I watched everything turn to ash.

The last thing I tossed into the flames was the certificate given by the Royal Astronomical Society of England.

George used to spoil me. Just because my name was Selena, he would buy expensive moon-gazing equipment and even used his connections to name an asteroid after me. Now, it was all meaningless.

As the fire crackled, George suddenly opened the door and frowned when he saw the empty wooden box.

“Arianne is pregnant,” he said sharply.

“She can’t handle the smell of smoke. What are you doing?”

Just then, George glanced at the flames. If he had looked closer, he might have seen the certificate and the letter inside. But his thoughts were filled with Arianne. He didn’t notice …. or care.

Grabbing my hand, he pulled me toward her room.

“Selena, Arianne wants to apologize to you.”

Arianne wanted to apologize? After everything she had gained?

Not long after that, Arianne stood before me. Her eyes glistening with false sincerity. It made me want to vomit.

“Arianne, I didn’t expect to get pregnant again. I guess I’m just ... too fertile,” she said, laughing softly.

“This is my second child. You’re so accepting, so I know you won’t mind, right?”

I said nothing.

George smiled awkwardly, trying to smooth things over.

“Selena’s not the jealous type. Don’t worry.”

I didn’t know when my mother-in-law had entered the room.

Her tone was as sharp and cold as ever as she added, “Hmph. She’s just a girl from an ordinary family. It was a huge privilege that she married into the Ratcliffe Family, so she should be grateful. So what if she can’t have a child? What’s there to be upset about?”

Mrs. Ratcliffe always looked down on me because of my background. In the past, George would’ve defended me without hesitation. However, he stayed silent this time.

His silence was louder than words.

George agreed with his mother. It was all because I couldn’t give him a child.

I smiled calmly, my heart numb.

“You’re right, Mom. I’ve held George back long enough. I’ll divorce him.”

The room erupted in shock. Arianne’s lips twitched into a faint smile. But George? He panicked.

“Selena, I’m sorry I’ve been neglecting you. Don’t be angry. I don’t want a divorce.”

Before I could answer, my mother-in-law grabbed my arm and slapped me harshly across my face. Pain exploded on my right cheek. But it didn’t matter.

“Selena! I tried to be nice to you! If you divorce now, their relationship will be exposed!”

I looked at George, tears brimming in my eyes. He rushed to get an ice pack for my cheek, but he never said a word to his mother. At that moment, everything became clear.

The moment Arianne announced her pregnancy, George had made his choice.

That night, I quietly returned to the bedroom. I packed my bags in silence, waiting for darkness to fall so I could slip away unnoticed. But I hadn’t expected him to cling to me like stubborn glue.

Even when Arianne faked a stomachache in the middle of the night, he stayed by my side instead of going to her. Then, my phone buzzed. It was a message confirming that my marriage status in my ID card had been changed.

I quietly deleted it.

George was obsessive. If I angered him, leaving would become even harder. What I didn’t expect was for him to see everything.

His sleepy voice came from behind me, filled with confusion.

“Selena, what are you doing with your ID card?”

I lied, saying I needed to change my ID card.

He wrapped his arms around me, murmuring, half-asleep, begging me not to leave him. And for a second … I almost believed him. Until I opened his WhatsApp messages with Arianne.

The chat with Arianne was full of sweet, honeyed words.

[George R: Selena’s too sensitive. If she left without warning, people would think we did something wrong.]

[George R: She’s not as good at pleasing me as you are. I should’ve married you in the first place.]

My heart suddenly hurt. Even though I was mentally prepared, I still could not stop the pain in my chest. I slowly fell asleep in a daze.

When I woke up early in the morning, I passed by Arianne’s room and saw George feeding her a full English Breakfast. He was blowing on the spoon gently to cool it before bringing it to her lips.

When Arianne noticed me standing there, she purposely raised her voice and kissed George on the lips.

“George, I really want you to stay with me tonight, okay?”

Her long fingers slowly slid down his shirt and George let out a soft sound that he could not control.

“Oh, such a flirt! Fine, I’ll stay with you tonight.”

