“Don’t think that just because you’re my husband you get to control me.”

“Remember your place—you’re just the dependent husband of the Scott Family. If this were ancient times, someone like you wouldn’t even have the status of a household manager.”

She used cutting words like that more than once to wound me, and with each blow, my love for her eroded a little more.

I took a deep breath, picked up my phone, and said into the receiver, “I’m going to divorce Vanessa.”

After the ambulance brought me to the hospital, I had no money to pay for treatment.

Vanessa had frozen my bank card.

Just like the time Jason had a birthday and Vanessa gave him an expensive watch. Overjoyed, Jason hugged her and kissed her cheek right in front of me.

Blinded by rage, I punched him in the face.

In return, Vanessa slapped me hard in front of everyone, called me petty and jealous, then froze my bank card, leaving me to survive on bread and tap water for a month.

Jason and I had clashed several times, and every time, Vanessa punished me by cutting off my access to money, calling it a “lesson to teach me a little humility.”

She even humiliated me publicly, sneering, “Everything you eat, wear, and use comes from me. Don’t make me unhappy, or you’ll end up on the streets, begging for food.”

Jason would deliberately provoke me, mocking me as Vanessa’s obedient lapdog.

The only reason I endured was not just because of my love for Vanessa, but because I still felt indebted to Mr. and Mrs. Scott for all they had done for me.

But that debt had long since been repaid.

And my marriage with Vanessa had reached its end.

Not long after, a young, elegant woman arrived at the hospital. Without hesitation, she arranged to have me transferred to St. Mary’s Private Hospital, the most expensive facility in the city.

She held my hand tightly, her eyes filled with worry as she said, “The test results are back. You’ve been infected with Chikungunya virus. The fever and joint pain will last for days.”

“This virus has been spreading along the coast recently. There’s no cure yet—only painkillers to ease the symptoms.”

Then, with anger in her voice, she added, “Is Vanessa out of her mind?”

“You’re seriously ill, and instead of taking care of you, she goes to the airport to greet Jason, that worthless freeloader? Clearly, she doesn’t care about you. You should’ve divorced her long ago.”

The woman before me was Olivia Carter, the beloved daughter of the powerful Carter Family.

Compared to them, the Scott Family was a joke. If the Carters wanted to crush them, the Scotts would collapse overnight.

Olivia and I had practically grown up together.

As a child, she was frail and sickly, so Mr. Carter Sr. took her to live in the Midwest countryside for many years.

My grandfather treated her with herbal medicine and acupuncture, while I spent my days playing by her side. She stayed until she was fifteen, then returned to the city with her grandfather.

When she left, she clung to me, crying, begging me to wait for her, promising she would marry me one day.

After my grandfather passed, I left the countryside too. By chance, I saved Mr. Scott when he suffered a heart attack.

Mr. and Mrs. Scott arranged housing and work for me, treated me with kindness, and eventually encouraged me to marry Vanessa.

Before I married Vanessa, Olivia sought me out, crying as she asked why I hadn’t waited for her, why I hadn’t called when I left the countryside.

Back then, I didn’t know her true identity, so I had played with her freely, without hesitation.

But as we grew older and I learned who she really was, I realized the vast gulf between us.

She was the heiress of the Carter Family, and I was nothing but a poor boy from the countryside. We weren’t from the same world.

But Olivia didn’t see it that way.

She told me seriously, “Grandpa admires you and hopes I’ll marry you.”

“You’re the only heir to the Miller Family’s Secret Acupuncture Method. Just for that alone, you have the right to marry into any wealthy family.”

“We’ve been childhood sweethearts. Your presence has been imprinted on my heart. No other man will ever take your place.”

“I’ll always wait for you.”

And she meant it. Even after I married Vanessa, Olivia kept waiting.

When she heard how badly Vanessa treated me, Olivia more than once wanted to teach her a harsh lesson, though I always stopped her.

So when I finally decided to divorce Vanessa, the first person I called was Olivia.

It wasn’t because I wanted to slip seamlessly into a relationship with her—I wasn’t that shameless.

It was because I knew Vanessa’s nature: she would never willingly sign divorce papers. I needed Olivia’s help.

At that time, Chikungunya fever was spreading everywhere. Along the coastal cities, countless people were bitten by infected mosquitoes, and most needed weeks to recover. For some with weaker constitutions, the joint pain could last months.

