Oscar was the assertive type. He said to me, "I think I liked you from the moment I set my eyes on you. Would you like to be my girlfriend?"

I bit on my bottom lip for a while. Thinking that I'd follow my heart this once, I nodded and agreed to be with him. That was how our relationship started.

Although it had probably started out too simply and carelessly, our subsequent interactions eventually made us fall in love with each other, making each moment memorable.

Oscar saw that I was staring off into space dazedly and came up to hug me.

"Rora, I want you."

He then started leaning forward to kiss me.

I pushed him off instinctively and jumped to my feet to avoid him. "I'm… I'm not feeling well today. I don't feel like it."

I had stopped letting him touch me intimately ever since he started his sleeping arrangements with Evie. I just couldn't accept that his body had been inside another woman just hours before me. He had also changed significantly since the past.

For example, his body was now tainted with Evie's perfume. It was more like a natural body scent for him now, because he just couldn't get rid of it, no matter what.

Oscar looked unhappy. Just as he was about to speak, however, there was a loud knock on the door. Upset, he yelled, "What is it?"

The maid, Nancy Herald, said, "Sir, Ms. Griffin is having a terrible headache."

Oscar anxiously hurried over to open the door when he heard that Evie was feeling unwell.

"What's going on?"

Nancy just shook her head. She didn't know either.

Oscar's brows were etched in worry. He then ignored the fact that I was still there and left with Nancy.

This time, he didn't even bother explaining anything to me before he left. In the past, he would try to explain things, asking me to understand his actions and be more considerate of them.

He would say, "Rora, Evie's not feeling well. I'm afraid that something bad would happen to her. I'll just go take a look.

"She needs someone to stay with her. I won't be coming back tonight.

"Please don't get angry, alright? I have reasons for doing this. You need to be more understanding of me."

I'd never say anything in return. But now, he didn't even bother saying anything anymore. After all, he'd never cared about my feelings when he accompanied Evie.

Eventually, I felt tired and exhausted, and I no longer wanted things to continue like this. There had been too many instances of him abandoning me and Ingrid for Evie's sake.

When I recalled that they were going to hold a wedding soon, too, I realized that Oscar was a liar. He used to love me so much in the past, but these days, he had had a change of heart.

Still, maybe this was for the better. At least I wouldn't have to feel guilty or pressured for leaving him because of his unfaithfulness to me.

I contacted Mom and Dad, and they were delighted to hear from me. At first, I thought that they would be furious at me and refuse to even answer my calls, but to my surprise, Mom burst into tears and told me that she wished I would go home as soon as possible.

However, Ingrid began to cry when she saw me packing up my things. She pouted hard and looked at me, saying, "Mommy, Daddy promised to celebrate my seventh birthday with me. I don't wanna leave…"

I felt my resolve wavering when I saw Ingrid's tears. She had been looking forward to her birthday, and if I took her away now, she would miss out on a happy childhood with her father. I decided to stay for a while longer and put up with it for her sake. I didn't want Ingrid to have any regrets.

The next morning, Ingrid woke up early and dressed herself up prettily. She was looking forward to going out with Oscar today. However, the man never appeared. Instead, my mother-in-law, Alice Sanderson, arrived at our home.

Alice glared at me coldly. "Bring your daughter and come with me."

I followed her, feeling uneasy about everything.

Alice had never liked me because she thought I came from a regular family and wasn't worthy of their status as a wealthy family in Kendleton. Only people like Evie were worthy because she was also an heiress from a wealthy family with their own family business.

When Alice found out that I had given birth to a daughter instead of a son, she treated me even worse and kept cursing at us both in private. However, I would always defend my daughter and me and shoot back at her, so things were pretty tense between us.

Alice brought Ingrid and me to a hotel ballroom. The ballroom was beautifully decorated with luxurious decor. Ingrid thought that the decorations were for her birthday party and was very delighted.

However, when we walked into the hall, we saw many of Oscar's family friends and Evie's family there. I had a gut feeling that something was not right.

A split second later, Evie came over to me with her hands around Oscar and announced smugly, "I'm pregnant. From today onward, Oscar will be the heir to the Griffin family, and I will be his rightful wife. We will be registering our marriage soon."

Everyone on the scene was happy for them, with the exception of me and Ingrid. Our faces dropped at that.

I looked at Oscar with a cold expression. However, he pretended not to notice me and kept averting his gaze from mine. He even chimed in with Evie's statement and said, "Yes. I'm going to have a son."

A son? Had he always wanted a son instead? Which era was he still living in? How could he still exhibit such sexist behavior?

I felt my heart tear into two.

Ingrid was very upset. She ran up to Oscar and tugged at his hand, asking sadly, "Daddy, don't you like me? I'm also your kid. Do you really want a son instead?"

Alice just cackled loudly and sneered at her. "You're an illegitimate child. Nobody likes you!"

When the other guests saw that Alice had started it, they chimed in and said, "She's right! The Griffin family can only be passed down to a male heir!"

"Yeah. It's going to be such an embarrassment if word got out that there was an illegitimate child in the family!"

"You're just a poor country kid. Did you really think that you'd end up being an heiress?"

"She doesn't deserve it at all! She doesn't even deserve to be my maid! Haha!"

Ingrid got increasingly upset with everyone's insults and began to wail. However, Oscar didn't even bother comforting her and even withdrew his hand from her hold.

When Alice saw that everyone else was insulting us in tandem, she looked at us in pure disgust and mockery.

"Aurora, if you want to continue living at our house, you may, but you will work as a maid. Your daughter can stay, too, but she will be known as an orphan."

