I couldn't help but laugh.

All I had to show for crying and kicking up a fuss was 99 failures. Moreover, Quinn was the one who treated me with indifference first.

He gave Melody the precious jewelry he'd spent a fortune to buy for me. All he had to say to me was, "You have a lot of jewelry, so you'll hardly miss this one. It's different for Melody."

He broke his own rule of not bringing female partners to business parties by taking Melody with him.

"You can depend on me financially, but the same's not true for Melody. She plans to start her own business in the future, so she needs the experience," he explained.

He did not refute others' assumptions that Melody was his wife.

"It's not easy for a woman to build up a career, but nobody will dare bully her if she goes around bearing that title," he defended.

In fact, he later prevented me from showing up at his company or delivering him lunch. Instead, these responsibilities were handed over to Melody.

When I expressed disapproval, feeling slighted, Quinn frowned and sighed.

"Irrelevant personnel like you showing up at the company all the time is bad for our image. Besides, cooking is tiring, so just leave it to Melody. Why don't you just travel around and enjoy the sights?" he suggested.

He kept me cooped up at home like a trophy wife. There was no true love involved.

So, I couldn't bear it any more and completely gave up on winning his heart.

"I've already found myself a decent place to live. After I'm discharged, I won't ever appear before you two again," I told him.

Quinn clenched his fists and bellowed angrily, "Fine! Then leave! Get a moving company to move your things out immediately! I don't want to see anything belonging to you in my house!"

I nodded and took out my phone to call a moving company.

Quinn's expression darkened at this. "Are you that eager to leave my side?"

I said nothing, but before I could make the call, an incoming call interrupted me—a call from my four-year-old son, Atlas Langley.

"Mommy, where did you put my Mechaformer?" he asked impatiently. "I can't find it again!"

I replied calmly. "I'm moving out, so get your new mommy, Melody, to find it for you."

Atlas was stunned. "What did you say?"

I repeated, "What I'm saying is, Melody will be your mother from now on. I'll no longer be your mother. I'll no longer be involved in your problems."

After a momentary silence, Atlas shouted, "Great! I can finally get a new mommy! Thank you, Ms. Somer!"

With that, he hung up giddily.

Quinn, his eyes bloodshot, said with disappointment, "You're even abandoning your son? Ariel Somer, how can you be so cruel? You'd even cast aside Atlas and me!"

Me? Cruel? Did he not overhear how happy Atlas was?

After all, I'd never given birth to a child in my past 99 attempts.

Atlas was the only child born during a period of mutual love. I treasured him as much as my own life.

Until I passed by Quinn's office and heard Melody's heavy breathing from within, that was.

The two of them were having a secret tryst in the office. I overheard Quinn complaining that I was no longer fun to lie with after giving birth, as I'd become out of shape.

I had a breakdown right then and there.

In order to successfully capture Quinn's heart, I sped up my search for evidence that Melody was faking her illness. During that time, I was motivated by not just my unborn child but also Atlas.

However, Atlas also took a liking to Melody and mentioned more than once that he wanted her to be his mother.

Instead of lecturing him, Quinn treated his words as a joke and said cheerily, "Okay! I'll take you over to Melody's place to play!"

He said to me, "Atlas is only four years old. Children at his age say a lot of nonsense, so don't hold it against him."

I believed him, at least up until last week, right about when I was due to enter labor.

That was when Atlas pushed me down some stairs, yelling, "It's all because you're hogging me and Daddy that Melody can't be reunited with us! Go die!"

At that moment, I clearly understood that Atlas wasn't just spouting nonsense.

As such, my only thought was to give birth to my unborn child, look after her until she was about a year old, then find a good family to adopt her. After that, I would return to my original world.

But now, Quinn had taken my child to Melody before I'd even been able to see her.

Seeing that I wasn't saying anything again, Quinn left angrily.

As the door slammed shut behind him, the system announced, "Ariel, you're scheduled to leave this world in three days. Please be prepared."

With the system's help, I recovered in a day and returned to my newly rented house. I was prepared to live out the next two days in peace and quiet.

I felt much calmer without Quinn and Atlas yelling in my ear.

However, a group of black-suited men swarmed into my house two days later. Upon seeing me, one of them shouted coldly, "That's her! Take her away!"

I was still having lunch at the time. I was baffled when they covered my mouth and dragged me off to the house I used to stay in with Quinn.

Melody was in the living room, holding a wailing infant. Her eyes lit up when she saw me.

"You've finally come back, Ariel!" she exclaimed.

Then, she continued aggrievedly, "She's been crying ever since I got her. Did you feed her something? She's your child, so you can't just—"

I reflexively took my daughter from her before Melody could even finish speaking. She gradually stopped crying in my arms. She stared unblinkingly at me and even seemed to be smiling.

Quinn was dumbfounded. He didn't notice that Melody's gaze had darkened completely.

Melody gritted her teeth before forcing a smile and saying despondently, "In the end, Ariel's still her biological mother… unlike me. Who knows if I'll still have the chance to have a child of my own?"

Her words were cut off by a series of coughs, her face instantly turning pale.

