Once the agreement was finalized, Oliver and Czarina would finally be able to be together in the open.

Ever since his mother passed away, the person Oliver hated seeing most was her estate lawyer.

As expected, his brows knitted tightly.

"I don't care what you're plotting with my mother's will. This pregnancy of Czarina's cannot have any accidents. She was the most important person to my brother."

He didn't wait for my response. He strode to the foyer, changed his shoes, and with a loud bang, slammed the door behind him.

The housekeeper came over holding the shattered photo frame.

"Madam... you never had the heart to put this photo away before. Are you really throwing it out?"

I gave a soft laugh. My heart tightened, then loosened all at once.

"It was thrown away long ago."

Five years ago, on a stormy night, Ryan—his older brother—was in a multi-car collision with Czarina.

That same night, Oliver had a high fever but insisted on rushing to the hospital.

I cried and tried to stop him.

"Oliver, you're burning up. There are plenty of doctors there—you won't be able to help..."

For the first time, he glared at me coldly.

"How would I not help? That's my brother and sister-in-law. Not everyone is as heartless as you."

"When your mother was dying, you could pretend you didn't see it. You knelt at my mother's feet instead. Lydia, I'm not like you."

He walked out.

And I followed after him in the rain, ending up at the old Romulo residence.

His mother handed me a bank card again.

"Lydia, let's make a deal. This thirty million will be your payment for marrying Oliver for five years. Your mother's illness needs this money too. During these five years, I need you to watch over Oliver... and keep an eye on Czarina for me."

"After five years, no matter what happens, you'll be free."

Back then, I didn't understand. I'd secretly loved Oliver for five years—how could I ever walk away?

But three days later, when he returned from the hospital and announced the news of his brother's death... everything changed.

He said, he wanted Czarina to bear his child.

That child would be the eldest son of the Romulo family in name—his brother's child.

I stood up and instructed the housekeeper to take down the huge wedding portrait hanging in the bedroom.

But the moment she removed it, several men came in carrying another massive wedding portrait.

The groom was still Oliver. But the bride... was now Czarina.

Czarina walked in, hand gently stroking her flat stomach.

"Lydia, I'm sorry. My condition has been unstable lately. The doctor said having more items that show my intimate connection with Oliver will help me recover."

"You have great taste. Help me pick a few more photos."

Her finger scrolled down and down—she couldn't even finish flipping through the endless wedding albums.

She glanced at me, smiling faintly. "By the way, why are there no photos of you and Oliver in this house? Did you hide them somewhere?"

Right then, Oliver entered and directed the servants to mount the new frame.

Only afterward did he speak.

"Czarina will be staying here until she gives birth. For her health, we'll arrange the house according to her needs."

"So put our photos away. If she has another episode and hurts herself after seeing them, it'll be on you."

"We don't have photos anymore."

I said it beneath Czarina's triumphant gaze.

Oliver had forgotten—forgotten that he was the one who burned our wedding albums himself during one of my desperate breakdowns.

I once mourned it at midnight...

We had been just one photo away from completing the album.

He parted his lips, about to speak, but before he could—Czarina grabbed my wrist. Her nails dug into my skin.

She gently traced the jade bracelet on my arm, eyes glowing with envy.

"Mom treated you well... She even gave you the family heirloom."

The moment Czarina said those words, I instinctively removed the jade bracelet and handed it to her.

Ever since Ryan died, Czarina had been left with severe psychological problems.

She would break down without warning.

And every time, Oliver expected me to give way.

The last time she wanted the earrings my mother left me, I refused. I lost my temper.

The next day, the entire house was filled with flowers—so many that my asthma flared up.

I clutched the hem of Oliver's trousers, gasping, begging him for my inhaler.

He merely looked down at me, towering like a judge from above.

"Now you know how much pain Czarina feels when she has an episode."

Before Czarina even took the bracelet, she gasped and stumbled backward.

The jade slammed into the floor—scattering into countless shimmering shards.

Her eyes turned red immediately. "I know you hate me. I know Mom only liked you. Even though your background can't compare with mine, she was still willing to give you thirty million just to marry Oliver."

"But what about me? I'm sick too. Who's going to bring Ryan back to me?!"

She grabbed my collar. The sharp tips of her manicured nails sliced across my cheek, leaving thin bloody marks.

Oliver pulled her into his arms.

She collapsed against him, sobbing hysterically.

"Get out," he said.

He had always believed I married him for the money. Always lumped me in with greedy, shallow women.

After five years... I no longer cared to explain.

I staggered out of the bedroom—only to realize the entire house had been transformed.

The one photo of me and Oliver that I had cherished like my last lifeline... To Czarina, things like that could fill an entire mansion.

I covered my mouth as a suffocating panic surged through me. I didn't know when she recovered her sanity that day.

I didn't leave the room at all.

I lay on the bed, scrolling through destinations, choosing where I wanted to go once I left this place.

Only when night fell did I finally book my ticket.

I didn't hear the door open. But suddenly, an arm circled my waist, pulling me back into a familiar hard chest.

"Your hand is injured. Doesn't it hurt?"

So the jade shards had cut the back of my hand.

I hadn't felt anything.

Funny, wasn't it—all the years I cried myself hoarse, he never noticed my pain.

But now...

I stayed silent, pretending to sleep.

A cool touch brushed the back of my neck—his lips.

Suddenly, the door burst open with a violent bang.

Czarina stood at the doorway, hair wild, eyes manic in the flickering light.

"What are you doing?!"

I sat up, about to explain, but she lunged at me, yanking my hair with all her strength.

