Once again, my wife, Claire Winters, stabbed me with a silver needle.

A reporter tracked me down and asked, "Louis Sterling, wasn't your wife, Claire, one of the winners of the National Inspiration Awards from ten years ago? She won the reward for saving you during the earthquake and ending up paralyzed from the waist down, right?"

I stayed quiet for a moment, then nodded.

"Louis, we're from a TV station, and we're producing a tenth anniversary special about the earthquake."

I rubbed my arm, which was covered in tiny needle marks, and looked her straight in the eye.

I replied, "That's fine, but can you keep the cameras discreet? Claire isn't used to being in front of so many lenses."

However, I never expected that on the very first day of the live broadcast, I would be dragged onto the trending charts and torn apart online.

When I got home, Claire Winters was still in the bedroom. Later, I carefully finished setting up the hidden cameras.

"You're back?"

My heart skipped.

"Why are you home so early? Don't you have work today?"

Claire smiled and waved me over. I forced myself to ignore the discomfort in my body and walked toward her.

The hidden cameras began streaming live across the internet, and the comments started flooding in.

[So, she's the one who sacrificed her own legs to save her boyfriend during the earthquake!]

[She's so beautiful. Loyal and gorgeous... She's the kind of woman men should marry!]

[Why's her husband acting so weird? It's like he doesn't even want to get close to her.]

Claire gently ran her hand over my arm. Although I pretended to stay calm, every touch made my stomach churn, especially when I saw those hands resting on the blanket.

I quickly looked away.

Just a few days ago, those same hands had jabbed silver needles into my body.

[It's settled! He's disgusted because Claire's paralyzed. Look, the second he glanced at her legs, he avoided eye contact.]

[Seriously? If it weren't for him, Claire wouldn't even be paralyzed, and now he's acting like this?]

On the day of the earthquake, I had planned to break up with Claire.

When we were together, her obsessive possessiveness had always made me uncomfortable. However, what really did it was finding out she had poisoned the stray cat I had been feeding since freshman year.

Fear, anger, and grief flooded my entire body as I realized she was terrifying.

She grabbed my arm and begged, "Louis Sterling, I was wrong. Please don't break up with me, okay? Louis, I just love you too much. I was already jealous because you spent so much time on that cat. Then, you said you were taking it with you after graduation... I couldn't handle it."

I did not want to argue with her any longer, so I turned around to leave the classroom. Just then, I felt the room start to shake.

It was an earthquake!

Our classroom was on the first floor. If I ran outside, I would make it to the open field. Just as I was about to run out, Claire yanked me back hard.

"Louis, if you're going to break up with me, I have no reason to live anymore. Let's die together."

I watched helplessly as the beam above us came crashing down.

I had no idea how long I was trapped under the rubble. All I knew was that when the rescue team finally pulled me out, countless cameras were pointed right at me.

Claire threw her arms around me, overjoyed.

She cried out, "Thank goodness, Louis. You're finally awake! If you didn't make it, I wouldn't want to live either. I don't care that my legs are paralyzed. As long as I could save you, nothing else matters."

In the face of disaster, people were usually selfish, yet Claire had sacrificed her legs for me, and the media praised her selfless true love endlessly.

Later, to inspire hope and prove that love still existed in the world, Claire was even chosen as one of the winners for that year's National Inspiration Awards.

Everyone was waiting for our happy ending. The media ran our stories daily, hoping we would get married. The whole country wanted to see the lovers end up together, and they wanted to see me show gratitude for Claire's sacrifice and return her devotion.

Even my own parents said that if I betrayed Claire, they would disown me.

Under everyone's expectations, I married Claire. However, three months into the marriage, Claire's true colors started showing.

When our neighbor from downstairs gave us some fish her husband had bought, Claire poured scalding fish stew over my head.

If I took out the trash for a neighbor once, she would smash every piece of furniture in the house.

She said she felt insecure, that seeing other people give me things hurt her feelings. She said seeing me help other women made her jealous, and that she was just terrified of losing me.

I tolerated her insecurity in our marriage, blaming it all on the earthquake. If she had not lost her legs, maybe she would not be like that.

However, she became worse and worse.

Finally, one night, she came at me with a needle aimed at my groin. "If you can't perform anymore, you won't be able to go after other women."

