Carina and Aster only got to know each other due to a series of coincidences.

Back then, when Carina first arrived in Halowich, she ended up renting a room in Selena's house after going through plenty of listings. On the day she moved in, however, Selena suddenly collapsed from an illness and fainted on the ground.

Luckily, Carina found her in time and quickly sent her to the hospital.

Selena's surgery was successful. But she was still sick, and she needed a long-term caretaker to take care of her at home.

Coincidentally, Carina still hadn't managed to find herself a job because she'd only just arrived there. So, with some convincing on Selena's and Aster's part, she finally agreed to be Selena's caretaker.

Unfortunately, Selena's illness worsened, and she passed away a year later.

Aster fulfilled his mother's dying wish and married Carina. And just like that, five years passed in the blink of an eye.

Carina had been warm, enthusiastic, and passionate back then, thinking that she would eventually break through the layers of ice surrounding Aster's heart.

However, five years later, Carina was exhausted. She didn't want to continue like this anymore.

Carina slowly wheeled her suitcase out of the mansion and placed a call on her phone.

"Del? Help me find a place to rent. It doesn't need to be too big, just enough for one person. It would be even better if I could move in a month from now."

Delphine Foster sounded confused. "A place to rent? Carina, don't you have a bunch of properties for sale in your hands? Why would you think of finding a place to rent instead?"

She was the property agent who first introduced Carina to Selena back then. The properties that Carina bought over the years were also all handled by her.

In some way, Delphine could be considered one of Carina's few friends whom she could talk to in Halowich.

"If you have no place to stay and just want a change of scenery, then what about Mrs. Ducant Senior's old house back then? It's calm, quiet, and not too far from your workplace…"

Of course, Carina would never agree to Delphine's suggestion. She wanted to steer clear of Aster as much as possible, after all. There was no way she would choose to continue staying anywhere linked to him.

"Please help me find another place, Del," Carina said, calmly but determinedly.

Delphine seemed to finally get the hint. She sighed and didn't press any further.

Just then, Aster's voice suddenly appeared right behind her.

"Who are you talking to, Carina?"

Carina shuddered. She hurriedly said goodbye to Delphine and ended the call. Then, she turned to look at Aster, still as calm as ever, and said, "I hadn't talked to Del in a long time, and I was just inviting her to go shopping this weekend."

There was some truth in Carina's words, but it still put a frown on Aster's face.

He knew that Delphine was one of the few friends Carina had, and that they would keep in contact every once in a while.

However, Carina was usually the stoic type who never enjoyed shopping. He could count on one hand the number of times she actually went shopping over the past five years.

"Why did you suddenly think of going shopping?"

Aster took off his coat and looked at Carina, who was sitting on the couch without moving a muscle. The frown on his face deepened a little more.

In the past, Carina would always come up to greet him as soon as he got home, take his coat from him, and hang it on the coat hanger. However, he realized that he wasn't getting such treatment anymore.

This time, he was actually starting to panic.

"I thought that you never liked going shopping."

Carina kept her head down as she scrolled on her phone. "I'd just donated a pile of my stuff, and the seasons are starting to change. I need to get a few more shirts. I also thought of catching up with Del at the same time."

Aster stared at Carina, trying to pick apart her words. He knew that something was wrong, but he couldn't figure out what, and this feeling of losing control was making him feel more and more anxious.

"I should have some free time this weekend. Why don't I come with you instead? I haven't gone shopping with you for a long time either."

Carina finally looked up at Aster, some wariness reflecting in her eyes.

A few seconds later, she said in a miffed tone, "You're too busy at work. Forget about it. After all, everyone at the company is depending on you for their livelihood."

This was the line Aster used the most on her every time he rejected her. But now that the words were coming out of Carina's mouth, Aster sighed in relief and slung an arm over her shoulders.

"Are you still mad at me? I know that I have been quite busy lately and accidentally sidelined you. I promise that I'll spend time with you properly this weekend."

