Chapter 1

Seven years after his wife’s death, Julian received a notification for her sterilization surgery appointment.

He stared at his phone screen for a long time, his mind in complete chaos.

It was common knowledge in the city that seven years ago, during a tragic car accident, Vivian had sacrificed her life to save him, leaving nothing but a wreck behind.

But now, what was the meaning of this message?

Unable to overcome his curiosity, Julian took a taxi to the hospital mentioned in the text.

But as he reached the door of the operating room and caught sight of the person on the hospital bed—a face he knew down to his very soul—he froze.

His footsteps came to a jarring halt, and his blood felt as if it had frozen in his veins.

So, Vivian was truly still alive...

Before he could recover from the shock, he saw several women who, just that morning, had been calling him "brother-in-law" and telling him to stay strong, now giggling and teasing Vivian at her bedside.

"No way, Vivian! You actually went through with the sterilization?"

"Enough talk!"

Perhaps still reeling from the surgery, Vivian looked pale, but she still managed to raise her hand and punch the woman playfully.

"Lucas has been demanding a fourth child lately. After the third child, he had to take so many supplements just to recover from his low sperm count; how could I ever let him suffer like that again?"

The others gasped in admiration, marveling at the situation.

"Lucas is incredible! I truly admire how you managed to tame our proud, unyielding noble lady into this."

Just then, someone in the crowd whispered, "Hey! Do you think if that idiot Julian found out that Vivian wasn't just alive, but actually hooking up with his own stepfather, he would go completely insane—"

"Shut your mouth!"

Vivian commanded, her voice filled with absolute, unquestionable authority.

"Regardless of everything, Julian is the only husband I have ever acknowledged. Who gave you the audacity to speak of him like that?"

The room fell into an instant silence.

After a long while, someone spoke in a low voice.

"So, Vivian, how long do you plan to keep up this 'faked death' act? We’re getting tired of watching it."

Vivian’s expression was momentarily blank, but she soon replied in a deep tone.

"Just these next few days."

"I'll tell him I was saved after the accident seven years ago, but suffered from amnesia and only regained my memory recently."

The others looked at her, clearly hesitant.

"If it were anyone else, that excuse might work."

"But... Julian is known for his high IQ; even the old foxes of the family can't outsmart him. Will he really believe such a flimsy lie?"

"He is smart, yes."

Vivian curled her lips, her eyes filled with absolute confidence.

"But don't forget, for the past seven years, suitors have been beating down his door, and he declared to the public that he would never remarry just to keep his vow of purity to me."

"He is madly in love with me; why wouldn't he believe me?"

Julian, gripping the doorframe, saw his knuckles turn white. A wave of suffocating bitterness flooded his throat.

It was true. She was right.

He had trusted her. He believed she loved him, believed she had died to save him, and believed she had never kept a single secret from him.

He had foolishly trusted her for seven years, only to be met with this today...

She had actually been having an affair with his own stepfather!

Julian closed his eyes, his face twisted in humiliation as tears streamed down his cheeks.

Six years ago.

Lucas was not the stepfather he now loathed, but his best friend at the time.

He hadn't been well-educated and had married early.

But not long after the wedding, his ex-wife had an affair with a security guard, forcing him into bankruptcy.

Unable to watch him wander the streets, Julian had brought him into his own home.

He funded his education and spent his own money to take him on trips around the world to clear his mind.

Julian's father even treated him like a son, bringing him into the family business and handing over shares worth billions.

He officially recognized him as his adopted son, giving him the dignity and foundation to start over.

At the time, Lucas had gripped both Julian's and his father's hands, his eyes full of grateful tears.

"Julian, I will make sure to repay you and your father."

But who would have thought his idea of "repayment" was to get involved with Julian's own mother?

The man who once claimed to despise mistresses had ended up as the third party breaking up his parents' marriage.

His father was driven to madness on the spot and had spent the rest of his life confined to a hospital bed.

Julian had been on the verge of a breakdown and filed a lawsuit, only to have it quietly dismissed by a letter of forgiveness signed by his own mother.

One was the mother who had pampered him since he was a child, and the other was his brother of ten years.

Caught in this double betrayal, just as he was about to lose his mind,

Vivian appeared.

It was she who tirelessly helped him organize evidence, risking bankruptcy to file appeals over and over again.

It was she who walked with him through those agonizing nights, sacrificing half her life to pull him back from the brink of death.

It was she who had promised that she would never betray him for all eternity.

"Julian, my love for you is as inevitable as the rising and setting of the sun; it will never change."

But now, not even seven years later, the "eternity" she spoke of had soured...

Julian felt as if his heart had been seared by a hot iron, the pain so sharp it left him breathless.

"Vivian!"

His thoughts were interrupted by a familiar female voice nearby.

Julian looked in the direction of the voice and saw Lucas rushing in, his eyes red as he threw himself at Vivian’s bedside.

"Are you stupid? Why would you go so far for me?"

Vivian’s pale face softened with tenderness, her voice impossibly gentle.

"Don't cry. This was all my choice."

The woman held her hand tightly, her voice choking.

"You've done so much for me; how am I supposed to face Julian now?"

"Don't say such things."

Vivian reached out to wipe the dampness from his eyes, her gaze filled with the same love Julian had once known so well.

"With me here, no one can give you a hard time."

"Besides, he’s been oblivious for seven years; how could he possibly suddenly suspect anything now—"

Before she could finish, Julian stepped forward, raised a flower pot from the side, and smashed it toward them with all his might!

"Well, I'm terribly sorry to disappoint you, but I just found out!"

Chapter 2

Lucas clutched his face, which was bleeding from the cut caused by the flower pot, his eyes filled with disbelief as he looked at Julian.

"Ju... Julian?"

Vivian, however, only paused for a moment before returning to her usual cold and indifferent self, her voice carrying an undisguised warning.

"Julian, I am the one who deceived you. If you have any anger, take it out on me. Lucas is innocent; you should never have touched him!"

Watching them huddled tightly together, Julian felt a lump in his throat, and his heart ached as if it were being sliced apart.

As the cold wind blew up his sleeves, he looked down at the countless hideous scars on his wrists and suddenly let out a laugh.

If Lucas was innocent, what did that make him?

Throughout those seven years of agonizing guilt that had made life feel worse than death.

In those moments of utter despair when he had repeatedly slit his wrists and brushed against the Grim Reaper.

In those times when he clung to that pathetic shred of love and prayed for heaven to take him away.

What were they doing?

Were they entangled in bed, laughing at how foolish and gullible he was, or were they calculating how to keep the lie going long enough to drain the rest of his life?

"Vivian, since you aren't dead," he took a deep breath, his voice low but exceptionally firm, "then let's get a divorce."

Vivian was stunned at first, then her brow furrowed involuntarily, her eyes full of impatience.

"Julian, what kind of tantrum are you throwing now?"

"To be honest, if you hadn't deliberately drugged your mother back then just to seize the family assets, leaving Lucas without children and unable to establish a foothold in our family, why would I have gone through so much trouble to fake my death and help him have a child? Everything I did was just to help you atone for your sins!"