"Julian's brother didn't mean it. The body was going to be cremated with the trash anyway. There's no need to be so particular. What's there for him to be angry about?"

Seeing the body pushed into the garbage, covered in filth and stinking so badly it made people gag, I laughed instead.

"Vivian, you're going to regret this."

When she finally learned that the body she had degraded was her own father's, I hoped she could still be this generous.

"What do I have to regret?"

Vivian covered her nose in disgust and did not spare Robert's body a single glance. She ordered me, "My time is valuable. I don't want to waste it on meaningless things.

"Hurry up and sign the forgiveness letter. Then I'll have your father's body fished out.

"Julian's brother has a bright future. It can't be ruined like this."

I looked at her expressionlessly.

"Dream on."

Robert had only caught Caleb Blake installing surveillance cameras in Vivian's room and tried to stop him.

Caleb had deliberately rammed him with a car, then reversed and ran him over again and again.

To vent his anger, Caleb had even used a steel pipe to beat Robert while he was barely breathing.

And this thing, worse than an animal, wanted a forgiveness letter?

Vivian was a doctor, yet she was creating false testimony for the man who had killed her own father. Wasn't she afraid the dead would never rest?

Vivian grew irritated under my stare.

"Nathaniel, I'm not discussing this with you. I'm informing you.

"With my ability, even if this goes to court, I can get him acquitted.

"I just don't want you humiliating yourself in court. Everyone knows you're my husband. If you act petty over something this small, you'll embarrass me too."

I said calmly, "If you're so afraid of embarrassment, let's divorce."

Vivian glared at me in anger.

"Nathaniel! You're threatening me with divorce over a tiny matter like this?"

She looked at Caleb with righteous indignation.

"Even if he accidentally kicked Dad's body into the garbage, wasn't he helping clean up?

"He already knows he was wrong. Why shouldn't he be forgiven?"

Caleb was spitting and urinating on the body that had just been retrieved.

I stared at Vivian in disbelief. I genuinely thought something in her mind had broken.

An obvious act of desecration had somehow become "helping" in her mouth.

Where was the Vivian Stone who once spent five years stuck in a basic post because she refused bribes and insisted on a doctor's principles?

It seemed everything had changed after Julian appeared.

As a trainee assistant, Julian prescribed medication casually without even reading patients' conditions.

Vivian not only covered for him, she deliberately allowed patients to worsen just to pave his way.

I warned Vivian that as a doctor, she had to be responsible to patients.

She said carelessly that she simply didn't want a young newcomer to feel disappointed.

My eyes turned cold.

"I'll give you the divorce agreement tomorrow. Remember to sign it."

Julian wrapped his arm around Vivian's waist and said in a theatrically gentle voice, "Nathan, Vivian only went to a hotel with me on Valentine's night because she pitied me for being alone. Don't be angry over that. Vivian and I are innocent.

"How about this? I'll apologize to you. Take back what you said about divorce. If Vivian takes it seriously, I'm afraid you'll regret it later."

When Vivian heard that, rage flared in her. She slapped me across the face and jabbed a finger at my nose.

"Nathaniel! You really don't know when to stop!

"People with dirty hearts see filth everywhere. Let me tell you this: divorce is impossible.

"Not only will I refuse to divorce you, I'll sign the forgiveness letter as your wife and help Julian's brother."

She immediately had someone bring a forgiveness letter and signed her name on it right in front of me.

"I won't give you any chance to interfere.

"Nathaniel, you brought this on yourself."

After Vivian and the others left, I paid a large sum to hire people to clean and prepare Robert's body properly, send him to the funeral home, and set up a memorial hall.

Then I took the divorce agreement drafted by my lawyer and went to find Vivian for her signature.

At the door of the break room, a young nurse stopped me.

"Mr. Hayes, Dr. Stone and her assistant are resting inside. It might be... inappropriate for you to go in."

Through the crack in the door came Vivian's moans and a man's heavy breathing. The nurse was so embarrassed she ran away.

I took out my phone without expression. When the call connected, Vivian's cries became even more breathless.

"Nathan, Vivian's busy. She doesn't have time for you."

"She told me to warn you not to use divorce to invalidate the forgiveness letter."

After that, he deliberately moved the phone closer to Vivian. The sounds became even more explicit.

I forced down my nausea, saved the call recording, and turned away.

Since she didn't want an amicable divorce, I didn't need to preserve her dignity either.

After filing for divorce on my phone, I sent Vivian a message.

"If you won't sign, I'll see you in court."

On the day of the car accident trial, I received a notice that my divorce petition had been withdrawn.

I knew Vivian had done it.

At that moment, the funeral home called.

They said the body had been forcibly taken away, and the memorial hall had been destroyed.

The coffin that should have contained Robert's body now held a dead dog, filthy and twisted out of shape.

The wreaths in the memorial hall bore my father's name.