Ingrid's tears continued to fall. She shot back, "I'm not an orphan! I have a mommy and a daddy!"

Oscar frowned. "Mom, don't go overboard."

However, I saw Evie pinching Oscar on the arm, and then Oscar just stopped talking and fell silent, even though he looked like he had more to say.

Evie grinned in satisfaction and agreed with Alice's proposition. "That's fine with me. I don't mind having another maid and an orphan girl at the house."

Ingrid was mad. She went up to Evie and kicked her, yelling angrily, "You bad woman! I hate you! You stole Daddy away from me and made Mommy sad!"

Evie's face immediately turned ugly. She raised her hand, about to slap Ingrid, and I quickly stepped forward to stop her. However, Oscar shoved Ingrid away first.

He shoved her so hard that she stumbled backward and crashed into the table holding glasses of drinks behind her. They fell down right on top of Ingrid, and she immediately cried out loudly in pain.

I ran over to pick Ingrid up from the floor and pulled her into my arms. I saw that Ingrid had a gash on her forehead and was bleeding, so I quickly applied pressure to her wound.

I couldn't hold my anger back anymore. I turned and glared at Oscar with red eyes, yelling at him for the first time. "Oscar, you useless scum of the earth! She is your daughter! Can't you even protect her?"

Oscar drew his lips in a thin line and said nothing. Evie, on the other hand, chuckled coldly and said, "Who told her to misbehave in the first place? Serves her right."

She then glared at me with a challenging stare and mocked, "If you want to continue staying by Oscar's side, then start acting like a maid. After all, I can still afford to take care of two mongrels at home."

I was so mad that I laughed aloud. Then, I grabbed the glasses on the ground and flung them in Evie's face.

She didn't manage to duck in time, and the glass struck her on the forehead. The glass overturned and spilled the drink all over her clothes as well.

Evie immediately screamed in pain and flailed her arms around. I felt better after seeing that her clothes were drenched and her forehead was bleeding as well.

Some people crowded around me and Ingrid and glared at us. I didn't care and glared back at them, unwilling to show them any weakness. I shot back, "So, are you all the mongrels she spoke of as well? Lapdogs, perhaps? Are you going to beat me and my daughter up just to make her happy?"

The guests stopped short and exchanged glances with each other when they heard me. Then, they took a few steps back and decided to just watch from the sidelines.

Oscar had grabbed a bunch of napkins, carefully helping Evie clean up. He reprimanded me and yelled, "That's too much, Aurora! How could you bully another person like that? I see that I've spoiled you way too much that you've forgotten where you stood!"

Then, he turned to the bodyguards next to him and said, "Take those two troublemakers home and lock them up for three days and nights without any food or water!"

The bodyguards nodded and came to grab us.

However, I screamed with a stern expression on my face, "Don't you dare touch us! We have legs and can walk on our own!"

I forced the tears back in and took a deep breath. I saw it clearly now. Oscar never loved me or Ingrid. He still chose Evie over us both when presented with the choice.

My heart was numb now. I had lost all hope in him. My feelings for him had all turned into ashes.

I picked Ingrid up and held her in my arms. Then, with my chest out, I addressed everyone and said, "My daughter is not an orphan. She is my precious daughter, whom I lovingly carried for nine months and gave birth to."

I then addressed Oscar directly and said, "Since you refuse to acknowledge that she is your daughter, then from today onward, she will no longer be yours. I hereby denounce your father-daughter relationship with her!"

Ingrid started sobbing harder when she heard me say that. I held back the tears in my eyes and ignored the tingling sensation in my nose, but a sob still escaped me.

"Baby… Don't cry anymore," I said, comforting Ingrid. "You can't call him 'Daddy' anymore."

Ingrid kept shaking her head, unable to accept it. She just continued to cry. Oscar, meanwhile, was stunned. He stared at me in great shock.

I knew that he had supposedly asked me for permission back then to be with Evie. I had only agreed because he said he was going to comfort her, before promising to give me and my daughter an official title afterward.

However, I no longer needed the official title.

His eyes locked onto mine, desperately searching my eyes to understand the thoughts in my head. I just said coldly to him, "Also, I will not have anything to do with you anymore."

Then, I turned to leave. My world no longer included Oscar.

Ingrid was still young, but she knew how to read the room. She sensed that the situation had gotten tense, so she didn't say anything else and just buried her face in my shoulder, crying silently.

When I reached the exit, Evie suddenly called out to me from behind.

"Aurora. Oscar gave you the Moon Diamond in the past, didn't he? That's a symbol of family status. Since I am now his wife, and my son will be the rightful heir, you should return it now."

I was taken aback. So, they had brought me here today not just to humiliate me but also to take the Moon Diamond back from me. The Moon Diamond was a family heirloom, and Oscar had given it to me as an engagement gift when he asked me for my hand in marriage.

He said that it was proof of his everlasting love for me. Since I was the new owner of the Moon Diamond, that also meant that I was the owner of his heart.

It was precisely because of his promises that I decided to abandon my family, conceal my true identity, and stay with him. Now that I thought about it, I found it hilariously ironic.

Oscar averted his eyes and hung his head, and he saw the pitiful and accusing look in my eyes.

So, Oscar was a person who avoided taking responsibility for his words and refused to be held accountable for anything.

I had been blind this whole time, falling in love with a person who didn't deserve to be loved.

Seeing that I still refused to budge, Evie grabbed Oscar's arm and glared at him to say something.

It was only then that Oscar spoke. "Aurora. Give up the Moon Diamond."