I endured the pain in my lower body as I realized with horror that the woman in front of me was insane.

After I got back from the hospital, I asked for a divorce.

What Claire was doing to me was domestic violence.

For men and women alike, domestic violence would never be a one-time thing. It would be either zero or endless.

However, my family and neighbors tried to talk me out of it, and the local women's rights group criticized me. Even the doctor who examined my injuries barely glanced at me and said it did not even count as minor harm.

I went to the court to file for divorce, but the clerk kept saying the printer was broken or that the network was down.

My parents stood before the media, tears streaming down their faces.

They said, "We failed to raise our son right. We won't let him go through with this divorce. Claire is such a wonderful girl."

Because of Claire, they had a daughter-in-law who was a nationally honored hero, and Dad walked tall at work. My younger brother, Ryan Sterling, even found himself a girlfriend from a well-off family.

Over the years, I had tried to divorce her countless times, but I never succeeded.

Perhaps it was because she knew I would never be able to leave her.

One night while I was asleep, she tried to castrate me again. I was terrified and tried to run. However, she got to the door first and locked it.

In the darkness, I stared at her perfectly fine legs.

She held up a knife, cackling. "Honey, where do you think you're going? Once you're broken, you'll be mine forever."

She did not castrate me that night, but the incident left me traumatized.

That was also the night I learned the truth that Claire had been faking it all along. She said she did it because she loved me, because she was afraid I would break up with her.

Claire's heroic act of saving me was already etched in everyone's minds. If I told everyone that she was not actually paralyzed, no one would believe me.

I had bought a pack of rat poison that day. Since I could not leave her, I would just take her with me.

However, an opportunity had presented itself.

I glanced casually at the hidden camera.

I had heard it was being livestreamed to the entire internet. As long as Claire stood up in front of all those viewers, I could finally get my divorce.

It was never hard to provoke Claire.

If the water I gave her was not exactly the temperature she wanted, she would throw the cup right at me.

So, I deliberately poured a cup of boiling water, and steam was rolling off the top.

I said, "Honey, here's some water."

I knew the camera was recording, but every time I faced Claire, I could not help feeling terrified.

"Thanks, honey."

She smiled as she reached for the cup, even though it was obviously scalding hot. However, I did not hand it to her.

Gritting my teeth, I pretended to lose my grip and spilled the boiling water all over her legs. I figured she would not be able to hold back and jump up in rage.

I closed my eyes and silently counted, 'One, two, three...'

Time passed, yet I did not feel the familiar fists crashing down on me.

I opened my eyes and saw that Claire had not moved. Instead, she was still sitting perfectly upright in her wheelchair.

Not only was she not angry at me, but she looked at me apologetically. "I'm so sorry, honey... I didn't catch it properly and spilled the water. Honey, did you burn your hand? That water looked really hot."

Her soft expression overlapped with the memory of her madness in my mind.

The last time I had simply poured her a glass of water that was not exactly the 55 degrees she demanded, she had gone insane and tried to hack me with a kitchen knife.

I stood there, frozen.

Meanwhile, the live comments were flying across the screen.

[Isn't this abuse? That water was hot enough to cook a steak!]

[Even if Claire can't feel her legs, you can't just do that to her.]

[He must be tired of taking care of her, so now he's taking it out on her.]

[If that's how he feels, he shouldn't have married her. He wanted to have a good reputation, and now he's abusing her.]

I could not help but wonder why Claire was acting so strangely that day.

Had she somehow found out about the interview and was deliberately putting on an act?

I immediately dismissed that thought.

When I met with Holly Lopez, the reporter, she had promised not to announce it online beforehand. Hence, Claire could not possibly know.

Perhaps it was just a coincidence.

My voice came out hoarse as I said, "I'll get you another cup."

It was fine. There would be plenty more opportunities.

I keep reassuring myself that Claire was volatile and quick to anger, so provoking her was easy.

Throughout the day, I either deliberately mopped and waxed the floor so it would tip over her wheelchair, or removed the toilet paper from the bathroom and pretended not to hear when she called for me.

I even went out of my way to go downstairs to find our female neighbor and gave her the fresh flowers I had just bought.

Despite all that, Claire kept that same warm smile.

I was getting desperate, and that anxiety reached its peak at dinnertime.

So, I decided to take a risky move.