In the fifth year of my marriage to Tristan Cohen, I received nine hundred ninety-nine post-event photos and one hundred eight kinds of posture videos.

The floor covered in used little umbrellas and torn black stockings was enough to reveal how intense the struggle was.

And every bit of it was sent to me by his childhood sweetheart.

During the first year of marriage, she started a fire in the middle of the night, resulting in a falling beam that hit me and burned a large area of my back.

In the second year of our marriage, she intentionally shoved me down the stairs while I was pregnant, which led to an immediate miscarriage and hospitalization, and I missed my mother’s funeral.

..…

When I demanded an explanation from her, every time I received only one sentence from Tristan. “She is just a little willful by nature, don’t be so small-minded.”

Until I learned that the childhood sweetheart had privately removed my father’s oxygen tube.

I filed a lawsuit to take her to court, but what I received was Tristan’s letter of forgiveness, allowing her to be released without guilt.

My heart felt like lifeless ashes as I stared at the circled date on the calendar; seven days remained before my deal with Everleigh Cohen expired.

In seven days, I would escape this nightmare and complete the task I hadn’t managed back then.

——

Closing the chat window, I dialed Everleigh’s phone.

The call connected immediately. “How have you dealt with this? Five years, and you still haven’t given birth to a single child!”

“If you had admitted earlier that you are a hen that can’t lay eggs, I wouldn’t have made this deal!”

The direct accusation caused my entire body shake.

I instinctively reached for my flat stomach.

Two lives had once grown there.

In the end, it was unfortunate that both were lost because of Tristan’s childhood sweetheart.

I pulled my thoughts back and said hoarsely, “Mrs. Cohen, this deal ends in seven days.”

“I hope you settle everything properly. I leave as soon as possible.”

Everleigh sounded rather unhappy. “You can’t even….”

“Sybil Cardenas is pregnant.” I interrupted her. “Can you allow me to leave now?”

Everleigh paused for a moment. In the next instant, she responded readily. “No problem. In seven days, I will send you off as scheduled.”

After the call ended, before I could lower my phone, the door was suddenly kicked open.

Tristan charged in angrily and questioned, “Lexie Houston, are you bullying Sybil again? I’m merely friends with her, not as dirty as you believe.”

“You keep doubting everything all day, aren’t you exhausted?”

Calmly, I stared at him and asked, “What did she say now?”

Since the day I married Tristan, Sybil had kept picking fights, minor trouble every three days, major scenes every five, making my life messy like chickens and dogs.

And all of it was caused by Tristan’s blind favoritism.

Seeing my cold reaction, Tristan became even more mad. Pointing at my nose, he scolded, “Lexie, show some shame, can’t you? You even spread gossip that Sybil sleeps with multiple men!”

“How can you be so heartless?”

Heartless? Me?

I sneered inside and looked at him calmly.

Tristan felt like he had struck empty air. His expression grew darker as he issued a warning. “I give you two options: go fix this immediately and confess you spread dirty rumors because you were jealous of Sybil, or I deal with it myself.”

But I hadn’t done any of it to begin with, so what exactly was I meant to explain?

Make up another lie?

For five years, I had already turned into a joke in Kingston’s upper circle.

If anything happened to Sybil, Tristan would panic immediately.

Yet when my pride and reputation were stepped on, he wouldn’t even look at me.

Noticing my silence, Tristan believed I was having a tantrum and slammed the door as he left.

Before I could even breathe in relief, my phone rang the next second.

It was an unknown number.

Without thinking, I pressed answer. A lewd, greasy voice sounded from the other end. “This Lexie? I heard you only cost fifty cents for one night. Can you travel nationwide?”

Those disgusting words came through the phone into my ears, sending goosebumps all over my body.

I hurriedly hung up, convinced the caller was mentally disturbed.

But the next second, my phone rang again, call after call, without end.

Just as I was thinking whether my number had a problem, suddenly a trending search popped up.

[Breaking! The capital’s top heir’s woman is sold for one night for only fifty cents! Instant pleasure!]

Besides Tristan, who else could be the capital’s top heir?

I tapped into the post and saw my private details fully exposed. Sliding down, there was even a link saying that by paying ten cents, you could see my private photo set!

My entire body shook with anger.

These private pictures, only Tristan had them!

So the way he handled it was to completely destroy my name.

Shame and hurt quickly rushed into my heart.

I forced myself to calm down, my fingertips shaking as I called my former mentor.

After the line connected, I couldn’t wait to speak, “Mentor, I want to join this three-year confidential experiment.”

My mentor paused. “Didn’t you willingly become a rich wife for your parents? Then your husband’s side…”

My tone was almost calm. “In seven days, I will divorce. By then, I will be free.”

My mentor did not hesitate anymore. “Alright, alright. When you left before, I deeply regretted it. In seven days, I will come get you.”

Five years earlier, my parents suffered a car crash and almost didn’t survive. Back then, I was crowdfunding in university.

Tristan, then a senior, came down like a God. Taking my hand, he softly asked, “Are you willing to marry me? I can pay your parents’ medical expenses in advance and bring in the world’s best medical team for their treatment.”

