"If you can’t give me a child, then what are you still here for?"

That was the first thing he said when I told him the truth. Not a pause. Not a moment of silence. Just that.

I could no longer get pregnant. The doctor’s words were final. My ovaries were weak. Two failed pregnancies had sealed that fate.

I grieved. I broke. My marriage with Darius was founded on love. It was arranged by our elders, but even before that, we already loved each other. That made our union effortless.

But everything crumbled the moment I told him I could no longer carry his child. The life we built began to collapse, one piece at a time. No matter what I did, I ended up with nothing.

Just like now.

"Rosella, prepare this," he said the moment he walked through the door.

I saw my favorite dish. The same one from the restaurant he once built for me. But I couldn't smile or feel the same excitement as before. I knew it wasn’t for me.

"L-Luna..." said the woman beside him, bowing her head like she was ashamed.

She stepped into our home like a visitor, but I knew better. She wouldn’t leave. Her presence was permanent. My eyes narrowed as I caught the unmistakable curve in her belly. It was something her clothes could no longer hide.

"Did you get the room beside ours ready?" Darius asked again.

I took the shopping bags from him. "Let her stay in our room. It’s more comfortable there," I said without looking at him.

I heard her gasp softly. I don’t know if she’s faking it because how could she be shock for something she surely…expected?

“Luna, I... I can’t stay in your bedroom...”

“You’re carrying his child. You’ve shared his bed already. Surely, a bedroom isn’t where you draw the line,” I replied.

I turned to walk away when Darius grabbed my arm. That used to shock me. That used to make me cry. But not anymore. I had become stone.

"What is with your attitude? If Sasha gets too emotional, it might harm the baby," he snapped.

My jaw clenched. That tone, that protectiveness, used to be mine. He used to look at me like that. Now he was shielding someone else. From me.

“I’ll handle it,” I muttered and left them.

I walked to the kitchen, shoulders sagging, heart sinking. I remembered how this day used to be. Roses scattered on the floor. A candlelit dinner he personally prepared. A gift waiting at the end of it all.

This was our anniversary.

But not this year.

This year, he brought another woman. Pregnant with what I could never give him.

I bit my lip, trying to hold it together as I heard them walking in. I signaled the maids to help.

“The beef tapa is for Sasha. She’s been craving it. She’s exhausted. I don’t want to wait for a new order,” Darius said.

Moments later, I heard him pull the chair beside the head of the table. His usual spot. It used to be mine too, right next to him. He would always serve me first.

Now someone else needed serving. That wasn’t me.

I silently placed the dishes in front of them and took a seat at the farthest end of the table. The space between us was filled with food, but the silence was louder.

“Let her eat first, Rosella,” he said.

I blinked, confused.

“There’s plenty of food. Why wait? I’m hungry too,” I answered without emotion.

He glared at me. “She eats first. She’s pregnant.”

“She can’t eat everything, Darius. There’s a lot of food.”

“You are hungry, but you are carrying nothing, Rosella. Your hunger can wait. End of discussion,” he said sharply before turning to Sasha. His voice softened. “What do you want to eat first? The beef tapa? The shrimp?”

Sasha glanced at me briefly, then pointed quietly at what she wanted. My husband served her like a servant. My fists clenched, and I looked away.

He used to do that for me too. When I was pregnant. He’s sweet, overprotective of me and the baby but I lost it. I lost him, too.

“She should eat too,” Sasha mumbled, barely audible.

Darius sighed and turned to me. “Fine. Sasha wants you to eat. So eat, Rosella. Just don’t upset her.”

But my appetite was gone. Only bitterness remained.

“I’ll rest. I’m not hungry anymore.”

He gritted his teeth, clearly displeased. But I didn’t care. I walked away without waiting for him to stop me.

I headed straight to the closet. My luggage was already packed. I was just waiting for the council's separation papers. Until then, I couldn’t file for divorce. In our world, both the human government and the council had to sign off to fully dissolve a marriage.

I started gathering the rest. Jewelry he once gave me. Memories I no longer wanted to wear. Then came the loud banging on the door. One of the maids was calling my name in a panic.

I opened it quickly, but instead of the maid, Darius barged in. He slammed me against the wall.

“What the hell did you put in the food?”

