Ellie lay in bed, burning with yet another low-grade fever.

Ever since her pregnancy began, her body had struggled to adjust. The daily low fevers had become a relentless routine.

Her husband David was always attentive. Whenever Ellie felt unwell, he would bring a glass of warm water and personally feed her a vitamin C tablet.

Half an hour after taking it, she was drenched in sweat from the pain.

“David…”

She rolled off the bed in agony.

But David, unlike his usual gentle self, simply stood by the bed, looking down at his wife.

“Just endure it a little longer. Once the baby’s gone, you’ll be fine.”

Gone?

Ellie’s fingers dug into the concrete floor until they bled, but she felt nothing.

“What I just gave you wasn’t a vitamin. It’s an imported abortion pill. You’re a doctor—you understand. Once this pain passes and the embryo dies, everything will be fine.”

Ellie looked up at the man before her.

No. He wasn’t a man.

He was a monster.

After the educated youth returned to the cities, she had risked cutting ties with her own family to marry David, a fellow returnee from her class.

Back then, he’d had nothing.

Two young people from vastly different social standings had come together—for love.

Ellie got into medical school and, after graduation, was assigned to City Hospital as an OB-GYN.

David, through Ellie’s father’s connections, entered the local Machine Tool Plant.

He rose swiftly. In less than five years, he achieved what others spent a lifetime dreaming of: becoming the head of the largest factory in the area.

Just two days ago, Ellie’s father died of a heart attack.

She had lost her usefulness…

“David, abortion pills aren’t fully developed yet. It won’t be a clean process.”

Tears in her eyes, Ellie begged him.

She couldn’t die here. Not like this, for no clear reason!

“Medical abortions are dangerous. They can cause hemorrhaging. Please, take me to the hospital.”

Her abdomen grew hotter, warmth churning inside her. She shifted slightly—and a warm gush surged from between her legs. The excruciating pain came like a tidal wave, smashing her broken little boat into the ocean.

Just then, the door opened.

Carolyn stepped in. Seeing Ellie on the floor, she gasped and hid behind David.

“Oh, dear, what’s happened to you?”

This woman was David’s sister-in-law.

After his brother passed away, David had brought Carolyn to the city under the pretext of medical treatment, claiming her health was poor. She had been living with them for nearly half a year.

“Hurry, take me to the hospital.”

Ellie looked at the two of them, a terrible premonition settling in her heart.

David frowned, crouched halfway down, and took out a handkerchief to wipe Ellie’s forehead.

“Can’t you just endure it a little longer? Once the bleeding stops, you’ll be fine.”

Gripping her teeth until they ached, Ellie knew the truth: drug-induced abortions were still underdeveloped. There had been many clinical accidents—that’s why hospitals hadn’t adopted them widely.

“I can’t endure it. I’m dying!”

David’s gaze turned vicious.

“Endure it! It’s just a bastard. I’m already being merciful by letting you abort it. If you don’t listen, I’ll divorce you right now!”

“What? A bastard?”

Ellie was in such extreme pain her words slurred.

Her child—how could it be a bastard?

David was her first love.

She had given him her virginity.

How could he say such a thing?

Pain washed over Ellie, so intense she was on the verge of passing out. The words she tried to speak emerged as nothing more than a faint gasp.

She lay on her back, tears of frustration welling in her eyes.

Just then, Carolyn hissed, clutching her cheek. She gazed up at David, her eyes brimming, tears plopping down in a steady patter. "David, my tooth hurts!"

David tensed immediately. Gently cradling her face, he asked, "Are you okay? Should I take you to the hospital?"

Carolyn hooked a finger into his belt, pulling him closer; her tone was a mix of complaint and coquetry. "It's all your fault—forcing me to eat that imported chocolate. Now my tooth hurts."

With a soft, delicate sob, she buried her face in David's chest.

After that, David didn’t spare Ellie another glance. Slipping an arm around his sister-in-law, he headed straight for the on-site clinic.

Ellie lay in a pool of her own blood, the floor sticky and slick beneath her. She couldn’t get up.

Gradually, her strength faded.

Staring up at the fluorescent light tube overhead, her gaze grew hollow.

Everyone could see there was something wrong with David's relationship with his sister-in-law—even her own father. Yet in the end, she alone had clung to her belief in David's character.

"Ellie, you were such a fool…"

She died there in her own bedroom, her eyes wide open. When she died, her ten fingers were splayed across the concrete floor, mangled and bloody. Six fingernails had been torn away halfway down the fingertips, the blood and flesh ground into a pulp.

Ellie jolted awake.

