Chapter 1

I was a human bride chosen by the Elder Council.

Because my bloodline could give the vampires powerful half-blood heirs, I was married to Cassian Blackwood, heir to the vampire throne.

Throughout our five-year marriage, Cassian was gentle and attentive, no matter how demanding his duties became.

Even after my repeated miscarriages, his tenderness never wavered.

He told me I was his wife, and no matter what happened, he would always love me.

Then, just before our anniversary, I stumbled onto the truth.

When I went to the boutique to pick up his gift, the clerk recognized the ring on my finger at once.

"Ma'am, you're so lucky. We made only two rings in this design, and your husband bought both of them."

The clerk didn't notice my hands shaking. At my request, she showed me the order.

My husband had given the other ring to a woman named Seraphina Vale.

Worse, the inside of the ring he gave the other woman read, "Love you forever."

Mine was blank.

I quietly followed the address on the order, and there was Cassian.

He had his arm around another female vampire, his expression full of the tenderness I knew so well.

Beside them stood a child of about four.

The boy looked up with a smile and called my husband Daddy.

Chapter 1

Eleanor's POV

On the way here, I'd still been clinging to hope.

Cassian had been so good to me. In five years, I had never once doubted his sincerity.

I couldn't imagine him deceiving me. I was still making excuses for him in my head.

Maybe I had it wrong. Maybe the clerk had made a mistake.

But now, everything seemed like a cruel joke.

The basic potion I'd bought on the black market could only mask a human's scent for a short time.

More powerful elixirs could even conceal a vampire's bloodline, but using one for too long could make it turn on the user.

The dealer had warned me repeatedly not to get too close to a high-ranking vampire.

So at that moment, all I could do was hide in the trees, watching them from a distance across the carefully decorated courtyard.

The living room's floor-to-ceiling windows had their curtains drawn back.

Cassian casually scooped up the boy, who looked about four.

The child had one arm around his neck, the other holding up a toy airplane, chattering nonstop in his ear.

Cassian didn't show a hint of impatience.

When the boy got excited, he would nod along. He would pick up toys that fell to the ground.

That patient look was one I knew all too well.

My first pregnancy came shortly after our wedding. I lost the baby after an accidental fall down the stairs, and my mood stayed dark for a long time.

Whenever I woke in the middle of the night after dreaming about the baby I had lost, I would cry.

No matter how tired Cassian was, he would turn on the bedside lamp and pull me into his arms.

He would wipe my tears and tell me not to blame myself.

"Eleanor, we'll have another child."

"And even if we don't, that's okay. You'll always be my wife."

Back then, I truly believed I had married a man who loved me.

When I miscarried the second time, I started wondering if something was wrong with my body.

By the third, I couldn't even bear to look at baby supplies.

But Cassian never blamed me. Not once.

He became even more careful with me. He reviewed every medication himself, vetted every doctor, and kept better track of my sleep schedule than I did.

Everyone envied me.

The human bride chosen by the Elder Council had actually won the heart of the heir to the throne.

But now, Cassian already had a four-year-old child in his arms.

A child who called him Daddy as naturally as breathing.

The woman handed Cassian a glass of wine, then reached up to straighten his collar.

Cassian wrapped his arm around her waist as if it were the most natural thing in the world, letting her lean against his shoulder.

She was Seraphina Vale.

I had never seen her before, but I recognized the ring on her hand instantly.

It was identical to mine.

The only difference was the engraving on the inside.

Mine had nothing.

Hers read, in words my husband had personally requested: "Love you forever."

Every gesture between them was too intimate, too natural.

As if I were the one intruding on their family, an outsider spying on a happy family of three.

I dug my nails into my palm without realizing it, watching that cozy scene, cold sweat breaking out all over my body.

After a while, the child grabbed a toy and ran into the yard.

Cassian and Seraphina followed.

I immediately stepped back deeper into the shadows.

The night breeze blew toward me, carrying a faint trace of perfume.

I froze.

I had smelled that scent too many times before.

The first year of our marriage, on my birthday, Cassian got a phone call just before dinner.

He said something urgent had come up at the office and he had to handle it in person.

I waited alone until the early hours of the morning.

The frosting on the cake had collapsed, and still he hadn't come home.

The next morning, he appeared in the bedroom right on time.

He lifted me out from under the covers, kissed my forehead, and soothed me over and over.

"I'm sorry."

"Next year, I'll make sure to clear my schedule ahead of time."

That day, I had smelled this same perfume on his shirt.

I asked about it, just once.

Cassian only said that a woman who worked for him had stood too close while briefing him.

I believed him.

After that, every anniversary, every birthday of mine, even Cassian's own birthday, something would suddenly come up that day.

Sometimes it was a company meeting. Sometimes the Elder Council summoned him on short notice.

He never disappeared for too long.

By the next morning, he would be back without fail.

He would bring flowers, bring gifts, and wrap me in his arms when I looked a little disappointed.

He always said it wouldn't happen next time.

And I always believed him.

That perfume would sometimes come back with him too.

I never asked again.

I believed he was simply too busy with work. After all, he spent most of his free time with me, and he had never once lost his temper at me.

Cassian was so patient with me, so gentle. I didn't want to be the suspicious, paranoid wife.

But now, Seraphina was standing just a short distance away.

The night breeze carried the scent of her perfume straight to me.

Exactly the same.

