During the day at the office, I discussed wedding dress styles with my coworkers, sampled wedding cakes, and played the part of a blissful bride flawlessly.

After work, I threw myself into the boxing gym.

Protective gear on. Gloves on. One second, I was calling him honey on chat. The next, I was gritting my teeth and counting strikes against a heavy bag.

At my request, the coach designed a specific defense-and-counter routine against spinning kicks.

"You said your opponent is good at spinning kicks?"

"Yes."

"What level?"

"Underground fight-club sparring background."

The coach frowned.

"People from underground rings use dirty leg techniques. They don't follow official rules. They aim for vital spots."

He pulled up a clip from an underground fight.

"See that? Before they kick, their hips tuck in for a split second. Very fast. Less than point-three seconds."

"What you need to do is shift sideways within that point-three seconds, bleed off the force, then close in and strike at short range."

I nodded and practiced it over and over.

When I cornered a six-foot man against the wall, he instinctively covered his groin.

The coach cursed him for being useless, but I saw the corner of his mouth lift slightly.

That night, my best friend Sophie came to pick me up from the gym.

When she saw the bruises all over my arms, her eyes reddened immediately.

"Vivian, are you crazy? Why are you torturing yourself like this?"

I took off my gear, opened a bottle of water, and drank two mouthfuls.

"Look at what I found."

I handed her my phone.

On the screen were transaction records sent by the private investigator.

Derek's online loan: eighty-three thousand.

Of that, sixty-two thousand had been spent on a Cartier bracelet. Recipient: Chloe Shaw.

Sophie's eyes went wide.

"That bastard took out online loans to buy Cartier for that woman? What has he ever bought you? On your birthday, he gave you a nine-dollar bouquet of baby's breath with free shipping! Call off the wedding, Vivian. Do not marry him!"

I shook my head and took back the phone.

"That is exactly why I can't call it off. I need him to kneel and spit out everything he swallowed."

Sophie looked at me, and the look in her eyes changed.

"Vivian, I don't know exactly what you are planning, but whatever it is, I am on your side."

I watched her leave, then bent down and kept hitting the bag.

Three nights before the wedding, the investigator sent me the final recording. It had been recorded inside Derek's car.

Chloe's voice came through.

"Derek, after the wedding day, she will be ruined. That house under her name was paid in full, right? Once it is transferred to you, we can move in together. How perfect would that be?"

Derek laughed. "What's the rush? Once I get her house, then transfer out her savings, that will make this marriage worth it."

Chloe giggled. "Derek, you are so bad."

"Do you like it?"

"I love it."

The recording ended there.

I sat on the bench in the gym locker room and listened to it three times.

My hands were steady enough to back it up to three different cloud drives without a single mistake.

Then I transferred the remaining payment to the investigator and added a note: excellent work, worth every cent.

Two days before the wedding, Derek's mother came to my door.

She carried a bag of discounted supermarket fruit, sat down on my sofa, crossed her legs, and started giving orders.

"Vivian, Mom wants to discuss something with you."

"That wedding home of yours was bought before marriage and paid in full, right? Once you and Derek are married, you will be family. A family home looks strange if it is under only one person's name."

"Add Derek's name to the deed. Relatives and friends will see it and think you two have such a good relationship."

I held my cup of tea and said nothing.

"Chloe said it too. A good woman should never divide things so clearly with her man. Be generous, and you will be blessed in the future."

How wonderful. Chloe said it too.

An outsider was deciding my affairs, and this future mother-in-law thought it was perfectly reasonable.

I took a deep breath and forced out an obedient smile.

"You're right, Mom. Give me the property deed. I'll go to the county recorder's office tomorrow and handle it."

Her face bloomed with joy. She pulled the deed out of her bag and handed it over.

Of course. She had even brought the deed with her, just waiting for me to say yes.

I took the deed and saw her out.

The moment I closed the door, the smile vanished from my face.

I took the deed straight to an agency. Not to add his name, but to mortgage the property.

The house was worth three million eight hundred thousand. I took out a loan of two million six hundred thousand against it.

The money arrived that day, and I transferred all of it into an account under Sophie's name.

In my last life, after Derek transferred the house to himself, he sold it and did not give me a cent.

In this life, he would not touch a single steel bar in it.

When I got home, Derek was unexpectedly in the kitchen. He brought me a bowl of black soup.

"Honey, you have not looked well these past two days. I made you calming soup. Drink it and sleep well tonight. The day after tomorrow, you will be the most beautiful bride."

I took the bowl. A medicinal smell hidden under something sweet rose from it.

In my previous life, he had used this exact bowl of soup to make me sleep for ten full hours on the night before the wedding, giving Chloe enough time to turn the wedding stage into a fighting ring.

I lifted the bowl to my lips and pretended to drink. The moment he turned away, I spat it into a tissue, clenched it in my palm, and stuffed it into my pocket.

"Honey, it tastes good. Thank you."

A flash of satisfaction crossed Derek's eyes.

"Then go to bed early. We still have the rehearsal tomorrow."

He took his jacket and left the bedroom, then went into the guest room and shut the door to make a call.

