"It was Mom!" Charlotte cried, her voice breaking. "She knew we were allergic and still gave it to us on purpose."

Benjamin nodded hard. "She's so mean!"

Elena gripped the doorframe so tightly that her knuckles turned white. "Benjamin, Charlotte, do you understand what you're saying? You'd better tell the truth right now!"

"Enough!"

Lucas lurched to his feet and clamped his hand around her wrist with enough force to nearly shatter her bones. "Is this how a mother should behave? Not only did you hurt them, but you're also forcing them to lie for you?"

"I'm not…"

Elena's voice trembled despite herself.

Lucas scoffed. "Are you saying they're framing you? They're children. Do you really think they'd lie about something like this? How can you call yourself a mother?"

The children burst into tears all of a sudden. Lucas immediately released Elena and turned to soothe them, but they cried harder, their faces flushing scarlet.

"Dad…" Charlotte sobbed. "We feel awful…"

"What would make you feel better?" Lucas asked quietly, wiping her tears away.

Benjamin's red-rimmed eyes shifted to Elena. "She's allergic to mango too. Make her drink the mango juice. She should feel awful too!"

Elena felt her heart turn to ice. She looked at Lucas, the coldness in his eyes making her shiver.

"Alright."

He straightened and snapped his fingers. Two bodyguards entered the room.

"Hold her in place," he commanded.

Before Elena could react, she was forced into a chair. One of the bodyguards gripped her jaw and forced her mouth open.

A full liter of mango juice was poured down her throat. The syrupy liquid burned as it went down the wrong pipe. She choked violently, her throat burning like it had been set on fire.

Red hives spread across her skin almost instantly. Her face began to swell, and her breathing grew labored. She clawed at her neck in desperation, her vision blurring as she looked at Lucas.

He simply stood there, watching with indifference and showing absolutely no intention of telling the bodyguards to stop.

The children had stopped crying and were now clapping excitedly. "Serves her right! She should suffer too!"

Before darkness closed in around her, the last thing Elena saw was the chilling look in Lucas' eyes.

…

Elena had no idea how long she'd been unconscious when she finally woke up in a hospital bed. Her throat still burned, and faint rashes lingered on her skin.

A familiar voice drifted in from outside the ward.

It was Sabrina.

"Lucas, I honestly didn't know they were allergic. I just wanted to make them some juice…"

"It's not your fault," Lucas said gently. "You didn't know."

Sabrina spoke with a tinge of helplessness. "If I'd explained sooner, you wouldn't have misunderstood Ms. Jennings. Benny, Lottie, it was all my fault. How could you blame it all on your mother just to protect me?"

The children's guilty voices carried through the door.

"Ms. Miller… We're sorry," Charlotte said in between sobs. "W-we just don't like Mom…"

"Yeah," Benjamin added. "She's always telling us what we can't eat and when to go to bed. We just wanted her to leave…"

Elena's fingers tightened around the bedsheet until her knuckles turned white. These were the children she'd painstakingly carried to term.

She remembered the day Benjamin was born. The delivery room had been empty. A nurse told her Lucas was in an important meeting and couldn't make it, so she'd endured the pain of labor all by herself.

When Charlotte was born, it was even worse. It was a difficult delivery, during which Elena suffered massive bleeding. The doctors had even issued a critical condition notice.

However, Lucas had flown off to another country to handle an international acquisition deal.

And now, the two children she'd fought tooth and nail to bring into the world had become the very people who were hurting her the most.

The pain tore straight through Elena's chest. She pressed her hand against her heart and stood there for a long moment, trying to steady herself while the tears kept coming.

Just then, her phone started ringing. It was the airline calling to confirm her ticket details.

"Ms. Jennings, your one-way ticket to Yewton has been issued. Would you like to select a seat?"

"A window seat, please. Thank you," she answered, wiping away the tears before her voice could betray her.

She'd just ended the call when the hospital room door opened.

Lucas walked in, composed as ever. His suit was immaculate, his posture straight, and his cuffs aligned down to the millimeter.

