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.

“The smell of oil and smoke will affect my sense of smell. It’ll be far too easy to make mistakes when trying to decipher the smell of corpses.

“My hands are only for cutting open corpses. The arc of kitchen knives can easily damage the nerves at my fingertips. I can’t afford to make a mistake.”

I laughed bitterly as I recalled his words.

All of those had been just excuses. He simply did not love me.

But I thought his excuses were real and spent so much effort and energy thinking about new recipes for him. I had to make sure that they were tasty and nutritious and also had to worry about whether they would affect his sense of smell and taste.

I was such an idiot.

At that time, I did not know about Grace.

Besides, Jim was the one who tried to win my heart.

Then, half a year after we got married, he got drunk and mistook me for Grace.

It was then that I learned that he had a crush on her and had never gotten over it.

They were childhood friends, and they even went to the same university.

In the year they graduated, Grace dumped him because a rich man who lived somewhere along the Mediterranean coastline said that he would sponsor her to become a celebrity in Hollywood. She even changed all of her contact numbers.

Later, I got to know Jim at an academic exchange.

He claimed that he was attracted by my confidence and wanted to get to know me.

He pursued me for two years.

At that time, he was polite and took great care of me, and I could not help but be moved by it.

But on the day of our wedding, Grace showed up. With a graceful but dull smile, she wished us happiness.

Jim stared at her in a daze for a long time.

From that day on, our marriage veered off the course of what I had hoped for.

“Could you stop being so paranoid? You’re a researcher, but you’re acting like you’re crazy.

“I worked overtime before too, you know?

“Besides, there’s no law stating that we can’t be friends after a breakup.

“If you continue kicking up a fuss, I’m going to be really disappointed in you, Luna.”

But would friends go to a private theater to watch a movie together on Valentine’s Day?

What exactly was the definition of friendship?

Would a friend give her married male friend underwear as a gift for his birthday?

Would a friend cast aside his wife while he was being intimate with her in the bedroom after one phone call just to buy a packet of sanitary pads for his female friend?

Who exactly was supposed to be disappointed with whom?

Then, one time, I came back early from a business trip and heard him talking to someone on the phone in our bedroom.

“I’m sorry, Grace.

“If I weren’t married to Luna, I would definitely choose to be with you, but I’ve been with her for a long time, and she has helped me with many things. I can’t be cruel and push her away.”

So, to Jim, I was just a tool that he could use!

But he made it seem like I was his responsibility.

How utterly hypocritical!

He even asked me to pull some strings to have Grace join the research team because our fields were similar. He claimed that she could help me.

That led to our worst argument after our marriage.

I had been against it because I could not take the future of the nation’s scientific research and development lightly.

He stopped pretending to be nice from that moment on.

“Luna, I can’t believe you’re so petty! You’re just worried that Grace will get too close to me. Yet, you make it sound like your reasons are so high and moral. You just want to do whatever it takes to ruin Grace’s career!

“I was wrong about you!

“If you continue like this, I’m going to leave you!”

In the end, he set aside his principles and went to numerous business dinners and had to cozy up to plenty of people before he finally got Grace into the research team as my assistant.

I knew that Jim did it on purpose.

But at that time, it was a crucial moment for an important project for the research lab.

I had no time to care about Grace and spent my entire time in the research lab for more than two months before I finally got the most accurate data.

It was a huge success.

In my excitement, I cried while typing the conclusion of the study into the computer, but I never expected that I would never get to publish this important study.

Grace had quietly set up a camera in my lab and soon figured out that I was not as alert as I usually was.

“Bad news, Luna. There was a murder case tonight. When Jim was inspecting the body, he suddenly fainted, but we don’t have any extra people, so I need you to take him to the hospital.”

She used a voice changer to impersonate Zephyr.

I did not suspect anything and hurried over to the location she mentioned, and that was where my life came to an end.

“Who would have thought? It’s a beautiful scientist in a white lab coat!”

“Not bad! We can have some uniform play!”

Before I got out, a group of men in black masks surrounded me and hit the car with metal rods.

I wanted to run, but they dragged me into an abandoned warehouse.

My clothes were torn off, and all I could hear were the men’s crazed, delighted shouts.

Blood started flowing from between my thighs.

But I was pregnant!

Since the research lab was filled with high levels of radiation, I was really happy when I realized that I could have a baby, but considering my relationship with Jim, I did not tell him.

I wanted some time to think about whether I still wanted to be married to him.

But…

“Thank you, my friends.”

When I was barely clinging to life, Grace showed up with a smile.

The leader was displeased. “Why didn’t you tell us that she was pregnant?”

Grace was surprised.

The leader grabbed her. “You’ll be the one satisfying us now!”

“Not today!”

Grace was unable to hide her disgust, but she still rejected the leader’s advances with a smile.

He just slapped her across the face. “You b*tch! Do you really think you’re better than us just because you’re wearing a white lab coat?

“Why don’t we send all of your videos to your lover?”

Grace panicked. “Don’t!”

So, this was what she meant when she said she was going to become a celebrity in Hollywood.

After the men left, she vented all of her hatred and frustrations on me.

“Why are you blessed with great talent and achievements?!

“Why did Jim refuse to wait for me after I came back from hell?!

“Why did you seduce him?!

“You should die!

“Once you’re dead, I can finally have Jim back!”

She used a metal rod to crush my bones, and she cut my face up.

Then, she injected boiling pine resin into me. “You have no right to be pregnant with Jim’s baby! Only I can do that!”

She tied me up and stuffed my mouth.

When I fainted because of the boiling hot resin, she injected adrenaline into me.

Immediately after, she injected sulfuric acid into my chest and abdomen.

I was in excruciating pain, but since my bones were crushed, I could not even struggle in pain.

Grace laughed.