"Elena, I really feel like I'm dreaming."

"This scene that's appeared in my dreams countless times has finally become reality."

"Elena, I'm not like Andrew. I'll love you properly. I'll protect you."

I smiled, then picked out a few carefully selected photos.

"Yeah, to welcome a new life, I should post a few on social media to announce it. I want everyone to know my husband has changed."

When Andrew scrolled to my announcement post, he was at a bridal shop, accompanying Sophie as she tried on wedding dresses.

He looked at the photos—my face bright and gorgeous, like a fully blooming red rose. And I was standing arm-in-arm beside another man, smiling sweetly.

Something clenched tight in his chest. Restless. Irritated.

When did Elena become this good-looking?

For five years, he'd grown sick of my ugly face. Dark, sallow skin—like I'd come from the countryside. Just because a friend had once said in private, "What kind of taste does Andrew have, actually finding such an unrefined country bumpkin?"

From then on, he never brought me to any gatherings again.

But now—the bright, gorgeous woman in those photos—how was that still the Elena he remembered?

"Hey, Andrew, I'm talking to you. Did you hear me?"

A hand slapped heavily onto his shoulder. Sophie's whiny voice cut through.

"What exactly do you mean? Do you really want to marry me? I heard your family's housekeeper Sarah Lambert say it—when Elena married you, her wedding dress was custom couture. Fine, no couture for me, but you actually picked something this plain? How am I supposed to wear this? It's hideous!"

"Do you even have me in your heart at all?"

Andrew's brows knit tight. He only felt irritated. He perfunctorily handed over a bank card.

"Buy whatever you want yourself."

Sophie's dissatisfaction instantly melted into a grin. She took the card, but as soon as she lifted her head, her eyes met mine—and her smile froze.

"Elena... why are you at a bridal shop?"

She glanced at me, then looked at Andrew with a weird, sarcastic expression.

"Don't tell me you regretted the divorce and came to stalk him?"

Luke and I looked at each other and smiled.

"Coming to a bridal shop? Of course—we're also here to try on wedding dresses."

Hearing my voice, Andrew suddenly raised his head. He stood abruptly and walked over.

"Elena?"

A disdainful snort-laugh. "I didn't expect you to have some tricks. Just a few days after the divorce, you already hooked another man."

"But your acting is too clumsy. You want to use this man as cover to stalk me—do you think I can't tell?"

I stayed silent.

After all, this kind of thing had happened before. In the period when Andrew had just started cheating, I was like I'd been possessed—crazily stalking him, crazily wanting to catch evidence, like self-abuse.

But every time, what I got in return was him hurting me even more recklessly.

He went from hiding it at the beginning, cheating in secret, to being brazen and self-righteous—even right in front of me, taking Sophie to a sex hotel to get a room. Or coming to the house, deliberately editing sex videos and sending them to me.

Calling it, in a nice-sounding way, "letting me appreciate them."

But from the moment of the divorce, I had already ended the self-abuse—and drawn a clear line with him.

My expression didn't waver. "You misunderstood. I'm getting married."

"Married?"

Andrew looked like he'd just heard the funniest joke of his life.

"You? Do you dare let this guy see what you look like without makeup?"

He turned to Luke, voice dripping with mockery.

"Fair warning, buddy—you might want to see Elena's real face before you commit to anything. Trust me, once that makeup comes off, you'll think you're staring at a ghost."

"I'm her ex-husband. I stared at that face for five years straight. I know exactly what's under there. Consider yourself warned."

Luke stood off to the side, a half-smile playing on his lips as he glanced at me.

"Ah, Mr. James. What a coincidence."

He pulled out a wedding invitation and extended it toward Andrew.

"I was planning to have this delivered to your place, but since we ran into you—saves me a trip."

"Elena and I are getting married next month. You're welcome to attend."

Andrew's face went white.

He stared at the invitation for a long moment, then let out a cold laugh.

"Elena, I have to hand it to you—your game has seriously leveled up. The acting, the props... you really went all out with a fake wedding invitation. Is there anything you won't do?"

"You might fool other people, but you can't fool me."

He tossed the invitation straight into the trash.

Luke's expression darkened. "You—"

He moved to confront him, but I caught his arm.

"It's fine."

I smiled. "The guest list is already packed anyway. We won't miss him."

I turned to the clerk waiting with my custom haute couture gown.

"Besides, we came for the dress. Let's grab it and go."

The moment I took the gown—the store's crown jewel—Sophie's face twisted.

"Andrew, look! She's taking the store's treasure!"

"You said Elena was ugly now. That she had nothing. That she'd be miserable without you—so how can she afford a custom haute couture wedding dress?"

"Is that guy actually loaded?"

"I don't care—you're buying me one too!"

