Ninian never knew that she was just a replacement. But when she met Rose, plenty of the things that had puzzled her in the past finally made sense.

Conan liked it when she wore white dresses because Rose loved white dresses.

Conan liked it when she wore her hair long because Rose had long hair.

Conan refused to let her dye her hair because Rose’s hair was black.

Even the handbags he gave her were in the styles that Rose liked.

Ninian knew very well that the handbag Rose carried tonight was the one in the same series as the handbags Conan had given her duplicates of.

Ninian looked down, and she teared up.

When she returned to her place, Ninian curled up on the floor while still in her ruined gown. She looked outside at the moon and let her mind wander.

She remembered the first time she met Conan seven years ago. They had met in a bar.

At that time, she needed money, so she worked at a bar and met him.

She immediately caught his fancy and got her to work as his secretary.

As time passed, she grew to like Conan and became his lover.

At that time, he never made their relationship public, and she thought that it was only a matter of time before he would do it.

But at this very moment, she knew that no matter how long she waited, she would never become his girlfriend or his wife.

At that, she finally decided to leave.

The next morning, she got up early in order to hand in her resignation letter.

When she went downstairs, she saw Conan.

He had arrived early in the morning. Knowing that she was still sleeping, he did not bother her.

He knew that she loved the buns from South Street, so he bought some this morning.

Ninian did not have too much of a reaction when she saw him.

“You’re awake?” But Conan was really enthusiastic. “I bought the buns you love. I queued up for a long time for them. Have some.”

“I’m not hungry.”

Ninian bent down, changed into her shoes, and intended to leave.

When Conan saw her attitude, he got mad. “Why are you throwing a tantrum? Do you have any idea how much time I had to waste to get these?”

“Mr. Stone, I never asked you to do those things. I’m leaving now and have no time to argue with you.”

He grabbed her arm. “Are you mad because of Rose?”

Ninian pursed her lips and said nothing.

Conan sneered. “I’m never going to marry you, no matter what. Does it really matter whether you’re a replacement or not?”

Those words hurt.

Ninian nodded. “It doesn’t matter, alright. It’s late now, Mr. Stone. I still have to go to work. Please let me go.”

Before she went to the company, she went to a hairdresser and cut the long hair Conan had asked her to keep for seven years.

She always preferred her hair to be at shoulder-length, so she cut it short.

Once she cut her hair, she felt lighter.

When she arrived at the company, she was already late, but she did not care.

Once her colleagues saw her, they gasped, “Ninian, you cut your hair? You look even prettier now!”

“Yes! Short hair suits you more! You look neat and professional!”

Ninian smiled. “I know, right? I like it too.”

She returned to her table, turned on her computer immediately, and typed out her resignation letter.

After she printed it out, she wanted to hand it to Conan.

He was not in his office. However, his driver was around to pick some things up for him.

She handed her resignation letter to his driver. “Please hand this to Conan.”

…

When Conan got her resignation letter, he was shocked. But once he recovered, he smiled. “Where can she go after leaving my side? She can’t survive without me. She’s just throwing a tantrum because Rose is back. She’ll calm down very soon. Ignore her.”

…

After she resigned, Ninian felt as if a burden had been lifted from her shoulders.

She hailed a cab to go home, only to suddenly realize that her home was not actually hers.

Conan had given her the place, or rather, it was the place he used to keep his mistress, which was her.

Since Ninian had decided to cut all ties with him, she did not want the house anymore.

When she opened the door, Ninian smelled perfume.

It was the perfume Conan had given her. He had said that there was only one in the world, and it was made for her.

She seldom used it, because she could not bear to use it all.

She only used it when Conan came over.

She made her way to the hall, only to see the woman sitting on the couch.

“Rose.”

“Hello, Miss Springs.”

Rose had gotten into her house and was sitting on her couch.

In front of her was Ninian’s perfume.

“This is my house. It’s not right for you to barge into my place like this,” Ninian said in a hostile tone as she stared at her.

She hated people who dropped by unannounced.

“Your house?” Rose smiled and twirled the keys in her hands. “If it’s your house, why do I have the keys?”

