“Mr. Morris’s antidote is almost done fusing successfully. Are you really going to leave?”

Vera Wilson stood in front of the experiment table and nodded. After her fifth miscarriage surgery, her face looked unnaturally pale.

Everyone in the capital knew that Vera was the student Caius Morris treasured the most.

However, after that night five years ago, nothing stayed the same.

Caius had been drugged with a rare aphrodisiac. From then on, every month, he needed to sleep with the woman who had shared his bed during the first month.

Back when Vera willingly became his antidote that night, she likely never imagined it would lead to this outcome.

Night after night, she suffered under Caius’s hatred.

“Vera, you know I hate women who do everything they can just to climb into my bed.”

And that was not all. To punish her, Caius married Ophelia Chavez in a lavish wedding the next day. Ophelia had bullied Vera for ten years.

The pain from her lower abdomen made Vera stumble backward against the experiment table.

Test tubes broke all over the floor. Caius merely narrowed his eyes and gave her a cold glance.

“Stop pretending. Acting pitifully is useless. I spent five years training you, not for you to fail at the most important moment.”

Vera gave a bitter smile and slowly pushed herself back to her feet. The phone Caius had left on the table suddenly vibrated.

“Caius, our daughter has a fever. When are you coming back?”

At that moment, Vera felt as though a knife had painfully carved flesh out of her heart.

But it no longer mattered.

The antidote was almost done fusing. Soon, she would finally be free.

——

1

Following the fifth miscarriage, Vera stood in front of the laboratory operating table, her face terribly white.

To cover the weakness left after the miscarriage, she could only force herself to come back and help Caius finish the last group of experiments.

Three years ago, Caius had been drugged with a rare aphrodisiac medicine, and Vera, who happened to walk past, accidentally became the antidote for him.

Unexpectedly, the medicine turned out to be long-lasting, and every month he needed to sleep with the woman who had first cured him.

On every night that nearly crushed Vera apart, the man’s harsh movements carried a hatred that couldn’t be described clearly.

Yet Vera silently endured it all without complaints.

Because she had already deeply fallen in love with this man in her heart, her older professor.

Right then, the laboratory door got pushed open, and Caius entered with coldness surrounding his whole body.

He remained the same elegant and clean Professor Morris, the eyes behind the gold-rimmed glasses distant and sensible.

When he passed beside Vera, the man didn’t even spare her a second glance.

Vera’s hand holding the test tube trembled. The painful cramps in her lower stomach almost made her collapse.

She raised her head and stared at his handsome face, her voice sounding weak.

“Teacher, there’s nothing wrong with the data. But I don’t feel well physically, and I’d like to ask for leave to go home and rest.”

Caius stopped moving the mouse. He lifted his head and looked over Vera’s pale lips, but his voice carried no sympathy at all.

“Vera, I spent five years teaching you, not for you to fall apart at a critical moment.”

“This problem only needs a few hours to solve, but the moment we start, you already want to use your suffering to receive special treatment?”

The word “problem” painfully struck Vera’s ears.

She had once thought that even if they didn’t marry, after she miscarried five children for him, he would at least feel slightly affected.

“I’m not trying to get special treatment.”

Vera held back the salty taste rising in her throat.

“I just… really hurt.”

“If you feel pain, then take painkillers.”

Caius stood and walked over to her. His slim fingers strongly held her chin, forcing her to lift her head.

“Since the day you drugged me and got into my bed, I stopped having feelings for you. It’s a good thing the child is gone. Your dirty thoughts about me can finally be cut off.”

Vera remained still while listening to those heartless and distant words.

In the next moment, the phone on the table shook once.

Because the space between them was close, she clearly saw the text message.

“Caius, daughter has a fever. When are you coming back?”

It was sent by Ophelia.

That name became like a painful thorn buried in Vera’s heart, one that could never be taken out again.

Five years earlier, Vera and Caius spent one wild night together.

But the following day, Caius brought Ophelia to register their marriage, and less than a month later, he held a huge wedding that shook all of Garden City.

Caius was the top surgeon in the capital, and many people fought for the chance to study under him.

Five years earlier, Vera and Ophelia, known as the “Holland Surgery Twin Flowers,” became Caius’s interns after passing many rounds of selection.

“The kind of people I dislike most are shameless people who use dirty tricks.”

The first time Vera heard those words was during her first meeting with Caius. It was his warning to her.

The second time she heard those words was on the bed after Caius had been drugged. That time, it became her punishment.

Vera couldn’t understand why that single night changed so many things.

Before that night, she had been the young student Caius cared about the most.

Resources, contacts, money, anything she asked for, Caius handed to her.

He even willingly let her rise higher by using his own position to support her.

When Vera’s experiment ran into problems, Caius immediately pushed aside a lecture worth seven figures just to stay beside her.

When Vera was wrongly blamed for plagiarism, Caius sent that person to prison the same night.

People in the academic world all knew how much Caius treasured this young student.

Until that night came, and he announced that he was completely cutting ties with Vera.

