A Replacement Bride

Chapter 20

Katherine might look harmless and innocent, but she was like a rose with thorns. Anyone who let their guard down around her would find themselves pricked bloody.

"Hmph! Don't be so full of yourself just yet, Katherine!" Rosemary snapped, gnashing her teeth.

The incident at the bar had already made them each other's nemesis, and at this point, she did not bother putting up a sisterly act anymore. She stormed out of the room after grabbing her pillow.

When Rosemary left, Katherine looked around the room as an icy gleam flashed in her eyes.

This was her bedroom five years ago.

Elsie had been the one to draw up the plans and room design, but unfortunately, any trace of her mother's creativity had been erased since Rosemary moved in. It was hard for Katherine to picture what it used to look like now.

The idea of sleeping in the bed Rosemary had slept in disgusted her.

Having thrown the girl out of the room, Katherine summoned the maids and told them to throw out everything that belonged to Rosemary. The bedsheets were changed shortly after, and had it not been so late at night, Katherine would have brought in a new bed as well.

Upon seeing all her things getting thrown out, Rosemary tugged on Lisa's arm tearfully and whined, "Mom, do you see what she's done?!"

"There, there. We'll only have to tolerate her arrogance for the time being. Once she becomes one of the Levisays, everything in this house will belong to you. If it makes you feel any better, I'm sure the Levisays would give her a hard time. They would pick her apart for her poor character."

Lisa was furious as well, but she found comfort in the thought that whatever havoc Katherine wreaked now was only temporary. She would end up with the Levisays' useless scion, which meant she could never outshine Rosemary in terms of social standing.

"I won't let her get away with this!" There was a vicious look in Rosemary's eyes as she said this.

She grew furious at the thought of the humiliation she had been subjected to at the bar, and she wanted nothing more than to tear Katherine into shreds. Content protected by Nôv/el(D)rama.Org.

However, she needed to be patient. She would strike only after Katherine became in-laws with the Levisays. Let's see how she fares once she marries a cripple. No one will come to her defense then!

Katherine slept fitfully that night. She tossed and turned in bed as she tried to snap out of a long nightmare. When she woke up again, it was only 4.00AM.

Her head felt like it was cracking down the middle as all sense of sleep drained out of her.

She crawled out of bed and opened the windows. It was still dark as she gazed out at the garden, and she could hear the low humming of insects.

Hovington in June was hot and dry during the day, but cool and refreshing at night. There was even the faint, sweet scent of wood and grass lingering in the air.

Katherine massaged her aching temples as she retracted her gaze. She returned to the bedroom and took some pills to ease her headache, then lay back in bed to get some sleep.

She tossed and turned again until 7.00AM, whereupon she finally fell into an uneasy slumber. However, she had only just dozed off when a series of loud knockings on her door woke her up.

Her lack of sleep was evident in her grumpy mood and bloodshot eyes.

Knock-knock-knock!

The thumping on the other side of the door belied the person's impatience. If Katherine did not know better, she would have thought someone was trying to kick her door down.

She pushed the covers off her and walked up to the door before opening it irritably.

In the hallway, Rosemary's fist paused in mid-air, and she was shocked to see the stormy look on Katherine's face. Subconsciously, she took a wary step back.

However, after remembering she was here with good reason and that she did not need to back down as the rightful young lady of the house, she gave a haughty reply.

"Don't you know what day it is, Katherine? You should be getting ready by now." Wicked amusement glittered in her eyes as she grinned maliciously.

Pressing her fingertips to her temple, Katherine resisted the urge to punch Rosemary in the face.

"What do you want?"

She had only just woken up, but the hoarse edge to her voice somehow made her sound even more alluring. If it were not for her stone-cold expression and the hard set on her jaw, she might actually look like a temptress.

"Dad wants you to know that it was customary for us to visit the Levisays after they agreed to the arranged marriage yesterday. You'll be meeting the man you're going to marry, and we'll be meeting our in-law," Rosemary explained, seemingly pleased with this.

She was admittedly excited to see the cripple Katherine would be stuck with for the rest of her life.

Word had it that Joaquin was a cripple with a disfigured face. Imagining him as the man Katherine would be forced to settle down with filled Rosemary with an inexplicable rush of joy.