"Who were you on the phone with?" he asked evenly.

Elena put her phone away. "A friend."

He didn't press further. He simply stood at the foot of the bed, looking down at her. "There was a bit of a misunderstanding last time. Sabrina was the one who gave the children mango juice."

His tone remained neutral, as if he were discussing something trivial. "But she didn't know they were allergic. We'll leave it at that."

Elena felt her heart clench, the pain nearly taking her breath away.

When he believed she'd done it, he'd wanted to kill her, but when it turned out to be Sabrina, it became an unfortunate mistake.

Her lips parted. She wanted to argue, to scream, to lay bare all of the grievances and resentment she'd been holding in.

But in the end, all she could muster was a mere, "Okay."

As if all the strength had been drained from her body, Elena felt exhausted, so exhausted that she didn't even have the will to argue anymore.

The grievances that had once kept her awake at night—the resentment that had piled up day after day—all dissolved into a faint, self-mocking smile at the corners of her lips.

It turned out the line between love and indifference was remarkably thin and easy to see.

Lucas seemed faintly surprised by her reaction. After a brief pause, he said, "The kids are leaving for summer camp next week. Sabrina and I are going with them. You can head back on your own."

He waited for her to beg, cry, or make a scene the way she used to.

Instead, Elena simply nodded. "Got it."

He frowned, clearly unsettled by her unusual reaction, but his phone rang at that moment. He glanced at the caller ID and said, "Something's come up at the office. I have to go."

The second the door shut behind him, Elena finally unclenched her fist, the skin broken where her nails had dug in.

…

Over the next few days, Elena's phone buzzed nonstop.

Every notification was from Sabrina. There were numerous photos and videos, all capturing cheerful scenes from summer camp.

In one clip, Benjamin and Charlotte stood proudly beside Sabrina, their faces glowing as they introduced her to their classmates.

"This is our mom!"

The other children gasped in envy.

"Wow, your mom is so pretty!"

"Your dad's handsome, and your mom's beautiful. You guys are so lucky!"

Then, a curious child asked, "Who's the lady who usually picks you up from school?"

Benjamin and Charlotte's expressions stiffened for a brief second. "Oh, that's… our nanny."

Elena's hand trembled. The glass she was holding slipped from her fingers and shattered on the floor. She slowly crouched down, stared at the shards scattered at her feet, and laughed.

After all these years, she had only ever been a nanny to them.

But it didn't matter because that nanny would be resigning soon.

From now on, their beloved "mom" could take care of them.

…

A week later, Martha brought Benjamin and Charlotte back to the mansion.

The moment they stepped inside, they ran straight to the kitchen, unable to hide the smugness on their faces.

"Mom!" Charlotte called out in a high voice. "Did you know Ms. Miller twisted her ankle at family sports day? Dad was so worried about her!"

Benjamin chimed in immediately, "Dad booked out an entire hospital for her and even canceled his meetings. He stayed with her the whole time!"

Elena stood in front of the oven, listening to their bragging while slipping on her oven mitts.

"Mom, are you even listening?"

Charlotte stomped her foot in displeasure. "Dad treats Ms. Miller so well, way better than he ever treated—"

The oven timer chimed, cutting her off.

The sweet scent of cake filled the kitchen instantly. Both children's eyes lit up as they hurried over.

Benjamin rose onto his toes. "It's cake! I want some!"

Elena pulled the tray out. The edges of the cake were slightly burned. She frowned, then tipped the entire cake into the trash bin.

Charlotte let out a sharp scream. "Why would you throw it away?"

"It's burned. You can't eat it," Elena said calmly.

"You're lying!"

Benjamin kicked the trash bin in anger. "You did that on purpose! You're still mad about what happened before, so you don't want us to eat it. You're such a terrible mom!"

Charlotte's face flushed bright red. "We don't want a mom like you!"

Elena slowly removed the oven mitts, her heart clenching painfully.

