The next day, Adeline planned to buy emergency contraceptive pills.

As Adeline walked downstairs, she was surprised to see the mansion decorated like a fairytale castle. A group of people waited nervously in the living room. Damian, wearing medical gloves, was squatting beside Jessica. They were tending to a large dog giving birth inside a plush doghouse.

Seeing Adeline, Jessica deliberately picked up a newborn puppy and said loudly, “Damian, look, Winnie is amazing. Every puppy she gave birth to is fat and healthy.”

The words pierced Adeline’s heart, but she pretended not to hear. Jessica continued, “Today is Winnie’s special day. Damian, you should give her a gift.”

Damian smiled gently and stroked Jessica’s hair. “Alright. What does Jessica want?”

Jessica pouted playfully, saying, “Hmm ... then let’s give her the opal bracelet Adeline’s mother left behind.”

Adeline’s heart skipped a beat. She rushed down the stairs, but twisted her ankle on the last step and fell to her knees. Jessica laughed mockingly. “I know you can’t give birth to a healthy child, so I tried everything. But there’s no need to give Winnie such a big gift.”

Everyone laughed. Damian’s expression turned cold. “Stop embarrassing yourself. Go back to your room.”

He took the opal bracelet from a servant and prepared to fasten it around Winnie’s neck. Jessica suddenly changed her mind and asked him to try it on the newborn puppies one by one.

Adeline, enduring the pain in her ankle, struggled to stand. “Give me back the opal bracelet!”

Damian didn’t even look at her. He tossed a credit card close to her feet.

“Today is a happy day. Winnie gave birth. Don’t cause trouble. There’s 30 million pounds on this card. More than enough to buy that opal bracelet.”

Adeline’s eyes turned red.

Happy? A dog gave birth and they celebrated. Yet, no one had mourned her lost child.

She watched Damian gently place the lock on a puppy and shouted, “That was my mother’s gift to my children. Give it back!”

Jessica reacted as if the item were filthy. She picked it up with two fingers and threw it across the room. It hit the ground and shattered.

“Oh no, our puppy can’t wear this! What if it dies like your baby? Such bad luck!”

Adeline crawled toward the pieces, ignoring her pain and gathered them in her hands. It was the last thing her mother left behind. Something she couldn’t even protect.

She turned and saw Damian still tending to the dog with a soft smile on his face. He looked just like he did when they first met, standing under a maple tree in a white shirt, smiling gently. Perhaps, he didn’t hate children. He just hated the ones she gave birth to.

Damian finally noticed her. Just as he was about to have someone send her upstairs, he saw her limping away from the mansion. Watching her lonely figure disappear, he felt an odd discomfort. But his attention quickly shifted back to the puppies.

At the hospital, Adeline first treated her sprained ankle before going to the obstetrics and gynecology department to get contraceptive pills. Just as she spoke with the doctor, Jessica burst in carrying Winnie.

“Doctor, help! My dog is having a difficult labor!”

Damian followed, sweeping everything off the table with one arm before placing the dog on it.

The doctor was stunned, but quickly said, “This is a hospital for humans. You need to go to a vet.”

Jessica cried, begging, “But Winnie is family. To me, she’s a person!”

Damian immediately called the hospital director, “If you don’t find someone to save this dog, your hospital will shut down tomorrow.”

Adeline watched them, finding the scene ridiculous. Bringing a dog into a human hospital … were they trying to save it or kill it? But none of it mattered to her anymore. She just wanted to leave.

Unfortunately, Jessica noticed her.

“Adeline! This is all your fault! You and your dead mother cursed my Winnie! You can’t even give birth to a healthy child. Are you jealous of a dog?”

“What did you say?!”

Jessica could insult her all she wanted, but not her mother. Furious, Adeline raised her hand to slap her, but Damian caught her wrist. He stared at her as if trying to read her soul.

“You said you didn’t want a child yesterday. So why are you secretly visiting the obstetrics and gynecology department now?”

Adeline tried to pull away, but Damian’s grip left red marks on her wrist. In anger, she bit his hand until he let go.

“I’m not here to prepare for pregnancy!” she snapped.

Damian frowned at the bright red teeth marks. “If not for pregnancy, then why are you here? For contraception? Do you expect me to believe that?”

“Yes!” she said without hesitation.

