On one mid-autumn day, my national classified mission finally came to an end.

I dug out the phone I hadn't touched for four years, planning to call my wife, Nora Christie, and tell her that I'd be coming home.

But the moment my phone screen lit up, I saw a public court notice declaring me… dead.

I froze. Then, I looked closer. The person who had filed the petition to have me legally declared dead was Nora.

Frowning with confusion, I dialed her number.

With a soft chuckle, she brushed it off, saying that it must have been a clerical error by some court intern. Then, she asked when I would be coming home.

Just when I was about to answer, I heard a soft, restrained moan from Nora. "Ah, don't touch me there…"

Realizing something wasn't right, I told her that I would be back in a few more years before hanging up.

Then, I grabbed the medal I had earned from four years of service to my country, and took the next train home.

Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw when I arrived.

Right outside my front door, Nora was holding a wedding ceremony. The groom was Henry Crowley, the poor student I had sponsored!

Their wedding portrait was displayed right at the entrance of my mansion.

In the portrait, Nora Christie, my wife, was in a low-cut mermaid gown, leaning intimately into the arms of Henry Crowley, once a poor student I sponsored.

With darkened expressions, I was just about to step in to demand an explanation when the security guard stopped me.

"Are you here for the wedding? Do you have an invitation? You can't enter without an invitation."

Wedding?

I sneered and dug out my wedding certificate.

"Nora Christie's my wife! What wedding?"

The security guard had a look at the wedding certificate before grumbling impatiently, "Sir, spreading lies is illegal. Ms. Christie's husband has long been missing. Even the court has declared him dead. In the past four years, I only ever saw Ms. Christie and her boyfriend."

I snickered.

So, the moment I went off the grid four years ago, Nora could not wait to throw herself into the arms of Henry.

I was foolish enough to believe her promises of forever waiting for me to come home. What an idiot I was.

"That's because you haven't been working here long enough! I'm the owner of this mansion!"

I rushed forward and placed my thumb on the fingerprint lock.

A shrill alarm instantly blared out!

The security guard lost his patience. He grabbed his baton and swung it down hard on my hand.

"This lock only recognizes Ms. Christie and her boyfriend's fingerprints! You dirty beggar. Did you really think that the door would open for anyone?"

He added with contempt, "With burns all over you like that? Do you think that Ms. Christie would ever choose you? The man she's marrying is a wealthy heir."

Clutching my injured hand, I slowly looked up at the portrait.

Henry was in an expensive custom-made suit, wearing my father's signet ring, a family heirloom.

Rage ignited in my chest.

Before I sponsored him, he was a nobody. He had nothing.

I gave him a place to live. Let him stay in my home and had my house staff take care of him.

After his accident, when he supposedly lost his mind, I paid for every bit of his treatment without hesitation.

And this was how he repaid me?

Great! Amazing.

With reddened eyes, I kicked at the portrait.

Nora heard the commotion happening outside, so she came out with a darkened expression.

When she saw it was me, a hint of nervousness flickered in her eyes. She even stumbled in her footsteps.

"J-John, why are you back so suddenly? Didn't you say that you'd be back in a few years?"

I narrowed my eyes, slowly taking in the love-making marks scattered all over her body.

I pulled out the court notice declaring my death and slapped it on her wedding gown.

"If I didn't come back now, you would have just gone on with the wedding and hold a funeral for me, right?"

Nora's face paled. She shiftily kept the court order and explained timidly, "We're just having a fake wedding. You know that Henry became mentally impaired trying to save me. He's just like a five-year-old now."

Nora said, "Henry suddenly said a few days ago that he wanted to be a groom. I was just trying to help him recover quickly. Don't worry, once we're registered and done with the wedding, I'll immediately apply to the court to revoke the declaration of your death and restore our marriage."

I let out a cold laugh and shrugged her hand off me.

Staring at the marks all over her body, I said icily, "A fake wedding? If it's just a fake wedding, who gave you all those marks on your body? It seems like our marriage is the fake one!"

After all, Nora and I did not consummate our marriage.

On the night of our wedding, I merely kissed Nora when Henry rushed into the bedroom with a knife and slashed wildly on the bed like a madman.

To stop him from hurting Nora, I stood in front of her and took the blows, ending up with three broken ribs.

But instead, Nora held Henry's hand with concern, the one reddened by gripping the knife handle.

Only after carefully putting a bandage on him did she glance at me.

"Henry has become mentally impaired because he saved me in that accident. You're not allowed to seek revenge on him or kick him out. Besides, you're also at fault. I have told you a long time ago that I don't like people touching me. If you really love me, you wouldn't touch me."

Back then, I loved her to the bone. I actually apologized to her like an idiot.

From that moment onward, our marriage was without intimacy.

Who would have thought my innocent and pure wife would shamelessly fool around with the poor student?