After that, every bit of hate fell onto Vera.

Envy, revenge, and rejection pushed down on her until she almost stopped breathing, just like now when she saw the message on Caius’s phone.

After that crazy night, Vera asked him why he had to marry Ophelia and why that person had to be her.

More than twenty years of Vera’s life had passed under Ophelia’s bullying.

Although Vera scored 15 points above Ophelia in the college entrance exam, Ophelia sent her to a factory in the suburbs and locked her up for 15 days.

Only because Vera’s graduation project earned a higher score than Ophelia’s and received an award, Ophelia immediately hired people to kidnap her and break her hand.

Vera would never forget the scene after she entered Caius’s house, when he slapped Ophelia in public to protect her.

She also would never forget that night when she desperately asked him for the reason, and Caius answered, “I love her.”

Vera couldn’t understand why one night together erased the feelings between them for the past three years, and why he later turned to say he loved Ophelia.

Even after Caius announced his marriage, outsiders still believed that Vera was the woman he would marry.

Ophelia called once more to hurry him, and the child’s innocent voice came through the phone.

If the baby inside Vera hadn’t been aborted, the child should’ve been around this age, too.

Every time Vera thought about that child, her tears fell uncontrollably.

Before Caius left, he set a bank card in front of her.

“Why cry? Is it because I didn’t pay you last time?”

“At the normal price, a night with someone like you is worth two thousand.”

After speaking, Caius walked out without turning back.

Vera firmly squeezed the card, and the corner painfully dug into her hand.

Since that night, she had stayed beside Caius. Every full moon each month, he harshly wanted her once.

Using money to insult her wasn’t something new anymore. She should’ve already accepted it by now.

Still, hearing those words from Caius made her chest hurt.

Vera remained beside the experiment table, forcing herself to bear the pain in her lower stomach while placing the last result into the incubator.

The antidote for the aphrodisiac medicine inside Caius’s body was stored there.

Looking at the fused result inside the incubator, Vera slowly forced out a faint smile.

Once she finished preparing the remaining experiment materials, the woman returned home.

Although she called it “home,” it was really just a cage Caius used to lock her inside.

Other than the laboratory, this was the only place she could remain.

The moon tonight was full, and Caius came back.

“I just finished a miscarriage surgery. Can we stop earlier tonight?”

In the dark room, Vera’s shaky voice quietly sounded out.

Yet Caius’s actions still carried no softness at all.

The more she pleaded with him, the harsher Caius became.

Vera knew this was punishment against her because she loved him.

Still, it no longer mattered. This suffering would only happen one final time.

It was almost complete. Seven days later, once the medicine fully blended inside the incubator, the antidote would be successful.

And she, the “antidote,” would finally be released.

2

Caius kept hurting her until sunrise before he finally stopped.

When it was over, Caius didn’t spare Vera another look. He turned around and headed straight to the bathroom.

Vera dragged her exhausted body and pulled the blanket over herself to hide her ruined state.

The sound of running water came from the bathroom, and every drop felt like a knife stabbing into her pride.

Caius hated her because he thought she was dirty.

After their first night together, Caius scrubbed himself in the bathroom until his skin started bleeding.

The second time, Caius would rather suffer through the pain than touch her. In the end, when he was close to passing out, Vera chose to help him herself.

Later, Caius realized fighting it was pointless. Every time after sleeping with her, he would repeatedly wash himself until none of her scent stayed on his body.

The bedroom door opened, and Ophelia walked in while holding a bowl of medicine.

She sat beside the bed and looked over Vera with disgust in her eyes. “Looks like this time you didn’t get tortured until you passed out. Drink it.”

It was contraceptive medicine.

The drug inside Caius’s body was too powerful. Every time, Vera would suffer until she fainted, and afterward, Ophelia would force the medicine into her mouth.

This was the first time Vera drank the medicine while fully awake.

For five years, she drank medicine every time after it ended, yet she still became pregnant five times.

Vera opened her mouth and swallowed a large mouthful, but after one sip, she immediately noticed something was wrong.

This wasn’t contraceptive medicine.

It was an herbal root soup, a medicine used to help prepare for pregnancy.

Vera’s eyes widened in shock as she stared at Ophelia. Then she threw the bowl in her hand onto the floor.

The bowl broke apart, and the medicine spread everywhere across the ground.

“This isn’t contraceptive medicine.”

Watching her reaction, Ophelia smiled. “Only after losing five children do you finally react, Sister Vera. That’s all you can do.”

Those words stabbed into Vera’s heart like a bloody knife.

Those five children weren’t roadside weeds or flowers. There were five living children.

Even the last child had almost fully formed already.

A loud slap suddenly sounded.

Vera lifted her hand and slapped Ophelia across the face.

But one slap wasn’t enough. It could never repay the lives of her five children.

Before Vera could react again, Ophelia lightly pushed her, and she instantly rolled off the bed.

Right now, Vera was far too weak. That slap earlier had already drained the last bit of her strength.