I pressed myself against the wall and heard two lines.

"Chloe, she drank it. She is sleeping like the dead. What happens the day after tomorrow is guaranteed."

Chloe's voice came from the phone. "Derek, when she gets in the ring that day, should I kick her left temple first or her right?"

Derek laughed. "Whichever makes you happy. Either way, after the kick, she will spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair."

I went back to the bedroom and locked the door.

Sitting at my desk, I opened my laptop and organized all the evidence I had collected into a timeline presentation.

The title was: The Groom's Record.

I set the program to play on a timer and linked it to the account for the wedding venue's main screen.

After doing all of that, I lay down and closed my eyes.

No, I was a blade drawn from its sheath.

On the wedding day.

At six in the morning, Sophie arrived right on time to help me with makeup.

She unpacked the limited couture wedding dress worth two hundred thousand, held it up against me, and her hands trembled.

"Vivian... your arms..."

The dress was strapless, exposing everything below my collarbones.

The muscle lines along my inner forearms were clearly visible.

"Stop looking. Put on thicker concealer."

Sophie bit her lip and asked no more. She applied three layers of concealer, barely covering the bruises.

Once the dress and veil were on, I turned halfway in front of the mirror.

The woman in the mirror stood in white, her train trailing behind her.

She looked nothing like the useless woman who, a month ago, had been kicked hard enough to crack her skull and end up paralyzed in a wheelchair.

The Vivian Lane from my previous life had already fallen from the rooftop and died.

The one who came back was someone who had crawled out of hell.

At eight sharp, the wedding car arrived downstairs.

Derek wore a tailored black suit and stood beside the car door waiting for me. His cheeks were clean-shaven, his shoes polished bright.

When he saw me, his eyes lit up.

I smiled, took his arm, and got into the car.

Chloe sat in the front passenger seat. She wore a bridesmaid dress, her hair in a low ponytail, with light makeup on her face.

When she saw me get in, she turned back and forced out a weak smile.

"Vivian, you look so beautiful today."

Then she covered her mouth and coughed twice.

I smiled and squeezed her hand.

"Thank you for helping today, Chloe. Your health is not good, yet you still agreed to be my bridesmaid."

"It is no trouble. Being able to witness your happiness makes me happier than anyone."

Derek glanced at Chloe through the rearview mirror. Chloe looked back at him.

The exchange lasted less than a second, but I saw the smugness, excitement, and impatience in it clearly.

The wedding car drove all the way to the Grand Marriott Hotel, the most luxurious hotel in the city.

Floral arches. Red carpet. Flower stands from guests lined both sides.

Derek got out first, circled to my side, opened the door, and bent slightly in a gentlemanly gesture.

"Honey, we are here."

I lifted my skirt and stepped out, then took his arm.

We passed through the corridor and pushed open the banquet hall doors. All the guests turned at once, applause roaring through the room.

I swept my gaze across the venue.

The flowers, lighting, tables, and chairs were exactly the same as the wedding plan.

Only in the center of the stage, where the champagne tower should have been, stood an octagonal fighting ring.

Protective ropes surrounded the ring. Thick blue wrestling mats covered the floor. On the metal stand at the side hung two brand-new pairs of boxing gloves.

I pretended to be surprised.

"What... is this?"

Derek patted the back of my hand lightly, his tone natural.

"Don't be nervous, Vivian. It is a tradition from my hometown. The bride has to get into the ring and wrestle one of the groomsmen for good luck. It is just for fun."

He stepped aside, and Chloe walked out from behind him. She wore a sports jacket over her bridesmaid dress and carried a pair of gloves.

Her face still had that same weak expression, and her voice was soft.

"Vivian, Derek insisted I go up. I could not refuse. Don't worry. My health is so bad I don't even have the strength of one of your fingers. We will just go through the motions."

The relatives and friends below had no idea what was really going on and started cheering along.

"Go on! Follow the custom!"

"Bride, don't be shy. Get some good luck!"

"Chloe is so thin a gust of wind could knock her over. What are you afraid of?"

The cheers rose wave after wave.

Everyone laughed. Everyone made noise. Not one person thought there was anything wrong.

Just like in my previous life.

I was silent for ten full seconds. Then I raised my head and looked into Derek's eyes.

"I can fight."

Derek froze.

I paused, then continued.

"But I have one condition. If any accident happens in the ring, no one blames anyone else. We sign a waiver."

I took a prepared document from Sophie and laid it open in front of Derek.

Black words on white paper. Every clause clear.

"During the ring sparring session, any physical injury caused by either party shall be fully borne by the injured party. The other party shall owe no compensation and shall not be held legally responsible."

Derek lowered his head and scanned it twice. He could not stop the corner of his mouth from lifting.

To him, I was digging my own grave.

Chloe's eyes lit up. She snatched the pen and signed her name.

After she signed, I turned and handed the document to Sophie for safekeeping.

Then, in front of more than three hundred guests waiting to see me make a fool of myself, I slowly took off the wedding dress and the dozens of pounds of protective padding beneath it.