Jared blatantly loved Naomi without me noticing.

He carefully gathered the broken pieces from the floor, treating them like precious treasures before entering the study.

Meanwhile, I shakily took out the first aid kit.

The bleeding on my hand stopped, but the pain in my heart wouldn't.

Jared stayed in the study all night.

I stayed in the living room, thinking about everything for hours.

I had hoped that remembering the good times we'd had together would convince me to stay with him. But the more I thought, the sadder I felt.

I started to doubt his feelings for me.

Was his love and kindness really directed at me, or was I just a shell he used to love Naomi?

As that thought sank in, I realized it was time to end this. I couldn't accept being a stand-in for someone else.

Just as I was about to be honest with Jared, the doorbell rang. Jared quickly came out of the study and opened the door.

A group of men in black suits entered, looking like bodyguards.

Was Jared in some kind of danger?

I quickly asked, "What's going on, Jared? Is something wrong?"

The second the words left my mouth, I regretted them.

I had already decided to leave him, yet I still couldn't stop worrying. I hated myself for being so weak.

The next moment, the leader of the group stepped in front of me.

Before I could react, he grabbed my arm.

Confused, I heard him say, "Don't worry, Mr. Lockwood. We at Hawthorn Academy are professionals. We'll make sure Ms. Sloan gets the proper education."

I froze at his words.

I had heard of Hawthorn Academy before through Jared.

Though the name sounded like a school, it was really a place where the upper crust sent their playthings to be trained.

The term "training" was really a nice way of saying "tortured".

People went in alive but came out feeling dead inside.

The people inside would use all sorts of cruel methods to tame the "students", forcing them to learn their place.

At the time, I had laughed when I asked Jared, "If I don't listen to you, you wouldn't really send me there, would you?"

He had looked at me seriously and said, "First of all, you're my wife, not a plaything. Second, there must be a reason you don't listen to me. I could never let you go through that kind of suffering."

Who knew that all I had to do was break Naomi's gift—the glass—for him to actually consider sending me to Hawthorn Academy?

I resisted, saying, "Are you kidding, Jared? I'm not going. I'm fine."

Jared glanced at me and sneered. "If you were really fine, why would you break Naomi's glass? You're just jealous of her and trying to replace her. Too bad. It's not going to work!"

That was the moment I truly realized he wasn't kidding.

At once, I started struggling.

But the difference in strength was too much. I was no match for the man. The harder I fought, the tighter his grip became.

In the end, it was only me who suffered.

The man, hearing our exchange, turned to Jared and smiled obsequiously. "We'll show her the ropes, Mr. Lockwood. You won't be disappointed."

Jared nodded with satisfaction.

A wave of panic washed over me. Desperate, I tried to explain, "Jared, please believe me. It was an accident! I didn't mean to break it. I wasn't trying to replace Naomi. I don't want to go to Hawthorn Academy. You—"

As he looked at my terrified face, a cruel smile tugged at his lips.

"Winter, don't blame me for this. This is your debt to Naomi. You broke her glass, and now you need to make it right. How can I face her otherwise? Don't worry. Just listen to them. I'll love you again when you come back."

Before I could respond, a sharp pain shot through my head, and everything went black.

When I woke up, I was tied to a chair. The surroundings were dim and suffocating, filled with a chemical stench that made me gag.

At that moment, a graceful woman walked in.

When I saw her face, I froze.

It was Diana Lockwood. Her face now bore an uncanny resemblance to Naomi.

Diana was the Lockwood family's adopted daughter, Jared's sister in name.

"Winter, do you realize what you've done wrong?" she asked, her tone mocking.

I blinked, stunned, before shaking my head. "No! I didn't do anything wrong. I accidentally broke his glass. That's all. I didn't know…"

Desperately, I asked with a hint of flattery, "Diana, please. Can you get me out of here? I don't want to stay here. I—"

Diana burst into laughter, cutting me off. Her eyes brimmed with disdain as she looked at me.

"Winter, you're so adorably naïve. I worked so hard to get Jared to send you here. Do you really think I'd let you go that easily?"

Her words left me bewildered.

Diana had always been kind to me. I couldn't believe her words.

