Five years ago, I was the rising star of the nation’s top chemistry research lab, but on the eve of publishing the results of my study, my husband’s crush, Grace, killed me.

She made several people violate me and cut my face up.

Then, she injected sulfuric acid into my stomach, crushed my teeth and bones, and discarded my body without anyone’s knowledge.

At that time, I was three months pregnant.

But she told everyone that I stole the project’s research results and fled to another country.

Jim, my husband, personally wrote a report to the government to label me as a globally wanted criminal.

Five years later, a livestreamer who did nighttime explorations found my dried-up corpse in the basement of an abandoned warehouse.

A glossy, mummified corpse was placed in a kneeling position on the dissection table.

Since it was heavily dehydrated, the edges of the skin that was flipped over inside out due to it being cut had become stiff. Even the gender of the body was hard to discern.

There was nothing left that resembled the person I once was.

“Well, Jim?”

When Zephyr Howard, a police captain, walked in, his face was grim.

“The victim’s face and skin have been horribly mangled. Without a doubt, this is intentional homicide.

“Also, the victim’s entire body is covered in pine resin that has unique properties, which is why it’s abnormally stiff. I can’t dissect it by normal methods. For now, I can’t determine the time of death.”

Jim Lewis did not look up because he was holding a small electric saw right then and measuring it against my body.

“I was just about to talk to you about that.” Zephyr nodded. “We just figured out that the warehouse was abandoned five years ago. The victim’s time of death might have been around that time, too.”

Jim froze for a moment before the electric saw started buzzing.

But in the next moment, he regained his composure and calmly turned off the saw.

My soul levitated in the air, and I felt a bitterness settle in my heart.

So, I had been dead for five years?

After I turned into a ghost, I was stuck in a dark basement. Every day, I watched cockroaches and rats climb all over me, but they were unable to bite into my flesh.

Then, one day, a livestreamer who proclaimed himself to be a nighttime explorer opened the basement.

I was finally discovered!

But to think that the person in charge of dissecting me would be Jim…

Buzz!

He turned on the electric saw again.

The center of my torso was the best place to cut into.

When the saw sank into my body, a strong stench of decay wafted out and filled the entire dissection room.

“Ugh!”

As a police officer with years of experience, Zephyr had seen plenty of gruesome things, but his face paled, and he threw up so badly that he almost fell into the trash can.

Even Jim frowned and took a step back. He grabbed the edge of his mask.

After a long pause, he suddenly asked Zephyr, “Grace didn’t come today, did she?”

“Don’t worry. Your sister-in-law went with her to the hospital for a pregnancy routine check.”

Zephyr wiped his mouth awkwardly in a disheveled state. “I’ll make another call later and have them go straight to try out the wedding gowns. I’ll tell them they don’t have to wait for you for lunch.

“After all, she’s pregnant, and this smell is unbearable.

“But you have to hurry up with the wedding. She’s starting to show her baby bump a little. If she does, she won’t be able to wear a beautiful wedding gown.”

“I know.”

Jim’s voice was gentle, and his eyes crinkled as he smiled in happiness.

I stared at him in disbelief.

My husband once loved me dearly, but he was about to marry my murderer?

He even got her pregnant?

“Jim, how could you do this to me?!” My heart twisted in pain, and I wanted to grab his collar and shout, “Grace killed me!”

But my hands just passed through him.

“The pine resin must have been poured on the victim before they died.

“The stomach cavity has also been injected with a strong acid. All the organs have melted and rotted away. Otherwise, the decay within the victim’s body wouldn’t have been preserved to this extent… Hmm?”

Jim was calmly analyzing my body, but once he opened up my stomach cavity, he scowled.

Zephyr noticed it and asked, “What’s wrong?”

“The victim was pregnant.” Jim sighed and turned my body over to Zephyr. “The murderer injected the resin into the victim’s womb through her genitals. The fetus is preserved to perfection.”

“What the hell?! What crazy b*stard did this?!” After recovering from his shock, Zephyr cursed so loudly that his voice echoed in the dissection room.

Meanwhile, I stared at my stomach in surprise.

I could see the tiny life form had just begun to take shape. His cheek and umbilical cord were pressed together, and his eyes were shut. He seemed to be at peace. It looked like he was sleeping.

But he was murdered!

I felt such a strong urge to cry that I nearly lost control of myself, but ghosts could not cry.

I could only scream and tear at the air. “My baby!”

He could have been born safely.

I had even prepared cute clothes and shoes for him. I meticulously researched baby formulas and had a dozen names ready for him.

But Grace had destroyed it all!

Jim was silent for a long time before he said, “The victim’s bones and organs are ruined, and since they decayed in a sealed environment, I won’t be able to extract the DNA.

“The only way to identify her is to cut up the baby.”

My mind went blank.

What did he mean by that?

Was he going to cup up our baby?

