The day my boyfriend, Lucian Farrell, and I, Roxanne Schmidt, decide to register our marriage, the million-dollar diamond ring he'd promised me turns into a can tab.

So, I broke things up with him on the spot.

In a panic, Lucian fishes out the purchase receipt.

"I just forgot to bring the ring. If it bothers you, I can go home and get it right now," he coaxes.

My gaze lands on the figure hurrying toward both of us. "There's no need for that. Your 'little shadow' has already brought it over for you," I replied indifferently.

Evelyn Wiley rushes up before me with tears in her eyes. A large diamond ring is wedged tightly around her swollen ring finger.

"I just wanted to help Ms. Schmidt try the size. But it wouldn't come off no matter how hard I tried…" she explains between sobs.

Lucian's face darkens instantly. "Who said you could touch it? The ring was meant for Roxanne!" he snaps.

He wrenches at the ring, but it doesn't budge at the slightest.

I watch the commotion before me with my arms folded. All of a sudden, a laugh escapes me. "It's simple. If it won't come off, then we can just cut her finger off."

For a moment, my boyfriend, Lucian Farrell, froze in place. Then, he immediately snapped at Evelyn Wiley, "Look at what you've done! Don't bother coming to the company tomorrow if you can't get the ring off."

Tears immediately brimmed in her eyes. But instead of begging Lucian for forgiveness, she turned toward me, Roxanne Schmidt, and began bowing repeatedly in apology. The exaggerated motion immediately drew glances from passersby within the city hall.

"It's all my fault, Ms. Schmidt. Please don't fire me. I really can't lose this job," Evelyn pleaded.

The moment her words fell, she suddenly wrenched at her ring finger. The contorted angle looked painful enough to make anyone watching wince.

A frown crossed Lucian's face as he immediately stepped forward to grab her wrist. "Are you out of your mind? Roxanne only said that in a fit of anger. Why are you taking it so seriously?"

He took out his car keys and dragged Evelyn outside by the arm. "Get in the car. We're going to the hospital right now. No matter what, the ring has to come off today." His tone left no room for argument.

Lucian didn't even spare me a glance throughout the entire exchange.

The looks passersby gave me in the city hall were filled with sympathy. However, I was unexpectedly calm.

After all, the same scene had already played out countless times in the past. I had already gotten used to it.

Everything changed at that one gathering a year ago. Back then, I was just about to announce our engagement when one of the waitresses accidentally knocked over a bottle of champagne.

The waitress, Evelyn, staggered over toward Lucian's direction. Her eyes gleamed with joy at their reunion.

"It's been a while, Lucian. Are you getting engaged?" she asked. The familiarity in her tone made it clear that she was no stranger.

By then, Lucian and I had been together for five years. I knew his social circle like the back of my hand, yet I'd never seen her before.

That was the first time I'd seen him, ever the gentleman, lose his temper in front of me.

"Did you know that the bottle of champagne you just broke cost five figures?" he snapped.

Evelyn's face instantly drained of color. Taken aback, she stood rooted to the spot and took Lucian's anger like a child who knew she was in the wrong.

Out of courtesy, I didn't make an issue of it. I simply asked for a new bottle to be brought over instead.

Later on, Lucian explained the situation to me. He insisted that Evelyn was nothing more than his childhood neighbor. She'd always clung to him since they were young, but they'd completely lost contact after moving away.

A trace of weary resignation crept into his voice at the mention of Evelyn. It almost felt as if her appearance had brought back some nightmares that had long been buried.

But the very next day, I came across Evelyn in the middle of the onboarding process at Stellaria Group.

When I confronted Lucian about it, he rubbed his temples irritably before replying, "I don't have a choice, Roxanne. Evelyn's parents died in a car accident, so she didn't manage to finish university. Now, she can only work as a waitress.

"I owe her parents a favor, and I simply can't watch and do nothing. Surely you understand where I'm coming from, right?" he continued.

I couldn't understand it at all, but looking back at the five years I'd spent with Lucian, I decided to remain silent.