Aster never caught the hint of disappointment flashing in Carina's eyes.

She was mumbling to herself.

Soon.

She could finally leave Aster very, very soon.

The weekend arrived in the blink of an eye.

There were only 24 days left until the divorce could be finalized.

Over the past few days, Aster had been staying at the mansion for longer and longer periods of time. However, he was also getting increasingly distracted.

He never noticed anything amiss throughout the mansion, especially with Carina hiding the truth from him and pretending that nothing had changed.

The suitcase full of clothes had been at the front door for a few days, and nobody said a word about it.

Today was the day that Carina and Delphine had agreed upon to go house-hunting. However, Aster kept tagging along, as if he was planning to dutifully fulfill his promise to her.

Carina had no other choice but to go to the mall with him.

Plenty of things were on sale at the mall, but neither Carina nor Aster were in the mood to actually go shopping.

Carina kept thinking of ways to flee. Meanwhile, Aster kept looking at trendy clothes in styles that would only fit someone a lot younger than Carina.

"Why don't you ask Stella if she'd like to come shopping with you too, Aster?"

Aster's eyes lit up at once when he heard that. "Really? Can I do that? That might not be a good idea, though, because I promised that I'd spend all day with you today. I don't want to talk about work at all."

Carina sighed inwardly. Aster had already taken his phone out, ready to call someone.

So, why did he pretend to look reluctant to ask Stella out just now? What was the point of lying to himself as well?

Stella arrived very quickly. It didn't even take her more than ten minutes to show up.

Carina wasn't dumb. She guessed that Stella had probably already been waiting nearby. Aster had already given himself away earlier. After all, this was only something he would do.

So, the three of them continued browsing through the shops, but only two of them were happy with how things turned out.

Suddenly, there was a loud siren in the mall. A shop had caught on fire.

Thick, black smoke poured out and surrounded the crowd of shoppers, and everyone dispersed as quickly as they could.

Aster made sure to protect Stella the whole time. Meanwhile, Carina got pushed and shoved so much that she nearly lost her footing and fell.

She looked back and suddenly met Aster's gaze.

Aster looked anxious and wanted to head toward Carina, but Stella kept calling out to him. Ultimately, he turned and left.

"Wait for me, Carina. I'll come back to save you as soon as I've brought Stella out to safety."

Carina's face was void of emotion. She just watched quietly as Aster and Stella then disappeared into the crowd.

With panicked shoppers covering for her, Carina finally managed to get away and leave the mall. She met up with Delphine, and they immediately headed straight for the first house on their list.

It was dark by the time Carina returned home. She didn't think that she would see Aster still waiting for her.

He ran over to her anxiously when he saw her entering through the door.

It had only been half a day since Carina saw him, but his face had gone pale, and he looked like he'd seen better days.

"Where have you been, Carina? Your phone was turned off too! I was so worried about you!"

Aster grabbed her arms and kept checking her body for any cuts or bruises. Finally, he noticed a faint red mark on her neck.

Aster suddenly slapped himself in the face.

The sound was so loud and clear that it stunned Carina for a moment, and she froze. However, she quickly snapped back and stared at him in confusion.

"I'm sorry, Carina. Today was all my fault. It's all my fault…"

Carina suddenly burst out laughing.

She didn't feel touched because of what Aster was doing. On the contrary, she found it ridiculous, and she was quickly losing interest.

"Nothing bad happened to me. I just didn't realize that my phone went out of battery while I was shopping with Del."

She suddenly took one step away, neatly avoiding Aster's hand that was reaching out for her.

"I'm a little tired today, so I'm going to bed now."

Aster froze in place. He didn't know what to do.

He suddenly felt as though Carina was getting farther and farther from him. He couldn't even grab hold of her anymore.

Carina stayed home for the next few days so that Aster wouldn't get suspicious of her. She didn't go anywhere and just stayed put at home, just waiting for time to pass.

