes suddenly turned cold. "I think you can testify since you wore one on your birthday."

Lucy was confused. What was going on? Have they known each other since then? Then she... She has been playing into their little game this whole time. How did she not know?

Her knees were growing weak but she could not fall, not in front of everyone.

She had to at least act pitiful. But... She didn’t even have the strength to do such a simple thing, something she had been doing for so many years.

"Please, priest, you can begin the ceremony now." Max said, but the priest was equally confused. He turned to look at Lucy who was trembling in shame and anger.

"What sort of insult is this?" Bernard flared once more. "How dare you do this?"

"What do you mean?" Max asked. "She is the rightful heiress, is she not?"

"She is a crazy killer. A lunatic. How can you get married to her?" Victoria added, and Max’s gaze turned cold, glaring at them, but before he could say anything, Valerie shook him out of it and decided to do the talking.

"It’s been so long, uncle." She said with a mocking smile. "I bet you didn’t expect to see me so soon, but here I am, standing in front of you. Glad you could stick around for my wedding."

"You..."

"As for your claims." She interrupted him, her eyes piercing into his. "I believe we have some unfinished business. Why don’t we use this moment to clear things up?"

"What are you talking about?" Victoria asked. "Do you attempt to kill more people? I’ll make sure you get executed this time around."

"My, my, my. What age do we live in?" Valerie asked and sniggered. "Let’s see. Instead of going through a roundabout way, why don’t you go ahead and kill me now." She spread out her hands. "After all, you’ve got more than enough reasons to kill me. You won’t be called a murderer since you’ll be ridding the world of a crazy killer like me, no?" She laughed but there was no action forthcoming.

It was as if she had silenced them as they could not find words to retaliate.

"No?" She shrugged. "Then, would you mind me killing your daughter instead?"

"You dare?!"