Freya felt like throwing up at their touch.

But it also made her remember the pepper spray in her bag. She grabbed it and sprayed it at the men before fleeing the room.

“Ahhh! You bitch!” They cried out in pain before running after her.

“Get her! Make sure she gets what's coming to her!”

Freya anxiously pounded on the doors of each private room as she ran, but none of the occupants would help her.

It seemed like they were accustomed to such incidents.

By the time she pounded on the last door, she heard faint voices coming from inside.

It was Ifrit’s muffled voice.

“Mr. Harett, it's… It’s Miss Stein. She must have regretted what she said. Please stop kissing me, I… I can’t take it anymore!”

“Don't worry about her,” Magnus said thickly.

“You’re mine now. Nobody can stop me from being with you. Just surrender yourself to me.”

There were sounds of clothes ripping.

Freya shivered and stopped pounding on the door.

Tears began to fall against her will, and the numbing sensation in her heart slowly turned to pain. Its ripple spread to every part of her body.

Then she remembered the men who were drawing closer.

She panicked and ended up stumbling into the next room. She quickly rushed into the attached bathroom.

She dunked her head into a bucket of ice-cold water to regain her sense of reason before reaching for a fruit knife to jab it into her thigh.

The smell of blood filled her nose, and the pain helped her snap back to reality.

It was then that she realized the bathroom mirror allowed her to peek into the adjacent room.

Magnus and Ifrit were all over each other.

They had stripped, and Magnus had Ifrit perched on the sink, her legs in the air as he entered her.

Ifrit was crying with a mix of pain and pleasure.

He hungrily kissed her again and again, and when Ifrit grew accustomed to the feeling, his desire would take over, and he would dominate her again.

Freya dug her nails into the flesh of her palms at the sight.

She felt numb as she watched the pair go round after round.

She watched the way Magnus completely lost himself in his passion and the way Ifrit squirmed and pleaded with him.

Freya had lost count of how many times they went at it as she stabbed herself.

It was only when the bathtub was stained with blood and the effect of the drug subsided that she finally sobered up.

It was dawn when she limped out of the room on her injured leg.

Her face was pale, and her eyes were lifeless as she dragged herself along the corridor at the same time Magnus and Ifrit left their room.

Magnus saw the state she was in and felt a pang of concern deep inside him that he could not explain.

Ifrit seemed equally affected.

She gestured at the blood on Freya’s legs, “You weren’t drugged, weren’t you? Were you having some fun too?”

Then she turned to Magnus. “Do you think it’s because the men Miss Stein gathered were as excited as you were back in the room?”

The sheer suggestion of what might have happened made Magnus angry.

“Don’t you have any self-respect, Freya?” he asked through clenched teeth.

Freya could not stop replaying the scenes from the night before as she stared at Magnus.

It made her nauseated.

He was the one who threw her to the wolves, so what gave him the right to mock her now?

“It’s none of your business.”

She dragged her injured leg behind her and tried to limp away, but Ifrit stopped her.

“Who knows if those men are clean? What if you catch something from them… Mr. Harett, we have to take her to get tested.”

Freya turned down the offer.

Ifrit immediately began to cry. “I meant well… Did I do something wrong, Mr. Harett?”

“No, you didn’t. I know you meant well.” Magnus put his arm around her shoulders and fixed a dark look at Freya.

“If you want her to get tested, then she must get tested.”

“I won’t…”

Before Freya could even object, Magnus’ men showed up again and escorted her to the hospital.

It was a humiliating trip.

She was forced into the gynecology department under the scrutiny of many onlookers who seemed to be mocking her.

They began to conduct a series of examinations that felt invasive and uncomfortable.

And it was all Ifrit’s doing.

She felt like she was livestock on the slaughter table. The doctors certainly had their way with her.

She felt as if her heart was going to stop beating from complete apathy.

At one point, she had lost track of how long the grueling torture lasted and only realized it ended when she stepped out of the room in her tattered clothes.

Ifrit was all over Magnus’s arm when she approached.

“Doctor, how’s it looking? Did she catch anything?” she asked with feigned concern.

“She… there were so many men last night, and she bled so much. You don’t think it caused any permanent damage, did it?”

The doctor frowned at the question.