My chest heave. “What? I didn’t—”

“You poisoned her and my son?!” he roared, pointing a shaking finger at me. “If anything happens to her...”

His voice broke into something monstrous.

“You’ll pay for it.”

"I promise, I didn’t do anything," I told his right hand.

My eyes followed the fading trail of my husband's car. He left immediately to be with Sasha after confronting me. He wants me to admit something I didn’t do. He even sent Desmond to force it out of me.

“Even I don’t believe you could do that, Luna Rose,” Desmond muttered quietly.

My chest cracked as I felt the pain behind my back from where Darius pinned me to the wall earlier. The bruises were worse now, especially on my arms and neck where he grabbed me.

"Alpha wasn't like this before. Did he really hurt you?" Desmond asked, voice full of disbelief.

I faced him with an embarrassed smile. They knew how gentle Darius used to be, he never let me get so much as a scratch. That was the kind of husband he was, until I lost our first child. He died with that baby, even if he kept breathing. He never even knew about the second one I lost after I saw him with another woman. He said he needed a son, an heir, through Sasha.

“I’m so sorry. I’ll try my best to counsel him,” Desmond offered.

I shook my head. “I used to believe my husband died. This is nothing to me,” I lied again.

I left him there and went inside. The council was already present, investigating the poisoning. I gave them my statement. I even suggested they ask the maid. But what’s the point? They all saw me preparing the food. Did they think they saw me put something in it?

I let out a shaky breath.

By nightfall, I assumed Darius would stay at the hospital with Sasha. I was pouring my herbal medicine to help me sleep when he barged into the room beside ours.

“Is that the poison you used on her?” he accused, his voice low and threatening.

Pain rose in my chest, but I forced it down.

“Who would I poison next then?” I said quietly. “Myself?”

I stirred the contents of the glass and raised it to show I would drink it. But he lunged at me, snatching the glass and throwing it against the wall. Shards flew past my face. One nearly cut my neck.

I let out a shriek. It was too violent.

“What will you do now? Kill yourself to escape the guilt?”

“No!” I shouted. How dare he say that? “You think her presence here is enough to make me a murderer? That I would take my life for something I didn’t do?”

“Wouldn’t you?” he barked back.

My heart pounded as he grabbed me by the throat again. I struggled to breathe, but he didn’t care. My eyes widened as my vision blurred.

“She needs a blood transfusion, Rosella. Can you give her your blood?”

With one harsh move, he tossed me onto the bed. My head hit the headboard, and everything went black.

When I woke up, my vision was hazy. I saw three figures around me.

“She’s awake,” the police chief said.

I panicked. Why were they here? I turned my head and saw Darius standing by the door, glaring at me.

“Choose, Rosella,” he said coldly. “Donate your blood to Sasha or get detained for attempted murder.”

My throat tightened. Attempted murder?

“You really think I could kill her?” I asked, my voice shaking.

“You did. The maids confessed. Said you added something to the dessert out of jealousy.”

He motioned for the officers to step outside.

“How could you try to kill her? That child would make you a mother. You’d be a mother because of Sasha.”

But I never wanted it like that. How could I be happy over a child that wasn’t mine? A child born from betrayal?

He sighed, placing his hands on his hips before pointing at me.

“You’ll give Sasha your blood. That’s what she wants. If you agree, the case will be dropped. If not, you’ll go to prison.”

He walked away without another word.

I cried silently. I couldn’t have a criminal case under my name. The council and government would reject my divorce petition if I did. That meant I’d suffer longer in this marriage.

I swallowed my pride and stepped out of the room. Darius, Desmond, and the rest of the council were there.

“I’ll… give her my blood,” I said, voice trembling as tears pooled in my eyes.

I knew what it meant. I might not survive. I was already low on blood. I had a condition. But could I survive a prison sentence for something I didn’t do?

The council looked at me with disgust.

“So, our Luna really committed a crime? Attempted murder?” one of them said. “This is a disgrace.”

I dug my nails into my palm. Their disappointment clung to the air, still heavy when a man barged in, storming toward me.

He didn’t hesitate. He slapped me hard across the face.

“You tried to kill my daughter?” he shouted.

Desmond stepped between us. Darius almost did too but stopped himself and looked away.

“She’s the Luna. Show some respect,” Desmond said firmly.

