Eden Castle and Cedric Rivers had been together for eleven years.

Just when she thought they would grow old together, Cedric went and cheated on her. He had been cheating on her for three years with a girl who looked just like her, only the girl was much younger than Eden.

Eden assumed this was as bad as it could get, then it got worse.

Her son Mateo gave her a letter announcing that he was severing ties with her. He blamed Eden for ruining what was supposed to be a happy family.

Eden was crushed as she signed the divorce agreement. However, she decided she never wanted anything to do with the pair of father and son again.

“Priscilla, please draft a divorce agreement for me.”

As soon as Eden said so, Priscilla, who was on the other end of the phone, felt her jaw drop.

“Eden, Cedric loves you! Both of you worked so hard to get to where you are today. Why the sudden divorce? Has there been some kind of misunderstanding?

“Besides, you two have been together for eleven years! Your son Mateo is seven years old! Are you sure you’re going to walk away from all of that?”

Eden stared outside her car window at the three figures strolling in parallel. A wry and cynical smile greeted her lips.

“Cedric has been cheating on me. With a model.

“For three years.”

The girl he was cheating on her with looked just like her. She was a model, the very occupation Cedric forbade Eden from in the past.

For the last three years, Cedric had been the girl’s benefactor. She lived just across the street from their house.

It was only yesterday when Eden caught on.

Priscilla was struck speechless on the phone. Meanwhile, Eden turned to look outside the window again.

The young model Amelie Hepburn was holding Mateo’s hand while strolling down the street. Both of them wore a beaming smile while Cedric followed behind the whole time.

He was nothing but agreeable and attentive. He would pay for everything before handing the shopping bags to his bodyguard.

Everything he did for Amelie was with a degree of tenderness that Eden never realized he had in him. She could feel something twitching inside her when she looked at his behavior.

Soon, hot tears streamed down her cheeks. She wiped them away candidly and waited until she had calmed herself down enough to stop sobbing before she made another phone call.

“Forget about hiring a new director for the orphanage, I prefer to do it myself.

“I’ll be there next month.”

With that, she rolled up the car window, hung up, and sped home.

When she got home, she found herself shivering uncontrollably. Even after she turned on the heater and snuggled under the covers, she could not stop shivering from the relentless cold.

Just as she felt herself slipping off to sleep, Cedric came home.

After entering the room, he cradled Eden into his arms from underneath the covers and frowned when he touched her forehead, “Why are you sleeping so early? You look pale. Are you feeling unwell?”

He proceeded to angle Eden’s face toward her and pressed their forehead together to check her temperature.

It was a familiar gesture for him. They had dated for four years and had been married for seven. He could sense the subtlest change in Eden’s mood and would look after her attentively every time.

This time was different. The moment Eden felt Cedric's temperature and caught a hint of his scent, she recoiled away from him instinctively.

By the time she realized what she had done, she saw Cedric staring at her with a confused look on his face.

“It's nothing.” She stammered and felt her voice coming out raspy, “I’m just a little tired.”

Cedric let the matter drop without giving it much thought, “Eat something before you sleep. I got you your favorite food.”

Then, she followed Cedric to the table to find that he had already opened the lid of each takeout container.

While reaching over for the spoon, the oversized clothes she wore accidentally clapped against Cedric's trench coat, which was hanging on the back of his chair.

The trench coat slipped off the chair and dropped to the ground with a thud. Then, a plastic bag fell from one of its pockets.

For a moment, it felt as if time came to a standstill.

It was as if something had cracked. Cedric’s relaxed mood took on a sudden, ominous transformation as he erupted with anger.

“Eden! What are you doing to my things?

“What happened to basic respect?! Even if we're married, you should have an idea of basic manners, shouldn’t you?”

Eden’s face turned so white it felt as if it could blend into the wall behind her. Before she could react, Cedric angrily snatched the condom from the floor.

Since he was so agitated, he accidentally knocked over the bowl of piping hot soup, which spilled all over Eden’s hand.

The air in the room was so cold it stung the throat. The only sounds that could be heard were Cedric's rapid breathing and Eden's barely audible gasps.

After what seemed like an eternity, Cedric seemed to realize he may have reacted dramatically and began to stammer an awkward explanation.

“It was a friend who slipped it into my pocket as a joke. I was worried you’d get the wrong idea, so I got a little agitated and raised my voice.

“Did you burn your hand? Let me see.”

The spilled soup had already cooled down by this point, leaving only a thin film of oil on her slightly reddened hand.

After a brief inspection, Cedric went straight for the cabinet to get the first-aid kit before carefully bandaging the burned spot. He did it with the same amount of attention he always did in the past whenever she accidentally got injured.

