"You had a crush on Jake for eight long years. Now that you've finally married him, why would you suddenly have the heart to leave him?"

Penelope did her best to keep her tears at bay. "I want to pick up my dreams and aspirations again."

"Alright, then. The identity termination procedures will be completed in three days. I'll give you 100 million dollars to make it up to you. But in return, you are not to return to Clairvon, nor are you allowed to meet up with Jake ever again."

"No problem," Penelope replied.

Peter continued, "You'll also have to return the family heirloom that I gave you when you first joined the family as my daughter-in-law."

Penelope agreed to his condition immediately. "Alright."

Five minutes later, Peter's secretary, Trevor Chopin, delivered a set of divorce papers and a bank card to Penelope. She signed the papers immediately before handing over the Thorntons' heirloom—an emerald bracelet—as well.

Then, Penelope dug out her suitcase and began packing her things up. That was when she saw her phone screen light up. There was a brand new text from Jacob.

"Honey, are you asleep? I'm starting to get hungry. If you're still awake, please whip up some meatballs and have them delivered to Room 1001."

Penelope stared at the text for ten long seconds. She then tapped on a button to delete the entire chat history. After that, she plopped down in front of the vanity dresser and began chopping off her waist-length hair with scissors.

Jacob loved her long hair the most, after all.

At the same time, Penelope recalled the way she had saved Jacob's life in that car accident a long time ago. She also remembered how he had bolted toward the emergency room while carrying her in the bridal style.

"Penny, you'd better hang in there! Don't die, you hear me? I'll agree to any conditions you have for me as long as you survive this ordeal!"

"Will you marry me?" Penelope had breathed out back then.

"Yes, I will!" Jacob responded while hugging her tightly.

He was a man of his word. Once Penelope recovered from her injuries and got discharged, he was quick to get down on one knee and propose to her. He even planted a 1.5-acre crab apple grove for her.

As soon as the sharp blade cut Penelope's finger, she felt intense pain flaring from the fresh wound. The pain snapped her out of her stupor. It allowed her to jog her memory and remember the numerous details she had subconsciously ignored in the past.

Jacob never introduced her to his friends and family. He didn't even throw a grand wedding ceremony on their wedding day. When he came home every night, all he cared about was having sex with her. Either that, or he'd lock himself up in his study and focus on work.

Now that Penelope thought about it, Jacob must have thought of her as a lowly woman who'd end up embarrassing him if he were to parade her around. Her skills in bed were all that she was worth to him.

It was clear that Jacob didn't love her at all. Yet, she was foolish enough to think that she'd be able to replace Rebecca as long as she gave everything she had to him and treated him well enough.

How childish and ridiculous!

Penelope took off her wedding ring and chucked it into a nearby trash can. She turned on her computer and logged into Twitter. Then, she deleted everything on her account. After that, she booked a ticket for a flight that was set to depart from Belroth in three days.

That night, Penelope was already asleep when she felt someone lying next to her. That person soon hugged her from behind. Subconsciously, she wiggled out of his embrace while pretending to be asleep.

The next thing she knew, Jacob pulled her back into his arms. He sounded quite shocked. "Penny, why did you cut your precious long hair all of a sudden?"

Penelope's eyes remained closed as she played dead. Suddenly, she felt his warm lips on hers.

"Your silhouette looks just like Becky's when you have long hair. But your eyes don't look like hers at all."

Phantom pain flared from Penelope's heart at that moment. Her fingers closed around the hem of her shirt subconsciously.

No wonder Jacob was exceptionally turned on whenever Penelope turned her back on him in bed. Clearly, he had been screwing her while fantasizing that she was Rebecca.

Ironically enough, Penelope had thought that Jacob actually loved her body despite not being romantically interested in her.

She had seriously wasted the last eight years being nothing but a pathetic loser.

Penelope wasn't able to sleep a wink throughout the night. The next day, while washing up in the bathroom, she happened to come across a news article of Jacob watching a fireworks display with a mystery woman.

Although the reporters were only able to take photos of the woman's blurry silhouette, Penelope could still recognize that woman as Rebecca.

"Penny, breakfast is ready!" Jacob called out while serving the dishes on the table.

Penelope turned away to wipe the tears off her cheeks. She replied coldly, "I'm not hungry."

Jacob was confused when he noticed how crestfallen Penelope looked. He walked over and wrapped an arm around her waist.

"If you feel very bored at home, why don't I take you to a fashion boutique later and order a few gowns of the latest designs for you?"

