Herbert Fischer lets his precious childhood sweetheart dump scalding stew all over me as everyone watches.

Worse, he tells me to apologize, all because I said one harsh sentence to her.

Tears stream down my face as I ask him, "Is my life worth less than a hair on her head?"

He snorts. "Stop overthinking. It's just hot stew—you won't die from a few burns."

I didn't expect Michelle Watson to throw the pot of seafood stew all over me.

I stayed rooted to the ground. The only thing I could do in time was to close my eyes.

Everything was ruined—the dress I had painstakingly chosen for that day and the makeup I'd applied to my face.

There had been spicy peppers in the stew. The smell choked me, causing my eyes to water up from the sting.

It was deathly quiet in the private dining room. The other people around us were just watching us curiously, ready for more drama.

I stood there, rooted in place, and not a single person came up to me to offer any help.

With tears swirling in my eyes, I immediately turned toward Herbert Fischer. He was sitting by the side with his arms crossed before his chest, a look of dissatisfaction on his face.

"Lyanna Summers. Apologize to Chelly."

I immediately felt wronged as emotions rose within my chest. Tears continued to stream down my face more than ever before.

After such a long time together, this was the very first time I completely lost my cool in front of Herbert. I crumbled as I screamed, "I am your girlfriend, not her! How could you just watch someone else bully me and still demand that I apologize to her?"

Herbert just frowned harder and grabbed a napkin from the table to wipe off the stew that had splashed onto his shirt sleeve.

"If you hadn't called Chelly names just now, she'd never have thrown it at you. Also, Chelly is not just 'someone else'."

Meanwhile, Michelle simply examined her nails and commented nonchalantly, "Herbie, is this the woman Mandy chose for you to marry? She's such a disgrace for screaming and making a scene in public."

The icy look in Herbert's eyes was sharp enough to pierce right through me.

"Lyanna, where have your manners disappeared to?"

I was a huge, dripping mess as I stared at the unfamiliar look in his eyes, like he wanted nothing more to do with me. Then I looked into Michelle's eyes, smug and challenging, and I couldn't stop myself from chuckling bitterly afterward.

I said, "I bet that if Michelle were to hold a knife against my throat one day, I wouldn't be allowed to struggle either, since that would mean I was ill-mannered. Isn't that right?"

Herbert just snorted and chuckled aloud. "You really like overthinking. You were just splashed with hot stew. It's not like you'd die from that."

When the waitress entered with more food and caught sight of me, she couldn't help but ask, "Miss, do you need my help?"

Herbert's friends then finally stepped out, trying to be peacemakers.

"Alright. Lyanna, Herb, let's not argue anymore. Calm down."

"That's right. Lyanna, you know that Herb's always been like this since young. As long as Michelle is involved, he'd fly into a terrible rage."

I looked at the people in the private dining room, including Herbert.

From the start of it all, none of them had even offered me a napkin. My boyfriend wasn't even as concerned about me as the waitress who didn't know me.

I removed the gold bracelet around my wrist and gently set it down on the table.

"Herbert, I'm done being the Fischers' future daughter-in-law."

The waitress, who looked to be in her early 20s, brought me into an empty room next door and handed me a damp towel.

While wiping off the mess on my clothes, I recalled the first time I'd met Herbert.

I had met him because of his mother, Mandy Knight.

The Fischer family was well-known in the city for being old money. They were rich, wealthy, and had plenty of connections everywhere.

Mandy was a huge fan of scents and fragrances. She often hired me to produce one-of-a-kind perfume creations for her at her home.

Once, when I was just leaving her place, Herbert had walked in through the door at the same time, and I had collided with him because I couldn't stop myself in time.

The perfume in my box overturned, spilling all over my shirt and his. I quickly looked up in a panic.

Mandy had heard the noise and came out to look. Her eyes held a playful smile.

"You're such a clumsy oaf, Herbie. Go help Lyanna with a new change of clothes."