Back then, there was no other path for me to choose, and since I already looked up to him, I went with him right away to get the marriage certificate.

Only later did I find out that his childhood sweetheart, in order to gain her freedom, had run overseas to enjoy herself on the very day she had promised to register with him.

And to take over the family business and secure real control of the shares, he had to find a woman to marry.

When we were newly married, his thoughtful care let me experience the warmth of love. I believed we would always stay happy.

Sadly, the good times were short-lived. After Sybil discovered the marriage, she immediately returned and demanded that he divorce.

Tristan refused, so Sybil turned her attacks toward me.

For five years, I was repeatedly targeted and set up by Sybil, while Tristan went from trusting me at first to growing impatient later and finally standing fully on Sybil’s side to support her.

Breaking away from my memories, I started to pack up the room.

After staying in this villa for five years, there were far too many things I wanted to get rid of.

As I was halfway through organizing, I heard footsteps downstairs. I thought Tristan had returned and didn’t think much of it.

A few minutes later, his impatient voice called from downstairs. “Where is Lexie? Why hasn’t she come to handle this?”

Next came Sybil’s sobbing voice. “She said she is the mistress here, and I am just an outsider, not worthy of her reception.”

I stopped what I was doing and turned to head downstairs.

When he saw me, Tristan frowned unhappily. “Lexie, what are you doing? Don’t you know Sybil is on her period today? She can’t touch cold water, yet you still had her cook?”

I froze for a second, forcing down the bitterness in my heart.

His attentive care toward Sybil was like a poisoned knife, stabbing straight through my heart until I could barely breathe.

“Forget it, Tristan. Since she already dislikes me, I’d better not be an eyesore…”

While speaking, Sybil turned as if to leave.

In the next moment, she was pulled into Tristan’s embrace. His eyes were gentle as he said, “If anyone should go, it should be her. Back when I had my accident, it was you who stayed and cared for me for an entire day and night.”

“And my so-called wife, who promised to stay by my side forever, didn’t even appear.”

While speaking, Tristan shot me a look full of hatred.

Bitterness spread through my chest.

Four years earlier, he was involved in a car accident. The windshield stabbed through his abdomen, causing one of his kidneys to die.

Everleigh made me do the matching test and donate one kidney, and even instructed me not to reveal the truth to Tristan.

But unexpectedly, Sybil took the credit and turned it into her current shield.

Sybil reached out to stop Tristan, putting on a kind look as she said, “Tristan, why not punish her by having her make sweet dough balls for me?”

Tristan lifted his hand and patted her head, saying softly and fondly, “You, you’re just too kind.”

Turned to me and said coldly, “Why aren’t you going yet? What are you standing there for?”

I tightened my lips and turned toward the kitchen.

While squeezing the dough, I felt the flour seemed a little odd. Until the sweet dough balls were finished cooking, and I was just about to bring them out.

Sybil’s malicious voice sounded from behind me. “Do the sweet dough balls made with this flour smell nice?”

I did not reply and carried the sweet dough balls, getting ready to leave the kitchen.

Sybil reached forward to block my path. Her eyes were cold, and she suddenly smiled. “You should try some. After all, there’s a part from your dear father in it.”

My pupils suddenly tightened.

A bad feeling rushed into my heart.

I quickly knocked her hand away and hurried into the guest room on the first floor, only to see the memorial tablet I had placed a few days earlier thrown onto the floor, with clear footprints on it.

And the container box holding my father’s ashes had been opened at some unknown moment; the ashes inside had vanished without any sign.

I stared at the sweet dough balls in my hands, shocked and stunned.

Could it be…

“That’s right.” Sybil followed after me, with a cruel smile on her face. “Just like what you are thinking. I mixed that dead old man’s ashes into the flour. How is it? Isn’t it tasty?”

I had originally planned to arrange my father’s funeral after the first seven days passed, but now even his ashes were gone.

“Sybil! I’m going to kill you!!”

I threw the sweet dough balls aside and rushed forward, grabbing Sybil’s neck tightly, watching with my own eyes as her face slowly turned red.

She proudly smiled at me.

The next second, I was kicked and sent flying five meters away. My calf slammed hard into the corner of the coffee table, and I fell onto the boiling sweet dough balls.

My soft skin immediately became red in patches.

“Lexie, have you lost your mind?!” Tristan noticed the red bruise on my calf. Guilt showed in his eyes, then it was soon replaced by indifference.

He spoke coldly, “You asked for this yourself. Nobody else to blame!”

Pain stabbed my chest. It felt like thousands of ants biting. The burning kept turning my vision dark.

Sybil shrank into Tristan’s arms and said pitifully, “Tristan, she really doesn’t like me. I clearly didn’t do anything…”

Tristan reached out and brushed her hair aside, gently comforting her. “Don’t be scared. She is too jealous. You are too kind, so you get bullied.”

I watched them embrace in front of me. My sight grew blurry. I heard my hoarse voice ask, “Tristan, do you know she…”

“Ah. Tristan, earlier, I was choked too much. I feel dizzy, and my sight is blurred. Am I about to have an episode?”

