Chapter 1

On my wedding day, the makeup artist saw that the venue was booked at a high-end hotel.

She suddenly changed everything from the look we had originally agreed upon.

My fiancé looked at her with amusement and asked, "What, you want me to marry Crayon Shin-chan?"

Turns out the expensive makeup artist I'd booked was my fiancé's ex-girlfriend.

Watching how familiar they were with each other, I removed my makeup on the spot and called off the wedding.

As Ethan tried to stop me, Mandy suddenly stood on her tiptoes and kissed him on the lips.

That's when I noticed—beneath her mask, she'd already done her makeup perfectly.

So this was her plan all along. To steal my wedding.

I raised an eyebrow. Stealing a wedding means taking on more than just the man.

The final payment for that $700,000 sky-high banquet was to be paid in full by the bride's family. I hoped she could handle that too.

Last night, I'd stayed up late discussing wedding details with both sets of parents.

I didn't get to bed until very late.

And this morning I had to get up at the crack of dawn.

So when the makeup artist greeted me, I was still half-asleep.

As soon as she walked in, she started looking around the hotel room. When she saw the expensive jewelry laid out on the table, her hands paused slightly as she unpacked her makeup kit.

"Ha, Miss Olivia, does your husband treat you that well? Booking such a fancy hotel for the wedding, preparing such elegant jewelry—it's enough to make anyone jealous!"

"This must have cost a fortune, right? I really envy you, finding such a generous man."

At her words, I felt a surge of distaste.

All the expenses for today's wedding were being covered by my family. She hadn't bothered to learn anything about the situation, yet she automatically assumed it was the groom's family paying.

But I didn't need to explain myself to a stranger.

I nodded and didn't take it to heart.

But she suddenly yanked her makeup kit open forcefully and looked at me with a half-smile.

"Miss Olivia, why do you think women these days love stealing other people's things so much?"

"Are they just born shameless?"

Honestly, hearing this nonsensical talk, I was getting angry.

But there was no time now to find a replacement makeup artist.

After she applied my foundation, I dozed off.

I kept my eyes closed the whole time, pretending to rest.

She was from a well-known brand's shop after all—I wasn't worried about her stealing anything.

I figured if she needed me to open my eyes, she'd ask.

But when I finally opened my eyes again, I was startled by the stranger in the mirror.

I was about to ask the makeup artist what the hell she was doing, frowning.

My mind was already racing, thinking about how to claim compensation. This was a massive professional failure on her part.

But when I looked over at her, she was looking down, trying to suppress her laughter.

Her shoulders were shaking nonstop, as if she'd seen something hilarious.

I gradually realized something was wrong.

This was clearly intentional.

To be fair, I didn't think I'd done anything to offend her.

I frowned, thinking through the possibilities.

When our eyes met, the girl couldn't hold it in anymore. She burst out laughing.

"Hahaha—"

Laughing, she ran behind Ethan, who'd just opened the door and walked in.

Her small hands clutched at the back of Ethan's suit. "I... I'm sorry, Ethan! I didn't mean to laugh!"

"I just never imagined Miss Olivia's face would be so... suited to this kind of makeup!"

She covered her face again, trying to stifle her laughter.

Seeing my ridiculous appearance, she hid behind Ethan, her malice obvious.

Hearing her call out Ethan's name, my sense of unease grew stronger.

My intuition was usually accurate. This girl knew Ethan.

And they were quite familiar with each other.

I didn't want to think the worst.

I frowned and looked at Ethan. "What's the meaning of this?"

"You two already knew each other? What kind of stunt are you pulling? Is today a wedding or a theatrical performance?"

When Ethan saw my face, he froze too.

He looked down helplessly at the girl behind him, but he didn't scold her.

My originally irritated mood suddenly felt like it had been doused with cold water.

Ethan leaned casually against a chair, looking at the girl with a familiar tone.

"The trial runs went fine before. Why are you dropping the ball today?"

"What, you want me to marry Crayon Shin-chan?"

He looked at her with amusement.

The girl shrank her neck, stuck out her tongue, and made a sound.

"You're asking me to do makeup for your bride. I can't be that magnanimous."

She looked at my face with a half-smile, clearly enjoying my humiliation.

I pulled out my phone and found the contact information for a backup makeup artist.

"Make her apologize to me."

"I'll call someone else to come redo my makeup. I'll go downstairs whenever they're done."

"We can talk about compensation later."

Right now, I didn't care how the two of them knew each other.

Today was my wedding day. The guests my parents invited were all business partners.

I didn't want any last-minute problems.

Ethan and I met through matchmaking. I came from an upper-middle-class family.

Ethan's family wasn't well off. He came from a single-parent household—his mother had raised him alone.

Ethan himself was fairly capable, with good career prospects.

But here, he had no house, no car. Even with a decent annual salary, he wasn't exactly a hot commodity in this first-tier city's matchmaking market.

I'd chosen Ethan because I valued his personal abilities and his looks, which is why I'd agreed to date and marry him.

But I didn't expect that hearing my words, Ethan would actually frown.

He pressed down on my hand as I was about to make the call.

"Is that really necessary?"

"You look like this anyway."

I was so angry I laughed.