They Mocked Their Elder Sister For Being Unmarried… Until A Mysterious Duke Approached Her At The..

Chapter 9

The ballroom erupted.

Not into applause — into chaos. Women clutched their chests. Men muttered in disbelief. Lady Vivienne Ashford turned and walked out of the hall with her head held high, but her hands were trembling. Seraphina stood frozen, her face a mask of shock and fury. Arabella looked as though she might be sick.

But Elara heard none of it.

She was looking at Alistair — at the man kneeling before her, his dark eyes holding hers with an intensity that made the rest of the world dissolve. The wealthiest duke in England, the man who had sworn never to love again, was on his knees before her.

“Elara,” he said again, his voice barely above a whisper now. “I need you to answer me, because I am not certain how much longer I can remain kneeling while the entire country stares at us.”

A sound escaped her — something between a laugh and a sob. “Yes,” she said, her voice trembling. “Yes, I will marry you.”

The smile that spread across Alistair’s face transformed him completely. The coldness vanished. The distance evaporated. He looked younger, lighter, as though a weight he had carried for years had finally lifted.

He slid the ring onto her finger. It fit perfectly.

The room around them finally remembered to applaud, but the sound seemed distant, muffled, as though coming from another world. Alistair rose to his feet and took Elara’s hands in his.

“Are you certain?” he asked quietly. “Once you accept this, there is no turning back. Your family may never forgive you.”

Elara looked down at the ring on her finger — the diamond that caught the light and scattered it into rainbows. She thought of the years of humiliation. The laughter. The whispers. The nights she had cried alone in her room while her sisters celebrated their happiness.

“They have never given me anything to forgive,” she said softly. “I am not losing a family tonight. I am finally finding one.”