The Million-Dollar Heart novel Chapter 2

The atmosphere turned awkward in an instant.

"Wait, what? Percival's fiancée?" Beatrice jumped to her feet before finishing her sentence. "Yeah, right. It's Vivienne who's engaged to the Ellingtons, not you. Now that Vivienne's back, you don't have to marry Percival."

Richard had always doted on Percival, especially after Percival saved him two years ago, despite ending up disabled. Richard's affection for him only grew. And he also became more and more reckless, squandering Richard's money without a second thought.

But for some reason, the Ellingtons suddenly sent someone over a while back, saying that the Hawthorn's lady had an engagement with Percival and they had to honor it. At the time, Vivienne wasn't back yet, so the Hawthorn's lady was Arabella, right?

Beatrice was immediately anxious. Even though the Ellingtons held a high status, Arabella was her carefully nurtured protege. She wanted Arabella to marry someone better, someone who could elevate the Hawthorns to new heights. Although Percival was favored, he lacked real power, and the money he had was still provided by his parents and Richard. It was important to know that the money would run out, and when it did, he might be dependent on Arabella's wealth.

Beatrice naturally wouldn't allow that. But because of the engagement with the Ellingtons, she couldn't just call it off. So she'd been brainstorming ways to smoothly break off the engagement.

Now that Vivienne was back, there was no need to break off the engagement. After all, Vivienne was just a country girl. She was a good match for the disabled Percival. The Hawthorns could even use this opportunity to deepen their relationship with the Ellingtons. It was a win-win.

Thinking of this, Beatrice immediately said, "I agree with Vivienne's return. You guys go teach Vivienne some manners. She's getting engaged to Percival in a month. We can't have her embarrassing the Hawthorns at the engagement party."

Dorian and Cordelia were stunned and looked at Beatrice in disbelief. They still hadn't recovered from Arabella's words earlier.

Soon Dorian lifted his head. "Wait, what engagement party? Isn't Arabella the one engaged to Percival?"

"Once Vivienne's back, she's the older daughter of the Hawthorn family. She's the one engaged to the Ellingtons. Now that she's back, she should honor the engagement," Beatrice shot back.

At this, Cordelia furrowed her brows and looked at Vivienne, feeling a pang of sympathy. Beatrice's scheme was too transparent. No wonder she agreed so easily to Vivienne's return. She had ulterior motives.

Who didn't know that Percival was disabled?

Beatrice didn't even want Arabella to marry Percival before, but now she wanted Vivienne to marry him.

"I don't agree." Dorian growled, and his expression darkened. "Arabella is the one engaged to Percival."

"And so what." Beatrice retorted. "We can't afford to piss off the Ellingtons."

"You guys!" Dorian was so angry his face turned red.

But Beatrice didn't care. She turned to Vivienne. "If you want to return to the Hawthorn family, you have to get engaged to Percival."

Vivienne lifted her head to look at Beatrice, her eyes shining brightly. After a moment, she spoke calmly. "Fine, I agree."

She had to return to the Hawthorn family!

As for the engagement, Vivienne smiled faintly. She came back to the Hawthorn family just in time to call off her engagement to Percival.

After leaving the Hawthorn Mansion, Vivienne went back to Dorian and Cordelia's house. Eight years ago, Dorian was kicked out of the Hawthorn Mansion by the family elders. Now they lived in a small apartment at Prominent Estates on the edge of downtown. The neighborhood was somewhat run-down. {robably because of its years, walls were peeling. Dorian's family lived in a small three-bedroom apartment.

Vivienne greeted Dorian and then went to her room. Her luggage was still not unpacked since she just got home today. As soon as she entered her room, someone knocked on the door. She got up to open it and saw Dorian and Cordelia outside, looking like they had something to say.

"What's up?" Vivienne made way for Dorian to come in.

"There's something." Dorian pursed his lips, unsure of how to start.

"Whatever it is, just spit it out." Vivienne offered Dorian a seat and stood aside.

"I want to help you cancel the engagement."

Vivienne lifted her eyes, looking surprised at him.

Cordelia walked over and sat Vivienne down on the bed, softly explaining, "Your dad thinks marriage is a big deal, and Percival is disabled. If you marry him, you'll have to take care of him for the rest of your life. He hopes you can find a man of good character who truly loves you and will cherish you for a lifetime."

