My marriage certificate with Shane Galingston was lost again.

By the time we went to replace it for the ninth time, his childhood sweetheart deliberately raised her voice as she said, "Lily has been divorced eight times and has had nine abortions. She also has AIDS and syphilis… practically every vice in the book. Did you know all that?"

With a loud crash, a newlywed couple sitting nearby was so startled that they fell to the floor, groaning in pain.

In an instant, contemptuous and disgusted gazes poured in from all directions, pinning me in place.

The icy slime of rotting refuse dripped down my face, chilling not just my skin but my heart as well.

This time, I didn't hold back. I turned and walked straight toward the complaint counter.

But Shane, who had stayed silent all along, suddenly grabbed my arm. He wiped the filth from my face and coaxed me in a low, gentle voice.

"Don't be angry. She's just childish—she likes to fool around. She didn't mean to smear your name.

"Besides, she's not targeting you. She's just throwing a tantrum at me. How could I not know what kind of person you are?"

As he spoke, he shot his childhood sweetheart a helpless yet indulgent glance.

"Go ahead and help us reissue—"

I pushed his hand away without expression and cut him off.

"No need. Let's get a divorce."

Shane Galingston froze, the tissue in his hand still suspended in midair.

The next second, Fleur Renault burst out from behind the counter and pointed at me, shouting, "You and your brother wouldn't even dare take a paternity test. You got yourself pregnant messing around and then found an honest man to take responsibility. Now, you're married and still sleeping around, hooking up everywhere—and now that you've found your next target, you want a divorce!"

As soon as she finished, a large bottle of water came out of nowhere and was dumped over my head and face.

A draft swept through the hall. I shivered from the cold.

I looked at Shane again. He opened his mouth as if to speak, but in the end, he said nothing.

Disgust spread across the faces of the onlookers.

"Even her own husband won't defend her. Looks like what that clerk said is true! No wonder she has AIDS!"

"Look at her makeup and the way she sways when she walks—obviously someone from that kind of dirty business!"

This wasn't the first time Fleur had spread filthy rumors about me.

She stole my marriage certificate and ran to my workplace to accuse me of being a shameless slut anyone could sleep with.

She even posted my personal information on shady websites. Under endless harassment and abuse, I lost my job.

I couldn't sleep at night. I lost twenty pounds and swallowed antidepressants by the handful.

Shane used his connections to get me doctors and treatment, yet he was helpless whenever Fleur cried.

Once, standing by my hospital bed, he had said helplessly, "She's the fiancée my mom arranged for me when we were kids. Since she couldn't marry me, it's only natural she throws tantrums.

"She doesn't mean you any harm. She's just sharp-tongued—she wouldn't really do anything to you. You're kind, so be more forgiving.

"If you ignore her, she'll come around sooner or later and apologize to you with her head down."

But my repeated patience only made Fleur worse.

Now I had had enough. I didn't want to endure it anymore.

So I wiped the water from my face and calmly walked toward the ticket machine.

Fleur had been enjoying the sight of my humiliation. She immediately rolled her eyes, looking as if she had seen through me.

"Playing hard to get! Making a fuss about divorce—aren't you just desperate to get your marriage certificate reissued?"

Shane smiled faintly and tapped Fleur on the nose.

"Enough. It's the first day of your period. Don't get so worked up."

Then, ignoring my cry of pain, he dragged me outside with force.

"Stop making trouble. This is a job Fleur worked hard to get. She's immature—are you immature too?

"Can't we replace the certificate some other day? She's in a bad mood today. Another day. I'll come with you another day."

Suddenly, I laughed.

"Shane, when's my birthday?"

After a moment of silence, he turned around.

Confusion flickered in his eyes, quickly replaced by anger, as if I were deliberately causing trouble.

"Lily, are you serious? You've only been married to me for a few years! Fleur and I grew up together—how many years has that been?

"It's just a stupid piece of paper! Why rush? Do you have to make everyone miserable?"

My head buzzed. All the blood in my body seemed to turn cold.

How could he say something like that?

When Fleur ruined my third job, I was already pushed to the breaking point. That was when I lost my first child.

I didn't dare close my eyes at night. The moment I did, all I saw was blood soaking my skirt, and the child I had longed for—burning in my mind until I spoke nonsense.

Shane was furious and blocked Fleur. But less than a week later, while I was still bleeding, he softened again because Fleur went on a hunger strike.