Damian sneered, responding, “So now you’re using this as an excuse to get my attention? Competing with a dog for favor … is that fun for you?”

Just then, the doctor who had treated Adeline came out and handed her the pills as he said, “You forgot these earlier, miss.”

Without a word, Adeline took five pills and swallowed them dry, right in front of Damian.

“Wait! Don’t take so many!” the doctor warned.

“It’ll hurt your body. You may never be able to get pregnant again!”

Damian stared at her in disbelief. He hadn’t expected Adeline to actually come for contraceptive pills. She really didn’t want his child.

At that moment, Damian didn’t care about Jessica or Winnie on the table. He stepped forward, pried open Adeline’s jaw and tried to dig the pill out of her throat.

"Contraception? Who allowed you to take this?"

Adeline bit his hand and shouted hoarsely, "I told you, I won’t have children with you again! Not now, not ever. I-"

"How dare you!" Damian cut her off, enraged.

After that, he turned to the bodyguards.

"Tie her up. Send her for gastric lavage!"

"Why are you doing this?"

"Why? Because I’m your husband!"

Adeline froze. Damian had never allowed her to call him that since they got married. Hearing it now, from his own mouth, showed just how furious he was. In fact, he was so furious that he had begun spouting nonsense.

With irritation in his eyes, he barked again, "What are you standing around for? Take her away!"

Adeline was dragged off. Soon after, the head of the hospital arrived and Winnie was rushed into the operating room. Damian waited outside with Jessica until the doctor returned.

"I’m sorry. It’s too late. If the puppy had been brought in sooner, there might’ve been hope."

Jessica collapsed, wailing at Damian, "It’s all Adeline! She took that pill in front of you on purpose to waste time! She killed Winnie!"

Damian held Jessica gently and whispered, "It’s okay. We’ll get another one. But first, I’ll make her pay for what she’s done."

He then led Jessica to the gastric lavage room and told the doctor casually, "Give her three rounds."

The doctor looked at him, stunned.

"She only just swallowed it. Her body hasn’t even absorbed it yet. There’s no need-"

Damian shot him a cold glare, cutting the doctor off, "She’s grown wings and thinks she can act on her own. She needs a reality check, so she will know her place."

The doctor sighed and gave in.

Yet, Jessica burned with jealousy. Was Damian doing this for Winnie or because he couldn’t stand the thought of Adeline leaving him? And what did he mean when he called himself her husband?

After the procedure, Adeline was pushed into the ward. When she woke, her stomach felt like it was on fire. She was about to call the nurse when the last person she wanted to see walked in.

"You must feel proud," Jessica sneered, then signaled the bodyguards to pin Adeline down and pour a glass of ice water down her throat.

Agony twisted Adeline’s stomach. She writhed on the bed, clutching her abdomen. Jessica leaned close, her voice cold and sharp like a blade.

"Do you think Damian wants a child with you because he loves you? Dream on. Why would a proud man like him want kids with a woman who’s had three stillbirths?"

The room fell silent.

After a long pause, Adeline asked with her slightly raspy voice, "What do you mean?"

She was no longer focused on the pain. She held her breath, waiting for the answer she was beginning to fear.

Jessica traced a cruel line down Adleine’s belly with her nails as she answered, "Because those babies weren’t stillborn. Damian suffocated them right after the umbilical cord blood was collected."

Adeline’s eyes widened in horror. The truth hit like an icy knife to the chest. She felt faint.

Jessica didn’t stop. She opened a freezer and dumped three vials of cord blood into the trash in front of her.

"He did it all for me. I told him I had leukemia and needed cord blood. That’s why he married you. That’s why he made you pregnant."

She smiled, victorious. "He’s always loved me."

Adeline’s ears rang. A sharp, unbearable pain tore through her body. Far worse than anything she'd felt before.

She cried out, a sound of anguish and disbelief.

Now, it all made sense. Why had Damian agreed to marry her so suddenly? Why did he never use protection? It turned out that he never loved her. He sacrificed everything. Her body, her trust and their children … for Jessica.

Her love, her pregnancies, her persistence ... all a cruel joke.

Three innocent lives were lost because she was too stubborn to see the truth.

Adeloine regretted it so deeply that it felt like even her bones hurt. How could she have fallen in love with someone so heartless?

Seeing her in such pain, Jessica looked satisfied and said mockingly, “Oh, you won’t tell Damian about this, will you? I’m so scared … what if he punishes me?”