Since Penelope couldn't say no to Jacob, she could only agree to his suggestion.

Both of them had just arrived at the boutique when they bumped into Rebecca, who was clad in a white dress at that time.

Rebecca covered her mouth and let out a few gentle coughs. Then, she shot Penelope a small smile.

"What a coincidence, Ms. Hall. Are you here to order your gown as well?"

Before Penelope could respond, Jacob cut in icily, "That's Mrs. Thornton to you, and you'll do well to remember that. You might as well go back to school, seeing as you have no sense of decorum at all."

Rebecca's complexion turned extremely pale instantly. Tears brimmed in her eyes as she replied, "I'm so sorry, Mrs. Thornton. I didn't mean to ruin your mood by showing up in front of you. I'll leave right away."

Penelope just ignored Rebecca as a whole. She entered the boutique and began browsing through the gowns. In the background, Rebecca's coughs became louder and more violent as time passed.

Meanwhile, Jacob kept his eyes glued to his phone screen. He appeared to be texting someone else at that moment.

Penelope's voice became chilly. "Is it okay if I don't attend the banquet tonight? You never took me to such occasions in the past, after all."

"No can do." Jacob clicked his phone shut. "Tonight's entrepreneurs' summit is extremely important. You have to be there. David, bring the best gowns your studio has to offer."

After that, Jacob bought the gowns that Penelope's gaze had landed on. In just an instant, half of the boutique's inventory was gone.

The employees were envious and jealous of Penelope, to say the least. They began gossiping among themselves.

"Mr. Thornton pampers Penelope a lot, huh? He doesn't even mind the fact that she's sterile, let alone the fact that she's four years older than him! Their love is super sweet!"

"Back when Mr. Thornton was admitted into the psychiatric hospital, Penelope was the only one who stuck with him through thick and thin. Mr. Thornton is a loyal and devoted man, so it only makes sense for him to be nice to her. Penelope deserves this treatment no matter what."

Penelope lowered her gaze in order to conceal the cold glint in her eyes. She said in a frosty tone, "Jacob, I have other things to do, so I'm leaving now."

Having noticed the frown on Penelope's face, Jacob mistook her expression for her dissatisfaction with the gowns. He quickly said, "David, bring me a few more gowns."

Penelope's eyes sparkled the moment she saw David Horn, the assistant, hanging the ninth gown on the display rack before her.

At the same time, Rebecca, who was seated on the couch near the floor-to-ceiling window, was staring at the gown as well. Obviously, she was beguiled by the gown.

"Penny, gown number nine is really pretty. You should try it on," Jacob suggested.

Once Penelope was done changing into the gown, she swiped the curtains of the fitting room to the side. That was when she saw Jacob sitting on the couch near the floor-to-ceiling window. At the moment, he was hugging Rebecca, who now sat on his lap. He was feeding her some medicine.

Rebecca had her arms locked around Jacob's neck, and she was acting cute. "Jake, I really like gown number nine. Can you buy it for me? Pretty please?"

"No," Jacob answered firmly.

Tears welled up in Rebecca's eyes instantly. She leaned in to capture Jacob's lips in a kiss.

Penelope averted her gaze right away. After changing out of the gown, she placed it on the counter. "David, I'll take this gown. Please ring it up with the other gowns."

David glanced at his phone, and an apologetic look soon appeared on his face.

"I'm terribly sorry, Mrs. Thornton. This gown is still a little flawed, so I can't sell it to you."

"The gown's flawed, yet you still have the guts to let Penny try it on?"

At that moment, Jacob strode toward the counter while glaring at David in displeasure. "I'll give you three days to alter the gown. Have it delivered to Penny for the final inspection."

David kept apologizing to Jacob. He promised that he'd deliver the gown to Penelope on time. After that, Jacob and Penelope left the boutique, with Jacob claiming that he needed to attend a meeting in his company.

As Penelope drove to her next destination to carry out her errands, she happened to catch sight of a familiar black Maybach, which was stuck in the heavy traffic. In the backseat of the Maybach, Rebecca was clad in gown number nine. At that time, she happened to be knotting a tie for Jacob.

When Rebecca felt Penelope's gaze on her, she planted a kiss on Jacob's right cheek smugly. Almost immediately, he pulled her into his arms before raising the car window.

Penelope swiped across her phone's screen and dialed a number. "Mr. Thornton, please keep the details of my new identity a secret. Don't let Jacob uncover any clues about my identity."