"Lily, I asked her. She had her reasons. You're too outstanding at work—she feels inferior. Isn't your mom a civil service exam instructor? Why not have her help Fleur? Once she passes, she'll be grateful to you."

I never wanted her gratitude.

But for my sake, my mother still tutored Fleur diligently for two years.

She didn't get a permanent position, but she did land a contract job.

And how did she repay my mother?

On New Year's Eve, Fleur told all the relatives who had come from my hometown that I had shamelessly clung to the Galingston family by getting pregnant, that I didn't even have a marriage certificate.

In my panicked gaze, my mother's eyes rolled back, and she collapsed to the floor.

My father, a six-foot-tall man, bowed his shoulders under the curses of the entire village and begged me, "Lily, it doesn't matter if the certificate is lost. Just hurry and get another one."

But every time we went to city hall, either the printer was out of ink or the camera was broken.

Until last night, when my mother was issued a critical condition notice, her withered hand suspended in the air, unable to fall.

Through tears, I begged Shane. Only then did he promise that today, it would be done for sure.

Clearly, his memory of me was fragile at best.

But suddenly, I understood that if I couldn't get a marriage certificate reissued, a divorce certificate could clear my name just as well.

As Shane and I stood locked in silent confrontation, a staff member leaned out and called the next number.

Shane waved his hand impatiently.

"We're not doing it today—"

"Number 103, Shane Galingston and Lily Marshall, your divorce application. Please come to the counter."

Shane stood rigidly in place, his face livid, his fist clenched so tightly it creaked.

"Lily, your mother is still—"

Before he could finish, Fleur cut in with a bright, ringing voice.

"Shane, how could she possibly divorce you? She's just threatening you."

That single sentence set off a chain reaction.

Shane hated being threatened more than anything. Without another word, he went through the divorce formalities.

"Lily, if you want to make trouble, I'll play along! Thirty days of the cooling-off period—that's more than enough time for you to regret this and beg me!"

He didn't look at me again. Instead, he took Fleur by the hand and strode away.

Fleur, however, peeked over his shoulder and winked at me, her tone playful as she reminded me, "Today's Thursday. No need to wait for Shane tonight! Bye-bye!"

It was almost laughable. Though I was Shane's wife, I was only allowed to have him on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday nights.

Because Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday were Fleur's shifts at the divorce counter.

She said she absorbed too much negativity at work during the day, and living alone at night made her prone to dark thoughts.

I had fought and screamed about it before. To keep him, I had even stepped barefoot on shattered glass, sobbing and begging.

Shane hesitated for two seconds, then raised his hand and called an ambulance for me, saying helplessly, "Lily, why are you acting like Fleur now… She's immature. Are you immature too? Sigh, I really have no choice. I can't just watch something happen to her."

He was always helpless. Always had no choice. Always so righteously self-sacrificing.

Fortunately, I no longer wanted to hear it.

When I got home and washed the filth from my body, I predictably came down with a fever.

As I rummaged through drawers for fever medicine, my phone kept chiming nonstop. A string of trending local headlines popped up.

[Most Beautiful Registrar Bravely Exposes the 'Poison King's' True Colors]

[Lily Marshall Steals Someone Else's Man and Climbs to the Top!]

The comment section was exploding with outrage.

[Trash like this should've been called out a long time ago! Fleur did great! Does this count as a public service?]

[Lily Marshall? Oh, I know her. She's the famous 'campus bicycle' at Hallstone University—always stealing her upperclassmen's boyfriends. No idea how she got voted Most Beautiful Couple. Did she sleep with every judge?]

[Disgusting. AIDS and syphilis aren't punishment enough for her. Why is she still breathing—just to pollute the air?]

[The whole family's rotten. Her parents ended up in the hospital? That's called karma.]

Reading those vicious comments, I still couldn't stop myself from trembling.

The next second, my phone and my father's phone lit up at the same time.

"Dad, I finalized the divorce."

"Lily, come home. If the sky falls, I'll hold it up for you."

The tears came before I could stop them. In that moment, I felt completely at peace.

That night, I didn't bombard Shane with calls. I didn't torture myself by staring at the ambiguous photos Fleur sent me until dawn.

I lay down and fell into a heavy sleep.

I never expected Shane to stagger home drunk in the middle of the night.

Passing through the living room, he tripped over two suitcases, and his heart skipped a beat.

But he quickly noticed they were empty and light. A knowing smile tugged at his lips.

He thought it was just another act of mine to make him coax me.