The coffin itself had been covered in vulgar words written in red paint.

Then Julian walked toward me leisurely with his arm around Vivian.

When Vivian saw my phone, she smiled smugly.

"Nathaniel Hayes, this is what happens when you go against me."

"If you insist on appearing in court today, you'll never see your father's body again."

Julian pointed at the dead dog in the coffin, malice filling his eyes.

"Look. Doesn't it look exactly like that dead thing? My brother and I worked hard to find one this similar.

"Vivian agreed to it too. Your relatives can kneel to this dog just the same.

"As for your father's corpse, once my brother is acquitted, we'll naturally return it to you."

I hadn't expected Vivian and Julian to be this devoid of humanity.

They were doing everything they could to stop me from attending court because they believed the dead man was my father.

If I, the direct family member, refused forgiveness, Vivian's letter would be useless.

Consumed by fury, I punched Julian in the face.

"You conscienceless animal! You don't deserve to be human!"

Vivian screamed and protected Julian behind her, her face full of anger.

"Nathaniel Hayes! Do you believe I can send you straight to jail?"

I glared at Vivian.

"The ones who should go to jail are you two adulterous dogs. Maliciously destroying a corpse is a crime."

Vivian looked at me with disdain.

"Have you forgotten my connections? With what I can do, anyone might go to jail, but never me. Your threats are useless.

"You'd better think carefully about whether you're going to court. Your father's corpse is still in my hands."

I laughed coldly.

"Vivian Stone, have you ever considered that this isn't my father's body, but yours?"

Vivian rolled her eyes at me.

"My father is an honest, simple man. How would he provoke a kind college student into running him over?"

She opened a video call and showed it to me as if she were flaunting a trophy.

"Look. With one order from me, your father's corpse will be nothing but bones."

In the video, Robert's body was being carried to the edge of a pool by several people in protective suits. White smoke rose from the liquid inside.

When I didn't react, Julian smiled.

"That pool is full of high-strength sulfuric acid. Given enough time, it'll corrode even the bones clean away.

"Whether your father's body stays intact depends on you."

The floor must have been slippery, because the men carrying the body simply began dragging it.

As they dragged him, an old surgical scar on Robert's lower leg was exposed.

Robert had once told me that when Vivian was little, she insisted on playing at a construction site and got trapped in a steel frame.

He had been injured saving her and needed dozens of stitches.

Later, afraid Vivian would blame herself, he lied and said he had been hurt at work.

Julian's pupils tightened. Then he pointed at the scar and said pointedly, "Vivian, Nathan's father really will do anything for money.

"It was bad enough that he used to dress like your dad. Now he even copied a scar. Who knows if it's real?"

The hesitation on Vivian's face instantly became disgust.

"My dad's scar was from dozens of real stitches. Your father's looks like it was drawn on. If he's going to fake it, he should at least do a better job.

"Nathaniel, I didn't know your father could be this disgusting. My dad used to speak so fondly of him too."

My father did not dress like her father because of imitation. My father had felt sorry for Robert's frugal life, where he couldn't even bear to buy himself decent clothes.

Every time my father bought new clothes, he would bring one set for him too.

Robert had always treated me well. He and my father were friends.

Grief rose in me. I rushed forward, wanting to stop Vivian from further destroying her father's body.

"He really is your father! That scar isn't drawn. Your father got it protecting you!"

Julian looked at Vivian with malicious eyes.

"It's unlucky for this dead old man to have a scar that resembles your father's. Why don't we just cut it off?"

Then he took the phone and issued the order.

I reached out to snatch it away.

Vivian slapped me across the face.

"Julian is doing this for me! Don't you dare bully him in front of me!"

My cheek burned.

On the other end of the video, the men cut away the flesh around Robert's old scar and threw it into the pool.

Rage twisted my face. I slapped Vivian to the ground.

"Vivian Stone! Do you have any conscience at all?"

Vivian stood up and roared back at me, refusing to back down.

"The one with no conscience is you, refusing to let Julian's brother go!

"I gave you chance after chance. You're the one who didn't appreciate it.

"Throw the body into the pool!"

Vivian glared at me with hatred, snatched the phone, and gave the order herself.

Then she shoved the image of Robert's body being thrown into the acid pool in front of my face.

Seeing me trembling with rage, she looked proud, like a victor, and walked into court with Julian.

The trial officially began.

The judge started by stating the basic facts of the case.

"The defendant, Caleb Blake, after a violent conflict with the victim, Robert Stone, over the defendant's unauthorized installation of surveillance equipment, drove into the victim and caused Robert Stone's death."

The victorious smile on Vivian's face froze.

Robert Stone was her father's name.

She shot to her feet and interrupted the judge.

"Is there a mistake in the victim's information? How could that be my father's name?"

The judge frowned and looked at her strangely.

"The victim's information has been confirmed. The victim is your father, Robert Stone."