As she saw the panic and fear on Simon’s face, Bertha wanted to laugh.

If she left, he and Luna could finally be an official couple, no?

That would be perfect for his wish, right? Why was he pretending to be all scared?

Bertha spoke calmly. “I’m leaving after lunch. I’ve been really bored just sitting in the house all the time, and I got tired of some of my clothes. I’m going to be donating them since I won’t be wearing them anymore.”

Simon sighed in relief, and the worry in his heart finally faded away. He smiled with a sense of ease as if he was feeling lucky about something. But when he saw Bertha’s flat gaze, he still felt anxious and knelt down to apologize to her.

“I’m sorry, Bertha. It’s all my fault. Something suddenly went wrong with a contract, and I forgot to tell you because I was really flustered about it. I shouldn’t have left you alone in the restaurant. I know that you’re mad. You can hit me or yell at me, just don’t scare me, please. I’m really afraid of losing you…”

As Simon spoke, he cried, and his eyes were full of fear.

Bertha just watched everything unfold.

Simon was a company president who ruled over the business world. No one could ever imagine him kneeling before a woman and begging her to not leave his side.

However, she had only vanished for a few hours. What was Simon going to do once she left for good half a month later?

Bertha could not understand it. Since Simon loved her, why did he sleep with Luna?

“I’m fine. Your work is more important.”

The more magnanimous she was about the situation, the more uneasy Simon felt. He swore, “Bertha, you’re more important to me than anything else.”

He hugged her tightly and pressed his face against her neck. “You haven’t eaten your birthday cake today. I ordered a fondant cake for you. I know it’s your favorite. Why don’t we make a wish and blow out the candles?”

Simon had a pitiful expression on his handsome face as he stared at Bertha.

In the past, she would start to pity him at this point. But she no longer wanted to put up an act around him, so she just shook her head. “My birthday’s the same every year anyway. I’m tired. I’d like to sleep.”

Since Simon was panicking, he agreed to whatever Bertha said and entered the bathroom to take a shower.

After that, he stayed by her side for three days.

On the fourth morning, Bertha woke up and saw Simon making a call on the balcony. His tone was doting, and his gaze was gentle as if he was speaking to a really important person.

Over the next few days, Simon would even begin calling Luna right in front of her. It would also be common for him to sneak out in the middle of the night.

On this day, a good friend of Simon was going to get married. So, he wanted to meet up with him before his wedding.

Bertha had just returned from a toilet break when she was about to open the door. Right then, the people inside talked about her.

James Jonas, Simon’s good friend, teased him, “Simon, you’ve been with Bertha for almost eight years, right? I’m about to be tied down to another woman too. Tell me, have you ever been tired of her?”

Upon hearing this, Bertha’s hands froze above the door handle for a moment. But she soon pushed the door open and entered as if nothing had happened.

The group that was laughing inside fell silent. Simon immediately went up to her and led her back to the couch.

He poured her juice and even fed her fruits.

When James noticed that the atmosphere had turned awkward, he cleared his throat before saying, “Come on, Simon, tell me. It’s not as if Bertha can hear you.”

Simon hugged Bertha tightly and smiled brilliantly. “Tired of her? How could such a thing exist between me and Bertha?”

The others laughed.

“Simon’s a great man. Eight years is nothing. Even if he’s together with Bertha for eighty years, he won’t get bored of her.”

Simon took a sip of wine while the people around him laughed. Then, he softly said, “But a lifetime is really long, and you’ll get bored of sleeping with the same person.”

He gave special emphasis to the word “sleeping,” and everyone got excited. They started cheering him on.

“Ooh! Looks like you have quite an exciting life, Simon!”

Bertha was shocked when she heard this, and the grapes she had just eaten suddenly tasted poisonous. Pain spread from her throat straight down to her stomach.

She looked at Simon, only to see that his eyes were still filled with love. At that moment, her blood ran cold as if she had been thrown into a blizzard.