“How can you respect a barren woman who tried to kill someone carrying a child? She’s a murderer. Not a Luna.”

I wanted to vanish. The council didn’t say a word in my defense. They just sighed in disappointment. And everyone else? They looked at me like I was filth.

“We still need two more bags, ma’am. I’m really sorry,” the nurse said to me.

I couldn’t respond anymore. I couldn’t nod, couldn’t blink. I had no strength left. Even my hearing was starting to fade.

They took too much blood from me. But because Darius had the power to make them keep going, they didn’t stop.

I didn’t understand why he wouldn’t just find someone else to donate. Why did it have to be me? Why did Sasha want me to suffer like this? Did she find out I was anemic?

She looked so kind, but inside, she was all poison. How could a good woman ever say yes to a married man?

I clutched my stomach weakly, aching for the dream I could never have. I used to hope for life here. Would that change anything now? If I were pregnant again, would the old Darius return to me? The loving one?

I let out a bitter laugh. No. I couldn’t bring him back. I couldn’t even get pregnant again, not even in my dreams. And Sasha must feel like she had already won. She had what my husband wanted most. She carried it inside her. But if she already won, why did it feel like she still needed to prove something? Why did she want me to suffer more?

Wasn’t it enough that I suffered the first time I caught them?

I remembered it clearly. That day, I found out I was pregnant for the second time. A chance to get our life and dreams back. I walked into his office, ready to share the good news, but it was me who got the surprise.

Sasha was on top of his desk, barely clothed. Her head tilted back, bra undone, lips parted, and my husband’s head between her legs.

She was moaning his name. Her body completely open to him. I stood at the door, frozen, waiting for him to notice me. But they were already naked, tangled in each other, already done with everything. Only then did he look up and see me standing there.

I saw his face. He was terrified. Sasha looked at me with guilt in her eyes.

“You know why I had to do this,” he said.

He tried to make me believe that taking another woman was something he had to do. Because I couldn’t give him what he wanted.

“I’m sorry, Luna Rosella,” Sasha said, dropping to her knees. “The Alpha needed my help. I couldn’t say no.”

She cried like she had been forced. Like she wasn’t just moaning and begging for more a few minutes ago. And Darius, my husband, had the audacity to pick up his clothes and order me to fix his tie.

I was crying as I helped him, but his eyes were cold.

“Stop crying. This is for the good of our family. You’ll understand one day. Everything I’m doing is for our marriage.”

No apologies. No excuses. He didn’t lie. He admitted it with pride, with certainty.

“Alpha, I’ll go home on my own,” Sasha said as she ran toward the door.

I hadn’t even finished buttoning his shirt when he pulled away and went after her.

“I’ll drive you home. My child might already be inside you. I can’t risk anything,” he said. He turned to me once. “Desmond will take you home. Take care of yourself.”

Take care of myself. Because he wouldn’t.

He couldn’t protect me anymore. Only hurt me. Until I broke.

She was already carrying his child? I did it first. Twice. But as I looked down, I saw the blood. I felt the heat between my legs. I was bleeding again.

I lost another baby.

He took her home to make sure nothing bad happened to her. Because I had once lost our first child in an accident. And he blamed me for not protecting the life inside me. But this one, I lost because of him. Not that he’d ever know. He didn’t deserve to.

I held onto the bed and cried until my voice cracked. I called out the names I had planned for our children. There were two of them. Now both gone.

“Alpha, she won’t wake up. She’s completely drained. It’ll take at least three days before she can recover. We can’t take any more blood. She’ll die,” I heard a nurse say.

I heard it even though I felt unconscious for so long.

And just like they said, it took three days before I woke up and could breathe again. It was painful, but I wanted to know if Sasha was safe. If she was, it meant they could stop accusing me. I could finally move forward with the separation papers.

I went to her. I wanted to talk, woman to woman. But when I got there, I saw them in the bed Darius made for us, holding each other like newlyweds. My heart shattered all over again.

Then I heard Sasha speak.

“I already picked the perfect names for our babies. Both for girl and boy,” she said sweetly.

I nearly threw up when I heard her added, “Dawn for a girl, Dusk if it's a boy. Beautiful, right?”

I wanted to scream. Those were my names. Those were the names I gave to the children I never got to hold. The names carved into tiny tombstones. And now she had taken even that from me.

How could she?!