After a bit of treatment, I regained some strength. I immediately took out my family’s silver needles and applied the Miller Family’s Secret Acupuncture Method to myself.

By the next morning, I was almost fully recovered.

At dawn, Vanessa called.

Her tone was icy: “Ethan, I told you to come to the office today and apologize to Jason in front of everyone. Why aren’t you here yet?”

“Don’t make excuses. You only got bitten by mosquitoes yesterday. A little fever is nothing. Even if you have to crawl, you’d better show up at the office today.”

Before I could respond, Olivia snatched the phone from my hand and said coldly into the receiver:

“You left your gravely ill husband at home and ran off to greet that freeloading assistant at the airport. And now you expect Ethan to apologize to him in public? Vanessa, has a horse kicked you in the head?”

Vanessa was stunned for a moment, then erupted in rage: “Who are you? How dare you speak to me like that? Who gave you the—”

Before she could finish, Olivia cut her off sharply:

“If you don’t cherish Ethan, plenty of others will.”

“Vanessa, you’re going to regret this.”

Without waiting for a reply, Olivia hung up.

I looked at her helplessly and said, “You’ve provoked her—now she’s definitely going to lose her mind.”

Olivia scoffed, “A woman that ungrateful deserves to be provoked. It’s about time someone forced her to see reality. She isn’t the center of the universe, and not everyone has to revolve around her.”

…

After completing my discharge paperwork, Olivia Carter drove me back to the Scott Family estate.

On the living room couch, the divorce papers were exactly where I had left them, untouched.

Which meant Vanessa Scott hadn’t even come home last night.

I didn’t dwell on it. I gathered my personal belongings, pulled my suitcase along, and was ready to leave with Olivia.

Just then, Vanessa returned with Jason Clark at her side.

Her face burned with fury as she glared at Olivia, then shouted at me, “Ethan Miller, who the hell is this tramp?”

“You dare bring another woman into my house? Have I spoiled you so much that you’ve forgotten—you’re nothing but my dependent husband?”

She raised her hand to slap me, but before it landed, Olivia grabbed her wrist.

Olivia shoved her hand aside, and Vanessa staggered backward, nearly falling.

Jason rushed to support her, putting on a false look of concern as he said to me, “Ethan, how could you do something like this? Hurry up and apologize to Ms. Scott, and kick this tramp out, or she’ll never forgive you…”

Before he finished, I smacked him hard across the face.

Jason froze, stunned, and so did Vanessa.

Then Vanessa exploded, yelling, “Ethan, you’ve gone too far!”

“How dare you hit him! Have you forgotten all the warnings I’ve given you before?”

“Starting today, you’re fired from Scott Corporation. Jason will be taking your place. You’ll stay home and reflect on your behavior.”

“Without my permission, you’re not allowed to step outside this house, not even one step!”

“And this tramp—who the hell is she? You’d better explain, or I’ll never let you off—”

I cut her off coldly:

“Vanessa, let’s get divorced.”

“Let’s stop torturing each other. You don’t love me. In your heart, Jason matters far more than I ever will. This marriage has already been dead for a long time.”

“I’ll leave with nothing. I won’t take a single penny from the Scott Family.”

My words clearly rattled her.

Jason, clutching his face, glared at me with venom in his eyes, though he pretended to be sympathetic:

“Ethan, why go this far? Is this about Ms. Scott going to the airport last night to pick me up? Were you jealous?”

“You brought another woman here just to provoke her, didn’t you?”

“Ms. Scott said you had a fever from mosquito bites last night. On the way here, she was even worried about whether you’d recovered. But now you look perfectly fine—not sick at all.”

“Did you lie about being ill just so she wouldn’t go to the airport for me?”

“And now you want a divorce, even claiming you’ll leave with nothing—are you just trying to manipulate her?”

“Ethan, do you treat marriage like a game? Throwing around divorce like it’s nothing? Aren’t you afraid Ms. Scott will really throw you out of the family in anger?”

“All your success these years came from leaning on the Scott Family. Don’t fool yourself into thinking you’re that capable on your own. If you divorce Ms. Scott, the one who’ll regret it is you.”

His taunts made me frown tightly.

Clearly, that slap I’d given him earlier wasn’t nearly enough.