Breach of Promise

DAMIEN entered the wedding hall from the side as the vicar announced his arrival. He stood tall, and his charisma was naturally overflowing without he even tried. He dressed the best today and had an amazingly textured brush back with a classic taper haircut. Against his midnight blue velvet tuxedo, he pinned his left lapel buttonhole with an exclusive handcraft brooch of the Gregory Family's signature emblem, made of mana stones. The brooch pin provided the perfect amount of miraculous sparkle to his tux.

This groom radiated confidence as he looked calm, reserved, and prepared. He was ready for this second-awaiting day of his life; the first one would be his coronation. But there was no smile decorating his charming face. Damien seemed neither happy nor sad. No trace of happy tears or excitement. And he walked very fast to the altar, not even relishing the scenery of hundreds of guests that were coming to witness his wedding.

Damien wanted the wedding to end immediately.

"Man… at least hide what you're thinking," whispered Eric, his best friend that sat in the second row from front. Eric felt like he could hear Damien's thoughts aloud, as it was very noticeable. Eric chuckled at his seat while he was looking at Damien. Damien had a poker face and seemed very uninterested in this wedding. His wedding.

Nora silently hushed her brother with a nudge. "Be quiet for once, will you?" said Nora in a very low voice. She gave Eric a death glare, looking threatening. The wedding ceremony was just beginning, and she hated his brother for interrupting this solemnization.

But Eric would not budge off that harmless threatening. He ignored Nora. And excitingly observing his surroundings instead, and watched the rest of the guests. Eric interestingly scanning them, one by one. Most of the guests were close friends, family members, and nobles. The ladies particularly, however, in some way could not flutter an eyelid as their eyes were focusing directly at the striking groom. And of course, every single of them wished they would be the lucky bride to marry this gorgeous man. Eric laughed to see those ladies fantasizing.

Suddenly, Eric saw a woman dressed in vibrant crimson red from head to toe sitting at the bride's side. Somehow, that woman looked awkwardly familiar. Eric tried to focus his eyes on that woman for a long time because it might trigger his memory. His eyes were squinting in great wonder. Where did he meet that peculiar woman?

Eric GASPED! "Oh, dang it!" He diverted his focus to somewhere else as his eyes brusquely meeting hers. "Maria Moltenore!" He finally remembered. How could he forget that woman? She had not changed after all these years. Her mysterious charm and obsess for the color red were still similar to before!

"What's wrong with you, Eric? You look like someone who just countersigned a ghost." Harry said, half-whispering as he realized his friend's weird demeanor. Eric looked like he was trying desperately to hide his face from someone. But who?

"Dude! Two o'clock!" Eric replied as he fraudulently coughed. He had sweated over his forehead and was half petrified.

Harry was confused as he was looking at the motionless wall. "What the hell?"

Eric almost stuttered, "No. I meant eight o'clock." he corrected his words. "But look really fast and don't make it too obvious." He added.

"The heck, man?" Harry was a bit annoyed, but he still followed his words. Harry wasn't focusing on the ceremony anymore. And he looked in that direction, mentioned by the alarmed Eric. At last, Harry saw that woman in red sitting just a few rows back at the bride's side. "DAMN!" Harry averted his eyes, just like Eric did before. "That woman is also invited?!" His voice made a guttural sound, and he was stunned for a moment at his seat. Harry could not believe it. He doubted his eyes and thought they were deceiving him.

"Who crazy enough to invite her to this wedding? Damien's wedding!" Eric seemed frustrated.

"The bride, obviously!" Harry shook his head. This was unbelievable!

The cunning Red Lady, Maria Moltenore, was an extraordinary and wicked young woman. She was one of the few remained members of the House of Moltenore, an old and prestigious family with witch blood and notorious for 'creating' their pureblood necromancers. Back in the past, one of the Moltenore members did something very unforgivable to Damien and eventually lost her life. It was something that only the close one knew and promised to never talked about again. But that would be a story for another day.

"URGH! Now I hate the bride." Eric remarked. He crossed both his arms and legs, protesting and showing his disapproval of this wedding. How dare the stupid bride invite someone like Maria to the wedding? Vanessa, of all people, should know how much her fiancé loathed the Moltenore Family because SHE. WAS. THERE. On that day, Vanessa saw what happened. Yet she still had the nerve to invite Maria.

This was truly a big mistake!

"Talking about the bride. Where the hell is she? The bride is late!" mentioned Harry. He had a frustrated look. His facial features that always soft and even-tempered, now changed to grumpy. For once, Harry agreed with Eric. He already hated the bride.

The wedding could not continue. The bride was terribly late. She was supposed to come in after the wedding march started, and Grace would lead the bride and the bride's father through the aisle. But none of them showed up, and the door was still closed. Strangely. And Damien already lost his calm. He gulped as he felt nervous, which he would never think he would on the wedding day. He threw a glance at Ryan, who was standing at the door. And signaled him to check why the bride was late for the ceremony.

'Where is the bride?'

'Why the ceremony hasn't continued?'

'The bride is late!'

The guests were making uproars by now. The guests could not stay still and they were focusing on the main door. The wedding march had been repeating, again and again. Like a one-hour-long concert. Yet, the bride did not appear. What was happening? The bride's mother already looked anxious, at her seat. She could not even bat a look at her future son-in-law, who already glared at her with blazing red eyes.

