“Don’t worry. I’ll cover the whole cost.”

I had found myself a lawyer after the family banquet ended that day.

Sharon had poured a bucket of scalding water onto the old camphor tree right in front of me and given me a smug look.

“Let’s see if Charles still wants you when you can no longer make him any sleep balm.”

Charles always carried the sleep balm I made him. She was jealous, but there was nothing she could do about it.

I panicked and tried to save the tree, but in the process, I accidentally pushed her.

Unexpectedly, Charles ordered his men to tie me to the camphor tree all night after he witnessed it.

No matter how much I cried and screamed, he only said, “Reflect on this,” and walked away with Sharon in his arms.

I struggled until midnight. My hands turned a frightening purple from the lack of blood circulation.

The camphor tree seemed to sense my despair because its thick branch snapped…

I clung to my last ray of hope and called Charles.

The call went through, but he answered with cold indifference, “Hazel, haven’t you learned your lesson? You frightened Sharon today. I have to stay with her. Don’t bother me if you’re still alive.”

Sharon’s coquettish voice then came through the phone. “Charles, it’s your turn to bathe.”

Trembling, I hung up and lay on the ground as my tears soaked the earth.

In the end, I called Albert Moore, the lawyer.

…

We were in the living room, and Charles still believed that I was being unreasonable. “Hazel, what happened yesterday was your own doing!”

My own doing?

I chuckled softly. “Yes, it was my fault. This is exactly what I deserve.”

…

Charles and I met because of a kidnapping.

He had been locked in a pitch-black warehouse. But my father rescued him and brought him home.

His body was covered in wounds when he was found. So, my father asked me to take care of him.

We grew close as we spent time together, and we kept in touch even after he returned to his family.

Perhaps due to post-traumatic stress, he started having insomnia, and he was not responding to treatment.

He told me that whenever he closed his eyes, he would return to that rotting and suffocating warehouse. It was dark and empty, and I was not there.

It broke my heart, but I could not do anything to help.

Then one evening, he came to visit my father. He dozed off unexpectedly under the camphor tree in my garden and slept peacefully through the night.

So, I began making sleep balms from the camphor leaves and sending them to him.

He carried them with him every day, and his insomnia gradually improved.

To make sure I could always prepare fresh sleep balm for him, I gave up the chance to study abroad. Instead, I enrolled in the art program at his university.

On graduation day, he held my scarred hands and teared up looking at the wounds.

After he started working, I set aside my painting career to help expand his company by attending social events with him.

We became the best partners and quickly secured a place in the market.

One night after drinking, he held my hands and murmured that they had pulled him out of darkness.

He claimed that he wanted to hold my hand for the rest of his life.

His face was flushed, and his eyes shone like stars.

Without thinking, I nodded.

That night, we promised our lives to one another.

However, he ruined these very hands that had once saved him.

…

On the night of the family banquet, Albert took me to the hospital. The doctor told me that the nerve damage in my hands was severe and that I might never be able to hold a pen again.

Albert advised me to sue Charles for intentional harm.

I put his suggestion on the back burner and insisted on pursuing divorce first. If that did not work, I would consider additional charges.

The pain of rehabilitation dragged me out of memory lane.

The doctor looked at my hands with regret. “If only you came in an hour earlier… What a pity.”

I smiled faintly.

“It’s alright. It’s a relief.”

No more sleepless nights drawing up designs for his company.

No more painful fingers from making sleep balm for his health.

Never again would I wait on him and hope that he would come back to me.

After prescribing some nerve-repair medication, the doctor thanked me, “Ms. Hazel, the sleep balm formula you provided us has passed clinical testing. It’s now being promoted across other hospitals in the city. I thank you again on the hospital’s behalf.”

The results did not surprise me.

Charles’s insomnia had baffled many medical institutions, and this sleep balm was the only thing that helped him sleep.

The formula worked because I had spent years fine-tuning it.

As soon as I stepped out of the rehabilitation ward, I ran into Sharon.

Her stilettos clicked sharply against the floor until she stopped before me. Her eyes were full of scorn and condescension.

“Hazel, you really haunt us like a phantom. Why are you everywhere we go?”

‘Everywhere we go?’

Of course, wherever Sharon was, Charles was never far behind.

Since her return from abroad, the two of them had been inseparable.

I had no desire to see Charles, much less their sickening displays of affection. They were like animals in heat.

Charles appeared just as I turned to leave, and his voice was heavy with displeasure. “Are you following me?”

It was not entirely unreasonable for him to think so. I had followed him for seven years through high school and university.

I would think the same too if I were him.

“Charles, narcissism is an illness. You should have it treated.”

I shoved my medical report into my bag and tried to leave.

However, as I walked past him, his hand shot out. He gripped my wrist so tightly that it felt like he was going to crush it.