Cordelia paused, then continued, "But this engagement was set by your mother, so we still need to ask for your opinion."

Even though she hadn't spent much time with Vivienne, she felt sorry for her. Percival was disabled. So what if the Ellington family had got money and power? That engagement was nothing but a trap, and once Vivienne fell in, her life would be done for.

Vivienne looked at Cordelia with a slight smile, "Yeah, I'm planning on calling off the engagement."

Cordelia was Dorian's second wife and Vivienne's stepmother. In the short few hours of interaction, Vivienne didn't find Cordelia off-putting. She also saw that Dorian and Cordelia truly cared for her.

"That's great." Dorian excitedly stood up, "I'll get in touch with the Ellington family right away to talk about calling off the engagement."

Emerald Mountain.

At an unnamed monument deep in the woods, three people were standing there. The one on the left was a stylishly dressed man with earrings, he looked at the tall man next to him, "Mr. Ellington, it's been two days and the girl hasn't shown up. I guess she might not come at all, let's get out of here."

"Let's wait a bit longer." The man in the middle, with narrow eyes, was staring at the nameless monument with a glint in his eyes. He was dressed in black casual clothes, his short hair covering half of his eyes. His handsome face had a stubborn coldness.

This was Percival from the Ellington family, the one who Vivienne had saved. And the one who spoke first was the young son of the Sterling family from Rivenwood, Leopold Sterling.

"Come on. If you keep this up, your engagement with Miss Hawthorn." Leopold touched his earlobe and chuckled, "Miss Hawthorn is a remarkable woman from Havenwood, and your two families have been engaged since childhood. Your grandfather has repeatedly stressed that the engagement banquet must be flawless."

Percival smirked, "The people from the Hawthorn family haven't proposed to call off the engagement yet?"

"The Ellington family is the most prestigious family in Rivenwood. Would the Hawthorn family dare to call off the engagement? Even if you're disabled, they wouldn't call off the engagement. And let's not mention that you're not actually disabled."

If the Hawthorn family knew that Percival wasn't disabled, they certainly wouldn't call off the engagement.

"Well." Percival's eyes dimmed.

If the Hawthorn family didn't call off the engagement, it wouldn't be fun.

Seeing his reaction, Leopold knew he'd been talking in vain. He decided not to bring it up anymore, "Since we can't wait for your savior, let's get going. Once we find my Mystic Mistress, she'll be able to save Isolde."

Percival gave him a puzzled look, "Your Mystic Mistress? Are you sure she really exists?"

Leopold was left speechless, unable to respond to the counterargument. After a while, he said forcefully, "Of course she exists. My Mystic Mistress is beautiful and kind-hearted, especially her medical skills. She can cure serious illnesses..."

Before he could finish, he was interrupted by the person standing on Percival's right, "Mr. Sterling, you don't even know her name, what she looks like, or even how to find her, yet you boast about how great she is. Your Mystic Mistress must be someone you dreamed of, right? It'd be better to contact the mysterious doctor, Specter Healer."

She can cure serious illnesses? Even a professor at the medical research institute wouldn't dare to claim that.

Leopold shouted angrily, "You're talking nonsense. My Mystic Mistress is not a dream, she is real, like really real. Besides, Specter Healer is hard to find and only treats patients on a whim. We've been looking for so long with no news. They might not even be taking patients."

"I suspect they are not capable at all. Their His medical skills are not even comparable to those of my Mystic Mistress."

His Mystic Mistress was beyond the understanding of ordinary people like him. Although Mystic Mistress never mentioned her name, and now it'd been ten years, the appearance of Mystic Mistress had also changed, he still believed that as long as he saw Mystic Mistress, he would recognize her.

"Alright, alright, she's real." Thomas didn't want to argue with Leopold anymore, mainly because Leopold had a near-obsessive fixation on his Mystic Mistress.

Percival glanced at them and then turned his eyes back to the monument, bowed, and then turned to say, "Let's go."

"Mr. Ellington, where are we going?" Thomas asked.

Percival's mouth curled up slightly, "To Havenwood. To get my fiancée to call off the engagement."