"Don't worry. I won't give him a chance to find you," Peter replied. "I'm here to wish you a safe flight in advance."

Penelope closed her eyes, letting her tears roll down her cheeks. Soon, she'd be able to leave Jacob behind and pursue her dreams.

Soon, Penelope arrived at the City Hall to go through the deregistration process. Right after completing the process, she received a video from Rebecca.

As soon as Penelope played the video, she saw Rebecca walking into a huge walk-in closet with all the lights turned on. The camera captured rows and rows of luxurious, customized gowns. The smile Rebecca wore was one of provocation.

"Ms. Hall, you and I share similar fashion preferences. Remember the gowns that you previously had your eye on but had gone out of stock? Yeah, they're actually with me.

"Which gown do you like the most? Why don't I have someone deliver it to you right away? After all, Jacob bought 20 gowns for me today. My walk-in closet is so full that I don't think they can fit."

Penelope didn't respond to the video at all. Instead, she walked into the mall that was located adjacent to the City Hall. The first thing she did was head toward a gold store.

"I want everything your store has to offer," she said to the employee. "Ring up everything for me."

The female employee was shell-shocked, to say the least. She stammered, "Mrs. Thornton, all this jewelry is worth at least millions of dollars in total. Would you like to try them on first?"

"No need for that. Take my card."

Penelope emptied out ten gold stores in one go, making sure to foot the bill with Jacob's card every single time. Soon, she received a phone call from Jacob.

However, Penelope was too busy typing out a divorce agreement on her phone at the moment, so she just let her phone ring continuously.

Once she got home from her shopping trip, she was surprised to see Jacob pacing up and down in the living room. He was so anxious that he was already sweating profusely.

The moment Jacob noticed Penelope, he quickly approached her nervously.

"Penny, why didn't you pick up my calls? You even sold the jewelry I gave you! Did you get mad at me because we ran into Rebecca at the boutique?"

"I was just sick and tired of that jewelry," Penelope replied impassively. "Gold jewelry is better. It can withstand the passing of time. Plus, its color won't ever fade."

A flicker of unease streaked past Jacob's eyes. He frowned at Penelope's answer.

He had specifically told everyone to keep Rebecca's pregnancy a secret from Penelope. No one should be that bold to tell Penelope anything.

Noting Jacob's silence, Penelope just sneered at him. "Oh? Are you feeling tormented because I used your card to buy 20 million dollars' worth of gold jewelry?"

"Of course not!" Jacob retorted instantly.

He quickly leaned in to kiss Penelope on the lips. At the same time, he began feeling her up and down in an attempt to seduce her.

"You're my wife, so you're free to buy anything you want. But you're not allowed to ignore my calls from now on, you hear? I'm very worried about you."

The rose-scented perfume clinging to Jacob's white shirt was so strong that Penelope felt like puking on the spot. She quickly pushed him away.

"I'm tired, so I'm going to rest for a bit," she said coldly.

As Jacob looked at Penelope's cold expression, he had a feeling that she seemed to have changed. He was about to ask her for the reason behind her mood change when his phone rang abruptly.

Jacob's expression changed slightly when he noticed the caller ID. "Penny, something urgent has happened in the company. I need to head over right now."

Before Penelope could respond, Jacob picked up his jacket and left the mansion hurriedly.

Penelope called after him. She flipped to the final page of the document before stating softly, "Jacob, I need you to sign this document."

Jacob didn't even bother looking at the document. He just put his signature on the page right away.

Penelope gazed at him quietly. Her tone was now neutral. "You didn't even glance at the document before signing it. Aren't you worried that the document might be a divorce agreement?"

But Jacob just stared down at his phone. He replied absent-mindedly, "I'm not worried at all, seeing as you're the one going through the business proposal's clauses and details. Tomorrow, I'll have the finance department wire the funds to Professor Addrall."

Penelope just chuckled in amusement. She traced a finger along the divorce agreement while deep in thought.

Finally, she said, "Next Friday is your birthday. I've prepared a birthday gift for you in advance. Remember to check it out."

"Oh? What is it?" Jacob raised his head to look at Penelope eagerly. "Is it the sports car coated in the shade of celestial blue that I've had my eye on for a long time?"

Penelope's response was cold as always. "Regardless, you'll definitely like it."

In any case, she'd still make way for Jacob's first love, just the way he had been dreaming of this whole time. She hoped that she and Jacob would never see each other again in this lifetime.