“What’s with the basin outside the door? Where did all the blood come from?”

Seamus looked at me, confused. “Autumn, why do you look so pale?”

My sister-in-law Laura was coming into the house when she stopped at the smell. She pointed at the water in the basin, pinched her nose, and declared, “Geez, Autumn, you should've prepared beforehand if you knew you were going to get your period! Look, you stained all the sheets.”

Seamus frowned in disgust. “Clean it up, Autumn. What if someone else sees this? It's embarrassing!”

I dragged my heavy feet over slowly and poured the water into the wastewater bucket.

Laura sniggered, then turned to Seamus with concern in her voice. “Seamus, since Autumn's bed has been sullied, why don't you spend the night in my room? You should get a good night's sleep so you can go to work on time tomorrow. What do you say?”

Seamus’ ears quickly turned red, and he cleared his throat. “Sure. That's a good idea.”

Before this, they would at least keep their flirting behind my back. Now, however, they were flaunting it right before my eyes.

Just then, my son Thomas came out of his room with his backpack in hand. “Mom, my bag strap broke, and all my classmates made fun of me. Hurry up and fix it for me!”

However, Laura reached out her fair hands to take the bag. “Tommy, your mom must be exhausted after spending a whole day in the fields. I can sew up your bag for you.”

Watching her little act, I said calmly, “Can you even sew, Laura? If you try, Tommy's classmates will probably make fun of him even more.”

Laura frowned, but Thomas yelled at me first. “No, Aunt Laura shouldn't have to do such petty chores! Mom, you've been resting at home all day, haven't you? Can't you fix my bag for me at least?!”

I looked at him in shock and endless disappointment. This was my own son, my flesh and blood, yet he was berating me for an outsider.

Clang! I smashed the basin to the ground.

“Then get your dear Aunt Laura to fix it for you!”

With that, I stormed back into my room, leaving both my son and husband frozen in shock.

In my more than seven years of marriage so far, everyone had praised me for being gentle and kind. I had never raised my voice at anyone before.

Seamus quickly recovered and came after me, saying softly, “What are you doing, Autumn? There's no need to yell at the kid. Don't be mad, okay? I won't go anywhere, and I’ll stay with you tonight. How about that?”

I ignored him, tidying up the bed all by myself.

Just as I turned off the lights that night, however, there was a woman's cry from the room next door.

Moments later, Laura knocked on our door, saying timidly, “Seamus, I think there's a mouse in my room. Can you help me? I'm scared…”

No matter what Seamus had said earlier in the day, he got out of bed as soon as he heard Laura calling his name at night.

“I'll go take a look, Autumn. I'll be back as soon as I catch that mouse. Go ahead and sleep without me.”

However, he did not come back that night. After a while, I heard soft moans coming from the room next door.

My heart twisted in my chest. I gripped the sheets tightly, tears staining my pillow.

The next morning, Laura sauntered out of her room. She had purposely worn a shirt with a loose color, revealing the bruises on her neck.

Exasperated, I tried to return to my room with my washbasin, but she called out to me.

She crossed her arms in front of her chest with a nasty smirk. “Autumn, don't you know some medicine? Why don't you go to town and buy Seamus some supplements? Let's just say… he could use some extra nutrients after working so hard last night.”

Seamus walked out of his room, putting on his clothes. He paused when he heard Laura's words and tried to explain. “Uh, the mouse was too big, so…”

I gripped the edges of the basin and scoffed. “No amount of supplements will help that body of his.”

Seamus' face darkened with rage.

Meanwhile, Laura seemed to remember something and brought a box out of her room. “By the way, Autumn, you still don't have a mobile phone, do you? Seamus bought me a new one for my birthday yesterday, so you can have my old one. I'm not using it anymore, anyway.”

My hands clenched into fists.

I had been in so much pain yesterday that I could barely stand, yet I had to drag myself home under the scorching sun to call my husband on the landline. At the very same moment, he was giving her the latest mobile phone model as a birthday present.

I shoved her hand aside and headed back into my room. However, she cried out and fell to the floor.

Laura wailed, holding her stomach. “If you didn't want it, Autumn, you could've just told me! Why did you shove me like that? What should I do, Seamus? My stomach hurts so bad…”

“What did you do, Autumn?!” Seamus glared at me and carried Laura into her room.

He quickly called the village doctor, Dr. Jensen, who checked Laura's condition before solemnly announcing, “Mr. Chandler, your sister-in-law… is pregnant.”

The room instantly became pindrop silent.

Looking at Seamus’ expression of suppressed joy, I could not help but think of the child I had just lost.

I wandered out to the jetty, looking dazedly in the direction of the boat that was supposed to come tomorrow.

After a while, Laura's smug voice sounded behind me. “You're still so fond of looking out into the sea, Autumn.”

She held her stomach, gloating as she came toward me. “This baby came right on time, don't you think? I don't know if it's a boy or a girl, but I'm sure Seamus will be ecstatic either way. You saw how happy he was when he found out. He almost tripped over the doorway, haha!”

