My name is Elena, the principessa with the best marksmanship in the Capello family.

In my previous life, I married my fiancé, Leon Newman.

However, behind my back, he was involved with his adopted sister, Violetta, for three whole years. They even had a child together.

To give her the antique pistol that represented the highest honor in marksmanship, he smashed my right wrist with a steel slide rail.

From that day on, I could never hold a gun steadily again. I also lost the qualification to take over the family’s private shooting club and weapons collection business.

After being reborn, I didn’t choose Leon again. Instead, I married his uncle, Damien Newman, the current don of the Newman family.

I thought I had finally escaped the fate of my previous life.

But on the eve of the family’s annual shooting competition, my right wrist was destroyed again.

This time, it was Violetta herself who did it.

After Damien learned about it, he was furious and personally sent Violetta to prison.

I was deeply moved. I thought I had finally chosen the right man in this life.

It wasn’t until five years later that I overheard the conversation between father and son in the study.

“Dad, back then, you helped Aunt Violetta burn the surveillance footage, gave her a new identity, and married Mom, a useless cripple who can’t even hold a gun steady anymore, all so she could safely leave Sicilia.

“Now that Aunt Violetta is back, when are you going to divorce Mom? I want Aunt Violetta to be my mom.”

Damien stayed silent for a long time. He rubbed his wedding ring with his thumb before speaking in a low voice.

“I won’t. For Violetta’s sake, I already wronged your mother once. In this life, I’ll make it up to her.

“She will always be Mrs. Newman. And you are never allowed to say things like that in front of her again.”

“But the one you love is clearly Aunt Violetta.”

“That’s enough.”

My hand froze in midair before it could knock on the door. Chills ran down my spine.

In my previous life, Leon destroyed the hand I used to shoot.

So, in this life, I thought the man who saved me would be the exception.

However, it turned out that even this marriage was just a carefully constructed lie he created for another woman.

My husband didn’t love me.

And my son, Luca, liked Violetta more, too.

If that’s the case, I don’t want you anymore, Damien, nor do I want you, my son.

Inside the study, Luca was still complaining quietly.

“She can’t do anything. She can’t even hit a stationary target anymore. I don’t want a useless person like that to be my mother.”

I bit my lip hard, my chest trembling with pain.

I never thought that one day, the son I fought so hard to give birth to would dislike me this much.

Damien sighed softly.

“Your mother loves this family very much, and she loves you too. There’s already very little she can still have, so at the very least, I should leave the position of Mrs. Newman to her.”

“What if she finds out the truth?”

“She won’t,” Damien answered firmly. “She treasures this family too much. As long as you still call her Mom, she’ll choose to trust me again and again.”

I turned around, wanting to leave, but accidentally walked into the collection room he had forbidden me to approach.

There was nothing else in the room except an entire wall of firearms.

The antique pistol that originally belonged to me was gone.

In its place was a stack of property transfer documents, all with Violetta listed as the beneficiary.

There was also an auction house insurance policy stating that the antique pistol had been kept in a private overseas estate for the past five years.

And the owner of that estate was Violetta’s current identity.

I flipped through another stack of photographs.

Birthdays, the first snowfall, family anniversaries…

Every month, on the days when the two of them mysteriously disappeared, they had actually been spending time with Violetta.

In the photos, she wore a burgundy riding outfit and held the pistol that should have belonged to me while standing beside Damien, smiling brightly and proudly.

On the back of the photograph was a handwritten sentence: [A gun worth collecting should be given to the person most suited for it.]

No tears fell, but my heart felt like it had been torn open alive.

It had been two lifetimes, yet I still mistook salvation for love.

Ever since I was little, my parents treated me as a tool for the Capello family’s alliances and inheritance. They demanded that I be precise, calm, and flawless.

I always thought that as long as I had one real home that belonged to me, it would be enough.

In my previous life, I died in the conspiracy Leon and Violetta created together.

At the time, Damien stood before my grave with reddened eyes while settling scores with Leon for me, and I mistakenly believed that he loved me.

In the end, he had pushed me from one abyss into a quieter one.

Damien, this is where we end.

I composed myself and walked out of the collection room as if nothing had happened.

The moment I stepped out, I ran into the father and son who were hurriedly looking for me.

“Mom…”

The panic on Luca’s face was impossible to hide.

Damien stared at me as well. His Adam’s apple bobbed before he asked in a low voice, “Elena, did you go into that room just now?”

I curved my lips slightly, but I didn’t answer.

Seeing that my expression looked normal, the two of them exchanged a glance and visibly relaxed.

At that moment, I only found it ironic.

Damien walked over, took my hand, and led me to the sofa. His movements were still steady and gentle.

“I contacted the best orthopedic specialist in Turicum. They said that if you continue with nerve repair treatment, your right hand might recover a little more.

“But even if it doesn’t recover, it’s okay. I’ll stay by your side forever.”

In the past, promises like this would have made my eyes burn with emotion.

Now, I only found it hilarious that I had actually been deceived by such clumsy acting for five whole years.

Just then, his phone suddenly rang.

The moment he saw the caller ID, he instinctively turned slightly away and lowered his voice.

“It’s business. I need to take this.”

After saying that, he turned and walked onto the terrace.

I couldn’t hear what was being said on the call, but I knew the person on the other end had to be Violetta.

Not long after, he returned with just the right amount of apology on his face.

“I’m afraid I can’t accompany you to your follow-up appointment tonight.