"You home‑wrecking slut! Who told you to crawl into my husband's bed?!"

Even with Oliver restraining her from behind, she still managed to kick me hard—right in the abdomen.

Holding my head, I stared at her, and saw pure, poisonous hatred burning in her pupils.

A fire ignited in my chest.

I stood up and slapped her across the face—again and again.

"Look clearly, Czarina—you are the one seducing my husband!"

Within the hour, all of us were taken to the police station.

Czarina cried as if her soul were being torn apart. She pointed at me, calling me a mistress with every breath.

To every passerby in the hall, she wailed that she'd caught me in bed with her husband.

People walking by covered their mouths, shaking their heads.

"She's so young... why ruin herself by being a mistress?"

"That vixen face—she must've climbed her way up with her body."

I lowered my head, both cheeks swollen and bruised.

"Enough. Don't say anymore," Oliver said suddenly.

Whenever Czarina had an episode, he always echoed her, no matter what.

And somehow... a pathetic sliver of hope stirred inside me.

I wanted him to tell them who I was.

"Czarina, don't get so worked up. What if you hurt the baby?" He gently soothed her.

The walls I had worked so hard to build finally crumbled.

Tears streamed down my face and splattered onto the floor.

As soon as Oliver said those words, Czarina immediately clutched her stomach.

"It... it really hurts. The baby won't be in danger, right?"

The next second, he scooped her up in his arms and rushed out, leaving everyone with only their retreating silhouettes.

The moment they disappeared, my mother‑in‑law's estate lawyer arrived.

I took the documents from him and slipped them into my pocket.

After packing the last of my belongings, I dragged my suitcase toward the door.

Outside, a car arranged by my late mother‑in‑law before her death was already waiting. It would help erase my tracks completely.

As for my mother... She ran a small shelter in the suburbs, rescuing stray animals.

When she heard I was leaving, she immediately began searching for someone to take over.

I called to tell her to hurry, but before I could finish, someone violently knocked the phone out of my hand. Then I was shoved into another car and taken straight to Oliver's private hospital.

The moment they pinned me to the seat, a thick needle pierced my arm.

Tube after tube of blood was drawn from me until my vision blurred into darkness.

Oliver finally appeared, towering over me.

"Because of you, Czarina lost the baby."

"You secretly injured her stomach. Taking a little blood from you doesn't even begin to make up for it."

A nurse's voice trembled. "Mr. Romulo... we've drawn 600cc already."

"Continue," he ordered without a hint of mercy.

Only when the needle was finally removed was I carried into a VIP ward.

Czarina sat on the bed, biting her lips, her eyes swollen from crying.

"Why did you hurt my child?"

"You know exactly who did it," I whispered weakly.

By then, I fully understood—her so‑called illness had always been an act.

Hearing my words, Czarina suddenly snapped.

She pulled out the needle from her own hand and screamed, "Oliver, she did it on purpose! She's jealous of me—jealous enough to kill my baby!"

"And you found out, didn't you? Her mother was planning to flee with her. Isn't that running away out of guilt?!"

"This has nothing to do with my mother!" I glared at her, fury trembling in my veins.

"I don't care," she sobbed. "If Lydia did something wrong, shouldn't she be punished? Unless... Oliver, are you treating me like an outsider now?"

Her words sealed my fate.

A tablet was placed in front of me; the video began to play.

One by one, the stray animals my mother had rescued were being euthanized.

My mother broke down, screaming and begging on her knees.

"One life for another. That's how it should be," Czarina said coldly.

Then a syringe filled with clear liquid appeared in front of my mother.

If it touched her... she would end up like those animals.

The grip on my arms suddenly loosened. I collapsed to the floor, knees hitting the cold tile.

"Don't hurt my mother—don't touch her! Do anything to me, I don't care—please!"

"Oliver... I'm begging you. For the last time, I'm begging you!"

All my life, I had begged others to save my dying mother.

But never him. I never wanted to show weakness in front of him.

For a moment, a flicker of hesitation crossed his dark eyes.

I thought—naively—that he was about to relent.

But he turned his head away... And covered Czarina's ears.

The next second, someone yanked me up, and a fist—hard as steel—slammed into my abdomen again and again.

Blood burst from my mouth, splattering across the tablet screen.

On the screen, my mother looked up with tears streaming down her face.

Her eyes widened in despair. "Lydia... Mom can't drag you down anymore."

Before I could scream, she grabbed the syringe—and plunged it into her own neck.

"Mom!" I clutched the blood‑stained screen, another mouthful of blood spilling from my lips.

"Mom..."

Curled on the cold floor, a tearing pain ripped through my abdomen, spreading to every organ inside me.

A coat was suddenly draped over my body, covering the blood.

A doctor in a white coat hurried in, his expression filled with excitement.

"Mr. Romulo! It was a misdiagnosis. The equipment wasn't calibrated properly earlier. Ms. Brown did not miscarry—both mother and child are perfectly safe!"

Czarina let out a relieved laugh. "Really? That's wonderful!"

She then covered her nose. "But the smell of blood... it's making me nauseous."

The bodyguards, tactful as ever, dragged me away.

From the beginning to the end, Oliver didn't spare me a single glance.

The next day, when Czarina was preparing to be discharged, Oliver waited at the door while she changed.

At that moment, Attorney Palmer approached silently.

Oliver's expression instantly darkened. He had always held hostility toward Kendrick—he believed the lawyer had influenced his mother and caused her to leave him nothing.

"What are you here for?"

For some reason, his heartbeat quickened. Every time Attorney Palmer appeared, he brought news that changed something.

Kendrick's face remained calm as he spoke.