“Enough, pipe down. Don’t let Bertha notice that something’s off.” Simon only thought that she was curious about why they were laughing, and he snapped at the group.

“Come on. You don’t have to be scared. It’s not like Bertha can hear you. Just tell her later that we were talking about the wedding tomorrow.”

“By the way, Simon, who’s better? Bertha or Luna?”

Simon slumped against the couch. His expression remained the same, but his tone was intriguing. “Bertha’s special to me, but everyone needs a sense of novelty in life.”

The cheers in the room grew louder, and they were making Bertha’s mind go blank.

Simon picked up a grape and fondled it for a moment before he added, “Luna’s young and pretty. She’s open in bed, and she has plenty of bedroom tricks…”

He had not finished his entire statement, but everyone got even more excited. He pointed at Bertha and motioned for everyone to fall silent with a look. After he peeled the skin off the grape, he fed it to Bertha.

However, Bertha remembered how he had just fondled the grape, and she could not swallow it.

Perhaps he noticed her unusual behavior, but Simon patiently signed to her, “What’s wrong? Are you sick of it? Do you want to eat something else?”

When Bertha saw the words “sick of it,” her entire body trembled.

“No. If I like something, that will be the only thing I like. I won’t ever change.”

With a doting look, Simon held her hand and smiled as he stared into her eyes. “I’m the same.”

Bertha met Simon’s gaze. His eyes remained as gentle as ever as he confessed his love through sign with practiced ease.

If she had not heard him say those things with her own ears, Bertha would never have believed how fake her husband was. After she listened to their conversation, Bertha finally understood that everyone knew about his affair with Luna. She was the only one who had been kept in the dark like an idiot.

Perhaps God had taken pity on her and restored her hearing.

Simon was still pretending to be a loving husband, but he did not know that Bertha had already learned about everything.

She knew what he had been doing at night over the past few days. She also knew that his love could not win against the temptation of lust.

Simon probably noticed that something was off about Bertha, so he left earlier with her.

When they got into the car, his phone began ringing. He took one look at the screen and signed to her that it was a call from his company. Then, he answered the phone right in front of her face.

Luna called Simon’s name sweetly. After he listened to her for about three minutes, he hung up and gave Bertha an apologetic look. “Sorry, Bertha. There’s a really urgent meeting in the company, and I need to go back to chair it.”

Bertha did not expose him. She just smiled and nodded. “Your company’s important. Go ahead and do your thing.”

Simon reached out to pat Bertha’s head, but she avoided him. He thought that she was still mad at him, just like how she had been when he left her to return to the “company.” But when he remembered what Luna just told him, he still chose to leave after a moment of hesitation. Before he did, he signed to Bertha that he was going to bring her a gift when he came back. “I’ll get the driver to send you back, and I’ll bring you a surprise at night.”

As she watched Simon leave into the distance, Bertha’s sadness turned into tears. She had heard the entire conversation.

Luna said that her family had arranged a blind date for her. Hence, Simon had left her behind so that he could go over to keep Luna by his side.

As for what he would do to achieve it? Bertha could already guess it.

Even so, she did not expect Simon to lie to her so blatantly. Just how many times had he delivered such blatant lies to her face?

She did not ask the driver to send her back home. Instead, she went to the shopping mall alone and bought a pen drive.

While she was on her way back, it started pouring. She stood at the entrance while she waited for a car, but suddenly, she received a video call from a stranger.

She knew who it was and chose to answer it.

The video was taken from a secluded angle, but Bertha could still immediately recognize the two people in the footage.

“Master, it hurts… Please stop hitting me…”

The red marks left on her skin by a leather whip were revealed before Bertha’s eyes. Then, she heard a familiar voice. “Shut up and swallow.”

She then heard the sound of clothes being torn apart, along with moans. Those sounds blended together with the pouring rain.

Bertha trembled nonstop. Then, as if her soul had left her body, she ran into the rain and let it soak her body through.