I thought that once we registered our marriage and I brought Lucian to meet Mom and Dad, everything would prove that I'd made the right choice.

But on the day we went to register our marriage, I never expected to find a can tab lying inside the ring box Lucian opened.

It didn't take a genius to figure out who was behind it.

Ever since Evelyn became Lucian's assistant, incidents seemed to follow without end.

She would throw away important gift boxes as trash, only to end up mailing actual rubbish to my house. During a publicity task, Evelyn even uploaded an unedited, high-resolution close-up photo of me to the company's website.

Every time she messed up, Lucian would tear into her mercilessly.

Ironically enough, he was well-known among Dravoria's business circles for his remarkably good temper. I'd never seen him lose his temper in the past five years since we'd started dating.

But when it came to Evelyn, he seemed almost eager to use the most vicious and cruel words imaginable to humiliate her.

Lucian would mock her for not checking the weather forecast during an outdoor banquet, only to drape the blanket he'd prepared for me over her shoulders moments later.

He would reprimand Evelyn for her clumsiness during the company's team-building event, only to stand by the grill and carefully barbecue every skewer for her. Even his threats of dismissal never ended up being carried through.

And today, Lucian even laughed out loud when he saw the can tab in the ring box. "That's quite a unique ring we have here. It's completely different from anyone else's," he teased.

He had completely forgotten how difficult things were when we first started out. Back then, we were so exhausted that we could barely stand straight.

The two of us lay sprawled on the company rooftop to rest. That day, he held my hand and swore, "One day, I'll definitely buy you a big, sparkling diamond ring."

However, despite noticing the serious look on my expression now, Lucian still found it in him to joke with me in the city hall.

"Does it really matter that much to you? Are you actually going to break up with me because I don't have a million-dollar diamond ring?" he asked.

One million dollars used to be the amount I'd casually spend on a purse. However, I still nodded in response. "That's right. If you don't have it, then we're done." I replied.

Only then did Lucian start to panic. He immediately sent his men to comb the route we'd taken for the ring. In fact, he even promised to make it up to me with a diamond ring worth ten million dollars.

Given his current wealth, spending ten million dollars on a diamond ring would barely leave a dent in his wallet, but it was all too late.

I was sick of the ambiguous relationship between him and Evelyn.

I watched as Lucian drove away in his Maybach with Evelyn in tow. Then, I dialed a number.

"Dad, I was in the wrong. I'll be home in a week," I said before ending the call.

Breaking things up with Lucian was bound to be a complicated process. After all, five years' worth of relationship had long since tangled our lives together.

I drove to Grandview Villa, located in Dravoria's most prestigious riverfront residential district.

In order to build our dream home back then, I'd emptied all of my personal savings without hesitation to purchase the riverside villa.

But now, it'd become the biggest burden I wanted to get rid of.

Who would've thought that the first time I set foot here would be to sell it off?

However, my car had just reached the entrance when I was stopped by security. "The system doesn't have your facial recognition data, miss. I'm afraid we can't let you through."

When I first bought the villa, Lucian had sworn earnestly, "Since you're the one paying, I'll make sure to pour all my effort into the renovation."

Throughout the renovation, I only had to voice out my preferences. Lucian would personally oversee all the work down to the details, but now, I wasn't even allowed inside.

I called him multiple times in a row, but every call went straight to voicemail.

Just then, Evelyn uploaded a new post on her Instagram. It turned out that all it took was some cooking oil for the doctor to remove the ring from her finger.

Even when Lucian berated Evelyn for her stupidity, he still went through every convenience store around the hospital just to buy her favourite strawberry popsicle and ice her swollen finger.

But in the five years I'd been with Lucian, he would only urge the housekeeper to hurry with the medicine even when I was down with a 104°F fever.

It was painfully obvious who held a special place in Lucian's heart.

In the end, I managed to enter the compound by showing my property deed. Before this, Lucian always insisted that he wanted to save our house as a surprise until we'd obtained our marriage certificate.

