Anna, who had just arrived, saw the severed arm on the ground and was so frightened that she clutched her chest tightly. Her lips trembled as she said, "If Laura doesn't want me to marry you, then I won't. Why would she go this far?"

After saying that, Anna's vision went black, and she fainted into Jack's arms.

This only made Jack, who was already furious, even more enraged. He picked her up and hurried to the hospital.

"Laura! If anything happens to Anna, I'll take your life in return!"

What I never expected was that even though Anna was fine, Jack still hated me to the core.

He even ordered numerous white lilies and candles to be delivered to my doorstep. The mess blocked the hallway.

Neighbors who passed by took one look and muttered in disgust, calling it bad luck.

After settling Anna in, Jack came straight to my rented apartment.

He pounded angrily on the door. "Laura! Get out here! You have a death wish, right? I've brought the lilies for your funeral!"

Anyone would take those words as a curse, but when I heard them, I actually felt they were a kind of blessing.

After all, my body was beyond recognition, and I didn't even get a proper funeral.

Before he could finish venting his anger, Anna called him.

His demeanor changed instantly—he became incredibly gentle and said softly, "Anna, don't be scared. I'm coming right now. Don't worry. I'll stay with you tonight."

I had never seen him so tender. For Anna, he would do anything.

At that moment, I truly realized that he utterly despised me.

‘Jack, I'm tired. After all these years of loving you, I want to give up.’

To be absolutely sure, he even got a premarital health check himself, fearing he might contract a disease.

Hearing this, I immediately understood that he was still hung up on that incident.

It was because of that incident that a rift formed between us.

On the eve of our engagement, he caught me lying disheveled on another man's bed.

He then called off our engagement and got engaged with Anna.

No matter how many times I explained that I had done nothing, he never believed a single word.

Just like now—my friend, forensic scientist Sam Jones, said that the severed arm found in the hotel that day was likely evidence of a dismemberment case by criminals. After a basic database comparison, it was highly probable that the arm belonged to me, who had been missing for a week.

Jack sneered and said, "Do you think I'd believe that? She's becoming more and more unreasonable. From jealousy at first to resorting to any means to ruin my wedding with Anna. And now she even convinced you to come and persuade me? She really went to great lengths to achieve her goal! Just thinking about how she was with another man, carrying someone else's bastard, makes me sick!"

Every word, every sentence, felt like he was repeatedly tearing open my wounds.

Even though I was dead, I could still feel my blood freezing in my veins, rendering me completely motionless.

Sam, who had known me for years, sighed and said, "You and Laura used to love each other so much. Now that she's dead, don't you feel even a little sad?"

Jack held up a marriage registration application. His and Anna's names were clearly written on it.

He then said coldly, "I wish she were dead! My wife will only ever be Anna."

Sam gave a bitter smile. "You once said you would marry no one but Laura. I never thought..."

Before Sam could finish, Jack cut him off sharply. "She stripped naked and climbed into another man's bed! She killed Anna's parents! Now she's pretending to be pitiful? Even in death, she must atone to Anna's parents!"

Jack's eyes were filled with hatred, as if he had long forgotten that we were once deeply in love.

I stood beside him, desperately shaking my head, trying to deny it all.

‘No! I didn't! I never did anything! Jack, why won't you listen to my explanation? You won't even acknowledge our baby! He was only two months old! Because you ignored me, because you hated me, he died before he was even born.’

With that thought in mind, my tears welled up in my eyes.

But what shocked me even more was that Anna called to say she was pregnant.

With a gentle and delicate voice, she said, "The baby is already a month old. This is your first child, the proof of our love."

I froze in an instant.

They were going to have their own child.

But Jack…

That was not your first baby.

Anna enjoyed everyone's love and favoritism, even my own parents favored her.

After the university entrance exams, she received travel funds from my mother to go on holiday, while I was stuck in the sweltering summer heat, wearing a heavy mascot costume, handing out leaflets one by one.

My mother claimed it was to train my social skills, but I knew she just didn't want me to have any free time.

She thought I wasn't as outstanding as Anna, not as beautiful, not as considerate.

Later, after my uncle and aunt passed away, my mother told me to get out of the house.

From that day on, she never gave me a single cent.

Now that I returned home again, the house had been completely renovated.

The room that once belonged to me had been turned into a study, filled with Anna's favorite books and comics.

My mother handed a household registration certificate, which recorded all members of our family, to Jack and said solemnly, "I'm entrusting my daughter to you. You must take good care of her."

When the certificate was opened, my name was not on it.

There was only Anna, listed as my mother's daughter.

Then my mother said, "From today on, you are my only daughter."

Anna choked up and asked, "What about Laura? Will she be upset? I'm afraid she'll have objections."

Hearing my name, my mother's expression changed instantly. She snapped, "Who does she think she is? She killed her own uncle! I have no such ungrateful daughter! Now that you're pregnant, don't think about such filth. Don't even mention her name!"

Jack's eyes glistened with tears as he said, "Don't worry. I will take good care of Anna. I will love her forever."

My mother even took out her savings and gave them to Anna, saying it was her wedding gift.

But that bank card… it was filled with the money I had given my mother for her retirement, money I had saved by eating only one meal a day.

I never imagined my mother could be so heartless.

At that moment, I felt like an outsider, watching them share a warm family moment while I painfully remembered—I was already dead.

Just as they were discussing wedding details, Sam called.

He said they had discovered a bag of body parts in an abandoned factory on the outskirts of town. It was very likely my remains.

Jack's happy expression disappeared instantly.

He snapped, "Laura just won't stop, will she? How much did she pay you to put on this act? Tell her—if she really wants to die, she should do it in front of me! Otherwise, I won't believe it!"

Hearing my name, my mother scoffed, "Laura has always been like this, lying about everything. She's nothing like obedient little Anna. How did I give birth to such a disgraceful daughter? I must have been cursed in my past life!"

Anna said, "Jack and I will take care of you in the future."

‘Mom, Jack… you've wronged me again. I've lost count of how many times this has happened. Why do you never believe me?’

To prevent me from causing trouble, Jack planned an outdoor wedding on a field.

But he never expected that an accident would still happen.