The Serene Chants Temple hummed with sutras and clamored with a crowd.

Kneeling on a prayer mat before the Buddha, Madison prayed with profound depth.

*I, Madison, vow to journey to the sacred land, to guard the holy mountain, and never again to set foot beyond the Tibetan Plateau.*

Walter observed her humble attire. *The Sacred Peak of Zagrama is humanity’s last pure land. To set foot there requires abandoning all attachments—renouncing every earthly passion and tie.*

Though her eyelids fluttered, her gaze held a serenity born of utter detachment.

*In this life, I will not marry, I will not bear children. I am willing to lay down my attachments and take monastic vows!*

Pity filled his eyes. *The air on the holy mountain is thin, the cold perpetual, the conditions harsh beyond measure. Once you enter, you must guard the sacred land until your life’s end.*

*Madison, are you certain?*

She nodded solemnly. *I am willing to guard the sacred land for a lifetime. Until my very last breath!*

Seeing her resolve was firm, Walter did not dissuade her further. *Fast and purify for three days; bathe and burn incense. Then, I will have the local Tibetans escort you into the holy mountain.*

The Sacred Peak of Zagrama was a Buddhist sanctuary, forbidden to outsiders. To go and guard it meant complete isolation from the world.

She and Louis would never see each other again.

…

Madison had lost both parents in her youth, growing up instead within the walls of Serene Chants Temple.

When she was five, her parents had taken her up the mountain to pay respects to the Buddha—only to encounter enemies bent on revenge. Murdered by the villains, they left her hiding beneath a statue, where she narrowly escaped.

Walter, seeing her alone and helpless, had taken her in.

The year she turned eighteen, Madison met Louis and fell for him at first sight.

He had fled to the Tibetan Plateau to escape an arranged business marriage, entering religious life as his refuge.

One night, Madison pushed open the door to the meditation chamber.

Louis sat on a prayer cushion, his fingers turning a sandalwood rosary, sacred verses whispering from his lips. His glacial detachment, the rigid control in his posture—it all kindled a reckless hunger in her.

Summoning her courage, she settled herself astride his lap, her pale, jade-like fingers gripping his chin.

Her red dress, thin as cicada wings, hinted at the alluring curves beneath.

After a lifetime of obedience, she suddenly wanted to break the rules, just this once.

"Mr. Louis, your worldly ties are not yet severed. Reciting sutras won’t bring you peace!"

His expression remained cold and remote as a mountain glacier, a silent warning.

His gaze darkened. "This is a sacred place. You’re defiling it. Have you no shame?"

Madison leaned forward, her graceful curves on display as she wrapped herself around his waist with a reckless new allure. "People have emotions and desires, joy and sorrow. Why should that be shameful?"

She was eighteen, every fantasy amplified by a lifetime behind temple walls. Having grown up there, she had always yearned for the world outside.

Not a ripple of emotion crossed Louis’s face; his eyes stayed utterly still.

Madison pressed on, her voice a low murmur. "You don’t want to be a sacrifice to a business marriage. You don’t want to strain family ties, so you choose to run away."

"Only a coward runs. The strong face adversity—they hold their own fate."

He had fled to this pure sanctuary, thinking he could escape the mundane world. Then his lips found her ear, his warm breath on her skin, and everything spiraled out of control.

Candlelight shuddered against the walls. The very room seemed to tremble with the heat they generated.

Madison, having tasted love for the first time, was dazzled by the glittering world beyond the temple.

After bidding Walter farewell, she followed Louis to Capital City.

Walter tried to dissuade her. “The outside world is all neon and intoxication,” he cautioned. “It’s easy to lose yourself to its temptations. Life in the temple may not be as bleak as you imagine, and the world outside may not be as beautiful as you hope.”

But Madison’s mind was made up, her resolve unshakable. “I’ll come back to visit you, Walter—I promise!” she insisted.

Louis brought her into his family’s home, providing her with a life free from want. In the circles of Capital City, rumors soon spread that he was keeping a caged songbird.

For five years, Louis spoiled her, indulged her, molding her into a pampered princess.

If she threw a tantrum, he would abandon business deals worth tens of millions, flying back overnight from abroad just to calm her.

Once, after she fell into the water and developed a lung infection—with doctors warning him to prepare for the worst—Louis braved a torrential downpour to climb to the hilltop shrine. There he prayed for a protective charm to save her life. He climbed all one hundred and eight steps on his knees, bowing his head to the stone three times with each one, until his knees were bruised and battered.

Later, he spent a hundred million to buy the naming rights for a minor planet—and named it after her.

Before the temple’s matchmaking shrine, he prayed with devout sincerity, personally engraving both their names on one of the symbolic love locks.

Everyone said Louis was crazy in love with her.

On their fifth anniversary, she carefully prepared a gift and went to find him, only to overhear him talking easily with a friend.

“Christine went abroad for treatment, but her health isn’t improving,” Louis was saying. “Her greatest wish is to marry me. I promised her a grand ceremony.”