She felt like it was the only way she could get rid of those disgusting voices that were echoing in her ears.

When Bertha got home, she was drenched, and the maids were terrified. They quickly pushed her into the bathroom so that she could take a warm bath.

Simon received a message from them and came back. By then, Bertha was sitting in the living room while wrapped up in a blanket. The sight of her dejected expression made him kneel in front of her while he slapped himself twice.

“I won’t ever abandon you again, Bertha.”

Bertha was already sick of his promises. She could not even be bothered to expose him. In fact, she did not even look at him. “It’s fine. If it’s necessary for your job, I’m okay with it.”

A hint of regret flashed in Simon’s eyes.

“I won’t care about work anymore. Bertha, you’re the most important person to me.”

That night, Bertha started burning up, and Simon took care of her throughout the night.

Since she did not like the smell of disinfectant in the hospital, he hired a private doctor. When she had no appetite, Simon looked through all sorts of recipe books for tasty, healthy meals.

The maids were envious of her relationship with Simon. But Bertha was the only one who knew that she would be abandoned in the huge house whenever night fell.

Luna posted new content on her Instagram every day, and Simon always showed up in every single one of her photos. Sometimes, it would be in the form of his arm. Sometimes, it would be his abs.

Tonight, Luna took a selfie as she lay on his chest. The caption read, [Wherever his love is, that is where he will be every night.]

Bertha zoomed in on the photo and saw the letter “B” tattooed on the spot right above his heart.

Simon had gotten that tattoo in secret during their first anniversary. He said that he would treasure her forever.

At this point, her heart had died a long time ago. With a stony expression, she liked the post.

So, a person could truly multitask, huh? He loved one woman while he slept with another one.

Soon, Luna sent her a message. [Bertha, how does it feel after listening to us making love? Earlier, he called me honey, and he did it so passionately. Everyone says that a man works during the day while he lives his life at night, right? He doesn’t love you anymore, and he only takes care of you during the day out of a sense of responsibility. I’m the one he truly loves. Why else would I be pregnant?

[You’re a smart person, and you should be aware of your place in Simon’s heart. I don’t think you know this, but I’ve been with Simon for more than a year. He says that you’re boring in bed. During the nights we’ve been together, we’ve tried more than one hundred styles in bed. Sometimes, if he’s addicted to a certain position, he might use it for an entire week.

[We’ve made love on the lawn you got engaged in, the theater where you had your first date, the first car he bought, and even your bedroom!

[I doubt that you know just how obsessed he is with me. I’m pregnant now. If you have any sense at all, pack up and leave. Otherwise, when the baby’s here, you’ll end up looking like a joke.]

Bertha quietly read through the messages. Meanwhile, Luna was getting impatient.

She was not only provoking Bertha, but she was also starting to send her all of her pictures with Simon.

She took them in places that were filled with memories of Bertha’s time together with him. While Simon remained in the pictures, the woman had changed, and the things they did were shameful.

[Bertha, I can’t believe you can still keep your composure. Have you not seen enough?]

Bertha turned off the screen, and her tears fell all over the phone.

At some point in time, she had started crying. She gritted her teeth and wiped away her tears. Even so, she still could not heal her wounded heart.

‘Simon, how could you?!

‘You said that you would be with me forever and that you would never betray me, but all of your promises are just lies!’

On the day she recovered, Bertha did not see Simon. During the course of twenty-four hours, he only sent her one message.

[Bertha, I’ve contacted a doctor from abroad to install man-made cochleas into your ears.]

She did not answer because Luna had sent her another photo last night.

It was a photo of her getting a consultation at the Gynaecology Department. Simon had personally paid for the consultation.

[Bertha, my morning sickness was horrible yesterday, and Simon was incredibly worried. I’ll ask him to keep you company tomorrow.]

She could sense just how smug Luna was just from those words alone.

Bertha ignored them and just packed up. Meanwhile, she confirmed the procedure for her fake death with the person on the other end of the phone.