Unable to suppress my rage, I slapped Nora across the face.

All those years that we were married, I always obeyed and fulfilled her every wish. This was the first time I ever hit her.

She stood there, stunned.

Taking the opportunity, I slipped inside the mansion. I located Henry, grabbed him by his collar, and punched him right in the chest.

Nora screamed and called the security guards.

Seeing Henry getting hurt, her attitude completely changed. With reddened eyes, she yelled, "John Xander, don't you dare lay a finger on Henry! I was trying to be polite with you, but it seems politeness doesn't work on you!"

Five security guards surrounded me.

"You have been gone for four years! Who knows if you ran off because you committed a crime! I didn't call the police! I only declared you dead! This is the most I can do!

"You're now legally a dead man! I was just trying to be nice to you! In fact, even if you die here now, no one will know!"

Turns out, all these years that I was in North Westonia on my classified mission, my wife thought that I was a fugitive on the run.

I froze.

We were married for five years, yet she didn't even know me at all! I was like a stranger to her!

How could she have judged me with such malice!

I never would have thought that Nora took my surprised silence as tacit agreement.

She lifted her head high, smugly, ordering the guards to drag me into the underground basement before the guests arrive.

"I'll deal with you once the wedding is over!"

I fought with all my might. One against five security guards. Outnumbered, they forced me into a corner of the wall.

I glared at Nora and said threateningly, "I have been serving my country for the past four years! If you dare touch me, I'll make sure you'll pay!"

I tried to take the medal out of my pocket, but she ordered the guards to strike hard at the ribs I once broke protecting her.

"You're declared dead, yet you still think you have any leverage?"

Back then, I was injured protecting her, yet she now used it as my weakness.

Four of my ribs were broken. The pain in my hand forced it to curl up.

I was dragged away pathetically by the five security guards.

All the way to the basement, I did not see a single trace of the life I once had in this house.

Along the corridor walls, the only photo of Nora and me disappeared without a trace.

In its place were wedding photos of her and Henry in all kinds of intimate poses.

The decorative paintings I carefully selected were replaced by Henry's childish scribbles.

The antique ornaments left behind by my father, treasures I cherished, were all gone. The rooms were filled with toys that only a five-year-old would like.

Nora followed along behind me, looking at my ashen face.

She said mockingly, "If you listened earlier, all of this would have been easier. You knew that Henry saved my life, yet you still tried to hurt him. You brought it all on yourself!"

I only felt irony listening to her words. All these years, she justified her biased actions toward Henry by claiming she saved her life.

But the truth was far from that.

Henry protected her, but I was the one who saved her life!

And this was how she repaid me?

…

Back then, Henry had won a scholarship. To thank me for my sponsorship, he treated Nora and me to dinner.

Somehow, the restaurant caught on fire, trapping us on the third floor.

The fire rescue team was nowhere to be seen. Between dying or getting burned, we all chose the latter.

When a beam came crashing down on Nora, I was the one who pushed her out of the way in time. The price of that was that I was heavily burned.

Henry merely gave Nora a wet T-shirt so fewer sparks would land on her.

Henry might have been mentally impaired to the level of a five-year-old due to the trauma of the fire, but that did not change the fact that I was the one who saved Nora's life.

Yet, Nora's attitude toward Henry changed completely. She branded him as her life savior.

To me, she only spoke words of concern. But every time she saw my nasty burns, I could feel an indiscernible hint of disgust from her.

I knew that she despised me, but she was forced to marry me out of obligation.

My limbs were tied by the security guards as they dumped me in the underground basement.

Looking at the torn, gruesome wounds from being dragged earlier, Nora couldn't help frowning again.

She stepped on my wound.

"Initially, I felt a little guilty toward you, but what you did to Henry wiped it all away. Henry is like a five-year-old. Who knows if you're going to bully him again from now on! I'm going to give him everything you own! So, even if you revoke your declaration of death, you will forever be under his thumb!"

Then, she took out a property transfer agreement.

"I'm going to make you watch as all the wealth you and the Xander family built all these years becomes Henry's!"

At that moment, I looked at Henry, who was behind her. His eyes were gleaming with desire and greed.

This was definitely not an emotion a normal five-year-old would have!

I wanted to protest, but Nora got the security guard to cover my mouth. All I could do was scream.

Nora swiftly signed her name on the property transfer document.

Then she walked up to me, viciously grinding her foot into my wound, using my blood as ink to press down her handprint.

After finishing all this, she revealed a cruel smile.

"Let him go," she ordered the security guards before saying to me, "John, you know? Your look of despair was just like your mother's before she died. On the day I went to court to declare you dead, I deliberately delivered the good news to your mother. Who would have thought that she'd be so frail? She passed away due to a heart attack."

Nora did not have an ounce of pity on her face, only provocation.

"Well, who asked her to hurt Henry? She brought it all on herself."