Dahlia's Point of View

After ending the call, I switched on all the lights in the house and started packing my belongings. I only placed the things that were truly mine in the suitcases.

I threw the necklaces, bracelets, bags, and dolls that Felix and Leon had given to me into the trash. Not even the couple figurines I had once cherished like a priceless treasure were spared. Just as I threw our last photo together into the bin, Felix—or rather, Leon—returned.

He behaved as he always did, pulling me in for a kiss the moment he stepped through the door. In the past, I used to believe that was his way of proving his love to me. Now, it was nothing more than a preposterous joke.

I shoved Leon away, putting distance between myself and his handsome face that was identical to Felix's. My heart felt like it was being repeatedly pierced by a thousand needles. The overwhelming pain made it impossible to breathe, and I couldn't stop my eyes from turning red.

"Babe, why are you crying?"

Leon pulled me into his embrace as if it was second nature. His voice was low and laced with temptation.

"It's alright. I know about your photos being spread online. I'll take care of it. As for the Bridal Queen Tournament, it doesn't matter if you can or can't participate, right? Why don't you focus on being Mrs. Evans instead?"

He was an expert at steering the conversation in a different direction and tried to distract me from the fact that he was the only one who had those explicit photos of me.

Grief festered in my chest. I had so many questions. I was just about to voice them out when he pressed his lips to my neck, his hot breath fanning across my skin.

"Babe, do you have any idea how turned on I am because of the way you look right now?"

In the past, I would have allowed myself to drown in his sweet words. Even if I didn't like it, I would always shyly respond. But now, I felt nothing but disgust.

Before I could push him away, I heard him murmuring, "Syl…"

I felt like I had been struck by lightning. It turned out that Felix wasn't the only one using me for his own gain. Even Leon, who spent every night tangled in bed with me, thought of me as Sylvia Yate when he was lost in the throes of passion.

A bone-deep chill began to spread from the soles of my feet to the crown of my head. I felt as if the blood in my veins had turned to ice.

A massive wave of humiliation and repulsion crashed over me, and I could no longer control the disgust roiling in my gut.

I gagged as I rushed into the bathroom.

"Babe, what's wrong? Are you feeling ill? Shall I call the doctor?"

Leon sounded worried and anxious as if I truly were the person he cared about the most. I used to believe that was the case before everything that happened today.

But in reality, those two had used my love to trap me and strip everything I had away from me.

I lowered my head as I opened the door, doing my best to hide the fact that I was shaking. "I'm just feeling a little under the weather. You should sleep in the study tonight."

I swiftly escaped to my room after saying my piece, closing the door behind me. I only allowed myself to collapse to the floor when I heard Leon leaving the house and driving away. Tears streamed down my face as I sucked in deep breaths.

Leon didn't return for the rest of the night. In the past, I would lose sleep worrying about whether he had gone out drinking. Now, I only wanted to leave.

I didn't expect to see Felix standing outside when I opened the door the next morning. He had brought breakfast with him.

"Weren't you always whining about wanting me to eat breakfast with you? Here, I bought it for you."

Felix had suddenly transformed back to the gentle man I knew before we got together.

For a moment, I was dazed. I couldn't help but wonder if the terrible things that had happened to me yesterday were just a dream. The person I loved couldn't be such a despicable person, right?

However, his next words immediately snapped me back to reality.

"Syl accidentally lost her competition draft. You should let her use yours."

So, this was the reason why Felix was uncharacteristically showing me affection during the day. It made sense—he had only gotten together with me because of Sylvia, after all. So it wasn't surprising that he was also willing to coax me for her sake.

I stared at the man I had once dedicated my heart and soul to. I thought my heart had turned numb, but I could still feel a subtle ache.

Felix frowned when I didn't respond. His voice was cold and cruel when he said, "You've already been disqualified anyway. Instead of just throwing your draft into the trash, you might as well give it to Syl. At least your design will still have a chance to shine on stage that way."

Didn't Felix know that I had specifically designed the dress for our wedding?

He had to know, but he just didn't care. Or more accurately, this had been his true goal all along when he started dating me.

I thought I heard something shattering when my heartache reached its peak. An overwhelming sense of relief flooded me. The rose-tinted glasses I used to see Felix and this farce of a relationship through had finally shattered.

I forced myself to smile and nodded. "Sure."

Dahlia's Point of View

Perhaps given how compliant I usually was, Felix wasn't surprised by how easily I agreed to his unreasonable request.

"Go ahead and have breakfast. I'll send the draft to Syl."

He hurried out the door after eagerly taking the draft from me. He didn't even bother sparing a single glance back at me, as if he wasn't the one who suggested that we have breakfast together in the first place.