He shoved open the bedroom door and collapsed onto me like a burning mountain.

"Lily, ten years after graduating from Hallstone University, you and I are still the most popular love fairy tale… Even today, an alum left a message asking when our little baby will be born."

My hand froze as I tried to push him away.

Back then, the love story between a third-year finance prodigy and a first-year literature beauty had been blazing and intense.

Shane had poured all the romance a student could muster into courting me, writing no fewer than ten thousand handwritten love letters.

He proposed the moment I graduated and transferred shares of his startup to me outright.

Those first five sweet years turned into endless bitterness the year Fleur returned from abroad with an entire box of letters.

Only then did I realize every love letter he had written me was a copy of the ones he had once written her—only the name had been changed.

With the current public opinion raging, his words about "having a baby" were hardly a blessing.

I blinked hard, forcing back the sting in my eyes, and let out a soft laugh.

"Shane, how do you even have the nerve to say that?"

He leaned closer in a daze, rubbing my cheeks over and over.

"Don't cry, don't cry. Haven't you always wanted a child? I actually—"

The bedroom door flew open. Fleur stormed in, her face twisted with jealousy.

"Shane! You promised me you wouldn't touch her!"

Shane reacted like a drunk cat whose tail had been stepped on—startled and guilty, he toppled backward onto the floor.

Fleur kept her face tight as she hauled him up and dragged him away. When she saw that I didn't stop them this time, her smile finally bloomed, as if she had claimed total victory.

"I told you long ago—without my permission, no one gets to marry Shane."

"Oh, but I should still thank you for playing along in today's little act. Mom already said that once I'm officially promoted, she'll kick you out of the house!"

My mother-in-law had always favored Fleur, suppressing me at every turn. She even put the family heirloom bracelet on Fleur's wrist.

Only in work matters had she ever been dissatisfied—because Fleur had never managed to become a permanent employee.

"Ugh—"

The cloying scent of perfume made me gag uncontrollably.

Alarm bells rang in my head.

Fleur seemed to realize something too. Her body swayed for a moment, then she quickly forced out a smile.

"Stop pretending. You'll never give birth to Shane's child. Don't believe me? Go look at the medicine on his bedside table. See what it really is."

I tore open the vitamin wrapper. Sure enough, inside was the label for male contraceptives.

I clenched the bottle, my thoughts in turmoil.

After the miscarriage, I hadn't conceived again for a long time. I had always believed the problem was mine and endured countless injections because of it.

If I had discovered the truth earlier, I would have been in unbearable pain.

But now, there was only relief left in my heart.

That night, I slept deeply.

When I woke in the morning, I still had a slight fever. I didn't want to wait anymore. I packed only the essentials and prepared to leave.

Shane pushed the door open just as I tossed the fertility charm into the trash.

My heart jumped.

Fortunately, he was in a hurry and didn't think much of it. He grabbed my wrist and dragged me outside.

In the rush, my lower abdomen slammed into the doorframe. A sharp, knife-like pain tore through me.

Shane didn't notice at all. He kept pulling me forward at a run, speaking rapidly as we went.

"Fleur has been exposing a lot of couples' private information lately to win that 'righteous whistleblower' commendation. The people involved are making a scene…

"She's just a young girl. She's thin-skinned. I'm a man—I don't know how to apologize and coax people into forgiving her. Lily, you're always the most careful and steady. Before this reaches higher authorities, go help her apologize!"

My steps faltered. I couldn't keep up with his pace and stumbled to the ground.

Only then did Shane seem to notice how pale I was. He hurried to lift me up. "A-Are you okay?"

The pain in my abdomen grew more savage. I thought of my period, which still hadn't come.

Weakly, I said, "Take me… to the hospital…"

Just as Shane bent to pick me up, Fleur suddenly wrapped herself tightly around his arm, her face twisted with jealousy.

"I told you she was just pretending to be kind! Look—something happens to me, and she fakes being sick!"

"Enough! Do you even want your job anymore?"

For the first time, Shane snapped at her. Then he turned back to me, his eyes full of pleading.

"Fleur is outspoken. This time, she's angered all her coworkers. Take the blame for her. Say it was your idea, that she didn't mean it. You don't even work at that unit anymore—this won't affect you at all, right?

"I'm begging you, okay? Just help her this one more time. I promise she'll remember your kindness and won't—"

I couldn't listen anymore.

I raised my hand and slapped him hard across the face.