My face twisted in pain.

“Let go,” I hissed through gritted teeth.

For seven years, I had been nothing but gentle with him. No matter how angry I got, I would remain meek.

When he saw how pale my face was, he loosened his grip. Concern and suspicion flickered in his eyes.

“Why are you at the hospital? Are you sick? I’ll be back in a few days. You don’t have to follow me around.

“Just stop pretending to be ill. You look so fake when playing the victim.”

Apparently, he saw every encounter we had as some kind of ploy on my side.

Every vulnerability was a performance.

Even illness was an act.

Whenever disappointment ran deep enough, it would kill any urge to argue.

So, I looked at him emotionlessly and spoke in a flat tone. “Sure. Think whatever you want. Sign the divorce papers quickly so that I can clear out for the both of you.”

He snapped and yelled at me, “Hazel! This is your last chance! Keep pushing, and you’ll waste it!”

I met his glare coldly.

“Thanks, but no thanks.”

Then, I walked away without hesitation. The sting in my wrist kept me utterly sober before the man I had loved for seven years.

He tried to come after me, but Sharon grabbed his arm. “Charles, I just used my connections to get you a prescription for insomnia here.”

She clung on to his arm affectionately. “You haven’t been sleeping well lately, so we should try it.”

As people bustled through the hospital corridor, Charles lowered his gaze.

He stared at the all-too-familiar prescription in her hand and stood frozen for a long time.

…

I had built my own network of contacts while helping Charles grow his business. Many of them kept in touch with me.

Since painting was no longer possible, I shifted my focus to business.

After handing in my resignation, I set out on a research trip to Zureland.

Charles called me repeatedly during my trip.

I wondered how he found the time to waste on all these meaningless calls. This was the same man who never had time to reply to a single one of my messages.

Before I blocked him, I picked up his call one last time.

There was chaos on the other end before his voice cut through. He sounded a little surprised. “Are you done causing trouble? I’m out of sleep balms. You need to make more.”

“It’s only a sleep balm. If you can’t buy one, get Sharon to make you some. You own an entire spice estate. Surely, that’s enough for you.”

“Can you stop being so bitter? How long are you going to hold on to this? What do I have to do to satisfy you?”

I no longer wanted to argue with him

Every time we had a conflict, he avoided discussing the cause. Instead, he would placate me with money, gifts, and property. It was as if once I benefited from these material things, I should swallow my grievances and never speak of them again.

I could not help but laugh bitterly. “Not everything can be solved with money. That tree helped you for seven years. Even a dog would show gratitude after that long. How do you manage to feel nothing?”

He fell silent, and it felt like a storm was about to break.

“Hazel, mind your tone when you speak to me!”

I ignored his anger and murmured, more to myself than to him, “Charles, I supported you for seven years. But that day, all you cared about was defending her. What am I to you?”

My calm words rattled him, and fear crept into his voice. “You’re my wife.

“I acted on impulse that day. Just come home, and I won’t hold you accountable for running away. We can wipe the slate clean.”

I laughed again. “Wipe the slate clean? Can you wipe our relationship away along with it?”

He snapped again.

“You must’ve lived too comfortably for too long. Do you need to suffer before you recognize your place? You’re nothing without me. What makes you think you can divorce me? If you divorce me, I promise you’ll be begging to come back within a month.”

I laughed and hung up before I blocked him.

His confidence came from my patents, which had given his company its edge.

However, destroying him would be just as easy.

…

I met up with a senior of mine, Eric Tunstall, in a cafe in Zureland. There, I agreed to his request to transfer all my latest designs and patents to him.

After that, I returned to pack my things and moved into a small rented apartment.

It was modest, but far better than Charles’s home.

Just as I was leaving, I saw him at the door.

In just a few days, the once-polished man had a stubble on his jaw.

“Hazel, what did you do? Why did the company just get hit with a lawsuit from Zureland?”

His voice burned with anger and disbelief.

“They said it was due to infringement, and all those designs were yours.”

I smiled sweetly. “Weren’t you so confident that I’d regret leaving? Let’s see who regrets it, then. If you don’t want to lose even more, hurry up and sign the divorce papers.”

“When will you grow up? Stop throwing jealous fits! Do you know how much trouble you’ve caused Sharon? You’ll have countless designs in the future. Why cling to these few?”

He stared me down as his rage simmered.

All of a sudden, his phone rang. He answered it on speaker, and his assistant’s voice came through. “Mr. Lennon, we’ve found out why your wife went to the hospital.”

Charles glared at me with a mix of complex emotions. “Speak.”

“She suffered nerve damage from mechanical trauma. She’s been undergoing rehabilitation after surgery. The first hospital visit was… the night of your family banquet.”