Chapter 1

• On our third wedding anniversary, instead of love and happiness, I was greeted with a carefully planned scam.
• Charles showed up with that woman by his side, his eyes cold and unfamiliar. He said, "Who are you? Do we know each other?"
• In a car accident, he had conveniently forgotten about me.
• What's ridiculous is that the woman in his arms pulled out a marriage certificate, telling me that they were the legal couple.
• And the one in my hand was just a fake certificate Charles forged three years ago to deceive me.
• Three years of marriage, what a joke.
• I didn't cry, just calmly took off the ring from my ring finger and walked away.
• But little did he know, I went straight to the city hall and married the man sitting in a wheelchair, the one he mocked as "useless."
• ...
• Today was our third wedding anniversary. The clock on the wall was pointing to midnight, and Charles still hadn't returned.
• I took out my phone, wanting to call him, but the screen lit up, still showing the afternoon news update.
• "Astor Corporation's CEO, Charles Astor, had a car accident this morning. Thankfully, everyone emerged without serious injuries. Traffic conditions..."
• My heart tightened at that moment, I immediately dialed his number. The phone rang for a long time before he answered, "Charles, how are you? The news said you..."
• "Who are you?"
• His cold and unfamiliar voice came from the other end of the line, and my heart skipped a beat.
• "Charles, it's me, Elizabeth."
• "I don't know you."
• He coldly hung up the phone.
• I stood there in a daze, unable to process it for a moment. I finally snapped out of it after a while, and decided to change and go find him at the hospital.
• Just as I was about to leave, I heard the sound of the villa's door lock. I quickly walked over.
• The door opened, and it wasn't just him who came in. By his side stood a woman with delicate makeup, Margaret Thompson, her hand intimately linked with Charles's arm.
• My gaze was fixed on their intertwined position, my heart felt like it was being squeezed by an invisible hand, making it hard to breathe.
• "Charles..."
• My voice trembled.
• Charles looked at me as if I were a complete stranger, "The doctor said I injured my brain in the accident, I've forgotten some people and things."
• His voice was colder than on the phone, "Who is this?"
• He looked at Margaret, then pointed at me, looking puzzled.
• Margaret smiled softly, but her eyes carried a victorious contempt, "Charles, she's Elizabeth, a subordinate you used to... sponsor."
• I looked at Charles in disbelief, hoping he would refute her words, but he didn't.
• He just nodded faintly, his eyes looking at me with a hint of scrutiny.
• "Miss Elizabeth, thank you for taking care of the house for me. Now that I'm back, you can leave."
• His words, each one, felt like a needle piercing my heart.
• I looked at him, the man I had loved for three years.
• There was no ripple on his handsome face, as if everything between us had really disappeared with that car accident.
• My hands and feet turned cold, anger and betrayal flooding over me like a tide.
• I almost shouted, "Charles, look clearly, I am Elizabeth, your wife!"
• "Wife?"
• Margaret acted like she heard the biggest joke ever, laughing exaggeratedly. She took out a marriage certificate from her bag and flaunted it in front of me, "Miss Morgan, take a good look. This is Mrs. Astor's marriage certificate."
• On it, there was a photo of Charles and Margaret, glaring and mocking.
• The registration date was today, my mind went blank, "Impossible... we got married three years ago!"
• I rushed into the bedroom, took out our marriage certificate from the drawer.
• Margaret took the certificate from my hand, opened it lightly, and then chuckled, "Elizabeth, you don't really think this is real, do you?"
• Her words exploded in my heart like thunder, "Three years ago, when Charles went to the city hall with you, it was just a show."
• "The marriage certificate in your hand is a fake he had someone make, just to fool you, a technician, into willingly working for his company."
• "You actually believed it?"
• "For the past three years, you were just a mistress he kept here, a plaything he could discard at any time."
• "Now that I'm back, you should leave too."
• Fake certificate...
• Mistress...
• Plaything...
• Every word felt like a heavy hammer, smashing my dignity to pieces.
• Three years of marriage, three years of dedication, turned out to be a complete scam.
• I was a fool, a puppet dancing at his will, what a joke.
• Despair and humiliation engulfed me in an instant.
• Charles and Margaret stood there, their faces showing undisguised contempt and mockery, as if they were enjoying watching an ant struggling under their feet.
• They were waiting for me to break down, to cry out, to beg without dignity.
• But I didn't.
• All emotions, at the peak moment, turned into silence.
• My heart... was already dead.
• It wouldn't hurt anymore.
• I watched them, my eyes calm like a dead pond, then I raised my hand and slowly, knuckle by knuckle, took off the ring on my finger.
• It was Charles who put it on me three years ago, saying it was an eternal promise.
• Now it just seems like the highest level of irony.
• I threw the ring on the dining table, where it landed with the food that had already gone cold, just like our love that had long since died.
• "Charles." I took a deep breath and calmly said, "I wish you both a happy marriage."
• After that, I didn't look at them again, I turned around and left the beautiful prison that had trapped me for three years.
• I heard Margaret's disdainful snort from behind, "Quite gutsy, I wonder how you'll survive without Charles."
• I didn't look back.
• As I walked out of the villa gate, the cold winter wind blew on my face, it was cold.
• But I didn't go home, I took out my phone and dialed a number.
• "Hey, I'm ready, we can get married now."
• A deep voice came from the other end of the phone, "Okay, I'll be waiting for you."
• I hung up the phone, hailed a taxi, and said, "To the city hall."