Meanwhile, Katherine narrowed her eyes unhappily. She did not think she would need to head over to the Levisay Residence.

She already had plans to drop by the research institute later this afternoon to evaluate Alex's progress. She and Theodore were also going to assess the medication to see if there were any other existing or potential side effects. All in all, she had a busy day ahead.

"Got it," she said nonetheless, then impassively slammed the door shut in Rosemary's face.

She had no courtesy to spare for the likes of her stepsister.

Rosemary, who had nearly lost the tip of her nose just moments ago, began seething with rage. However, she took a deep breath and kept her anger under control, then stomped downstairs.

An hour passed while Katherine washed up, put on a change of clothes, and went downstairs.

She was wearing a bright red dress from one of Charovsky's collections, but it had an unflattering cut and a jarring color. There were also countless sequins on the dress that made it look like it was pulled from a cabaret performer's closet. In short, it was a tough dress to pull off.

Nevertheless, with Katherine's attractive silhouette, she wore this dress like she was doing it a favor. As opposed to a cabaret performer, she looked like a socialite or a young lady of nobility.

Rosemary gritted her teeth when she saw how beautiful Katherine was and felt bitter jealousy coursing through her.

Lisa, on the other hand, frowned as she took in Katherine's somewhat bold and provocative get-up. She did not bother reminding the girl that they were going to the Levisay Residence today for a formal

visit, thus requiring a more appropriate ensemble than a bright red sequined dress.

After all, she could care less if Katherine were to embarrass herself during the visit.

The lack of sleep fully caught on to Katherine once she got into the car. She eased herself into a more comfortable position, closed her eyes, and dozed off.

Unfortunately, the human chatterbox that was Rosemary did not give her a moment's peace, and she was getting on Katherine's nerves.

"Driver, stop the car." Katherine would have put up with the inane chattering, but her patience wore out completely when she sensed that Rosemary, who had raised her voice at some point, might be doing this on purpose.

The driver dared not go against Katherine, so he pulled up slowly to the curb.

Without warning, Katherine opened the car door and unceremoniously kicked Rosemary out of the vehicle. Then, she pulled the door closed, locked it, and ordered indifferently, "Drive."

The driver broke into cold sweat after watching this display, but he did as he was told and started driving.

"Katherine, you b*tch! You piece of sh*t!" Having tumbled out of the vehicle and onto the road, Rosemary was covered in dust as she clambered to her feet and screamed after the car as it sped off.

She could not believe that Katherine had such little regard for her!

They arrived at the Levisay Residence an hour later.

The Levisays were a blue-blood family that thrived on really old money. Their sprawling estate alone took up acres in a city like Hovington where real estate was scarce.

As the car drove onto the estate, just the sight of the boulevard that led up to the main house was enough to make Jorge and Lisa grin from ear to ear.

They had known of the Levisays' fortune right from the beginning, but they did not think it would be so unbelievably vast.

Just a pinch of the Levisays' fortune could launch the Cornells to new heights in the elite social scene.

The car soon rolled to a slow stop outside the front door.

Jorge and Lisa got down from the car. Only then did they turn to glance at the car that pulled up behind theirs.

"Miss Cornell, we're here," the driver said trepidatiously, trying to rouse the sleeping woman in the backseat.

Katherine's brows furrowed as her eyes fluttered open. She straightened up and looked out the window, then aggressively opened the door and got down from the car.

"Where's Rosemary?" Lisa asked with a frown when she saw that Katherine was the only one who got out of the vehicle. She walked over to open the other door, only to see that her daughter was not in the car at all. Dumbfounded, she called out lamely, as if the girl would pop out of thin air. "Rosemary?"

She had specially hired a designer to make a dress and commissioned jewelry for Rosemary in anticipation of today. This was so that the Levisays could have a good first impression of Rosemary and consider setting her up with their second scion.

With Joaquin wheelchair-bound, Robert Levisay, his younger brother, would become the successor of the family fortune.

Presently, Katherine gave Lisa a brief look of disinterest. Anyone with half a mind could figure out that the woman wanted to marry Rosemary off to the second Levisay son.

A small smile tugged on Katherine's lips. Don't even think about it, Lisa, she thought deviously.