Just as I finally caught my breath, Eulalie started cheating once more.

I stayed busy catching her red-handed, busy dealing with the man around her.

Back and forth, it kept going on until today.

At the very start, Eulalie knelt beside my hospital bed and spoke to me, “Valerian, I see everything you have done for me.”

“From now on, let me carry the burden you have been carrying and repay all the pain you went through.”

Later, Eulalie took over my work. She held one arm around her lover and looked at me.

“Valerian, I know everything you have done for me, but that belongs to the past.”

“I promise no man will ever take your place, and I can even give all the family assets to our child.”

“But you also need to be more reasonable and stop stepping into my personal matters.”

Now, I looked at the two figures hugging each other outside the window.

I gave a dry smile and shook my head.

“Prescribe me some lighter abortion pills.”

“I am going back to Vermont soon. Bringing a baby with me is not convenient.”

“Besides, Eulalie smokes, drinks, and lives a messy private life.”

“In this case, how could a child born from this ever be healthy?”

My dad also built his wealth by depending on my mom.

After he was successful, mistresses one, two, three, four, and five showed up one after another, along with many children born outside marriage.

Exactly because of this, I wanted a sincere relationship.

But the first time she was caught in bed with someone else, Eulalie showed no guilt at all.

Instead, she spoke to me as if she were completely right, “Valerian, why are you acting mad?”

“Your dad has more than one woman. What is wrong with me having fun outside once in a while?”

“Think about how your mom dealt with it.”

“You grew up seeing and hearing all of this. How is it that you still have not learned how to be a kept husband in a rich family?”

She took my deepest pain and turned it into a tool to hurt me.

In that instant, I understood.

Our love had already come to an end.

But because of that agreement that lasted ten years, I could not leave Eulalie.

I could only watch helplessly as she openly crushed my pride and stepped on my feelings.

The wedding I risked my life to secure turned into a cage that trapped me.

The love that once felt carved into my body became Eulalie’s tool to wound me.

I had suffered enough from family and love.

Instead of letting this child live the same fate, I decided it was better to finish this broken marriage myself.

I swallowed the prescribed medication and dialed Eulalie’s number.

Even if we could not separate peacefully, we should at least leave one last bit of respect for each other.

The call connected.

But what came through, however, were their two intimate sounds.

My chest hurt for no reason.

I lifted my head and watched the city slowly fade into the dark, and I suddenly wondered. How did Eulalie and I end up this way?

Was it because of Percy? Or was it because of… that incident?

It no longer mattered.

No matter why it happened, cheating and hurting me were clear truths.

I hailed a taxi, wanting to head back and pack my bags.

While I waited for the car, I spotted Eulalie at the crossing.

She and Percy were walking hand in hand along the busy road.

That sweet, flirty look made them seem like a couple deeply in love.

Percy softly touched Eulalie’s lower belly, his face full of affection.

“Sister Elijah, we’re going to have a baby soon. When will you divorce that old guy?”

“I don’t want my son calling someone else Dad!”

Eulalie smiled.

She leaned into Percy’s arms and smiled in a gentle way.

“Don’t hurry for now. Valerian still doesn’t know about this.”

“There are still some key company files in his hands.”

“After I take everything from him, then we can get ready for the divorce.”

After that, Eulalie kept talking about many other things.

She spoke about their plans for the future.

She talked about the good life ahead.

She said she would do all she could to protect this baby and to let Percy live the best life possible.

Those words, mixed with the cold winter wind, pressed into my chest little by little, like slow torture.

In the end, Eulalie held Percy’s hand.

She placed the safety lock that I once begged for, step by step, kneeling and bowing, around his neck.

“I’ve already given our baby a name, Asher.”

“It means together again and whole, joy and satisfaction.”

Asher… Asher…

So this baby was never mine.

So the small bit of love left behind was fake as well.

Back then, because of Eulalie’s words, I felt ashamed and couldn’t eat or sleep.

To show how much I loved her, I pushed through deep snow, bowing and kneeling one step at a time to pray for her safety lock.

I promised I would succeed.

I promised I would give her a stable life.

That unborn baby was proof of our affection.

It was the reason that kept me moving forward.

But now, Eulalie gave this safety lock to someone else.

She repaid what she owed the baby and me by handing it to the other man and her illegitimate child.

I took a slow breath, trying to act like it didn’t matter.

But Percy noticed me right away.

He laughed and said, “Sister Eulalie, your kept man is here again to watch over you.”

“If you ask me, some people should stop trying so hard to get attention, okay?”

He played with the safety lock, his face full of dislike.

“If you can’t please your own woman, don’t blame others for stepping in first.”

“Instead of crying and causing trouble here, you might as well go home and think about what you’ll do when you get kicked out one day.”

He was clearly trying to make me mad, wishing I would get into a loud fight with Eulalie.

But what he didn’t understand was that I had already stopped caring.

Once morning arrived, I would leave Louisiana and leave Eulalie.

By then, someone would naturally come and deal with the child in her stomach.

I took one final look at Eulalie and spoke calmly, without feeling, “Eulalie, you will regret this.”

“Because you forgot who it was that gave you everything you have.”

Eulalie wanted to speak, but Percy stopped her.

She kept on looking, and in the end, she still didn’t come after me.

She only left behind one sentence, “Wait for me. I’ll explain everything to you tomorrow.”

There would be no tomorrow.

The moonlight spread like water, laying pale light across the ground.

Dragging my tired body, I walked alone toward the port.

During the last few hours, I paid the nanny her salary and asked her to sort out the old things that Eulalie and I once shared.

After that, I stayed by myself and waited for sunrise.

When the morning light appeared, a private jet stopped in front of me.

“Eldest young master, I am here to take you back home.”

As the plane passed over the city, everything from the past slowly faded away.

From that moment on, Eulalie and I, separated by different lands, would never meet again for the rest of our lives.

….

While she was sleeping, Eulalie was suddenly pulled out of bed.

As a bowl of abortion medicine was forced down her throat, the child she had waited for so long quickly became a pool of ruined flesh.

She stared in angry fear at the men dressed in black who had broken into the hotel.

Just as she was about to speak, a newspaper was thrown down in front of her.

Staring carefully, it clearly said, “First son of the Gambling King enters marriage with the daughter of a shipping tycoon.”

“Many Vermont business owners announce withdrawal of funds and returning to Vermont; the Vargas Group is about to face a major loss.”