Andrew snapped, clearly fed up with her whining.

"Get lost."

"Sophie, does someone like Elena deserve to even be compared to you?"

"This is all a performance. Can't you see that?"

"Why else would she come to this bridal shop instead of anywhere else? She's here to parade around in front of me. She's stalking me."

"Just wait. Give it a few days, and she'll come crawling back."

After we left the shop, Luke noticed my silence. That pained look crept back into his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Elena."

"Do you blame me? If it weren't for that bet... maybe things between you and Andrew wouldn't have ended up like this."

"And now he's marrying Sophie."

His voice was heavy with guilt.

I forced a casual shrug. "It's all in the past."

"Even without the bet, Andrew would still treat me the same way."

A bitter smile tugged at my lips.

"After all, the ways he's wronged me go far beyond this."

Luke's expression turned serious. He took my hand. "What else?"

What else...

I let out a soft, hollow laugh. "For example, six months ago, he listed me on a secondhand marketplace. Priced at $9.90."

Back then, Sophie deliberately posted a video to provoke me. I couldn't hold back—I slapped her right across the face.

That same night, she ran crying to Andrew.

To avenge his precious mistress, he listed me on a resale website the very next day.

The buyer followed the address, knocked me out, and dragged me into a hotel room.

Half-conscious, I heard Andrew giving instructions.

"Just feel her up. Don't go further than that."

"I only want to teach Elena a lesson—scare her enough that she won't dare touch Sophie again."

"She's still my wife, after all."

But that night, Sophie called him away.

The man he'd hired smirked and reached for my buttons.

In the end, I bit through my own tongue to stay conscious, kicked him hard, and smashed an ashtray into his skull.

Only then did I escape. He never got what he wanted.

Afterward, Andrew came crawling back, face full of fake remorse.

"I messed up, Elena. Forgive me."

"I was drunk, joking around with some shady friends, and forgot to take the listing down. I never thought someone would actually bid..."

"I never meant for you to get hurt."

"Thank God you're okay."

Looking at his hypocritical face, I knew I'd chosen wrong.

When Luke heard the story, he nearly lost his mind with rage. His fists clenched as he turned toward the door.

"That animal actually did this to you—I'll kill him!"

I took a deep breath and smiled.

"It's all in the past now, isn't it?"

"Luke, you're the Baxter heir. Getting blood on your hands for trash like him? Not worth it."

His expression softened. He pinched my cheek.

"Why are you still calling me Luke?"

"We have the marriage license now—we're legally husband and wife. You should call me 'husband.'"

My face flushed instantly. I couldn't bring myself to say it yet.

Meanwhile, at the bridal shop.

Andrew couldn't resist Sophie's whining and coaxing. In the end, he spent a fortune on an expensive wedding gown for her.

While she went to the fitting room, regret hit him. He fished the invitation out of the trash.

When no one was looking, he stuffed it into his pocket.

After that, Andrew came looking for me several more times—always prying about my new man.

He dug around until he discovered Luke's identity: the Baxter heir, famous throughout the jewelry world.

I ignored him completely. The bodyguards threw him out.

As they dragged him away, he screamed at the top of his lungs.

"Elena! I knew you were hiding a man all along! You cheated on me ages ago—I won't let you get away with this!"

I had no interest in listening to a dog bark.

Security was tightened after that. I never saw Andrew again.

Until the wedding day.

I was in full bridal dress when he crashed the ceremony.

"Elena! Do you dare let everyone here see your true face?"

His voice instantly sparked whispers through the crowd.

"Who is this guy?"

"What's his relationship with the bride?"

"Could he be the ex-husband? I heard she's been married before!"

Andrew stood there in a suit, cold sneer on his face.

"I am indeed Elena's ex-husband."

He stepped forward and greeted Old Mr. Baxter with exaggerated respect.

"Our families have done business together—we're old acquaintances."

"I couldn't bear to watch the Baxters get conned by a woman like Elena, so I had no choice but to interrupt your son's wedding." His voice rose. "I'm here to expose her true face—this marriage is fraud!"

"She only looks this pretty because of makeup. It's all fake—her real face doesn't look like this at all."

He looked at me coldly.

"Do you dare, in front of everyone, to take off your makeup?"

I didn't move, silent for a long moment.

Andrew smiled, certain of himself. "I knew you wouldn't dare, Elena."

"A con artist like you—divorced, secondhand goods—how are you worthy of marrying the Baxter family's crown prince?"

"I suggest you admit your scheme and stop the act, otherwise—"

"Who said I don't dare."

The next second, I grabbed the bottled water beside me, then the makeup remover, and splashed them both across my face.

A collective gasp rippled through the crowd.

Every eye turned toward me.

Andrew stared blankly, then his eyes went wide.

"How… how is this possible?"