I told the lawyer everything that happened, which led to her sighing in resignation.

“Letters of forgiveness issued by the victim’s family are legally binding. It has also been five years since the case, so it’s practically impossible to hold Verde Sala accountable in the eyes of the law.

“But have you thought things through about the divorce?”

“Yeah. Since he loves Verde so much, I’ll help them get their wish of being together,” I answered without hesitation.

“What about Cain?”

I fell silent for a moment. I had nearly died giving birth to Cain, and he was my only family left.

I wanted to say that I did not want him either, but I just could not steel my heart to do so.

He was young. As long as I explained things to him, it would be fine.

Just as I was about to reply, Elwood and Cain came back with smiles on their faces.

When Cain saw me on the phone, he came over curiously.

“Who are you talking to, Mom?”

Elwood gave me a searching look as well.

“It’s nothing. Just a friend. We’re catching up.”

I hung up and ate the cake Elwood bought for me.

I loved it in the past, but I found it disgustingly sweet at present, just like this rotten marriage.

Elwood looked at me eagerly. “Is it good? If it is, I’ll buy it for you again next time.”

Cain turned to me as well, and I smiled.

“It’s nice. But you don’t have to.”

Elwood immediately tensed up nervously and asked me why.

I shook my head. “The doctor told me to cut down on these things.”

He sighed in relief. “I’ll get the cake for you again after you’ve recovered, then.”

I looked down at the draft of the divorce agreement on my phone screen.

There would not be a next time, Elwood.

…

The next morning, I got a call from Cain’s teacher. She asked me to attend the school’s sports meet.

Usually, Elwood was the one who attended such events, since I could not move my legs.

Thinking that Elwood had forgotten about it and worried that Cain felt lonely, I hurried to school.

When I arrived, before I could even say anything, a teacher walked over and asked politely, “May I know who you are?”

“You called me this morning to attend the school’s sports meet. I’m Cain’s—”

Before I could finish speaking, realization lit up in the teacher’s eyes.

“You must be his nanny. Cain mentioned that his parents hired a pitiful person to take care of him.”

My smile froze. So, I was just a nanny to him?

Right then, Verde walked over. She dismissed the teacher with a wave and regarded me in disdain.

“Look at how pathetic you are. You’re so pitiful.”

She crossed her arms and leveled me with a provocative look.

“So?”

“Stop pretending to be all high-and-mighty, you piece of trash. I’ll tell you the truth. You could have been walking already, but because I said that I wanted to become the principal dancer, Elwood bribed the doctor to use the wrong medicine on you, which is why your legs are completely gone. You won’t be able to stand up again.

“Seriously… It troubles me that he loves me so much, you know?”

I trembled uncontrollably, and anger spread through my heart. I wanted to rip her to shreds.

When Verde saw this, she suddenly took a step to the side and fell down the stairs.

The next second, someone shoved me to the floor, and a man’s enraged voice came from above.

“Are you crazy? If anything happens to her, I’m going to make you pay dearly.”

I struggled up from the floor, only to see Elwood running over to hug Verde.

“Will you?”

I laughed at Elwood’s threat, but felt grief in my heart.

When Elwood saw that I was the one he pushed down, he panicked.

“Morgan? Why are you here?”

Before I could answer, Verde started crying.

“Elwood, I know that Morgan hates me, but I didn’t do it on purpose. I just wanted to apologize to her…”

Elwood scowled at me in displeasure.

“Morgan, what happened is already in the past. Verde has paid for her crimes in jail. You shouldn’t have done that.”

I looked straight into his eyes and said, “In jail? Was it fun lying to me?”

Elwood flinched in shock. In a panic, he tried to give me an explanation. “Morgan…”

But Verde cradled her ankle in “pain.”

“Elwood, my leg hurts. Do you think it’s broken?”

He looked at me, then at Verde. I could see a war waging in his eyes for a brief moment before he eventually chose to hold her.

“Wait for me, Morgan. I’ll give you an explanation later.”

He told Cain to go back home with me before he left with Verde.

“Mom,” Cain said timidly behind me.

When I said nothing, his panic grew, and he sobbed as he begged for my attention.

“Mom, please don’t ignore me. I’m sorry. Please don’t be mad at me.”

After a moment’s hesitation, I decided to give him one final chance. “Cain, if I divorce your dad, who will you choose to go with?”

Cain looked at me at a loss and bit his lip. After a long period of silence, he looked up. “Mom, did Dad do something wrong? Is it like how I’m picky with my food? Could you forgive me? If I go with you, he’ll be sad.

“Dad says he loves you. Please don’t divorce him.”

I looked at him with my heart full of grief. The moment he hesitated, I already knew his answer.

If that was the case, I wanted neither of them anymore.

I patted his head.

“I need to talk to your teacher. Go back first.

“By the way, I have a wooden box on my bedside table in my room. Hand it over to your dad. Then, I’ll forgive you.”

Cain was delighted after hearing this, and he ran home in excitement.

As I watched him slowly disappear from view, I bade him farewell and headed off in the opposite direction.

…

Elwood was taking care of Verde in the hospital. After she was settled, he called Morgan.

She loved him dearly, so as long as he apologized sincerely, she was surely not going to leave him and Cain.

But no one picked up no matter how many times he called.

This had never happened over the course of the five years they were married, so all he thought was that Morgan was asleep. That was why she was not picking up.

It was only when he heard the system telling him that Morgan’s phone had been turned off that his hope that he might luck out and that Morgan might forgive him was crushed.

He could not sit still. No matter how much Verde called out to him, his panic spurred him to run out of the hospital.

When he ran past the shopping mall, Elwood stopped to buy an expensive necklace.

Then, he ordered 9,999 fresh flowers. As if he thought that this was not enough, he even bought everything that he thought Morgan would like.

He drove back home in a hurry, but Morgan was nowhere to be found.

He cried out to Morgan in a frenzy, but no one answered.

At that moment, Cain saw him and ran downstairs happily before handing him a wooden box.

“Dad, Mom asked me to give this to you.”

The sight of Cain made the unease in his heart fade a little.

Since Cain was still around, it meant Morgan was too.

How could she cast aside their family?

Elwood took the wooden box with a smile, but the moment he opened it, his smile froze.

A piece of paper stating that Morgan was cutting ties with Cain appeared before his eyes.

Tremors wrecked Elwood’s body, and the wooden box fell on the floor, as if it had burned him.

It shattered, and another paper below the one saying that Morgan was cutting ties with Cain was revealed.

A divorce agreement.