I did not want to watch them flirt and be affectionate in front of me. It made me feel sick. So, I turned around and walked to the kitchen to make myself breakfast.

I needed to eat something before going to the hospital for the abortion today.

But to my surprise, Arianne appeared in front of me like a ghost. Her voice was full of sarcasm.

“Selena, you are a woman who cannot even keep a baby and you still dare to stay here. If I were you, I would have already hung myself on a broken tree.”

I said nothing and pretended not to hear her.

That only made her angrier.

“It’s so sad that some women want to get pregnant but cannot. And here I am, not even wanting this baby anymore.”

I could not understand what she meant.

“The doctor said I’m too close to giving birth. If I try to keep this baby, I might die. So, I cannot keep it. And you … you are my best option.”

Her words rang loudly in my ears. Before I could even think about what she truly meant, she suddenly grabbed my arm and pulled me down. My body hit the floor hard.

A deep pain started in my lower stomach. I could not stop myself from shaking. Not long after that, I felt something warm running down between my legs.

“Selena, what’s wrong with you?” George yelled.

But he ran past me and straight to Arianne who pretended to look pained.

“I’m sorry … I couldn’t save our baby. I didn’t think Selene would hate me this much …”

Her voice trembled on purpose, as if she was scared to speak, but she clearly hinted that I was the one who hurt her.

That was when George finally noticed me, lying pale and trembling nearby. A flash of anger appeared in his eyes and his voice turned cold.

“Selena, how could you be so heartless? That was a living baby!”

George did not believe me at all. He then carried Arianne in his arms and ran toward the hospital. I used the last of my strength to grab the bottom of his pants.

“My stomach hurts so much … The baby … ”

What I got in return was his mocking voice.

“Selena, are you that desperate to have a baby? I haven’t touched you in so long, so how could you even be pregnant?”

I froze. I looked at him, completely shocked. Tears streamed down my face, but I could not stop them.

George seemed to realize that what he said was too much, but Arianne’s fake crying grew louder and louder and he hurried away without looking back. I did not stop him. So, I forced myself to call for an ambulance.

When I was about to pass out from the pain, I grabbed the doctor’s hand tightly and said, “This baby … please take it out.”

After that, I lost consciousness.

When I woke up again, George was sitting beside my hospital bed, looking worried.

“Selena, why didn’t you tell me you were pregnant? And why did you remove the baby? You didn’t even let me be a father to our child.”

His eyes were full of suspicion and stubbornness. I couldn’t help but laugh coldly. What right did he have to question me?

“What would this baby call you when it was born? Dad? Or uncle?”

George’s face turned pale. He let out a deep sigh.

“I can see that you still put the blame on me. Arianne lost the baby. That was the universe punishing me. Isn’t that enough?”

“Rest for two more days. Then, go say sorry to her. I’ll speak nicely about you to my mother.”

It was clearly Arianne who pushed me. But the words stuck in my throat. And I swallowed them again.

That was it.

I knew George didn’t believe me. No matter what I said, he would never stand on my side. When he saw my emotionless face, he just assumed I was just angry with him. At the nurse’s urging, he eventually left the ward.

Arianne’s room was close to mine. Apparently, she had thrown a tantrum and threatened to take her own life. As always, she did it just to get attention. It caused such a stir that my mother-in-law came rushing to the hospital.

I was still half asleep when she stormed into my room, grabbed me by the hair and dragged me to Arianne’s bedside.

George was nowhere to be found.

“Don’t think I won’t lay a finger on you just because you're carrying my grandson!” she yelled.

“You’d better take care of that baby! You owe us a grandson!”

She shoved me hard. My forehead slammed against the corner of a table and everything went blurry. Blood seeped into my eyes, turning my vision red.

“Arianne,” Arianne called me with a sickly sweet tone that was full of pretention.

“This child means everything to me. I just want to carry on the Ratcliffe Family name. What’s so wrong with that?”

Her words struck a chord in my mother-in-law’s heart. The old woman’s face turned beet red with anger, so she scolded me even more mercilessly.

Then, came the needle. Mrs. Ratcliffe stabbed it straight into my arm and carved off a small piece of flesh like I wasn’t even human. The door was finally burst open.