"How could you be so blind in the last two months, Dahlia?" I muttered to myself. "How could you have mistaken his schemes for love?"

I let out a self-deprecating laugh. I threw the breakfast Felix had bought me in the trash before leaving the house as well.

I needed to sell my house and studio before I left the country, and I also had to compile all my previous designs into a portfolio to make it easy for me to start working once I landed in Chaldon.

I was busy packing the things in my studio when the door was slammed open with a deafening bang.

A few men stumbled into the studio on unsteady feet, their eyes unfocused and their bodies reeking of alcohol. Wicked smiles stretched on their faces when they spotted me, making my skin crawl.

"Are you still able to design wedding dresses, Ms. Ferguson? Shall my friends and I give you some inspiration?"

"We can inspire you by tearing off the wedding dress after you put it on!"

"Get out of my studio right now! I'll call the police if you don't!"

My hands were trembling violently as I pointed a pair of scissors at them. However, my threat was completely ineffective against them.

The drunkards cornered me excitedly and began pulling at my clothes.

"Your explicit photos are all over the internet. What's the point in pretending to be innocent now?"

They easily pried the pair of scissors out of my hands and tossed them aside. They hit the ground with a loud, ear-piercing clang.

I was forcefully turned around and pinned against the workbench. The cold surface dug into my flesh painfully. The stench of alcohol and cigarettes stung my nose and nearly made me suffocate.

Rough hands began to tear at my clothes. A wave of hopelessness crashed over me, threatening to drown me in its freezing waters.

Suddenly, the door was kicked open, revealing Leon with bloodshot eyes. He ran toward us and pulled the drunkards off me before chasing them out of the studio like a ferocious lion. He then wrapped his jacket securely around my shaking body.

"It's alright, babe. There's nothing to be afraid of. I'm here now."

My mind had gone blank. Being subjected to nonstop attacks for two days had left me in an incredibly fragile and vulnerable state.

I instinctively buried my face in Leon's chest, clinging to him like a drowning man clinging on to a piece of floating wood, treating him like my savior.

Leon carried me home. He wiped the tears from my eyes and pressed a gentle kiss to my forehead. His eyes were overflowing with pity when he said, "It's alright. Sleep. I'll watch over you."

I was physically and mentally exhausted, and I ended up falling asleep to the familiar rhythm of his patting.

It was already the next morning when I woke up again. I headed downstairs on bare feet in search of Leon, only to stumble upon him on the phone with someone.

"Nonsense. She would never willingly hand over the physical wedding dress if I didn't set up this elaborate act. Syl said that only the original designer is capable of creating certain parts of that dress…"

I didn't hear the rest of his conversation. It was as if the entire world had fallen silent, leaving only a persistent, piercing buzzing in my ears, grinding away at my nerves.

So, it had all been another farce.

Leon's promises to protect and care for me were simply another type of trap. He just wanted to squeeze every last drop of usefulness out of me to make it easier for Sylvia to trample all over me and use me as a stepping stone to reach the pinnacle of success.

Black spots exploded across my vision, and I nearly lost my balance.

"Why didn't you wear your slippers before coming downstairs, babe?"

When Leon spotted me after he finished the call, his face immediately morphed into a gentle and caring expression. He grabbed my slippers for me and knelt down, carefully helping me put them on. When he looked up at me, his eyes shone with concern.

"Did you have a nightmare? Don't worry, I'm here."

Disgust roiled in my gut as I watched his spectacular performance. Strangely, my turbulent emotions calmed down. After suffering this final blow, my battered heart finally stopped bleeding as ice frosted over it.

Then, I heard myself speak in an uncharacteristically calm and lighthearted tone.

"You only took the draft yesterday. The actual dress is still on the mannequin in the studio. I just modified some of the details. You should take it to Sylvia too. She should be able to put it to good use."

Leon's eyes lit up with pleasure as his plans came to fruition.

"You know exactly what I want, babe!"

He kissed me happily before rushing out of the door with an eager skip to his step.

I remained rooted to the spot as I watched him disappear through the door. Tears welled up in my eyes and flowed uncontrollably down my cheeks.

I wasn't crying because I was sad. I was simply mourning the Dahlia of the past—the idiot who was constantly lied to and toyed with.

Just then, my phone vibrated in my pocket. The airline company had sent me a reminder regarding my imminent flight. I turned off the reminder and wiped the tears from my face.

I no longer hesitated as I headed upstairs, changed into a fresh set of clothes, and grabbed the suitcases I had packed beforehand. I didn't look back even once as I left the house that was filled with nothing but lies and betrayal.