Adeline curled up and stayed silent. She knew Damian wouldn’t do anything to Jessica. But those were the lives of three children. Would he feel even a little regret?

Soon, Damian returned with a bag of food. He set a bowl of soup on the table.

“Drink this later. It’ll help your stomach.”

Adeline stared blankly, showing no reaction.

“It hurts, doesn’t it?” he added.

“Let’s see if you still dare disobey me in the future.”

Seeing her pale lips, Damian surprisingly blew on the soup and tried to feed her.

“I know you’re upset about losing the child, but you didn’t have to take so many contraceptives to spite me. I told you I’d give you another baby. And I meant it.”

The word ‘child’ set her off. Adeline pushed his hand away.

“Then what? Give birth, take the umbilical cord blood and then have the baby smothered to death by his own father?”

Damian froze for a while, but he then asked, “Who told you that?”

“Your beloved sister, Jessica! She’s not sick at all!” Adeline grabbed the trash can and shoved it at him.

“Look! That’s all your dead children’s blood! I don’t understand … why can’t you accept them, even after getting what you wanted?”

Damian fell silent. His dark eyes deepened, unreadable. Adeline waited, hoping he’d blame Jessica. But his response crushed her.

“Jessica was just a child back then. It’s normal for her to lie for attention. She admitted her mistake. When you have another child, there’ll be no need to take blood. You can raise it.”

Childish? Tantrum? How could he say that so easily?

“Will an apology bring back my children alive?”

With a loud crash, Damian slammed the soup to the floor.

“Don’t go too far, Adeline! Jessica has nothing! You’re already the only daughter-in-law of the Ravenswood Family. What more do you want? Why can’t you just give in?”

Adeline let out a cold laugh that echoed through the ward. Give in? She had done nothing but give in since marrying him.

Before the wedding, Jessica shaved her head bald. Adeline had to give in. Jessica took nude photos of her and threatened her, but she still gave in. Jessica drugged her at a party and almost handed her off to another man, but she had to forgive.

And now, Jessica had killed her unborn children and Damian still wanted her to give in.

In the end, Adeline just looked Damian dead in the eyes.

“I already told you, I will never have another child with you! And I don’t want the title of your wife!”

Damian raised his hand instinctively, but her fearless gaze stopped him. Somehow, he knew he would regret it if he struck her. He dropped his arm.

“You just lost your child. It’s normal to be emotional, but don’t think you can provoke me with words. Don’t forget you were the one who climbed into my bed with your tricks. I married you. You should be grateful.”

Damian, thinking he was being generous, ordered someone to bring another bowl of soup and left.

Adeline was heartbroken. Yes, she had chased Damian and asked him to marry her 99 times. Everyone laughed at her. He rejected her again and again, in parks, on street corners, in malls.

Still, she tirelessly prepared surprises for him. Perhaps, he didn’t love her and she could accept that. However, his parents had loved her.

It was they who had sent her into Damian’s room that night he was drugged. After they slept together, Adeline thought she heard him whisper her name. But she had been too exhausted to be sure.

Her initial plan was to leave quietly once the drug wore off and never use that night against him. But his parents had pushed for the marriage. And only now did she realize that, in Damian’s eyes, it had all been her scheme.

Adeline got out of bed with effort. As soon as she stepped outside, heavy rain poured down. Shivering in the cold, she saw Damian carefully putting Jessica’s shoes on and lifting her into the car.

Once, that sight would have crushed her. Now, she felt nothing.

She took a taxi straight to the old Ravenswood residence and knelt before Damian’s parents. Playing a hospital recording from her phone, she said, “Mr. and Mrs. Ravenswood, I want to divorce Damian.”

After hearing the recording, Mr. Ravenswood slammed the table.

“That idiot man! He’s been defying us his whole life!”

Mrs. Ravenswood pulled Adeline into a hug, tears in her eyes. “I’m so sorry. We didn’t even know you were pregnant for three times! Whatever you want, we’ll make it up to you.”

Adeline wanted to cry, but she couldn’t. She knelt again and bowed her head.

“I don’t want anything. Just tell Damian the truth after the divorce. Let him know that I never owed him anything.”

Tomorrow, Adeline would disappear from this life. She would start over, carrying only the memories and toys of her three lost children.