Alex, however, did not know that. He fell silent for a long moment. Then suddenly, he grabbed my wrist and pulled me out of the room.

“Lilian, you’re my wife. I can give you status, position, everything. But Valentina has nothing. She doesn’t want anything either. She just wants a little of my love. Six years ago, to repay what you did for me, I made myself leave her and marry you. I will not fail her again. Lily, you already have so much of my love. Can’t you be a little generous with her?”

My tears had long since run dry. I looked at him numbly, unable to say a word.

Perhaps I looked too broken. His tone softened as he tried to appease me.

“I promise you, even if Valentina stays, you’ll still be the only Mrs. Zane. You’re the one I love most.”

He wrapped his arms around me from behind and rested his head on my shoulder.

“Lily, I love you.”

With my back to him, I closed my eyes. It was too late. I was dying. The curse was coming. Nothing he said mattered anymore.

Alex’s tenderness for me did not last long. That very night, he burst into my room like a madman, seized my hair, and dragged me to Valentina.

“Save him! Lilian! I’m ordering you, save him now!”

Valentina’s eyes were full of tears. She struggled to kneel in front of me. “Lily, please. Please save my child!”

“He’s a reincarnated angel! An ordinary human body can’t hold the angelic spirit. You’re a mermaid. Only you can save him by making a wish!”

However, I saw it clearly. There was no reincarnated angel. The baby’s face was covered in red rashes. His breathing was labored. It was an allergic reaction.

“It’s just an allergy…”

Before I could finish, Valentina cut me off. Her voice was thick with sobs.

“Alex, let me speak to Lily alone. Woman to woman. She must understand a mother’s heart.”

The moment Alex stepped out, her expression turned malicious.

“How do you even have the gall to keep living? You’re a loose woman passed around by countless men. What makes you think you deserve to fight me for Alex?”

With that, she lifted the baby high in her arms and threw him down hard.

“No…”

I could not stop her. The infant hit the floor, convulsed a few times violently, then went still.

At the same time, Valentina let out a hysterical scream that filled the room.

“It’s all my fault. You could’ve just taken it all out of me! Why did you have to hurt my baby?”

She scooped the limp bundle into her arms and flew through the door like a lunatic.

“Alex, she killed him! She killed our child!”

Alex kicked the door open. A pair of hands clamped tightly around my throat. I turned my head and met a pair of bloodshot eyes.

“Get lost…”

My lungs burned. I clawed at Alex’s wrists and struggled to shake my head.

I was not afraid of dying, but if I died at this moment, the curse would not take effect.

How would I get my revenge then?

Tears fell onto his fingers. His grip around my neck loosened.

Alex looked at me coldly. After a long moment, a cruel smile spread across his face.

“Lilian, I’m going to make you… wish you were dead.”

Alex did exactly what he said he would. He locked me in the basement. In the darkness, countless hands roamed over my body. The pain grew so intense that my consciousness began to fade.

Yet even that was not enough for him. He stripped me bare and forced me to kneel in the snow. The wind howled as flakes fell thick and fast. Alex stood behind the floor-to-ceiling window with Valentina in his arms. There, he watched my pathetic struggle.

Time passed, second by second. Snow gradually piled up around my legs. After a long while, my body went completely numb. The endless torture had drained almost all of my life away. It was the extreme hatred that still kept me conscious.

A pair of shoes appeared in front of me. Alex let out a scoff.

“Drop the act. Who are you trying to fool? You’re a mermaid. A little cold won’t kill you.”

The merfolk were born with strong bodies. We did not fear the cold.

I thought, “But Alex, I had traded all my power to make the second wish for your family.”

I was as fragile as any human.

My fingers were sheathed in frost. The world in front of me was blurring. When I looked up, I saw dark clouds gathering quietly in the sky.

It was coming.

“Ten… nine… eight… seven…”

As soon as I finished the countdown, I burst into manic laughter.

“Alex, I curse you! You will suffer miserably for the rest of your short life!”