I smirked. “I know, right? But I wonder if he'll still be so happy if the news gets to his workplace.”

Laura's grin stiffened.

She was still his brother’s widow, after all. If his office found out that he had knocked up his sister-in-law, he would probably lose his job in an instant.

Laura seemed to remember something, looking at me sideways in contempt. “That's easy. He just has to divorce you and marry me! He'd long gotten sick of your ugly face, anyway!

“Did you know? He keeps telling me you're like a dead fish in bed, it's such a turnoff! He even said he feels like puking whenever he sees you in bed!”

My hands shook uncontrollably. “Shut up!”

Laura's smirk widened when she saw my rage. She walked up to me slowly and whispered in my ear, “Autumn Snowe, did you miscarry a few days ago?”

I looked at her in shock, my mouth gaping wordlessly.

“Ha, you haven't used any sanitary napkins over a month. Of course I knew you were pregnant! But don't be too sad, it's a good thing you miscarried. Seamus hates you now, so there's no way he'd love your baby. Besides, any kid with a mother as stupid as you would probably be born a retard, hahaha!”

I grabbed her shoulder, furious. “You evil woman, I won't let you say that about my baby!”

Laura did not put up a fight. Instead, she glanced behind me and then fell right into the ocean.

“Laura!”

At some point, Seamus and Thomas had run up to the seaside. Seamus leaped into the sea, panicking. He was a good swimmer, so it was not long before he pulled Laura out of the water.

“Aunt Laura, are you alright?”

Laura leaned in Seamus’ embrace weakly, tears in her eyes as she immediately accused me with a pack of lies. “Seamus, Autumn pushed me into the ocean! She said I was a shameless woman for seducing you, and she wanted to kill both me and my baby! Seamus, you have to help me…”

Seamus was beside himself with fury. “Autumn, how could you be so cruel?! You know Laura is pregnant, yet you tried to kill her! I was wrong about you, you disgust me!”

Thomas jabbed a finger at me too, his eyes bloodshot. “Aunt Laura is always so nice to me! How could you try to kill her?! You're the worst mother in the whole village. I wish you had been pushed into the sea instead!”

Seamus carried Laura on his back and left without looking back. Thomas even threw a seashell at me before following them.

The shell sliced open my skin under my eye, but I could barely feel a thing. I just stood rooted to the spot, tears flowing freely.

Luckily, I could finally leave this accursed place tomorrow.

I stayed by the seaside until late that night. When I got home, the house was completely dark.

As soon as I entered my room, however, I saw Seamus sitting on a chair, waiting for me. “Autumn, you're back.”

I brushed my teeth wordlessly, ignoring him.

Seamus took my hand, his tone unnaturally gentle. “Autumn, I gave it a lot and decided. Once that baby is born, let's raise it together. We can pretend you were the one who gave birth to it, and then we'll still be a happy couple! Don't overthink things, okay?”

He paused and then continued, “Also, it's almost the end of the year. This job is really important to me, so I'm begging you, don't make a fuss at my office, okay? You're such a considerate wife, so I'm sure you wouldn't want to see me get into trouble at work, would you?”

I paused and scoffed coldly.

So that was why Seamus stayed up all night waiting for me to come home. He wanted to tell me not to go to his company and ruin his future!

His two-facedness made me want to puke. I closed my eyes and replied with a frown, “Don't worry, you may be shameless enough to do such a thing, but I'm too ashamed to even speak it! Get out, I want to sleep alone!”

Seamus froze and gave me a long look before finally leaving the room, reassured.

The next morning, he left for work with bags under his eyes. He had not slept properly all night because he could not get my cold expression out of his mind.

He could not focus at work either. After rushing his tasks on hand, he quickly rode his bike back home.

The only person he could find in the house was our son, who was doing his homework in the living room. Seamus searched the whole house but could not find any trace of me.

He was starting to get a bad feeling, so he asked Thomas anxiously, “Tommy, where's your mom?”

Thomas did not even look up. “Who knows? She's probably in the fields. Dad, didn't you say you were working overtime today?”

Seamus continued to look around and ask, “Then where's your Aunt Laura? Why isn't she around either?”

“Aunt Laura said she wasn't feeling very well, so she went to the clinic in town for some medicine.”

Seamus paused, his concern for me immediately turning to worry for Laura's unborn baby instead. After all, that was his child!

As a result, he immediately rode his bike into town.

It was getting late, yet there was not a single person in the reception hall at the clinic. Confused, Seamus headed toward the rooms at the back.

Before he could knock on the door, however, he heard a suppressed moan from inside.

Seamus instantly stiffened. He knew that voice all too well!

He peeked into the room through a crack in the window, only to find Laura and Dr. Jensen all over each other.

“You little nymph!” Dr. Jensen growled.

Laura giggled smugly, her clothes all askew. “Be gentler with me, Kevin. You wouldn't want to hurt my baby.”

Kevin Jensen scoffed amid his heavy breathing. “Stop pretending, my little nymph. Both of us know there is no baby!”

Seamus felt like his world was crashing down around him. He stood rooted to the spot, stunned.