The only difference this time was that, before he had even finished treating the wound, his phone rang. The ringtone was a specially customized ringtone.

Then, the messages began pouring in as if there had been an emergency.

Eden could sense Cedric growing stiff. She did her best to conceal the bitter look in her eyes.

“Do you want to check the messages? Maybe it's something important.”

As soon as she gave the hint, Cedric reached for the phone with immediate relief.

His eyes lingered on the screen for a long time while his gaze slowly darkened. Suddenly, he exhaled before looking at Eden apologetically.

“Eden, there seems to be a problem with the birthday present I ordered for you. I’m going to have to speak to them tonight to hash things out. I’m sure you know how much I want you to have a truly special and precious present.

“The soup has cooled down, and the burn isn’t too bad. Take care of yourself, alright? I'll be back before you know it.”

With that, he shoved the cotton swab into Eden's hand before hurrying out of the house.

Before leaving, he took the trench coat.

Eden felt a faint burning sensation in her hand while she watched him depart. However, the pain in her hand was nothing compared to the pain she felt in her heart, like ten thousand needles stabbing at her.

After being with Cedric for eleven years, she knew him like the back of her hand.

Perhaps even he never realized his habit of speaking faster whenever he was lying.

Furthermore, he used the exact same excuse just yesterday. Perhaps love did have a way of making people lose their heads.

After she finished treating the burn, she had all but lost her appetite. She decided to check if Mateo was asleep.

When she approached the door, she heard an excited voice coming from inside, “Amelie, is Daddy there yet?

“Don’t you worry, I will be the protector of your love! I will make sure you and daddy can be happily in love together and chase away my useless mommy!”

Amelie cackled at Mateo’s innocent remark. Her grating laughter pierced into Eden’s ears and made her heart throb again.

Eden was overwhelmed by exhaustion and slumped to the ground. Then, she closed her eyes and buried her head between her knees.

She spent the entire night sitting rigidly at the edge of her bed, repeatedly puzzling over where it had all gone wrong.

Cedric was the one who initiated the courting.

He had a crush on Eden and treated her well.

Back in school, he would ask the teacher to assign him a seat next to Eden. He was attached to her like a shadow during lunch and dinner, bringing her food while helping her blend into his group of friends.

At one point, Cedric even ditched his favorite subject so he could be in the same class as her. He took the same courses as Eden’s, so he had more reasons to be with her.

Eden never responded to his advances until their senior year of high school, when there was an earthquake.

During the evacuation, she sprained her ankle and could not run out of the building. Cedric, who had made it to the outdoor playground, noticed she was missing and frantically ran back to the school building despite the teachers’ caution. Then, he rescued her and heroically carried her downstairs.

While he was bringing her down the stairs, an aftershock caused a worn-down mural to collapse. His first thought was to pull Eden into his arms to shield her.

The mural struck him on the head and made him bleed profusely.

At the hospital, he continued to comfort and reassure Eden despite the jaw-clenching pain. That was when he asked Eden to date him if she was moved by his gesture.

Eden said yes.

Cedric seemed completely stunned by the response. When his mind finally registered what she said, he yanked out the IV tube and ignored the shooting pain so he could pull her into his arms. He was both laughing and crying at the same time while promising to treasure her forever.

Later on, they got into the same university. Their love story continued to blossom like a fairy tale, attracting a large following.

Cedric was aware that Eden was insecure about her relatively lowly background as an orphan. During her junior year, he prepared a grand proposal to publicly display his commitment toward her.

They had dated for four years until their graduation when Cedric opposed the objections of his family and pressure from the others to give Eden the wedding of the century.

Just like that, Eden went from a lowly orphan to the esteemed Mrs. Rivers overnight. It was a title that many would kill for.

They were married for seven years and had a seven-year-old boy together. Life was wonderful, like a fairy tale.

Then, something happened six months ago. Cedric’s behavior suddenly changed.

He began to fall into a habit of using work as an excuse to stay out all night. Then, there were the constant business trips coupled with an increasingly perfunctory attitude toward Eden.

Even when Eden tried to initiate intimacy, he would not respond.

Over time, Mateo began to resent his mother and blamed her for Cedric’s absence. He complained that the reason her mother could not keep her father loyal was the reason their happy family had dissolved.

Eden tried to assure herself that it was only a phase, that Cedric was too busy with work, and things would settle down eventually.

Six months later, she received a seventy-minute-long video.

As it turned out, Cedric's infidelity had begun much earlier than she had expected. The video was a montage recorded over three years, containing over seven hundred different scenes, each of them with Cedric and Amelie naked.