She got up and went over to Ninian. “Are you seriously telling me that you don’t know that this house was actually meant for me? I didn’t want it, so Conan gave it to you instead.”

Ninian’s breathing stuttered. As she stared at Rose, she pursed her lips and clenched her fists.

Even the house was for Rose?

“This perfume too.” Rose picked up the bottle on the table and spritzed it in the air.

“Do you have a habit of touching other people’s stuff?” Ninian reached out to grab the bottle.

Out of all his gifts, Conan had put the most effort into this one.

Rose easily avoided her and said coolly, “How would you know that this is for you and not for me? Do you know the name of the perfume? It’s called Stone Rose. Conan hired a perfumer to make this for me. It’s one-of-a-kind.

“Miss Springs, I’m being nice and giving you a reminder here. It’s time for you to accept reality.”

Rose left.

Ninian was the only one left in the house. At that moment, she felt as if the place was like a cage, and she was the bird being kept inside.

Rose was right. It was time for her to accept reality.

She threw away all of the gifts Conan had given her, aside from the handbags.

After she found a new house she liked online, she intended to move.

Once her ex-colleagues learned that she was leaving, they could not bear to see her go, so they invited her for a karaoke session as a farewell party for her.

The party was at Crimson. Ninian arrived at 8 p.m.

When she opened the door, Ninian immediately saw Conan. Rose was beside him. She immediately wanted to leave.

“Ninian, you’re here!”

But she was too late. Someone dragged her in.

“Ninian, look at how respected you are! Even Mr. Stone has come!”

Ninian frowned. If she had known that he would come, she would not have come here.

“Mr. Stone, who’s the person beside you? Why don’t you introduce us?”

One of the executives who had been working with Conan for years teased him. Ninian looked up and saw Conan holding Rose’s hand.

“I forgot. This is my girlfriend, Rose Charlemagne. She just came back.”

At that moment, Ninian could hear her heart shattering.

She had been looking forward to Conan admitting that she was his girlfriend for seven years, but he declared someone else as his girlfriend instead.

Things got awkward in the room. Everyone turned to look at Ninian.

Over the years, she was the one who had kept Conan company, and everyone saw all that she had done for Conan.

They had thought that she was the one who would marry him in the end. Even Ninian herself had thought so.

“Come, let’s toast to Mr. Stone’s girlfriend!”

The people started cheering. Conan looked at Ninian. “What about you? You’re about to leave the company. Aren’t you going to drink at least once?”

Ninian’s stomach was weak, and it was all because she worked too hard for Conan.

The doctor had told her that she could not drink.

“I can’t drink.” Ninian looked down and picked up the glass of water on the table. “I’ll toast you with water instead, Mrs. Stone.”

She practically hissed the last two words.

Despite drinking the glass of water, Rose was not satisfied with it.

“You’re not willing to give Rose a proper toast after resigning? You don’t respect her at all, Ninian.”

Her resignation letter was still in the car. At the thought of her throwing a tantrum with him, Conan felt frustrated.

“Conan, don’t be like that. We’re here to give Miss Springs a proper farewell. How about I toast to her instead?

“Miss Springs, thanks for taking care of Conan and the company for all these years.”

Just as Rose was about to drink, Conan stopped her.

“Why are you trying to drink? You have a weak stomach. If your stomach starts hurting at night, you won’t be able to sleep, and what are you going to do then?”

“That’s more than seven years ago! You still remember? My stomach is fine now,” Rose said sweetly, and Conan booped her nose.

“Be good. If Ninian is not willing to drink, why are you trying to drink, then?”

Conan’s words cut into Ninian’s heart like a sharp knife.

He did not know that her stomach was weak, but he remembered that Rose had a weak stomach seven years ago.

She did not want to look at them anymore. Ninian opened a can of beer and started drinking while sulking.

She drank a few cans, and her stomach hurt, but it did not hurt as much as her heart did.

Conan sneered. “Look. You can drink, can’t you? Why were you unwilling to toast to Rose, then? Ninian, when did you become so petty?”

Her stomach churned, and Ninian wanted to puke.

She rushed out of the room and ran into the washroom before puking like her life depended on it.