Initially, she thought that had settled everything regarding her new rented place. But to her surprise, the landlord suddenly changed his mind on the day they were supposed to sign the leasing contract.

Delphine called Carina. "The landlord said that some guy, a Mr. Ducant, rented the apartment for another woman, Ms. Winters, and he offered double the asking rental price. They signed the contract immediately, and the apartment is now rented out to them."

Delphine knew about Aster's relationship with Stella. Coupled with Carina's weird antics lately, she could already guess what had happened.

Carina didn't say much and just asked Delphine to find another place for her.

That night, Carina tried testing the waters with Aster.

"I heard that you rented a place for Stella. Is that true?"

She hadn't meant it as a provocation or anything else. She just thought that she would steer clear of that area if that was the truth.

To her surprise, Aster got all flustered and hurriedly raised his hands in defense, shaking them and saying, "Don't get the wrong idea, Carina! You know how terrible the place Stella was renting is, always getting the electricity cut off for no reason.

"I just thought that since Stella is a company employee, this could also count as part of her employee benefits. That's what that rental is for! Employee benefits."

Carina nodded in understanding. She didn't cry or make a fuss about it and even joked with him for a bit.

Aster looked at her, who was weirdly calm after receiving the news, and a flash of fear suddenly surfaced in his eyes.

"Carina, are you hiding something from me?"

Carina froze very slightly while scrolling on her phone. However, she quickly composed herself. She looked up at him and said, "No, I'm not. But why would you think that way?"

Aster kept quiet. He had an inkling that Carina was keeping something from him. However, he didn't have proof of it. So, he just smiled back forcefully at her and said, "No reason."

A few days later, Carina finally managed to find another rental apartment far away from the first, with Delphine's help.

After signing the lease, Carina immediately moved everything she owned from the mansion into the rental. She didn't even leave a single towel behind in Aster's mansion.

Tonight would be the last night Carina was spending in Aster's home.

She sent him a text message early that day, planning to tell him everything that night over dinner.

She made a seven-course meal for dinner that night. This was her last dinner with him before she divorced him.

However, Aster never turned up.

When the clock struck 10:00 pm, Aster still hadn't come home.

Carina took out her phone, tapped into Instagram stories, and saw that Aster was busy celebrating with Stella. She only learned then that Stella had coincidentally moved into her new place today as well, and they were celebrating it together.

She watched the stories calmly.

So, Aster wasn't willing to spare her any time for Stella's sake.

Carina took all the food that she had made and threw them into the trash can.

She wondered if Aster would regret standing her up if he knew that today was the very last day before their 30-day waiting period was up.

She left him a letter. However, after some thought, Carina didn't think that there was any need to bring up the past again since they were getting divorced anyway.

So, she tore the letter up, threw it into the trash can as well, and left a copy of the divorce agreement on the table, along with the wedding ring from her finger.

After making sure that there wasn't a single trace of her left in the mansion, Carina walked out the door and left.

Aster finally got home long after Carina had left.

He tidied up his shirt, checking himself twice in the reflection, and then put an apologetic smile on his face, immediately apologizing as he stepped into the mansion.

"Sorry, Carina. I was just about to come home when I bumped into our biggest client, Sirius Jackson, and he invited me out for dinner. We ended up chatting for a long time."

This time, however, there was no other sound besides his own voice echoing throughout the empty halls.

Aster then called out to Carina again a few more times, but the place was still as quiet as ever.

His expression changed immediately, a look of horror and disbelief on his face.

The night breeze blew right past him, slightly rustling the pages of the divorce agreement and resignation letter on the table.

The agreement fluttered in the wind, and he suddenly caught sight of his signature on the very last page.

Aster's eyes widened at once. He mumbled in shock, "No, this can't be! This has to be fake! I never signed something like this!"

He flew over to the table, flipping the document open and reading the agreement. Then, he shakily took out his phone and called Carina.