She looked at the two children she'd nearly died bringing into the world, and for the first time, they felt like strangers to her.

"Good," she said softly. "I don't want children like you either. You're more than welcome to go running to Sabrina from here on out."

With that, she turned and strode toward the stairs.

Behind her, the children screamed at the top of their lungs, "We hate you! We'll hate you forever!"

Her steps faltered for a split second, but she didn't look back. She'd just stepped onto the third stair when a violent shove struck her from behind.

"Why don't you just die!"

The world spun as Elena's body crashed down the staircase. Pain exploded through her limbs, and warm blood streamed from her forehead, blurring her vision.

Benjamin and Charlotte stood at the top of the stairs, smiling maliciously.

Charlotte clapped her hands, while Benjamin made a face.

"Serves you right!"

"That's what you get for not giving us cake!"

Elena struggled to push herself up. Blood dripped onto the floor from her chin and her arm, cut by broken glass.

She looked at the two children before her and couldn't reconcile them with the children she'd once fought to bring into this world while lying half-conscious in the delivery room.

The front door flew open just then.

"What happened?"

Lucas' low voice rang out. Sabrina followed close behind him, and the two of them froze at the sight before them.

"Dad!"

The children's expressions shifted instantly as they rushed toward him in tears. "Mom threw the cake away and wouldn't let us eat it, and she said she doesn't want us anymore!"

Lucas's gaze fell on the cake in the trash, then shifted to Elena, who was covered in blood. His brows knit together. "Elena, why do you insist on making things difficult with your own children?"

His voice was icy. "How could you say something like that to your biological children? You don't deserve to be a mother!"

Elena braced herself against the wall and slowly stood up. Blood stained the collar of her clothes.

She looked at him and suddenly laughed.

"When have I ever deserved anything in your eyes?" she asked hoarsely. "Haven't you always treated me as nothing more than a tool to bear your children?"

Lucas' pupils contracted slightly.

"If the wife you want is Sabrina, and if the kids only want her as their mother, then I'll step aside and give the four of you the family you want," Elena said as she wiped the blood from her face.

The air seemed to freeze.

Lucas' expression darkened. He stared at her as though he was seeing her clearly for the first time.

"Don't forget, Elena," he said in a chilling tone. "Our marriage was an alliance between the Fischer and the Jennings families. There was never any love to begin with. What exactly do you expect me to give you? Love?"

He let out a short, humorless laugh. "I'm sorry. I can't."

Elena laughed, and tears slipped down her face as she listened.

He was right.

She'd been foolish enough to think she could soften him.

Lucas had softened once before, but not for her.

She should've known better.

"Lucas, that's enough," Sabrina said gently, taking hold of his arm. "The kids are frightened. Let's take them upstairs first."

Lucas looked at Elena for a long moment. Finally, he turned away, lifting one child in each arm and leaving with Sabrina at his side.

Elena watched their retreating silhouettes while blood continued to drip onto the floor.

She'd never felt regret this sharply before—regret for marrying Lucas and for giving birth to those two children.

In this lifetime, she wouldn't repeat the same mistake.

From now on, she would live only for herself.

…

Three days later, it was Benjamin's birthday.

The party was held at the most luxurious hotel downtown. Crystal chandeliers scattered brilliant light across the ceiling, and a towering champagne tower gleamed at the center of the ballroom.

As always, Lucas had booked the entire floor and thrown Benjamin a grand celebration.

Elena stood quietly in a corner.

She watched as Benjamin and Charlotte held Sabrina's hands on either side of her, circling her like two cheerful little birds. They clung to her the entire evening, deliberately leaving Elena alone.

Not far away, Lucas stood with a champagne glass between his fingers, his gaze drifting toward Sabrina occasionally.

The tenderness in his eyes was something Elena had never once seen directed at her.

"Mr. Fischer is such a devoted man. Despite all these years, he only has eyes for Ms. Miller."

"Of course. Even the kids take after him. They don't have eyes for anyone but Sabrina."