George ran in, immediately wrapping me in his arms.

When he saw my bleeding arm, his eyes went red.

“Mom! I told you I would handle this! Why are you doing this now?!”

He let out a long sigh, then turned to me. His gaze was filled with pity and guilt.

For a moment, I dared to hope. Perhaps, just perhaps, he was finally on my side.

But instead, he said, “Selena, don’t be so stubborn. Everyone makes mistakes. I forgive you.”

I felt nothing but cold. The pain in my body was nothing compared to the ache in my heart. After that came the moment I truly understood.

The man who once treated me like I was his world … no longer existed.

“So if I apologize, you’ll let me go?” I asked quietly.

George hesitated, then nodded. He said I could return to the mansion. In his eyes, I was no longer a partner. I was a prisoner begging for release.

I bit back tears and whispered, “I’m sorry. It’s all my fault.”

But deep down, I knew what my real mistake was. It was loving him in the first place. And I would regret it for the rest of my life.

George looked stunned at my calm tone. A flicker of confusion crossed his face. He reached out to hug me, but I avoided his arms. Even his touch made my skin crawl now.

I stood up and left the hospital without another word.

The streets blurred past me on the ride back to the mansion. Once I arrived, I began packing. Without further ado, I sorted through the final remnants of our so-called love.

Not only that, I took the printed couple photos and burned every last one of them. At the peak of our happy marriage phase, George had traveled across continents just to find the purest South African diamond to craft me a ring.

We swore eternal love under the sky of Johannesburg.

This time, I prepared myself to leave all those memories behind. I placed the ring gently on the nightstand. This way, it would become a gift for him to remember what he destroyed.

Before I could finish packing, George called. He said Arianne was hungry and wanted the sausages I used to make. They had to be handmade, just like I used to do. Otherwise, the taste wouldn’t be the same.

When I didn’t respond, he softened his tone.

“You haven’t been cooking for a while now. Just do it yourself. Practice more.”

“Selena, this is what you owe her. You need to make it right.”

I was speechless.

Memories flashed through my mind. When we were madly in love, I had once told him I couldn’t cook well. The only thing I could cook well was sausages.

At the time, he would just laugh and say, “That’s what cooks are for. Don’t lift a finger. I’ll take care of you.”

And now … he blamed me for everything.

I asked quietly, “George, did you ever really love me? Or has Arianne completely taken over your heart?”

The other end of the line went quiet for a second, then I heard footsteps. It was hurried, like he was trying to get away from Arianne.

After that, George's voice came through, full of frustration and said, “Selena, stop overthinking things. If you hadn’t hurt her child, would I have cleared my entire schedule just to look after her? You need to understand what really matters right now.”

His tone sharpened.

“You’ve never given me a child, so you don’t understand how fragile a woman is after giving birth. Handmade sausages are better for her. Don’t you get that?”

Every word pushed the blame onto me like it was my cross to bear. I didn’t respond. There was nothing left to say.

We just stared at each other through the silence of the phone.

“Fine,” I said at last.

“I’ll send them.”

After hanging up, I quietly packed my small bag and walked out of the mansion.

Back at the hospital, George returned to the ward with a helpless sigh. He waited. Minutes passed. Then, an hour.

To his surprise, I never showed up.

His guilt slowly turned into impatience.

When no one answered his calls, Arianne began sobbing beside him.

“Maybe Selena’s mad at me ... It’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have embarrassed you...”

Her crying tugged at him. He clenched his fists. Not long after, my mother-in-law stormed into the room. The moment she heard I hadn’t come, she exploded.

“She’s lucky to get a privilege of getting married into the Ratcliffe Family! How dare she act so ungrateful? Does she think she’s above us now?”

George frowned and called his secretary.

“Go check the mansion. Report back to me immediately.”

Half an hour later, the secretary finally called. But his voice shook with fear.

“Mr. Ratcliffe ... something terrible has happened … ”

“What do you mean?” George demanded, his expression tightening.

“Miss Selena ... she fell off a cliff on the way to the hospital. She didn’t make it.”