Over the past few days, Luna had uploaded posts that only Bertha could see at a set hour each day.

There were photos of Simon putting a ring on her finger, one of Simon designing a wedding dress for her, and a photo of them making love in a sea of flowers.

Despite that, Luna was the first one to lose her patience. In her exasperation, she sent a message over to demand a response.

[Can you really keep your cool that well, Bertha?! What are you, the reincarnation of patience?! I’m already pregnant with Simon’s baby. Once I give birth, I’m going to chase you out of our family! I’m going to make you homeless!]

When Bertha saw this, she suddenly laughed. She never had a family to begin with. Simon was the one who had forced her into one.

She was going to return it all to him.

Three days before her fake death, Bertha went to a lawyer to come up with a draft for her divorce with Simon.

Two days before her fake death, Bertha organized the videos she had recorded and the photos she had collected. Then, she put them all into the pen drive. She also set things up so that it would play on the day of their fourth anniversary. She wanted to give Simon a unique present.

The person from the fake death agency called her once they received the pen drive. “Ms. Marsh, take this as an add-on for your services. We will play the contents of the pen drive two days later, and we will make sure that Simon Zimmer watches everything in it. We will also destroy all of your personal information at the same time. Thank you for choosing our services, and we wish you a happy new life.”

She could not hear any emotion from the cold, mechanical voice. Yet, for the first time in days, Bertha finally smiled in relief. She was finally going to be free.

“Thank you for the gift.”

Right then, Simon opened the door and came in.

“What gift?”

She turned around. There he was, her husband who had disappeared for a week.

Noticing that Simon had not realized she had made a call, she smiled. Fortunately, she had lowered her phone when she uttered her final sentence. So, he probably thought that she was only sending a voice message. “It’s nothing. A roommate from my time at university sent me some specialties from her place.”

Simon did not ask any further questions and hugged her. “It’s been so long since we last saw each other, and you’ve become thinner. I’ve been abroad over the past few days, and I’ve hired a medical team that’s perfect for you. They’ll be installing those man-made cochleas for you.”

He placed his chin on her shoulder and took a whiff of her scent.

However, Bertha remembered the photo of him making love to Luna in the sea of flowers. She found him disgusting and pushed him away.

“You just got back. You should take a shower.”

Simon patted her head dotingly and signed excitedly, “In another two days, you can hear my voice again. During our anniversary, I want you to listen as I serenade you.”

Bertha smiled. “Sure. I look forward to it.”

Simon’s eyes lit up. He wanted to take a shower and make love to Bertha when his phone suddenly rang.

Outside, Bertha heard Simon answer his phone in the bathroom, and she could hear Luna’s name clearly.

Just as she expected, three minutes later, Simon rushed out while his hair was still wet.

“Bertha, my team from abroad has been detained by customs…” he signed anxiously.

Bertha waved nonchalantly. “Go on. You shouldn’t delay anything of importance.”

However, she could clearly hear Luna screaming in pain through the phone. Simon had not actually hung up.

After a moment of hesitation, he chose to leave in the end.

Once Simon disappeared from her sight, Bertha returned to her room and brought out the luggage bag she had packed up a long time ago.

Honestly, if Simon had stayed for even a moment longer and returned to their bedroom, he would have noticed something. The spots where Bertha’s belongings were supposed to be were already empty.

Unfortunately for Simon, he had not slept in their bedroom for a long time.

Her luggage bag was not big. Meanwhile, the maids who were supposed to work at night had been transferred to other places with the excuse that Simon did not like it when others bothered them at night. The maids could only stay during the day.

After Bertha entered the car, the view of the house gradually became smaller and blurrier before it disappeared, just like the thread binding her with Simon.

Before her plane took off, she imagined an eighteen-year-old Simon standing in front of her.

He was full of life as he stood among the crowd of people. “Bertha, fly off. You have to be happy.”

The engine roared, and she looked away as the plane flew into the sky.