Julian climbed onto the stage using his hands and feet, wanting to grab Sienna's hand, but Mason stepped sideways to block him.

"Sienna..." Julian knelt on the ground, looking up at her, tears rolling down mingled with cold sweat, "Don't marry him... I beg you, don't cast me aside...".

He trembling, pulled a dinner knife he had swiped from a table out of his jacket, turning it back to hold against his own chest.

The tip of the knife pierced through his shirt, blood seeping out.

"You hate me, don't you? You hate that I caused your miscarriage, hate that I hurt you for Chloe... You kill me! Sienna, stab me to death! As long as it relieves your anger, my life is yours! But I beg you, don't leave with someone else...".

He cried like a child, humble to the point of being in the dust.

The guests below the stage gasped, and some began to film with their phones.

Sienna looked at the knife and at the man who had once been high above, but was now kneeling on the ground begging for mercy.

She gently pushed Mason aside and stepped forward.

"Julian," she spoke, her voice not loud, but clearly heard by the whole room through the microphone.

"Do you remember what you said when I was begging you to save me in the ruins?".

Julian froze.

"You said, 'Chloe has depression and cannot be triggered; you are strong, you hold on for a little longer'.".

Sienna smiled, though large tears fell onto the floor.

"I held on there, until my blood ran dry, until my child slipped away from my body. Do you know that feeling? Life stripping away bit by bit, while my husband left holding another woman.".

She squatted down, looking directly into Julian’s desperate eyes.

"The doctor said that miscarriage injured my core, and combined with being soaked in muddy water for too long, the infection was severe. In this life, I can never be a mother again.".

The entire room was in an uproar.

Julian felt as if he had been struck by lightning, and the knife in his hand fell to the ground with a "clatter".

He opened his mouth wide, as if someone were gripping his throat, unable to make a sound, only shaking his head violently.

"No... impossible... Sienna, you are lying to me... we would have had children...".

"There is no future, Julian.".

Sienna stood up, wiped away her tears, and her gaze became incomparably indifferent.

"Your love is too expensive; it was bought with my blood and my child's life. I, Sienna, cannot afford it, and I dare not want it.".

"In this life, the next life, for all eternity, I will never forgive you.".

Having said this, she stopped looking at the man who collapsed on the ground as if his spine had been pulled out.

She turned, faced Mason, and proactively extended her left hand.

"Mr. Qin, please put it on for me.".

Mason looked at her deeply, took her hand, and slowly slid the ring, which symbolized a commitment, onto her ring finger.

At this moment, everything was settled.

Julian watched helplessly as that ring bound her to another, and thoroughly extinguished all his hope.

He opened his mouth and spat out a mouthful of blood, then completely passed out amidst the chaotic screams.

On stage, Sienna stood on her tiptoes and, in front of everyone, kissed Mason's lips.

Resolute and affectionate.

It was as if she were saying goodbye to the past, and as if she were declaring to the whole world—.

The Sienna who loved Julian to the point of losing herself died on that rainy night.

The person living now is Mason's fiancée.

Chapter 16

Julian was tossed onto the street by the Peninsula Hotel's security guards as if he were garbage.

The deep autumn night wind was bone-chilling, and he slumped in the sewage by the roadside, surrounded by the roar of departing luxury cars and the pointing laughter of passersby.

"Look, isn't that Mr. Fu? Why has he fallen into such a state?".

"What 'Mr. Fu'? I heard that because of scandals and company management issues, he's already been kicked out by the board; he's just a waste of space now.".

"Serves him right. For the sake of a mistress, he pushed his legal wife to that extent; now that she has married into a wealthy family, what's the use of him regretting it?".

Those sounds pierced his ears like needles.

Julian wanted to climb up and roar back, but the moment he opened his mouth, another mouthful of blood and foam poured out.

He looked up at the brightly lit floor-to-ceiling windows on the top floor of the hotel.

A grand dance was being held there.

His Sienna should be held in Mason's arms at this moment, dancing gracefully to the melodic waltz.

She was so beautiful and dazzling, while he could only rot in the gutter.

With trembling hands, he fished the crumpled fragment of their wedding photo from his pocket.

That was their only photo from their wedding, where he had a face of impatience, while Sienna smiled shyly and sweetly.

"Sienna...".

He pressed the photo against his mud-stained face, letting out a sob of extreme restraint.

He finally understood that some turns are for a lifetime.

......

Three months later.

Spring came early to the south of the Yangtze River, and the cherry blossoms at Puji Temple covered the hills.

Sienna held a string of eighteen-seed beads she had just prayed for, slowly walking down the mountain path.

Mason went to handle emergency official business at a branch office, leaving a few bodyguards to follow from a distance, allowing her to get some fresh air.

The three months since she married Mason had been as peaceful as a beautiful dream.

Mason held her in the palm of his hand, not letting her suffer any wind or rain. The wounds in her heart finally began to scab over slowly under the tenderness of such day-after-day care.

Reaching the edge of the pond halfway up the mountain, Sienna's steps faltered slightly.

Under a cherry blossom tree, a person was huddled.

The person wore an old jacket washed to a white color that no longer showed its original hue, his hair was a messy, knotted disaster, his beard was scruffy, and he was so thin he was unrecognizable.

If it weren't for those bloodshot eyes staring fixedly at her, Sienna would have barely recognized that this was Julian.

He tightly gripped a Buddhist scripture in his hands with worn-out corners, his fingers wrapped in dirty band-aids.

Seeing Sienna look over, Julian's dull eyes suddenly erupted with astonishing brilliance.

He stumbled over, but stopped just a few steps away from her, as if afraid his stench would offend her.

"Sienna... Sienna!".

He raised the Buddhist scripture in his hand, his voice hoarse like sandpaper grinding on a tabletop.

"I come every day... kneeling here to copy the scriptures, praying for blessings for you, for... for that child of ours who was not fated to be... Look, today I also did three steps and one kowtow, kneeling all the way from the foot of the mountain... my knees, my knees are smashed...".

As he spoke, he actually tried to roll up his tattered jeans to expose the bloody, mangled knees underneath.

Sienna looked away, her face expressionless, not even deigning to show disgust, and she lifted her foot to walk around him.

"Sienna! Don't go! Look at me!".

Seeing she was about to leave, Julian panicked and lunged forward, desperately grabbing the hem of her trench coat.

Several black handprints instantly appeared on the high-end trench coat.

Sienna finally stopped, lowering her eyes to look at the man sprawled at her feet like a mangy dog.

"I really have changed... Sienna, I've changed it all..." Julian tilted his head, his face streaming with snot and tears.

"I sent Chloe to a mental hospital; she will never be able to come out for the rest of her life... my company is gone, and I have no prospects... I am punishing myself every day now; I am learning to do housework the way you used to, and I cut my hands until they are covered in blood...".

He extended his hands, which were indeed covered with a shocking mixture of new and old knife cuts.

"Turn around and look at me, won't you? Just one look... I beg you...".

Sienna looked at him quietly.

Looking at this man who once made her look up to him and love him to the point of being in the dust, now in such a lowly state.

After a long time, she sighed gently.

"Julian," she spoke, her voice cold and clear, "Let go.".

Chapter 17

"I won't let go! Even if I die, I won't let go!" Julian gripped the hem of her clothes even tighter, his knuckles turning white.

Just then, a black Maybach sped over and braked urgently by the roadside.