However, my breath still caught for a moment when I pushed the door open.

Several pairs of shoes lay strewn across the entrance foyer.

The couch flown in from Syldora was covered with cheap stuffed toys won from claw machines. Even the wedding photo hanging on the wall had a dartboard covering my face.

The corners of my lips twitched uncontrollably. I wanted to laugh, but I couldn't even force out a sneer.

So this was the surprise Lucian had prepared for me.

Just then, the front door was pushed open. Lucian had returned with one arm wrapped around Evelyn to support her.

The two of them immediately froze when they saw me sitting on the couch. Lucian hurried forward to explain, "Evelyn was kicked out by her landlord, so I decided to let her stay here for the time being.

"I wanted to tell you earlier, but it all happened so suddenly. Besides, no one's living in the house. I thought it wouldn't hurt to have someone around as it'll feel less empty…" he trailed off.

I raised my hand to cut him off. "Tell her to pack up and leave immediately," I said curtly.

My words seemed to have caught Lucian off guard. I had always been tolerant of his behavior, so he hadn't expected me to be so resolute this time. "Are you mad? Is it because I left you alone at the city hall earlier?" he asked.

So Lucian knew that he shouldn't have done that.

I took a deep breath before repeating, "I'm going to sell the house. Please clear it out."

His expression instantly darkened. "You're going to give up on our home over a mere ring?" he snapped.

Lucian quickly softened his tone when he realized he'd been too agitated. "If you don't want to wear the ring because Evelyn already wore it, I can buy you a better one immediately. Please, dear… don't be mad anymore," he coaxed.

"Tell her to leave." This was the third time I'd repeated myself.

All of a sudden, Lucian flew into a rage. With a loud thump, he swept all the stuffed toys off the couch and fumed, "I only allowed you to stay here temporarily. Now look at what you've done, Evelyn!

"Not only did you turn the whole place into a mess, but you even made Roxanne mad! What are you still standing here for? Get out!"

Sobs wracked Evelyn's body as she bent down to pick up the stuffed toys off the floor.

"I didn't know any better. I'm sorry for causing you trouble, Ms. Schmidt." Her voice trembled as she apologized to me.

I closed my eyes, but this time, I didn't brush it off like I always did before.

That was, until Evelyn dragged her heavy suitcase over my foot. The sharp pain instantly brought tears to my eyes.

I instinctively called out to Lucian just as he was about to leave, "Come back—"

I was just about to ask him to get some ointment for me when he cut me off harshly. "That's enough, Roxanne. Don't push things too far. Whatever you want to talk about can wait until I've sent her off."

Then, he slammed the door shut.

…

In that instant, Lucian's harsh words extinguished the last trace of affection in my heart. I contacted a property agent and finalized the price without hesitation.

Then, I asked Dad's team to complete the evaluation on Stellaria Group's equity stakes as soon as possible.

Lucian and I had founded the company together. All these years, I'd poured in both money and effort to turn Lucian into a rising star among Dravoria's business circles.

But things were bound to turn messy now that I was about to proceed with an asset division.

I've got my hands full to the point that one of my employees had to call me to remind me. "Don't forget about tonight's new product launch, Ms. Schmidt."

It wasn't until I hung up that I finally noticed the dozens of missed calls from Lucian on my phone.

After some thought, I decided to meet him one last time. Even if the five years we'd spent together had been nothing but a farce, I still wanted to give it a proper closure.

Besides, I'd poured my heart and soul into the new product. From market research to the breakthroughs in our core technology, I participated every step of the way.

I'd lost count of the endless nights I worked through, the rounds of business drinks that left me sick, and the design drafts I scrapped just to get this far.

After all the years I'd struggled to build my career, there was no way I could return home without bringing along something presentable.

…

By the time I arrived at the venue, the product launch had just begun. Lucian took the stage with ease as he prepared to introduce the biggest contributor behind the new product.

After a round of drum rolls, the spotlights flickered on.