After puking, a few burly men came in and blocked her way.

“Oh? To think there’s such a beautiful lady here!”

Ninian frowned and wanted to bypass them, but her path was blocked. “What’s this?”

“What’s this, you say? What do you think?”

The leader waved his hand, and the other men came over to pin her down.

Ninian started panicking. Just when she wanted to scream for help, Rose walked over.

She gave Ninian a confused look. Before she could say anything, the men grabbed her as well.

“Another one dropped by! We’re going to have fun tonight, boys! Bring them in!”

“No! Help me!” Rose screamed in panic. “Help! Don’t touch me! Conan, save me!”

“Rose!”

Conan charged in at the sound of Rose’s cries for help and punched one of the men. “How dare you touch my girlfriend?! I’ll kill you!”

He kicked the man, and he fell to his knees to beg for mercy.

Rose was so terrified that she buried her face in his embrace while she trembled. “Conan, I’m so scared!”

Conan held her tightly. “Don’t be. I’m right here.”

“What the hell?! Miss Springs, one of my men is injured! I want extra for this!”

In the chaos, Ninian managed to break free, and she was rubbing her red wrists when she heard this. In her confusion, she asked, “What extra?”

“You told us that you’d pay us if we kidnapped Rose Charlemagne! Are you trying to deny this now?!”

When Conan heard this, he became livid. “Ninian, how could you ask someone to kidnap Rose?! Have you lost your mind?!”

Ninian just stared at Conan and sneered. “Can’t you see that they also grabbed me? Also, am I that sort of person to you?”

“I don’t know whether you’d kidnap other people, but I do know that you’d kidnap Rose.”

Right after Conan finished speaking, Rose started crying. “Conan, why would Miss Springs do this to me?”

Only Ninian saw the glee and provocation that appeared briefly in Rose’s eyes.

And Ninian immediately understood that Rose was the one who hired these people.

“Rose, why would you set me up?! I don’t know these people at all!”

“That’s enough!” Conan furiously interrupted her. “Ninian, you’re hopeless!”

“Conan, my head hurts!”

In the next second, Rose fainted in his arms.

“Rose! I’ll take you to the hospital! Don’t worry!”

In his panic, Conan picked Rose up and left.

“Drag the woman in now! We have to finish this soon. We get money from this and even get to sleep with a beautiful woman. I suppose we can work with Miss Charlemagne next time as well.”

Miss Charlemagne?

Ninian almost laughed. She was right. Rose had indeed orchestrated this entire thing.

Her acting was horrible, but Conan would never see through it.

The men blocked Ninian’s path and wanted to drag her into a room. Ninian could only watch as Conan left and call out for help as she still refused to give up. But Conan was unmoved, and the last shred of hope in her heart died.

“Strip her naked! We need to have fun with such a beautiful woman!”

They charged over and tore Ninian’s clothes to shreds.

The light before her eyes grew dimmer. Ninian looked around and saw a bottle of beer on the table. Despair flickered in her eyes.

…

Despite being unconscious, Rose was still trapped in a nightmare.

“Ah! Don’t!”

At the sight of her panicking, Conan’s heart went out to her, and he held her.

“It’s okay, Rose. You’re fine now.”

“Conan, I’m so scared. Why would Ninian do this to me? Does she blame me for taking you from her?”

Conan’s expression turned cold. “She has no right to blame you. Don’t worry. I’ll be sure to make her apologize to you.”

Once he calmed Rose down, Conan stormed over to Ninian’s house.

But she was not there, so he called his assistant. “Find out where Ninian is.”

While he waited, Conan’s anger burned even greater.

How dare she stay out overnight?!

“Mr. Stone, Ninian is—”

“Is what? Tell her to come back right now! I want her to give me an explanation for what happened yesterday!”

“Mr. Stone, we found Ninian’s belongings in Crimson, but she’s nowhere to be found.

“There was also a fierce fight in Crimson yesterday. The police have come over and locked down the place for an investigation. They found blood all over the floor in a room. I heard that someone died.”

“What?” When he heard what his assistant said, Conan trembled. “Say that again.”

“The police said that it’s highly likely that the one who died from the altercation is Ninian.”