"Winter," she continued, "someone like you, born into nothing, doesn't deserve Jared. Your biggest mistake wasn't breaking that glass. It was daring to love Jared.

"I've stood by his side for so long. He should have been mine. If it weren't for you, we would've been together ages ago. But it doesn't matter. It's not too late. Jared finally sees who truly deserves him. It's me!"

Diana had always been unusually attentive to Jared, but I had chalked it up to sibling affection. Never had I imagined her feelings for him were way more than that.

"Oh, and by the way, Jared told me to take good care of you. He wants you to properly atone to Naomi."

With that, Dianna pressed a button on the remote in her hand and smugly said, "Let's see how long you can last."

The next moment, an intense current surged through the chair, jolting through my body. My limbs went numb, and a sharp, searing pain radiated through me.

Diana seemed unsatisfied with my reaction and increased the intensity of the electric shock.

My body convulsed uncontrollably. The pain pushed me to the edge of consciousness.

The shocks grew stronger, layer upon layer, until my back felt like it was being burned.

My mind began to slip away, fading into darkness.

Just then, Diana stopped.

But as my awareness slowly returned, she pressed the button again.

The renewed agony ripped a scream from my throat.

She toyed with me, keeping me trapped between the brink of unconsciousness and the harsh pull of awareness.

After nearly an hour of torment, she repeated the same question as before. "Winter, do you realize what you've done wrong?"

I knew she wasn't just asking about the broken glass. She wanted me to admit that loving Jared had been a mistake.

But neither of those felt like a crime to me.

I slowly forced the words out, "I… did… nothing… wrong."

Her eyes flickered with a brief flash of surprise.

Suddenly, she pulled out her phone and answered a call on speakerphone.

"Jared, Winter says she did nothing wrong. But honestly, she's already in pretty bad shape. Maybe we should let this go. Naomi wouldn't want—"

For a moment, hope sparked in me. After three years together, Jared must feel something for me, right?

But I had underestimated the hold Naomi had on his heart. To him, she was sacred and untouchable.

Jared cut Diana off coldly, saying, "If Naomi knew her keepsake had been destroyed, she would be upset for sure. Do you think she'd just let it slide?

"Diana, if you feel bad for Winter, I'll find someone else to deal with her. I don't believe that she's that tough."

Diana hesitated, then sighed. "Fine. But don't blame me if she ends up seriously hurt. She's your wife, after all…"

"Wife? She doesn't deserve to be my wife. She's nothing more than Naomi's substitute. If she has upset Naomi, then it doesn't matter who she is. She should know that she's just my plaything," Jared said with disdain.

Diana ended the call with a triumphant grin, but her expression twisted into something sinister as she turned to me.

Suddenly, I found myself thinking that maybe I really was wrong. I should never have married Jared. I should never have loved him so deeply and so blindly.

If I hadn't loved him, I wouldn't have expected anything from him. And I wouldn't be here, utterly shattered.

Just then, a searing pain jolted me back to the present.

Diana had retrieved a branding iron from somewhere and pressed it against my calf.

I watched in horror as my skin reddened, blistered, and began to ooze.

However, I bit down hard, refusing to scream.

My voice seemed to be Diana's stimulant. Every time I whimpered, she would press harder and burn deeper.

The physical agony overwhelmed me. Tears poured uncontrollably down my face.

Seeing me curl up in pain, Diana pressed the button again.

With the dual torment of the electric shock and the branding, my body grew more and more uncontrollable.

Just then, a warm trickle ran down my legs, soaking the chair. A foul, acrid smell lingered around me.

Diana wrinkled her nose in disgust and sneered. "Gosh, Winter! How could you urinate in public? Are you an animal?"

Yes, the electric shock caused me to lose control of my bladder.

The intense humiliation surged through me. Every ounce of my being screamed to retort, but I had no energy left.

Diana, seemingly not satisfied, ordered someone to bring in a full-length mirror.

She placed it in front of me, forcing me to see the wreckage of what I had become.

Meanwhile, she stood off to the side and looked down at my misery with a sense of superiority. Occasionally, she would snap pictures of my humiliation with her phone.