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.

After Jacob left, Penelope received a link from Rebecca on WhatsApp. It came with a text that read, "I'll be hosting a live stream in five minutes. There's a surprise waiting for you there."

She tapped on the link, only to see Rebecca sitting on a luxurious couch while feasting on a gold leaf macaron. The huge rock perched on her fourth finger was extremely eye-catching.

Numerous Internet users began spamming the comment section of the live stream.

"Oh my god! The rock on Rebecca's wedding ring is a lot bigger than Penelope's! Just who is that mysterious boyfriend of hers? How is he even richer than Mr. Thornton?"

"Rebecca's mansion seems to be located in Skyview Heights. This neighborhood is known to be the most affluent place in the city. A mansion here has to be worth at least 20 million dollars, right? Ugh, I'm so jealous of her right now!"

"I can't believe that Rebecca's still so charming even after her divorce! Soon, she'll marry into an elite family because of her pregnancy! I wonder which elite family in Belroth she will be joining soon! I'm so envious! Gah!"

Rebecca zoomed in the camera of her phone at that moment. She wore a radiant smile the whole time.

"Everyone, my boyfriend and I will be registering our marriage soon. Once we've obtained our marriage license, I'll distribute 100 gift packs that are worth 100 thousand dollars each in the stream. Please wait patiently for the distribution, alright? Don't leave just yet!"

As soon as Rebecca said that, all the viewers in the live stream channel erupted into chaos instantly. The next thing everyone knew, a tall and slender masculine silhouette walked over and held Rebecca's hand.

"Becky, the employees will be here in five minutes. Let's change into something else."

Although the man's head was replaced with a Garfield sticker and had his voice artificially altered, Penelope could still recognize him as Jacob. At that time, he was wearing a watch with blue diamonds encrusted on the surface.

Her mind went blank instantly. After that, she rushed upstairs and dug out her marriage license to check its authenticity. Attached to the license was a photo of her and Jacob that was taken outside the City Hall. Everything checked out.

What was going on?

Bigamy was a criminal offence in Clairvon. Still, why would Jacob…

A thought popped into Penelope's mind immediately. But her thought process was immediately interrupted by the loud noises coming from her phone.

She turned to look at the screen, only to see numerous rose petals fluttering onto Rebecca's shoulders. Rebecca happened to be holding up a marriage license while exclaiming happily, "Everyone, I'm now married! I've been waiting for this moment for six long years, and it has finally come true!

"Please give us your blessings in the comment section! We're going to distribute the gift packs right now!"

The man walked over and took Rebecca's hand once again. "Silly Becky, 100 gift packs aren't enough at all. We need to distribute ten thousand gift packs worth 100 thousand dollars each, you hear? I want to be with you forever and ever, after all!"

More viewers joined the live stream channel at that moment. They all spammed the comment section, demanding the newlyweds to kiss in front of the camera.

Penelope was no longer in the mood to watch the live stream. She hurriedly used her phone to log into the official government's website meant to check one's marital details. After that, she inserted her marriage license's serial number into the search bar, which ended up generating a blank page.

Did that mean the marriage license she had obtained with Jacob was fake? Their three-year marriage was nothing but a sham this whole time?

Penelope's phone fell to the floor, causing the screen to splinter into countless cracks. At that moment, she felt as though her heart was cut into countless chunks. The pain flaring from her chest was so intense that she could barely breathe.

It turned out that Jacob had been plotting this whole thing since the day he and Penelope got married. He had been meaning to grant Rebecca the official title and position this whole time. That meant he had been lying to Penelope and treating her like an idiot.

Tears streamed down Penelope's cheeks as she ripped the marriage license into pieces. She then chucked the torn license as well as all the clothes she had bought for Jacob into the trash can before setting the pile up in flames.

Lauren Schmidt, the maid, ran into the room the moment she heard the ruckus that Penelope had caused. Upon noticing the suitcase sitting next to Penelope's feet, Lauren slapped on an anxious look immediately.

"Mrs. Thornton, Mr. Thornton is still willing to cook for you despite being an esteemed individual. That means he actually cares about you. You can't just leave like this—he won't be able to take it!"

"Don't call me 'Mrs. Thornton' anymore." Penelope lowered her head while sounding very bitter.

After all, Rebecca was the actual Mrs. Thornton.

At the end of the day, Penelope was just a fool without an actual title. She should've left Jacob's life a long time ago.