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.

It was the next morning when Cedric returned home.

He reeked of alcohol. Amelie was the one who took him home.

When she brought him to Eden, she made a point of tugging at his collar to reveal the suggestive marks on his clothes.

Then, she whispered to Eden, “We partied a little too hard and drank more than we should. Sorry for making you take care of him, thank you!”

Then, she let out a faint sigh and shrugged before strutting off in her high heels.

Her footsteps were haughty and bore a candid bounce. It was clear that she was gloating.

Eden sheathed the calculating look in her eyes and closed the door before dragging Cedric to the bed.

Though he was drunk, he was not completely out of it yet. However, when Eden flung him into the bed without a care in the world, he could feel his head spinning along with a violent ringing in his ears.

He frowned from the discomfort and began breathing heavily to relieve the drowsiness.

Before he could even catch his breath, Eden returned to the room.

He instinctively reached out, expecting to be handed a glass of honey lemon juice, only to find it was a pen instead.

“Don’t sleep yet, Cedric.”

Eden remarked while flipping to the signature section, “I want a divorce. Sign the agreement.”

Cedric frowned impatiently and seemed annoyed by the interruption. He clicked his tongue irritably and signed his name while barely keeping his eyes open.

“Another donation to an orphanage?

“If you want something, just get the card from me. What’s this about an agreement? Do you think I don’t have the money?”

It was clear he did not catch what she said.

Eden did not bother explaining. Instead, she stood silently and watched as he signed the document.

After it was done, Cedric folded the document and handed it back to her before collapsing onto the bed again. He rubbed his temples to ease the headache.

In the past, Eden would have proactively offered to massage his temples to help him with the headache without him having to ask. Now, though, she only inspected the document before walking off with it.

Moments before she left, Cedric strained his eyes open again. He felt a pang of unease growing inside him, but he was too exhausted to process what was happening. With that, he quickly fell asleep.

When he woke up, it was already evening.

As soon as Cedric stepped out of the room, Mateo ecstatically ran up to him and wrapped himself around his leg.

“Dad, you haven’t granted my birthday wish yet!”

Mateo had been waiting outside the room since the moment Cedric came home. Not wanting to disturb his father’s rest, he respectfully waited until Cedric woke up.

When Cedric gave him an approving look, his smile widened. Then, he shot a look at Eden, who was just stepping out of the kitchen.

“I want to change my surname.

“I want to take Daddy’s surname! Or maybe I can take Amelie’s…”

“Enough of this nonsense!

“Do you think real life is some kind of cartoon? You can’t just change your surname on a whim! You’re seven years old, use your head!”

Cedric cast a look at Eden while reprimanding Mateo. It was only when he noticed her blank expression that he dropped the aggression in his voice.

Cedric had such a scare that sweat poured from his forehead. Suddenly, he felt the headache and drowsiness disappear.

“Ask for something else…”

“Okay, I want to go out and eat with Daddy, but without Mommy! Is that okay?”

A hint of hesitation flashed in Cedric's eyes. He quizzingly looked at Eden and was greeted by an otherwise indifferent and nonchalant look in her eyes.

She gestured, “It’s fine, Cedric. Give him what he wants.

“He's seven, old enough to know what he wants.”

A trace of doubt flickered in Cedric's eyes.

He had a feeling Eden had changed.

When did she become so lenient?