Chapter 3

I finally understood.

Tonight was never a victory celebration.

It was an ambush arranged specifically for me.

I looked at him.

"What are your conditions?"

Theo spoke calmly.

"From now on, Rowena is publicly my agent."

"The studio's manager and financial director both get switched to her too."

Looking at Theo, I suddenly found it laughable.

It wasn't that he didn't know.

The one who worked the drinking circuit for him, fought for his resources, built his connections, and put him in the Best Actor's seat was me.

But now,

with a few careless words,

he was about to hand the empire I'd spent ten years building over to another woman.

Yet I felt no anger, and I didn't demand answers.

I just nodded slightly.

"Fine."

"I agree."

Theo was clearly stunned.

As if he hadn't expected me to agree so readily.

"You…"

I stood up and took my coat off the back of the chair.

"Since the game is over."

"The rest of you, carry on as you please."

With that, I turned and left.

But Theo chased after me.

"Beulah."

I stopped in my tracks.

He walked up to me, frowning.

"What exactly are you making a fuss about?"

I just found it absurd.

Cheated on, mocked, my boyfriend secretly getting legally married to another woman and announcing it publicly, and he still thought I was the one making a scene.

Theo sighed.

"The jokes tonight went a little far, but don't take it to heart."

"I had no choice. Rowena is carrying my child, and all she wants now is a title, so I have to give her one."

He was the one who betrayed me and humiliated me,

yet now he acted like a man with no choice, as if refusing to forgive him meant I was the one being immature.

Seeing me silent, he assumed I had given in once again.

He rested his hand on my shoulder, his tone very soft.

"Besides, there's no need for you to be angry with me over this."

"Handing the studio to Rowena is just a title, that's all."

"The one who can really hold all of this up is still you."

"And besides, do our ten years really need some empty title to prove them?"

I looked at him.

The absurdity in my chest could no longer be held down.

So it turned out that in Theo's heart, the title could be given to someone else, and all I had to do was keep giving.

He had never once imagined that I would leave.

He simply took it for granted that even after he pushed me into this humiliating position with his own hands, I would stay behind him and clean up the mess, just as I had for the past ten years.

I pried his fingers off my shoulder one by one.

"Theo."

"The debt I owed you for shielding me in that car accident back then, I've already repaid it with the humiliation I took tonight."

Theo went slightly still.

Nine years ago.

Theo had been driving me to a scheduled appearance.

Late at night, a large truck with a fatigued driver lost control and came barreling straight at us.

In that life-or-death moment.

Without hesitation, Theo yanked the wheel hard to the right, taking the truck's impact on his own side.

Every airbag deployed. He broke five ribs, while I, in the passenger seat, was completely unharmed.

Afterward, even the doctors marveled.

In a crisis, people instinctively protect themselves, but what he instinctively protected was me.

Five ribs, in exchange for a lifetime of my unwavering devotion.

Until tonight, when I could no longer keep deceiving myself.

At the mention of the past, Theo softened a little too.

"Beulah."

"Once Rowena gives birth, I'll divorce her and marry you."

"For now let's just give her all these titles, all right?"

I answered softly.

"Fine."

"I don't want them anymore."

I don't want any of it anymore.

And I don't want him anymore.

But he let out a breath of relief, his brows smoothing out.

The taxi arrived.

He opened the car door for me.

I got in and was about to shut it.

But he reached out and stopped me.

I looked up at him.

He hesitated for a moment.

"Beulah."

"The PR for the announcement—you handle it."

……