“I’m not sure what you are talking about, she is clearly still a virgin…”

Before he could even begin to explain, the onlookers began to drum up a wave of commotion.

They took pictures with their phones and began to speculate wildly.

“That explains why she had so many examinations done on her! She must have had a wild night!”

“A whole group of men! She might look innocent on the outside, but you would never expect how wild she is on the inside.”

“Hey, pretty lady! Count me in next time! I’ll even pay!”

The streams of insults they hurled at Freya stabbed at her already wounded heart.

She turned to Magnus. “Are you happy now?”

Magnus froze when she looked at him.

He gulped and just as he opened his mouth to reply, he noticed something on her waist exposed by her tattered clothes.

“Where did you get that scar?”

Freya instinctively reached for the bulging scar on her waist.

The pain from ages ago seemed to resurface in that moment, and her body recalled it as if it had just happened.

After she saved Magnus five years ago, she was hospitalized to recover from her injury. The housemaid informed her that Magnus was concerned about her injury and that she had taken a picture of the scar to show Magnus.

At the time, she assumed the scar would help bring them closer to each other. To her disappointment, Magnus had been nothing but cold toward her even after she had been discharged.

All he ever did was hover around Ifrit and ask about her well-being.

She assumed it was because Magnus had forgotten about the scar.

Now that she thought about it, what happened must have been that the housemaid had sent the picture to Ifrit beforehand.

“Answer my question, Freya!” Magnus demanded. “Why do you have that scar? Did you weasel your way into my family five years ago?”

Freya tried to suppress her turbulent emotions, and just as she was about to answer, Ifrit suddenly threw herself into Magnus's arms and burst into tears.

“So this was the trump card Miss Stein was telling me about! Now I understand why she told me that if you ever see the scar, you would abandon me and devote yourself to her.

“I can’t believe you would cut yourself so you can get a scar to fool Mr. Harett into thinking you were the one who saved him five years ago!

“All I have ever wanted was to love him with all my heart. Why do you have to come between us and tear us apart?”

Ifrit ran up to Freya and gripped her shoulders hysterically while launching her tirade.

Freya winced from the pain of her recent wounds.

Just as she tried to back away, Ifrit flopped away and launched herself into the doorframe.

The moment Magnus noticed a thin trickle of blood flowing from Ifrit's forehead, he shot a furious look at Freya.

"How much more cunning can you get?

“Did you think a scar is enough to make me change my mind and decide to fall in love with you? It only means something if it’s on Ifrit, whereas when it’s on you… It only disgusts me.”

Freya tried to speak but realized there was nothing worth explaining anymore. She knew nothing she said could ever hold up to Ifrit’s crying.

She was just about to excuse herself and walk through the crowd when she heard Magnus’s voice calling out from behind her.

“Did I permit you to leave?”

She paused and turned back to confront him, “What else do you want?"

Magnus ignored her question as he tenderly held Ifrit.

“Don't you ever use your sinful body to try to get in between me and Ifrit.

“I don’t know how you got that scar, but you better get rid of it.”

With that, he motioned to his men, who proceeded to drag Freya into the operating room.

She barely had the chance to struggle at all before she found herself pinned on the operating table.

The doctor did not bother to use anesthesia before putting the scalpel to her flesh.

She was butchered mercilessly.

Her agonizing cries became lodged in her throat. She had never felt so much pain in her life.

She looked at her reflection in the mirror and watched as the scar was forcefully cut apart from her flesh.

All of the memories contained in her flesh were brutally torn apart, effectively severing any connection she had to Magnus.

When the doctor sliced into another part of her flesh, she suddenly recalled a memory from when they got married.

She had picked out a wedding dress and cheerfully went to meet him, only to be met with a scowl.

With the next cut, the scene changed again.

She recalled making a pot of soup to visit Magnus, who was paralyzed. When she accidentally grazed against the bracelet that Ifrit gave him, he mercilessly threw the bowl at her and scalded her.

With the last cut, she recalled the sheer look of disgust and contempt in his eyes when he refused to collect her body from the morgue.

Try as hard as she might, she could not recall Magnus ever displaying an ounce of kindness toward her in their last life.

Her heart seemed to give up on all the pain she had suffered, and she could not feel anything anymore.