His friend teased, “Aren’t you afraid Madison will find out and raise hell?”

Louis lifted his eyelids lazily. “Madison gets jealous easily. You’ve all got to help me keep this under wraps.”

His friend scoffed. “If she knew your marriage certificate was fake, she’d be heartbroken!”

Madison’s breath hitched. Tears welled up uncontrollably.

Christine was Louis’s first love—his forever love, the one who got away, a permanent mark on his soul.

They had fallen for each other in their youth, only to be torn apart by their families. Christine suffered from a congenital heart condition. Louis’s family sent her abroad, forcibly separating the star‑crossed lovers. The exorbitant cost of his childhood sweetheart’s treatment had always been covered by Louis.

Louis’s voice softened, tender enough to drown in. “Christine loves a party. I want all of you there for the wedding!”

His friend’s tone turned mocking. “Madison has clung to you for five years—and with such desperate intensity.”

Low, vulgar laughter rippled around them. “A natural‑born siren like that must be wild in bed, right?”

Louis twisted the beads on his wrist. “Christine’s constitution is too frail. I can’t bear to touch her. So… I channeled all that pent‑up desire into Madison. She’s adventurous, full of tricks. We tried every position in the book.”

Madison felt as if she’d plunged into an abyss, a suffocating sensation overwhelming her.

His friend, speaking from experience, advised, “Louis, don’t invest too deeply in feelings. Otherwise, it’s hard to walk away unscathed.”

Louis raised a brow slightly. “I’ve been slipping contraceptives into the milk Madison drinks every day. She won’t get pregnant. There won’t be any deep ties between us.”

Madison clenched her fist. The wedding band bit into her flesh, the pain piercing to her core.

So all his kindness had been laced with cold calculation.

She pulled off the ring, crushed it out of shape, and discarded it like trash.

Then she pushed the door open and entered the private room. Inside, the laughter died abruptly.

Louis walked over and draped his still-warm coat over her shoulders. “It’s raining. What are you doing here?”

Madison bit back the questions rising to her lips. “Today is our seventh wedding anniversary.”

She emphasized *wedding*.

His tone remained gentle. “I’ve been busy with clients lately. I forgot to get you a gift.”

“What would you like? The latest Chanel bag? A Cartier ruby necklace?”

He lied so effortlessly. How many perfect lies had he told her over the years?

She had kept the pregnancy test a secret, hoping to surprise him. Now, it seemed pointless.

A sudden wave of nausea washed over her.

Stumbling to the bathroom, she retched until her vision blurred.

Louis frowned, his gaze fixed on her face. “Are you pregnant?”

Her face was ghostly pale. “Probably just something I ate. I’m not pregnant.”

Unmistakable relief washed over his features. He reached out to steady her. “Let me take you to the hospital.”

She sidestepped his touch. “I’ll just get something from the pharmacy. No need for the hospital.”

Outside, the rain fell in torrents. She walked straight into the downpour.

She couldn’t tell if it was rain or tears streaming down her face.

Within moments, she was soaked to the bone.

Winter had settled over the city, the air biting cold.

For a long time, Madison stood on the street corner before numbly walking into a pharmacy.

She approached the clerk, her voice flat. “I need the abortion pill.”

The clerk looked her over. “The one for early pregnancy?”

“You know what it does?”

Madison placed a hand over her lower abdomen. A tiny life was growing inside her.

It took her a moment to find her voice. “Give me a box. I want to end it.”

After five years with Louis, she’d never gotten pregnant. She had cherished this unexpected gift—had wanted to pour all her love into this child, to let it grow up safe and loved.

But its father didn’t want it.

He was building a family with his first love. He wanted neither her nor their child.

Not long after swallowing the pills, a dull, heavy ache settled in her belly.

Madison struggled to her feet—then felt a sudden, warm gush between her legs.

A trickle of blood, stark and crimson against her skin.

Each movement brought a sharp, scraping pain, less like cramps and more like a brutal evacuation.

In the end, her dream of love had shattered, leaving nothing but bitter ashes.

Madison dialed Louis’s number. “Louis… I want to go home.”

Hearing the strain in her voice, he rushed back.

He found her collapsed in a pool of blood, the crimson stain stark and terrifying beneath her.

His heart lurched.

Panic surging through him, he scooped her up and raced to the hospital.

The doctor handed him a consent form. “Mr. Louis, there’s residual tissue in your wife’s uterus. She needs a D&C.”

“Please sign here.”

The harsh glare of the operating room lights flooded her vision.

Cold, metallic instruments scraped and tugged inside her—a pain so visceral it felt like being torn apart.

A tear traced its way from the corner of Madison’s eye. She closed her eyes against the agony.

As her womb was emptied, something hollowed out inside her as well.

After the procedure, she sat for a long time on a bench outside the operating room.

Finally, she took out her phone and dialed a number she hadn’t called in years.

“Walter… I want to come home.”