Runaway Groom, Thanks for Setting Me Free

To avoid a ridiculous arranged marriage that had been decided before I was even born, I beg my father to send the family a picture of an ordinary-looking woman with a face covered in spots.

I've heard before that Austin Hammond, the most distinguished scion in Jarlesbury and the man I was supposed to marry, has an obsession with looks. If anyone who doesn't meet his standards comes within ten feet of him, he instructs his bodyguards to get them out of his sight.

Since then, I've continued to hide my captivating face and pretend to be a plain, unattractive woman—and one day, Joshua Farrell shows up.

On the day he proposes to me, he holds my hand and promises, "Your looks don't matter to me, Ellie. No matter what you look like, I will still love you."

Believing his words, I ignore my father's protests and insist on getting engaged to Joshua.

Finally, our wedding day arrives. Just when we're about to exchange our wedding rings, he stares lovingly at the surgically-enhanced face of his first love, Isabel Grady, and abandons me at the altar.

The guests mutter among themselves, casting pitying looks in my direction, but I simply smile.

It occurs to me then just how easy it is to see a man's true colors.

It's just as well. This means I can settle for being Mrs. Hammond without a care in the world.

As the wedding march cut off, the undisguised mockery and contempt the guests threw my way nearly drowned me.

"Hah! How embarrassing! She can't even hang onto a man."

"I've been saying from the start that there's no way Joshua Farrell, the heir to his family, would actually marry an ugly hag like her."

"I bet he's regretting it now. After all, who wouldn't get nightmares if that face is the last thing they see at night?"

My fingers clenched around the bouquet, my knuckles turning white.

Joshua was staring at the screen of his phone—at a picture of a sliced-up wrist covered in blood. When he looked up, his expression anxious, he glanced at me with a flicker of remorse and pleading in his eyes.

"Izzy cut her wrist, Ellie! She's been taken to the hospital, and the doctors are still trying to save her. I have to go to her. Just wait for my return. I'll make it up to you then!"

I eyed him coldly, my voice even but loud enough to be heard in the silent hall as I said, "If you step out of these doors today, Joshua, it's over between us."

The moment I finished speaking, Joshua's footsteps faltered. He whipped his head around, his expression conflicted.

"Ellie…"

At the very next second, one of his groomsmen—a childhood friend of his—called out, "Just go, Joshua. Eliza's hopelessly in love with you. There's no way she's leaving you. Besides, with her looks, no one's going to steal her away from you!"

Piercing, mocking laughter spread throughout the entire wedding