Their bodies were intertwined. All of it happened on the countless days and nights she spent in self-doubt.

Then, a sudden knock at the door pulled her out of her spiraling state. She wiped away the tears blurring her vision and swallowed the lump in her throat before numbly dragging herself to the door.

Priscilla greeted her at the door.

Priscilla did not offer any words of comfort, nor did she ask further questions. Instead, she curtly handed over a drafted set of divorce documents.

Eden barely even inspected its contents. All she did was flip through them briefly as a gesture of formality before turning to the signature section to sign her name.

She signed her name swiftly and decisively.

After he left, Cedric spent the next few days at the office.

Every night, he would text Eden punctually at ten o’clock. The messages were kept very brief each time.

“I’m busy. Take care of yourself and Mateo.”

Eden did not try to ask what he was doing as she would in the past, since she was very much aware of what he was up to. She focused on work instead of troubling herself over it.

Mateo's birthday was coming up. In the past, the family of three would gather and celebrate with a cake baked by Eden. It was a simple but fulfilling way of celebrating their child growing another year older.

This time, Eden and Mateo waited until ten o'clock at night, but Cedric was still nowhere to be seen.

Mateo turned to Eden and sounded very grumpy.

“Is Daddy not coming back yet? Call him and ask, the cake is melting.”

With that, Eden reached for her phone and called Cedric for the fifth time.

After ringing for what seemed like forever, he finally picked up.

Cedric read her mind before she could even ask, and said, “Eden, I’m not coming home tonight. You… ah!

“You celebrate Mateo’s birthday with him, alright? I’ll make it up to him when I get back. That’s all for now, don’t wait for me.”

His voice sounded somewhat muffled, and his tone was odd. He seemed to be speaking hastily and hung up immediately before Eden could even get a word in.

As soon as the call ended, Mateo went up to her.

“Is Daddy coming home?”

His face instantly darkened when Eden informed him that his father was not coming home. He angrily threw the present Eden had given him on the floor and screamed at the top of his lungs.

“Useless! You’re useless! You’re the reason Daddy won’t come home!

“Just because you didn’t have a Daddy and Mommy growing up doesn’t mean you have to take away my Daddy from me! You’re disgusting!”

His high-pitched voice shot into Eden’s eardrums like a banshee’s shriek. It made her head throb violently, and her ears would not stop ringing.

She looked at Mateo with a completely astonished expression, too lost for words.

Mateo seemed completely oblivious to the impact his words had. He continued hurling insults at her.

“Why do I have such a useless mother? Why are you my mother?!

“My friends have mothers who are lawyers or doctors, but you don’t even know how to do anything! All you do is spend time with a bunch of poor and grimy kids. Other people have grandparents, but you don't even have a home! Have you ever thought about what other people think of me?”

His face became contorted with rage. It was a jarring contrast with his otherwise childlike face. Then, he angrily smashed the present before stomping back to his room.

The door slammed shut.

A minute later, he stormed out and tossed a piece of paper at her.

“I’m cutting ties with you! You’re not my mother, you piece of trash!”

Then, he knocked over the cake baked by Eden before fleeing back to his room.

Eden stood still with a blank look on her face. Soon, her blank gaze turned to sorrow when she read the words written on the paper Mateo had thrown at her.

It was titled “Severance Agreement”.

“I, Mateo Castle, voluntarily cut off my ties with my mother.”

Right underneath the distorted, illegible handwriting was a fingerprint stamped with still-wet blood.

Eden stared at the paper in disbelief for what felt like forever. She felt completely pinpricked and numb; voices were droning around her.

She could faintly hear the conversation coming from the room.

“Amelie, when are you going to marry Daddy? I want to be your page boy.

“My mommy is useless. She can’t even get Daddy to come home. If you were my mommy, Daddy wouldn’t do this. It would be a dream come true if you were my mommy! I dream of you being my mommy all the time.”

Eden felt her blood turning turgid in her veins, followed by a cold shiver. Maybe it was true, maybe her existence alone disgusted Mateo.

She was ashamed of her background just as much as of her job. She couldn’t even keep her husband around for her son. That must be why Mateo would not stop fawning over Amelie and curse at his own mother.

With these thoughts in mind, she smiled cynically at herself.

Then, she numbly dragged her feet back to her room, where she grabbed a pen and signed her name on the severance agreement. She folded it neatly before tucking it into a gift bag.

Then, she put the gift bag into the pile of presents Mateo had received.

She was sure Mateo would be very pleased with it once he opened it.