Sybil leaned weakly against Tristan’s arms.

Tristan did not hesitate. “I will take you to the hospital.”

Tristan lifted Sybil and turned to go, not even glancing at me a single time the whole while.

Sybil poked her head out and quietly mocked me: The one who is not loved is the outsider. You should step aside.

I got up from the floor and suddenly felt a warm liquid between my legs.

Thinking that my period had not come for a while, I suddenly realized something was wrong. Just when I was about to take a taxi to the hospital, three or four bodyguards rushed in and roughly pulled me away.

“What are you doing? I am Mrs. Cohen. Aren’t you afraid of Tristan’s revenge?!”

I questioned harshly, but all I got was mockery.

“Mrs. Cohen? Something that exists in name only. Let me tell you the truth, it was President Cohen who told us to lock you in the freezer so you can properly reflect!”

At more than thirty degrees below zero, the cold made my lower abdomen ache again and again. Seeing the red blood beneath me, I begged desperately, “Please let me out. I’m pregnant… the child is going to be gone…”

“Tristan, let me out. I won’t cause trouble anymore, okay…”

The doctor had once said that because I donated a kidney, my health had worsened. If I suffered another miscarriage, I might never get pregnant again.

The cold and suffocating feeling wrapped tightly around me. I curled up into a ball, trying to keep warm this way.

But the cold was much too bad. That small bit of warmth was only a drop in a bucket.

In my daze, I slipped into unconsciousness.

In a blurry state, I found myself lying on the operating table.

Under the faint lights, I heard Tristan’s cold voice. “Remove the softest skin from her body. Sybil loves beauty and is fragile. She must not be wronged.”

At that instant, I truly wanted to shout and question Tristan, then what about me? Could I be wrong?

Pain surged in my arm, and I sank further into unconsciousness.

When I opened my eyes again, I discovered I was lying on a hospital bed. From outside the half-closed door came the nurses’ low whispers.

“The Crown Prince treats his childhood sweetheart far too well, right? They are truly a golden couple.”

“Exactly. If that bitch hadn’t become the mistress and taken the spot, President Cohen would have already married Miss Cardenas and had children long ago.”

“That bitch is in this ward. When I gave her the injection now, I purposely stabbed wrong several times. Too bad the anesthesia doesn’t fade, I could see her painful face.”

Hearing this, I lowered my eyes and looked at the many needle holes on the back of my hand. Over them was tightly wrapped gauze, where there was faint pain.

Just hold on a little longer, and I could leave.

I kept soothing myself in my heart.

After staying in the hospital for two days, I received the hospital’s extremely high bill.

Looking at the bill, my eyes widened. “Isn’t this hospital under Tristan’s name?”

The doctor chuckled. “It is under President Cohen’s name, but President Cohen says this hospital only recognizes Miss Cardenas. Other cats and dogs will not receive free treatment.”

Cats and dogs?

In his heart, am I really this kind of existence? Not even as good as livestock?

The ache in my heart pressed so heavily that I almost could not breathe.

I gripped the bill and spoke in a low voice, “I understand. Can I return home first to get the money?”

The doctor looked at me mockingly. “Can’t pay the cost? Then why did you come here to see a doctor?”

I bit my lower lip hard and forced down my grievance.

The doctor looked down at his phone, then suddenly spoke with ill intent, “I can give you one option that needs no payment. You take off your clothes and walk out of the hospital yourself.”

“What?!” I thought I had heard wrong.

The doctor repeated coldly, “Strip naked and walk out. Free of charge.”

For a long moment, I gave no reaction.

Impatient, the doctor directly called the guards to rip off my clothes.

The thin hospital gown was immediately torn into strips under their rough pulling.

I struggled desperately, but I could not fight back at all.

When I was hopeless, Sybil’s voice came from the doorway.

“Oh, looks like she truly has no money. She can even do group things in a proper place like a hospital…”

The instant I noticed Tristan, a small bit of hope rose in my eyes.

The next moment, Tristan lifted his hand to cover Sybil’s eyes and spoke without expression, “Don’t look. It will dirty your eyes.”

After saying that, Tristan walked away with Sybil.

I watched in despair as Tristan left me behind once again.

Seeing they were still about to keep tearing off my underwear, I clenched my teeth hard, shoved them aside, and jumped straight out the third-floor window.

At that moment, Tristan was leading Sybil out of the hospital.

I slammed heavily onto the road in front of the hospital, landing right before them.

My eyes met Tristan’s.

Tristan’s eyes shook, and he moved forward, almost reaching out.

Sybil suddenly shouted, “Wasn’t sister just having fun? Why are you suddenly putting on another sad act now? Don’t tell me you think this will make Brother Tristan forgive your cheating?”

Hearing that, Tristan abruptly stepped backward. His eyes showed disgust and hate, and like an unrelated stranger, he walked away with Sybil.

At that instant, I understood.

In this wealthy people’s game, only I, the tool person, had taken it seriously.

It was nearly finished.

Everything was nearly finished.