Quinn immediately snapped out of his daze and hugged her, comforting her and patting her back gently. His movements were so practiced he must've done that a thousand times before.

Melody gently tried to push him away. "Ariel's still here—"

Quinn interrupted coldly, "You're my wife now, so it doesn't matter."

As he spoke, he glanced pointedly at the nanny, Goldia Jennings, who had been standing off to the side. "Well? Hurry up and take the child back!"

My daughter had already fallen asleep.

Melody carefully took her and hummed gently to her.

However, a second later, she started crying harder. She waved her hands wildly in the air, her face turning purple.

Melody started crying from fright. "What's going on? She was fine just a moment ago! How did this happen?"

Quinn led Melody and our daughter outside. "We're heading to the hospital right away."

Halfway to the door, a thought seemed to occur to him. He glanced at the men in black and ordered, "Bring Ariel Somer along as well!"

After arriving at the Langley family's private hospital, the doctor frowned down at my daughter, who was breathing weakly. "She looks like she's been poisoned."

As soon as the words left his mouth, Goldia arrived in a hurry with Atlas in tow. "This is bad! Mr. Atlas has difficulty breathing, and his face has turned purple!"

Quinn was shocked. "How did this happen to Atlas too?"

The doctor looked Atlas over with a serious expression. "These two seem to be affected by the same poison. Quick! We need to detoxify them!"

Quinn glared disbelievingly at me and roared, "What kind of poison did you feed the children, Ariel Somer? Our daughter's only four days old! How cruel can you be?

"It's no wonder you disowned them and decided to let Melody stay with me! You were already planning to frame her today, weren't you?"

I desperately shook my head. "That's not it at all! They're both my children, so there's no way I'd poison them! You can't accuse me of this without evidence!"

Quinn snorted coldly, refusing to listen. "It's not like it's the first time you've done such a thing. You were behind Melody's current condition too, so poisoning two children is hardly beyond you."

I shook my head repeatedly, tears falling from my face.

Even if I didn't like Atlas anymore, he was still my biological child. How could I even think of harming him?

I wanted to follow after the doctor to check on the children, but Quinn's men held me down before I could take more than a single step forward.

Quinn mocked coldly, "Still trying to run, are we? Just wait right there. You'll get to go home only once the children are fine."

I watched Quinn, Melody, the children, and the doctor move away. Thinking of the fact that I'd be able to go home in another six hours, I gritted my teeth and offered no resistance.

I just hoped that the operation would go smoothly and that the children would be safe. That way, I could go home without any lingering worries.

By around ten o'clock, more and more people had shown up at the hospital, many of whom recognized me.

"Isn't that Quinn Langley's ex-wife?"

"Why is she being held down by his bodyguards? She didn't do something bad again, did she?"

"Hey, get this! I just heard that she poisoned her own children in order to frame Melody Frost! She really is despicable."

"Even animals don't kill their young, but she's actually willing to harm her own children. How sickening!"

I closed my eyes, forcing myself to ignore their words.

I didn't know how much time passed before the operation was finally over. My eyes snapped open, and I looked expectantly at the doctor.

Melody stood to one side, crying with her hands over her face. "What? My daughter's gone…"

My head spun, and I almost lost my balance. "You're lying to me! You're all lying, aren't you?"

Just as the words left my mouth, a nurse walked out with a silent child in her arms.

I broke away from everyone and rushed up to the nurse. I carefully checked my daughter for breathing, but I felt nothing. She lay quietly in the nurse's arms as if she'd just fallen asleep.

Quinn's expression was murderous. "Ariel Somer, you actually killed your child just to drive Melody away!"

"It wasn't me!" I retorted loudly.

My gaze landed on Melody. "It was you! You killed my child! My son loves you so much, and my daughter was just four days old! How could you be so wicked? Have you no conscience? You're worse than a beast!"

The smile in Melody's eyes was unmistakable, but she blinked and forced out a few tears. "Ariel, I love them so much, and I'm not long for this world. How could I possibly wish to harm them?"

"Because you're faking your illness, so of course you wouldn't want annoying children by your side! You'd better pay for your sins!" I screamed hoarsely, rushing over to grab her.

Quinn pulled me back with one hand, his eyes filled with disappointment. "Enough! How dare you still think of framing Melody at this point? Hurry up and apologize to her! Otherwise, forget about ever seeing our son again!"

I glared at him, shaking with anger.

As expected, he wouldn't believe my words.

Deflating all at once, I turned to take my daughter with the intent of giving her a proper burial before leaving this world. However, Quinn's bodyguard beat me to it and took her away.

"Send the body for cremation," Quinn ordered icily.

"No… Please don't. Let me give her a proper burial, okay? I want to send her off on her final journey," I pleaded.

Quinn said nothing, simply leaving me to cry and beg.

I cried until I was lightheaded.

The system's voice rang out as I clung to my last shred of consciousness, "Five seconds remaining. Ariel, please be on standby."

I closed my eyes and stopped struggling.

Seeing this, Quinn thought I'd softened my stance and tried to say something in a gentle voice.

The next second, he watched as my eyes rolled up in my head, my body went limp, and I died in his arms.