Mandy liked me a lot. She'd brought up many times before this that she wanted to introduce her son to me.

I looked at the man before me. He exuded an elegant charm from his head to his toes.

A second later, he suddenly smiled at me and said, "This smells really good. Am I detecting cedarwood notes in it?"

That was a huge plus for me. I felt better about him at once. So, I nodded and said, "If you like it, Mr. Fischer, I'll give you a bottle of it next time."

He answered me gently, "That would be too much to ask for. Why don't I treat you to dinner sometime instead?"

That was how our interaction started. Eventually, we started getting close.

Mandy seemed happy about it. She then continued asking me to come over, under the guise of appreciating her collection of fragrances, but she kept leaving me alone with Herbert on multiple occasions.

On the day we decided to become a couple, I gave Herbert a full bottle of perfume, like I'd promised him before. It was called "Forever Love".

I lowered my head anxiously. My voice was shaky as I explained, "This is the first fragrance I created ever since setting up my perfumery. It's called 'Forever Love', and it's not for sale.

"I've had many people tell me that I should use a stronger floral fragrance or sweeter fruit scent for my perfumes, but I prefer the clean fragrances from woodsy scents more.

"You're the first person to understand me for that. Would you like to be my muse for my next fragrance?"

This was a very private and intimate request from a perfumer, and a straightforward one too.

Herbert simply smiled and took the bottle from me, saying, "That works too." Then, he leaned down and kissed me.

At that moment, the smell of cedar and sandalwood enveloped us. I thought that I'd finally found the person who completed me.

I had never quite understood what he meant when he said, "That works too."

However, a month ago, Michelle finally returned from overseas. And on her, I smelled the familiar fragrance that I'd gifted to Herbert in the past.

I had heard from Mandy before that Herbert used to have a childhood friend who grew up with him.

However, every time Mandy brought it up, her eyes would always be filled with disgust.

"Michelle used to be our driver's daughter. She'd been friends with Herbert ever since they were young. But when she was six, her dad got into an accident while out with Herbert's dad.

"She's never had a mother, so I took her into the family because I felt sorry for her. I'd never treated her badly a day in her life."

At that point, Mandy then sighed heavily.

"It's bad enough that she doesn't know how to be grateful about things, but she's also started scheming ever since. She wants to be the next lady of the house and marry into the family, and become the next Mrs. Fischer! Tell me, does she even remember that I exist? She doesn't respect me at all!"

Mandy hadn't wanted Herbert to be influenced by Michelle, so she sent the latter abroad for her studies.

When Herbert learned about it, he made a huge fuss and refused to do anything but get drunk and drown in his sorrows. He also stopped caring about his family's company.

It wasn't until he met me that he finally started changing for the better.

When Mandy gave me the gold bracelet—the Fischers' family heirloom—she patted me on the back and said, "Lyanna, you saved Herbert and helped the Fischers."

I had thought that that was the case, too.

However, about a month ago, Herbert suddenly stood me up one night.

He had always been very courteous and considerate toward me. But that night, we'd agreed to meet for dinner—yet he never showed up.

I waited until the restaurant closed up for the night. Then, I called an Uber to go back home.

I received a very short text message from him on the way back. It read, "Something came up."

I thought that something urgent had come up at his company, so I didn't think of asking him about it any further. I even told him not to rush.

But when I launched Instagram, I tapped on a story one of his friends posted and immediately saw the photo.

All of Herbert's friends were in it, gathered around a young woman at the center.

The young woman was quite pretty and elegant, but she was making a funny face at the camera. Meanwhile, Herbert was seated right next to her, his gaze ever so soft as he stared lovingly at her.

The caption in the story read, "Someone's first love just came home and insisted that we all give her the warmest welcome she deserved."

I turned off my phone, suddenly feeling lightheaded like I wanted to throw up.

I didn't pick a fight with Herbert that night. I even still made sure to warm up some soup to ease his hangover when he finally came home that night.