Clutching her abdomen, she gasped for air. Realizing she had been reborn, tears in her eyes, Ellie fumbled with the thick desk calendar. Today was March 18th. Early tomorrow morning, her father would die of a heart attack in his rocking chair at home.

She couldn't afford to waste a second. Grabbing her coat, she rushed back to her parents' house.

Her father was sitting in their small courtyard, discussing something with his secretary, Philip. Seeing Ellie return, his expression visibly soured.

"Decided to come home, have you?"

Tears welling, Ellie threw her arms around him. For a moment, Joe was at a loss for how to react. "This child…"

To marry David, she had nearly severed ties with her father. It was only out of pity for his daughter that he had arranged a job for the son-in-law he despised.

Ellie knew time was running out. Looping her arm through her father's, she practically dragged him to the hospital.

Lying on the hospital bed, Joe sighed heavily. His daughter's displays of filial piety were rare, and he didn't want to embarrass her—especially now that she was pregnant. He couldn't risk upsetting her.

"Dr Ellie, your prediction was spot on!"

Philip hurried into the room, handing the examination report to Ellie. Just as she had anticipated, the old chief's heart was on the verge of giving out. The situation was critical, and the hospital immediately began prepping him for surgery.

"Ellie," Joe asked, knowing he was about to go into the operating room and unwilling to leave with regrets, "why did you suddenly bring me to the hospital today?"

Hugging her dad, Ellie told a white lie. "Dad, Mom came to me in a dream."

"Alright…" Tears streamed down the old man's face.

Ellie kept vigil outside the operating room for eight hours, until her father was safely wheeled out. Once she learned he was stable and just needed rest to wake up, Ellie scheduled a procedure for herself.

She walked into the office of the Head of Obstetrics and Gynecology. "Director, can you perform a surgery for me?" She took a steadying breath. "And… could you put my name down for one of the rural placement slots?"

As soon as David heard Joe was ill, he hurried over, arriving at the third-floor inpatient ward by noon the next day.

Ellie met him in the corridor.

"How's your father?" David’s words were urgent, but his eyes betrayed a different concern.

"What perfect timing," Ellie said flatly. "A little later, and my father would have been discharged."

David knew Joe had just undergone major heart surgery—discharge was impossible. This was Ellie's angry retort, furious he hadn’t been there yesterday.

But Carolyn had complained of stomach pain last night. Was it wrong to keep her company?

Spoiled rich girls were so unreasonable, he thought.

"I'll go see your father."

"No need. He hasn’t woken up yet." Her words slapped the air between them.

David gave her a puzzled look. She had always been gentle with him. Why this icy rage today?

"Ellie, why do you look so pale?"

"Do I?" She stared coldly. "I've always looked unwell."

Since becoming pregnant, Ellie had been running a low-grade fever. Now, less than twelve hours after the abortion, she felt utterly drained.

Just then, a sugary voice called from down the hall.

"David?"

Ellie turned to see Carolyn holding her cheek, eyes red and swollen.

When his sister-in-law appeared, David rushed over with concern. From a distance, Ellie watched as Carolyn pointed insistently at her teeth.

David examined them as if the pain were his own.

Carolyn stood on tiptoe, whispering into his ear.

Suddenly, David looked toward Ellie, his eyes filled with venom. Then, catching her gaze, he smiled again, his expression softening like warm sunlight.

In less than half a minute, Carolyn glanced at Ellie, offered a faint smile, and left.

David strode forward, his voice dropping to a hiss.

"You didn’t come home last night. Where were you?"

Ellie didn’t want to tell him about the abortion. Not now.

When she stayed silent, David sneered, a vein throbbing on his pale forehead.

"How impressive! While your father was in surgery, you were off in the woods with another man, weren’t you?"

…

Ellie’s eyes brightened slightly.

So that was how the “bastard” had come to be.

She didn’t want to explain. There was no point.

"Did Carolyn tell you that?"

David’s brows knotted. "My sister-in-law is honest and decent. She wouldn’t lie. Your father’s surgery ended yesterday—why weren’t you home last night?"

His gaze fell darkly on Ellie’s abdomen.

Suddenly, she laughed.

"So you knew all along the surgery was yesterday? I thought you’d just found out."

Her words left him speechless.

Unlike before, her father hadn’t died. That meant she still had value to David.

Having died a miserable death once, Ellie refused to back down.

"People in the company housing saw you and Carolyn kissing in the woods… Could it be last night, you two were going at it in my bed?"

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw David’s face tremble. From anger or fear, she couldn’t tell.

"Nonsense! You're talking nonsense!"

Ellie smiled faintly.

"She can slander me, but you can’t stand being accused yourself?"