Chapter 1

On Julian’s birthday, he booked every billboard across the city to make a high-profile confession to Sylvia, while Claire, his persistent ex-wife, showed up at the scene.

The moment she appeared, a wave of ridicule broke out around her.

“They’ve been divorced for half a year, and she’s still clinging to Julian?”

“Julian has already publicly confessed to Sylvia, yet she still refuses to give up. Coming here to humiliate herself like this—she really is shameless.”

“I heard that to win him back over the past six months, she even agreed to help him pursue Sylvia, and said she wouldn’t mind the three of them being together. To be able to say such things shows just how thick-skinned she is.”

Those words were like barbed whips, lashing at Claire one after another.

No one knew that she and Julian were not divorced at all.

But ever since that day half a year ago, when Julian unilaterally announced their divorce.

She went from being the beloved treasure he held in the palm of his hand to the shameless, clingy ex-wife in everyone’s eyes.

To win Julian back, she had done many things.

She crawled like a dog to please them both.

She went out in the rain to buy condoms for Julian and Sylvia.

Because Sylvia said she liked her evening gown, she took it off in public and gave it to her.

She accepted Sylvia as the rightful partner in front of everyone, while she willingly took the role of the mistress.

She had crushed her own dignity into the dirt, step by step.

Yet, it was all to no avail.

“Claire, do you have no sense of shame?”

Just then, Julian walked over with his arms around Sylvia, his face full of undisguised disgust.

“I’m already with Sylvia. Do you have to keep clinging to me like a stray dog that can’t be chased away?”

Her heart felt as if it were being pierced repeatedly by fine silver needles. Claire clenched her fingers, struggling to keep her expression calm.

“I said I could give the position of Mrs. Julian to her. I don’t mind being the third party.”

A roar of shock rippled through the crowd.

Julian’s eyes darkened, his voice turning sharp, “Enough! Stop acting like a lunatic here. You may have no shame, but I still do.”

Claire stopped speaking, simply enduring the scornful and mocking gazes of those around her.

She didn’t want to be this bedraggled and pathetic either.

But this was the last month she would be able to be with Julian.

No matter what, she had to hold on.

No one knew that she and Julian had actually already died once before.

In her previous life, she met Julian when she was fourteen and he was sixteen.

They were the only light in each other’s lives.

Back then, her mother had just passed away, and her father’s personality changed drastically; he took to heavy drinking and would lash out with his fists at the slightest provocation.

It was Julian who protected her time and time again.

He saved her from the abyss over and over.

When her father sold her to human traffickers to pay off gambling debts, it was Julian who searched everywhere to find her.

When they were cornered by loan sharks, it was Julian who shielded her from the blades of over a dozen thugs, suffering multiple stab wounds and nearly losing his life, fighting to the death to keep her safe.

He missed the college entrance exam twice for her sake and nearly died after falling into a month-long coma from his severe injuries.

Without Julian, she likely would have rotted away in some unknown corner long ago.

Later, they got into college together and escaped their nightmares.

After graduation, they built a business together, going from having nothing to standing at the pinnacle of the business world.

They had been married for five years, and everyone in their circle knew Julian loved her more than his own life.

She had thought their hardships were over and happiness had arrived, but she never expected that joy would be so fleeting.

A shipwreck occurred, and to save her, he was swallowed by the raging waves.

After Julian’s accident, her world completely collapsed, and her depression resurfaced.

Not long after he left, she also died in a drunk-driving accident.

After death, her soul reached the underworld, and Meng Po told her that her lifespan had not yet ended and she could return to the mortal realm.

But what meaning did living have in a world without Julian?

She would rather be dead.

Meng Po sighed, saying her obsession was too deep to allow for reincarnation.

In the end, she gave her a chance.

She traded her own life to grant Julian a rebirth.

Additionally, she was given half a year to let go of her obsession.

They returned to the half-year before the accident, and she cherished every stolen minute and second.

But in these six months, Julian had changed.

He became distant, cold, and even cruel toward her.

He fell in love with Sylvia, who had secretly admired him for a long time, and to be with her, he used every method possible to try and get rid of her.

Only then did she recall Meng Po’s words: “Defying heaven and changing fate comes at a price. It is a price you may not be able to bear, and the result may not be what you want.”

But she had never imagined that the price was not just her life.

It also included Julian no longer loving her.

But that didn’t matter.

As long as he could live well, that was enough.

Even if his love and tenderness were all given to someone else, she would accept it.

She only wanted to stay by his side for the remaining time and look at him as much as she possibly could.

After Claire left, Julian did not return home until the evening.

For the past six months, no matter how badly they fought outside, he would always return to this villa in the end—to the home they once shared.

Claire was sitting at the dining table, waiting for him.

On the table was a bowl of birthday noodles she had made by hand and reheated several times.

When she saw Julian’s figure, she stood up eagerly, “Julian…”

Julian did not stop, and Claire chased after him, holding the bowl of noodles.

“It’s your birthday today. I made noodles; will you have a bite?”

Her voice trembled with pleading.

Julian’s footsteps halted, and he turned, his gaze falling on the bowl of noodles.

A flicker of emotion crossed his eyes for a second, but it was immediately covered by an even deeper mockery as he raised his hand and knocked the bowl over.

There was a crisp sound.

The porcelain bowl shattered on the floor, leaving the noodles and broth a complete mess.

“Claire, I’m already with Sylvia. No matter what you do now, it’s useless.” His voice was ice-cold and biting, “And, I’ve never said that I like eating noodles.”

Claire froze in place, the stabbing pain in her heart nearly suffocating her.

She still remembered the first time they met; it was his birthday then, too.

She had brought him a bowl of simple noodles she had cooked herself, and he had red eyes as he told her it was the best bowl of noodles he had ever eaten.

Every year after that on his birthday, she would cook a bowl of noodles for him.

He once said that he only liked, and would only ever eat, the noodles she made.

But now, he had shattered them with his own hands.

By denying he liked them, it was as if he were denying their entire past.

Claire quietly squatted down, picking up the broken shards of porcelain.

Her fingers were cut, but she didn’t feel the slightest bit of pain.

She was just sad; this was the last birthday she would ever be able to spend with him.

After Julian turned and left, he didn’t go upstairs but stood in the shadows at the corner of the staircase.

He watched in silence as the figure crouched on the floor, looking so fragile she seemed as if she would shatter at the slightest touch.

Seeing her fingers cut by the porcelain shards, his pupils flickered, and he almost instinctively wanted to rush downstairs.

The next moment, he gripped his fists tightly, holding himself back with all his might.

There was only one month left.

He had been laying out his plans for so long; he absolutely could not fail at this very last moment.

Chapter 2

Early the next morning, Claire was awakened by a commotion.

When she went downstairs, she saw the servants piling her luggage and several cardboard boxes at the doorway.

“Ma’am, sir has ordered that you take your things and leave.”

Claire’s heart sank sharply. Before she could recover from the shock, Julian had already come down from upstairs.