It was past midnight by the time Herbert stumbled back home. The stench of alcohol was so strong that it masked the cedarwood fragrance on him.

I brought him a bowl of soup. However, he grabbed my wrist, staring at me with confused, hazy eyes before glancing back down at the gold bracelet.

He mumbled, "This is Chelly's… Give it back to her… It's not yours…"

I stared at him as he teetered on the edge of unconsciousness and asked helplessly, "Herbert, who am I?"

He didn't respond.

Suddenly, the living room felt like a vast chamber of nothingness. I felt my eyes stinging as they turned red.

The next day, I moved into my perfume studio.

When Herbert asked me why, I told him that I was very busy and had to rush on orders.

I was actually very busy at that moment. My mentor, Fiona Jenson, had invited me to take part in a competition, and I was busier than a bee as I worked hard on my entry.

As for my relationship with Herbert, I just didn't have the mental capacity to deal with it yet.

On the final day of the competition, an unknown number called me. It was Michelle, and she requested that we meet up at a cafe.

She sat across from me, exuding the same amount of charm, grace, and elegance I'd felt from Herbert.

Smiling, she then spoke the iciest words possible. "Ms. Summers, if you know what's best for you, you should voluntarily give up what doesn't belong to you before I forcibly pry it away from your hands."

She behaved as if she were already the head of the Fischer family.

However, I refused to back down. I replied with a question of my own. "Even if it doesn't belong to me, who's to say that it belongs to you either?"

Michelle simply sipped on her coffee unhurriedly.

"You lost your parents at a young age and grew up in an orphanage. You were adopted when you turned ten, but your adoptive father was a drunkard. So, what made you think that you even deserved the title of 'Mrs. Fischer'?"

That was a part of my childhood that I never wanted to revisit. Yet, she'd brought it up so abruptly that my mind just blanked out at that moment.

"You've been investigating me!" I exclaimed in shock, accidentally spilling my coffee when my sleeve caught against the rim of the cup.

Michelle merely looked at me with a calm expression and handed me a few paper napkins. As her hand moved about, I caught a whiff of "Forever Love" from her.

As she stood up to leave, she left me with the words, "If you still refuse to acknowledge it, feel free to drop by Riverside Restaurant tomorrow to see it for yourself. We'll be waiting in private room 301."

I hadn't slept well for days, yet I dragged my exhausted body to the private dining room, only to see Michelle gently blowing on something hot in her spoon before feeding it to Herbert.

Herbert simply opened his mouth to accept the food without resistance.

One of his friends jokingly said, "Herb's usually a clean freak, but he's only tolerant when it comes to Chelle."

I immediately thought about that one time Herbert had gotten sick with a fever of 104 degrees and burrowed himself under the covers, looking as pale as a ghost.

I had made him some chicken noodle soup and tried feeding him, but he pushed my hands away. Then, in an extremely nasal voice, he told me, "I'll feed myself."

Back then, I thought that he was just stubbornly independent and didn't want to be a bother to me. Now, I finally realized that he had just thought I was dirty.

I pushed open the door to the private dining room and walked in. I didn't care that showing up like this, uninvited, was a rude thing to do.

I started interrogating Herbert. If he loved Michelle so much, then why had he agreed to be my boyfriend back then and lead me on like this?

My heart had run stone cold. I smiled bitterly as I asked him, "Did you enjoy toying with my feelings for such a long time? Letting me think that you were serious about us? Was it fun?"

Michelle's sharp nails dug into my arm as she pried me off Herbert.

She yelled, "Who gave you the right to speak to Herbie like that? I'm the one he loves. You're just a tapeworm that came out of nowhere. You don't even deserve to be my opponent!"

"You've got no right to meddle in our relationship! And stop it with that holier-than-thou attitude of yours!"

I'd only managed to fire that line back at her before she threw the hot stew all over me.

Michelle then grinned smugly while Herbert just frowned at me. He coldly asked, "Have you finally woken up now, Lyanna Summers?"

At that, I heard my heart break into a million glass pieces.