At the same time, Lady Dakota, that sat in the front row, was having a negative thought in her mind. She looked at her mother, the Duchess, with a very disturbed look. Duchess Bridget was late before, and she came in a few minutes before the groom did. Lady Dakota already doubted her mother. "Mother. Have you done something?" she asked the Duchess. Did her mother do something bad? Again?

"Sorry?" Bridget looked like she didn't understand what her daughter was talking about.

Lady Dakota looked very displeased. "You did this. You said something to Lady Vanessa, right?"

"Oh, dear. I don't understand what you are talking about, sweetheart." The Duchess avoided her daughter's eyes.

"Oh, ma." Lady Dakota rarely called the Duchess with that nickname. She shook her head in disbelief and great regret. "What have you done?" Lady Dakota then looked at her younger brother, standing alone at the altar with a fretful stare.

"Oh, my goodness! How can you have no trust in me? I'm not that evil to ruin my stepson's wedding," exclaimed Duchess Bridget. And she refused to explain further or making excuses to defend herself. She stopped talking to her daughter after that.

___

DOCTOR Evelyn was late for the wedding. She had her hands full with patients, like always. Evelyn barely escaped from her clinic. She only could leave because she had some help from her apprentices. And fortunately, all that left were the patients with minor injuries.

Evelyn almost could not make it to the ceremony. As this doctor reached the second manor, no guests or servants were wandering outside–only Evelyn was standing alone in front of the building, as she was the last to arrive. Evelyn could hear the wedding march playing harmoniously from a distance. When Evelyn was about to run to the reception, she realized she was still comfortably wearing her white coat. Silly her! She forgot to take it off before she left the clinic. Feeling embarrassed for being scatter-brained, Evelyn took off her white coat in a hurry and threw it to the coachman. Luckily, there were no guests to witness her clumsiness. Well, of course. Except for the coachman.

"Keep my coat! And never lose it. I cherish the coat so much." Evelyn left an important message. She almost sounded threatening. And she ran straightaway to the wedding reception in her three-and-a-half-inch block heel, which she rarely wears. On the way, Evelyn noticed herself in the reflection of the nearest mirror and saw her hair was messy. She stopped and fixed her hair by combing it with her fingers. Her face showed fatigue, and her hair looked terrible.

Evelyn was in her latest favorite outfit, a lilac dressy cocktail dress. She even had her hair done the day before. But before she could leave the clinic, another urgent patient came in. So that explained why she had a dress under her white coat earlier. While fixing her hair, Evelyn mumbled some stressful, inaudible words. Although it was supposed to be a happy day, there was a slight frustration showing on her fine-looking face.

For the record, Evelyn did not want to come to the wedding at first. It was not because of Damien. But because of his future wife, the woman named Vanessa Collins. Vanessa and Evelyn were classmates in the academy, and Evelyn truly disliked her. They did not have any happy memories while they were girls, even though they used to be roommates once, which was in the fourth year in the academy. Vanessa was what you called a snobbish rich girl, who detested commoner a lot, and Evelyn without a doubt, born a commoner. Evelyn went to St. Regina Royal Academy because Damien's mother, Lady Greta, wanted Evelyn to study at the same school as her only son. That added another reason Vanessa loathed Evelyn; because Evelyn was closed to Damien, the boy Vanessa had a big crush on for a long time.

In addition, Vanessa also had split personalities; one was a sweet-charming lady with an elegant manner and always poise. And the other one was a mad sucker woman who sought attention and very obsessive. A matter that none of the nobles knew because it was super discreet. But Evelyn eventually found out about that because her cousin was Vanessa's private psychotherapist. It worried Evelyn at the beginning, however, Evelyn felt a little glad to hear Vanessa already underwent rehabilitation for her mental disorder. So after finding out Damien would marry Vanessa, Evelyn assumed Vanessa was already healthy and fine. Well, Evelyn crossed her fingers.

Yet it was still hard to join and witness the wedding. Finally, Evelyn only agreed to come because of two reasons. Ryan begged her to attend, and there would be delicious food served for the wedding after-party.

While she was busy fixing her messy hair, Evelyn heard a loud clicking noise of heels coming from her right. CLICK! CLACK! CLICK! CLACK! And Evelyn saw a woman in a robe was running at a full tilt in her direction. Inadvertently, that woman hit Evelyn's shoulder as she was passing Evelyn. And that mysterious woman fell on the floor because she lost her balance.

That woman shot Evelyn a quick look. "VANESSA?!" Evelyn was shocked, and she could not utter any words after she called out that name. Evelyn was dumbfounded to find Vanessa sitting on the floor in front of her, as Vanessa should be inside the hall right now. For freaking sake! Today was her wedding! What the hell was she doing outside?!

Vanessa wasn't in her glamorous wedding gown, but instead, she was wearing an old maroon-colored robe; a cloth Evelyn would never think of and dare to imagine Vanessa dressed in one.

Vanessa stood up abruptly and she called faintly, "Evelyn?" Her voice cracked. She looked at Evelyn with an expression one could not describe. Vanessa had eyes that seemed to pierce painfully right into one's soul. Her eyes were puffy and bloodshot. She looked like she was in a hurry. It was like something scary was chasing her from behind. "–now is not a good time. Pretend you didn't see me." She said and escaped.

But it was too late. Evelyn could not pretend she saw nothing. Because it was so clear. That frightening and disappointing look Vanessa had stayed permanent in Evelyn's mind.