She let her body collapse onto the operating table and slowly closed her eyes to surrender to her fate.

Darkness engulfed her.

It effectively blocked off the sound of Magnus tenderly comforting Ifrit, along with all the cruel, nasty things he had said about Freya.

In that moment, the darkness kept her from harm.

Freya spent the next few days recovering in the hospital.

She spent every night enduring sharp pains that pierced into her bones.

Ifrit refused to give her a break. She would goad her every night by telling her about the things Magnus did for her.

[When I told him about how lovers who go to the Aegean Sea together to share a hug are blessed to be together for life, he ditched a hundred million dollar deal to fly me there.]

[I heard that you liked the roses in the villa? Too bad for you, he had them all burned when I told him I was allergic to them.]

[When I said I wanted to go to the church to pray for blessings, he carried me on his back and took me there.]

Freya read all the messages and hardly felt any stirring of emotions. She supposed it was because she no longer loved him.

After getting discharged from the hospital, she put her mind to the wedding and naively thought that everything was over at last.

That was, until the day before the wedding when she received a cryptic text from Ifrit.

[You’re going to have an unforgettable wedding!]

Freya was still wondering what the text was about when the door suddenly flew open with a loud crash as Magnus charged into the room.

His suit was ruffled, and there was a rabid look in his eyes that was a complete departure from his usual stoic and composed facade.

"Where are you hiding Ifrit?” He demanded as he grabbed Freya’s neck and glowered at her.

There was a murderous look in his eyes.

“How dare you do something so twisted to force me to marry you! You make me sick!”

That was when Freya realized what the message was about.

She chuckled despite the situation.

“Did you believe that I kidnapped Ifrit just because she told you that?” she asked condescendingly.

“Who else would do something so twisted if not you?” Magnus spat and effectively shattered the final trace of hope she held for him.

“Fine, I suppose I did kidnap her.”

“Let her go! Now!”

“I’ll let her go if you come to the wedding tomorrow,” she countered, a cold gleam in her eyes.

Magnus's expression darkened as he glared at her.

“I’ll never let you get away with it if you hurt her,” he said venomously.

“And I’ll attend the wedding, but mark my words, I will never love you even if I marry you.”

Love?

She no longer cared about his love.

The reason she wanted him to attend the wedding was to give him one last surprise.

She wanted him to find out the truth and watched helplessly as she married another man.

She wanted him to regret everything he had done to her.

After Magnus left, she printed out all the recent provocative text messages she had received from Ifrit and had them stashed in a box.

Then, she compiled the footage of what happened in the club and made extra copies of it. She had one copy sent to the detective tasked with investigating the men who were involved with Ifrit.

Then, she placed the other copy alongside the detective's investigation reports to send to Magnus.

The next morning.

Freya's wedding car raced down the street and swept gracefully around the bend before arriving at the entrance of the most luxurious hotel in the city.

Magnus was in his pajamas as he stood outside the hotel.

He sullenly looked at the car and seemed to be losing his patience.

Then he spotted Dominic sitting in his wheelchair.

He was dressed in a well-tailored suit with a matching tie. He cupped his slender hands against the armrest of the wheelchair and wore a thoughtful look that seemed to contain a hint of excitement.

As the crowd of onlookers watched him, they began to murmur, “Isn't Mr. Magnus supposed to be getting married? Why is he dressed like that? His elder brother, Mr. Dominic, on the other hand, is dressed up like a groom over there.”

"I heard rumors that the Steins and the Haretts had asked the daughter of the Steins to choose one of the two Harett siblings. Do you think this means she chose Mr. Dominic?”

Magnus chuckled sardonically.

He went up to Freya and confronted her, “Here I am. Where is Ifrit?”

“The wedding hasn't even started yet, what’s the rush?” Freya said calmly as she handed him a box.

“Here. A gift for you.”

That was when the emcee announced brightly, “And now, the wedding begins!”

Magnus's eyes instantly turned red. He slowly dragged himself toward the auditorium in what seemed to be a humiliated state.

The moment he turned around, Freya approached Dominic.

She gracefully took his hand before turning to greet the guests waiting outside the door.

“Welcome to my wedding with Dominic,” she said proudly.

A wave of silence descended upon the venue.

Even Magnus came to an abrupt stop before turning around in disbelief.