“Sister Vera, do you really think all I can do is make you drink pregnancy medicine?”

Ophelia lifted her eyebrows and looked back at her.

“Why is it that even though we started from the same place, Caius is always the one choosing you?”

“Why am I not worse than you, yet you’re always the one receiving the awards?”

“Why do you always have to be better than me in everything? Even when it came to getting pregnant with Giselle, it took me two whole years! But you only needed two months for your first pregnancy!”

“At first, I only planned to make you miscarry once to get revenge, and I thought that would be enough. But it wasn’t enough!”

As Vera listened to Ophelia’s words, she tightly bit her lips, while her eyes showed nothing except fear and shock.

“You already think this is terrifying?”

“Sister Vera, let me tell you something. Not only those five miscarried children, but even these three years of suffering were gifts I personally gave you.”

Vera’s entire body shook as she collapsed onto the floor.

“It was you… You drugged him, and you were the one who pushed me into his room…”

The truth was already so close.

Vera struggled up from the ground and quickly ran toward the doorway.

She wanted to tell Caius everything, wanted to explain the truth clearly, wanted to prove her innocence, and wanted to leave this nightmare behind.

“Caius… Caius, can you hear me? I didn’t intentionally climb into your bed…”

Yet before she even walked out the door, Ophelia struck her across the face.

Vera’s sight suddenly darkened. Her body had already become too weak to endure another slap, and she immediately fell backward onto the floor.

When Vera finally regained consciousness and opened her eyes again, Caius already stood before her.

3

“Caius, I…”

Before Vera could finish speaking, Caius suddenly grabbed her by the neck.

“Vera, this is the last time I’m warning you. Don’t say my name again. Hearing it from you disgusts me.”

After that night, Caius never allowed her to call him by his name again.

The only way she could address him was “teacher.”

“Teacher, I didn’t purposely get into your bed. She was the one who drugged you, and she was also the one who sent me to your bed. She admitted it herself…”

“Me?” Ophelia instantly put on a helpless expression. “It was me? No… not me…”

“Sister Vera, what should I even say? If you mean that I told you to drink the contraceptive medicine and not throw the bowl, then fine, I admit that part.”

Just a few simple words from Ophelia completely destroyed the explanation Vera tried so hard to give.

“Why didn’t you drink the medicine?”

Caius looked at the broken mess on the floor, his face dark with anger.

“That wasn’t contraceptive medicine. What Ophelia gave me was pregnancy preparation medicine. She admitted it herself just now…”

“Enough!”

Caius cut her off with an angry shout. “Vera, when are you finally going to stop causing problems?”

That single sentence completely blocked every explanation Vera tried to make.

The truth had been so close, and only then did Vera realize she had ignored the most important thing.

Caius loved Ophelia, not Vera.

Caius trusted Ophelia, never her.

“Bring over all the boiled medicine.”

After hearing his order, Ophelia poured the remaining medicine from the half-filled clay pot in the kitchen into bowls and carried them over.

Caius tightly held Vera’s chin with one hand, forcing her to lift her face and open her mouth.

The medicine tasted extremely bitter, but Vera didn’t struggle.

Because resisting only brought something even worse.

He forcefully made her drink two full bowls of medicine. After swallowing everything, Vera fell onto the floor and stayed there for a long time before recovering.

Before leaving, Caius coldly dropped one sentence behind.

“Clean this place up. For the next two days, no one’s giving you food or water. If you did something wrong, then accept the punishment.”

After that, only the cold sound of the door slamming shut remained.

Vera bent down to pick up the broken bowl from the floor, but her finger got sliced before she could grab it.

Drops of blood fell into the medicine, slowly spreading red through the soup.

She had already become used to this kind of punishment.

In the beginning, she resisted and kept trying to escape. The first time she broke out of confinement, Caius publicly brought her back and shut her inside for one whole month.

The second time she tried running away, Caius tortured her through three full days and nights during the full moon. By the end of it, she couldn’t hold on anymore and ended up in the hospital.

After that, she started behaving quietly. Resistance was pointless, so she gave up fighting back.

Caius only punished her in one way, by locking her up.

Because only while she remained alive could Caius continue living, he never dared truly harm her.

Vera had already suffered even longer periods of confinement before. Although she had just gone through a miscarriage surgery and her body felt weak, she could still survive two days and nights.

Caius finally let her out on the third day.

After eating a little food, Vera went straight to the laboratory.

As soon as she opened the laboratory door, Vera stood there stunned.

The worktable, the cabinets, even the incubator room… everything was in complete disorder.

All the test tubes had fallen onto the floor, the laboratory equipment had been smashed apart, the incubator room door stood wide open, and a revealing red lace underwear even hung from the door handle…

“Sister Vera, why are you standing there blankly? Did you finish the work Caius asked you to do?”

Ophelia walked inside from outside the room, and the smug look in her eyes was almost impossible to hide.

“After you finish your part, don’t forget mine too. Last night wore me out badly. My waist still hurts, and I don’t even have the strength left to work.”