ตอนที่ 45

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Cassius Devereux, honoring his parents' arrangement, agreed to marry Seraphina Wien, heiress of the Wien Group — a family of equal standing. His younger brother Evander Devereux, however, resisted tooth and nail before being forced by his parents into a match with Seraphina's best friend, Ella Whitlock.On their wedding day, both brides' limousines broke down simultaneously near the Brooklyn Bridge. In the ensuing chaos, the escort parties each grabbed the wrong bride and delivered them to the other's banquet hall. Throughout it all, Cassius remained composed, circulating gracefully among guests and business partners, while Evander thought only of slipping off to a nightclub with his rowdy friends — until his mother yanked him by the ear and his father waved a hand to have him bound and carried into the bridal chamber.The next morning, both couples discovered their wedding nights had been entirely swapped. Cassius threw back the covers to find a stranger's face; Evander woke to Seraphina's icy stare. The deed was done, the wedding announcement had already gone out, and the stock price had even risen — so the two families simply decided to let it stand. All four moved into the same villa on the Devereux estate, occupying two suites upstairs and two downstairs. Cassius and Ella lived in separate rooms, he treating her with cold indifference; under one roof, each went their own way, and the dining room went nearly empty day after day.Ella, restless by nature, was one day searching the study for an old novel she'd brought from her own apartment when she accidentally knocked over a stack of books. As she crouched to pick them up, she noticed a transparent file folder wedged among them, containing a music conservatory acceptance letter — torn into several pieces, then painstakingly taped back together. In that moment, Ella understood the knot that had tied Cassius and his parents together for years, unresolved.From then on, she set out to thaw the household. Every day she planted herself at the study door with a tray of food, forcing Cassius to come downstairs for breakfast. At the table she softened the atmosphere with trivial little anecdotes, and she drew the Devereux couple into family activities, bringing laughter to that cold, quiet mansion for the first time. Eleanor worked behind the scenes to bring them together; Cassius resisted on the surface, yet slowly began to grow used to Ella's presence.Meanwhile, Evander was brought to heel by Seraphina — curfew, bills, and sports-car keys all confiscated, with no one to complain to. He could only knuckle down, attend classes, and learn his manners. But on the night Seraphina shielded him from a toast, he tasted for the first time what it felt like to be cared for.The four of them shared one roof, and the mishaps piled up — fights over breakfast, movie nights, birthday parties. Their days grew chaotic, and gradually warm. Then Ella, sorting through the wedding photos, uncovered the truth of the swapped brides. The four sat down to talk it through. Ella spoke first, suggesting they swap back. Seraphina asked her what she thought of Cassius; Ella admitted he was a good man. Seraphina promptly ruled: no swapping. The Devereux couple, far from annoyed, welcomed the outcome.After that, Ella kept melting Cassius piece by piece — midnight hot dogs, office greenery, warm milk. Cassius began to take the initiative, playing chess with his father and taking his mother to the flower market. Evander, under Seraphina's discipline, grew from a wastrel into a man who could bear responsibility. Neither of the two mismatched marriages was ever swapped back — yet in the daily rhythms of that shared villa, each had polished itself into something complete.

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