“Don’t you dare, Jim!

“I won’t let you hurt him, you hear me?!”

The grief made me tremble. I screamed repeatedly, but it did nothing.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Jim used a hammer and chisel to extract the fetus from my womb.

He was not even the size of a palm.

“Jim, I hope that you can get the results soon.” Zephyr sighed. He could not bear to look. “Let’s give the victim and the poor baby the justice they deserve.”

Jim said nothing.

He stared at the baby quietly for a moment before he suddenly looked up and asked, “Do we have any news about Luna?”

“Her?”

The topic changed too quickly, and it caught Zephyr off guard, but his expression soon turned into one of frustration. “I don’t want to talk about her. We can’t even find a single strand of her hair. When I think about what she did, she makes me angry.

“She was a top-secret researcher and had the best benefits in the country, but she stole the research results and fled to another country!”

He kicked the wall in anger. “She’s no different from a spy!”

“No! I didn’t do it! Grace framed me!” I screamed in the hopes that he could hear me.

Jim said calmly, “That’s why I kept suggesting labeling her a globally wanted criminal and also removing her name from all her research articles.

“After all, no one knows her pride better than I do.

“If we provoke her like that, she might feel so worked up that she might show herself.”

In an instant, I felt chilled to the bone.

‘Jim, is that really how you intend to use your knowledge of me?’

When Zephyr heard that, he gave Jim a thumbs-up and said excitedly, “As expected of a wedded couple! We’ll do that!”as

Jim frowned. “We’re no longer married.

“She’s no longer worthy of being my wife. But she has to pay the price for the damages she caused the country and to Grace.”

I could not believe my ears.

For Grace’s sake, he was willing to erase all of my past contributions?

Those were the results I got after getting my fingers frozen by liquid nitrogen, getting burned by sulfuric acid, risking becoming infertile, and spending countless nights performing experiments and calculations!

Those results were more important than my life!

“Sorry. It just slipped out,” said Zephyr awkwardly. “You and Grace are getting married soon, and I just...”

“It’s fine. But don’t let it happen again.” With an icy face, Jim cleaned up the instruments. “Let’s go. Once I send this fetus to the lab, I have to go back and cook for Grace.”

My mind buzzed.

When I snapped out of my daze, I found that I could drift around beside Jim.

I watched him buy groceries that Grace liked. Then, he went back to the house that once belonged to me, but it no longer had anything within it that I once owned.

It was covered with Grace’s things.

Even the air was filled with her scent.

I felt suffocated.

“I’m back!”

Right after Jim tied the apron around his waist, the doorbell rang.

Jim went to open the door and hugged Grace. “Did you manage to choose your wedding gown?”

They looked so intimate with each other, and Jim made her feel so safe.

Jim had never treated me like that.

He once told me that he was an absolutely rational man and would not indulge in such romantic things.

“I did!” Grace wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. She looked happy. “Shall I try it on for you?”

Jim gave her a gentle nod. “Sure.”

I felt my heart tearing apart.

In the past, when Jim came back from work, I once asked him the same question, and what did I get for it?

“Can’t you smell the scent of oil and smoke on you? What if it gets on your wedding gown?” With impatience, he unbuttoned his collar. “In any case, it’s just a white wedding gown. It’s nothing rare. So long as you like it, it’s fine.

“Hurry up and finish cooking. I’m hungry.”

He just did not want to see it because it was not being worn by the person he was expecting.

“Well?”

Grace came out of the room after she was done changing. It was the same dress that I wore in the past!

But Jim did not seem to notice it and did not even seem to realize that he had seen the dress before. He looked genuinely shocked. “Grace, you look so beautiful!”

Grace lifted the hem of her dress and spun around a few times before wincing. “Ahhh!”

Jim hurriedly caught her. “What’s wrong? Are your legs hurting again?”

“No. I almost tripped just now.”

As Grace lay in his arms with affection in her eyes.

“You’re lying. You tried to protect the lab results back then, and Luna crushed the bones in your foot. The doctors even said that you’d have long-term effects from it.”

Jim lifted her and laid her on the sofa before lifting her foot and carefully caressing it.

“No! That’s not true! Grace lied to you!” I screamed as my heart bled, but I could only drift around uselessly.

“Why won’t you believe me, Jim?!

“Weren’t you supposed to be the most cautious and observant forensic scientist?! Why can’t you tell that Grace is lying?!”

Grace sighed. “But I was useless. I couldn’t protect the results.”

“You did your best.” Jim looked at her closely. “Don’t worry. Zephyr will capture her and make her pay.”

Then, he led her to the dining table. “Wait just a little longer. We can eat soon.”

“Okay!” Grace nodded happily.

As I watched Jim busying himself in the kitchen and cooking, my heart was overwhelmed with sorrow.

He had never cooked in the past, much less stepped into the kitchen.