“St. Alban Academy just called and said they added a last-minute family banquet tonight. The children of several old mafia families will be there, so I need to take Luca to make an appearance.”

I looked up at him.

His expression was flawless. Even the hint of apology in his eyes looked carefully practiced.

After five years of marriage, I had never realized that he used the same tone when lying as when whispering sweet words to me.

Softly, I asked, “Can’t you stay?”

This was the last chance I was giving him.

As long as he stayed tonight, I was even willing to lie to myself and pretend that the conversation outside the study had never happened.

Damien was silent for a second.

In the end, he still leaned down to hug me and pressed a kiss to my forehead.

“Tonight’s banquet is very important for Luca.

“Be good. When I come back, I’ll bring you your favorite marzipan.”

I didn’t look at him. Instead, I turned to Luca. “Is it really just a school banquet?”

Luca nodded quickly.

“Of course. Mom, get some rest. Dad and I will be back soon.”

I quietly watched the two of them for several seconds before finally saying only one word.

“Okay.”

Seeing that I agreed, Damien instructed the butler to take good care of me before hurriedly leaving with Luca.

As I listened to the sound of the car driving out of the estate, my tears finally fell silently.

A long time later, I picked up my phone and called my lawyer.

“Help me draft a divorce agreement.

“And there’s one more thing I’d like to ask about.”

I told the lawyer everything that had happened over the years.

There was a long silence on the other end of the call before he finally sighed.

“If that victim settlement agreement back then was signed by your husband on your behalf as your spouse, and someone later destroyed the physical evidence, then after five years, it won’t be easy to pursue Violetta alone.

“But if you have proof that Violetta never actually served her sentence, the circumstances will be different.”

I tightened my grip on the phone.

“What about the divorce?”

“The divorce won’t be difficult.” The lawyer paused briefly. “But have you really thought this through?”

“I have.

“Since he loves her so much, I’ll let them be together.”

The lawyer asked again, “What about the child?”

I fell silent.

Luca was the child I gave birth to while risking my life, and he was also the only person I couldn’t bear to let go of all these years.

I wanted to say that I didn’t want him anymore either.

However, when the words reached my lips, I still couldn’t say them.

Maybe he was just too young.

Maybe if I laid the truth out before him, he would understand.

Just as I was about to ask something else, the front door pushed open.

The father and son walked in smiling, carrying the scent of night wind and perfume on their coats.

When Luca saw me on the phone, he casually asked, “Mom, who are you talking to?”

Damien also looked at me, his gaze darkening for a moment.

“A friend.”

I put my phone face down and picked up the box of marzipan he had specially brought back for me. I unwrapped one and placed it in my mouth.

I used to love this flavor the most.

Now, it only tasted sickeningly sweet and bitter at the same time, just like this marriage. Covered in sugar on the outside, while rotten underneath.

Damien looked at me as if waiting for a reaction.

“Is it good? If you like it, I’ll buy more next time.”

I smiled faintly.

“It’s good, but there’s no need.”

He immediately became tense. “Why?”

I answered calmly, “The doctor said I should eat less of this.”

Only then did he visibly relax.

“I’ll have the chef create new desserts for you that are healthy and delicious.”

I lowered my eyes and looked at the draft divorce agreement the lawyer had just sent to my phone.

‘There won’t be a next time, Damien.’

The next morning, I received a call from Luca’s school.

The teacher invited me to attend the academy’s open house.

For events like this, Damien was always the one who attended.

I thought he had simply forgotten to inform me, and because I didn’t want Luca to be left alone, I still had the driver take me to the school.

The moment I arrived at the entrance, the teacher looked at me politely and asked, “May I ask who you are?”

I answered, “I’m Luca’s—”

Before I could finish, the teacher suddenly showed a look of realization.

“Oh, you’re the woman who takes care of Luca’s daily needs, right? He mentioned that there’s a caretaker at home whose hand was injured.”

My entire body froze.

So in Luca’s eyes, I wasn’t even his mother.

I was only a nanny.

At that moment, the sound of familiar high heels came from behind me.

Violetta walked over slowly in a sharply tailored black suit dress and raised a hand to signal for the teacher to leave.

She looked me up and down, her eyes filled with undisguised contempt.

“Looks like you’re still just as pitiful as before.”

I looked at her expressionlessly.

“So what?”

She crossed her arms and smiled, her red lips curling upward.

“So, I just came to tell you the truth.

“Back then, both the Capello family and the Newman family said your marksmanship was the best. They said you were born to inherit that gun, the shooting range, and the entire family's weapons collection business.

“But why should you?

“I only casually mentioned that I liked that gun too, and Damien chose to look the other way while I destroyed your hand.”

She leaned closer, lowering her voice until it brushed past my ear like a snake’s hiss.

“It’s a pity that I didn’t go far enough that time. Your wrist was still saved. But Damien had the doctors delay the best treatment window and deliberately changed the treatment plan. Your bones healed out of place, and the nerves died.

“So don’t even dream of pulling a trigger steadily again.”

It turned out that Damien had known about that accident from the very beginning, and my wrist could originally have been healed.

My whole body trembled as I raised my hand and slapped Violetta across the face.

It sent Violetta stumbling to the ground, and her cheek immediately swelled.

In the next second, a force violently shoved me over.

A man’s voice, filled with suppressed fury, rang out above my head.

“Have you lost your mind?!

“If anything happens to her, I won’t let you off!”