It hit me all at once.

All those nights I had sat alone with a cake, a dinner, and a gift, Cassian hadn't been at the office at all.

He had been here.

With Seraphina.

With their child.

He had been in this little home I never knew existed.

It felt as if something had ripped my heart apart.

All this time, I had thought Cassian was simply too busy.

I had even felt grateful that he always came back the next day to comfort me, telling myself I should be satisfied with that.

He had planned it all out, certain I wouldn't press him or get angry.

For him, it was easy: finish here, then go home and soothe the wife who knew nothing.

The child was soon taken back inside by a servant.

But Seraphina didn't go in.

She stood beside Cassian, the smile on her face slowly fading.

"Has the Elder Council been pressuring you again lately?"

Cassian didn't answer.

Seraphina went on, "They chose Eleanor because of her bloodline, didn't they? What if she actually gets pregnant again?"

Cassian replied in a flat tone, "Then we do the same as before. Take care of her for a couple of days after the miscarriage and she'll be fine. She's easy to manage."

My fingers clenched tight.

The yard was so quiet I could hear every word they said.

Seraphina asked in a low voice, "She's been pregnant three times already... What if the next one actually survives?"

Cassian reached over and took her hand.

His tone was calm.

"It won't."

Seraphina looked at him.

Then Cassian added, "Don't worry. She won't give birth to my child."

My ears rang.

For a split second, I almost thought I had misheard.

But Cassian's expression was too calm.

Like he was talking about something whose outcome he had known all along.

He patted the back of the woman's hand gently, murmuring words of reassurance.

The certainty in his voice sent my mind back to my second and third miscarriages.

The first miscarriage had been an accident.

Cassian wasn't home that night. I couldn't sleep, so I thought I would take a walk in the garden, but I ended up falling down the stairs.

After that, I became extremely careful.

During my second pregnancy, I barely dared to go out alone. I would jolt awake at the slightest abdominal pain, even in my sleep.

Before bed, I would always lock the bedroom door, terrified I might wander out for air while half-asleep and fall down the stairs again.

Cassian spent a long time reassuring me before I finally relaxed and stopped being so frightened.

But not long after, he started getting busier and busier, sometimes only showing up once a week.

Even when he came home, he always had more work to deal with.

I held onto him and told him I hadn't been sleeping well, that I hoped he could stay with me tonight.

He just kissed my forehead.

"Eleanor, be good. Once I get through this busy stretch, things will calm down."

I never blamed him.

He was the heir to the throne. I even felt guilty for wanting him to drop everything and stay with me just because I was pregnant.

But half-vampire pregnancies were inherently unstable in the early stages.

Going for long stretches without the baby's father left me anxious, destabilizing the baby's bloodline and steadily draining my body.

During both of those pregnancies, my health deteriorated by the day.

I couldn't sleep or eat. Doctors and medication were the only things keeping me going.

Then I lost the baby again.

That day, Cassian finally came home.

He sat by my hospital bed and held me all night, telling me it wasn't my fault, that we would have another child.

I cried in his arms, even feeling grateful that at least my husband didn't blame me.

But now, standing outside another woman's yard, I finally understood.

While I lay awake all night trying to save his child, he was with Seraphina.

While I cried and begged him to come home and stay with me for just one night, he was with the child who called him Daddy.

He knew perfectly well that if things kept going this way, the baby inside me would most likely not survive.

And still, he chose not to come home. Again and again.

Because he never wanted me to give birth to his child in the first place.

Perhaps, when I lost the first baby to that accident, he had actually felt relieved.

My stomach lurched violently.

I clamped my hand over my mouth to keep from making a sound.

Cassian seemed to sense something and suddenly looked toward the yard's perimeter.

I immediately held my breath.

The black-market potion was wearing off.

I didn't dare stay any longer. I turned in silence and retraced my steps.

It wasn't until I had walked a long way that I realized my legs had been shaking the entire time.

My hand ached from clutching the ring so tightly.

Over those five years, I had blamed myself countless times for the three miscarriages.

I had even wondered if the Elder Council had chosen the wrong person, if I simply wasn't worthy of Cassian's love.

But every time, Cassian would hold me and say it wasn't my fault.

And each time, I grew more dependent on him because of it.

Now, looking back, it only made me sick.

Of course he never blamed me.

Because he probably knew better than anyone why those babies never survived.

By the time I got home, it was almost dawn.

The flowers I had ordered for our anniversary still sat in the entryway.

On the table lay the matching necklace set I had bought that day for our anniversary.

A servant asked if I wanted to wait for Cassian to come home.

I looked at his empty seat and couldn't bring myself to say a single word.

For five years, I had believed I was the lady of this house.

Now I knew. Five years of marriage had been nothing but an elaborate lie.

Chapter 2

Eleanor's POV

I sat at the dining table, staring at the matching necklace set, until the sky outside went completely dark.

It was the anniversary gift I had chosen for Cassian.

I had ordered it a month in advance.

Because Cassian once told me he liked us having matching things.

He said married couples should have something that marked them as belonging to each other.

So for five years, on every important occasion, I prepared gifts with great care.

I used to believe these little traditions represented our unwavering devotion to each other.

It wasn't until yesterday that I learned he had given an identical ring to another woman.

I looked down at my hand.

I had worn that ring for five years.

I never felt it was missing anything.

Because I had always believed that the moment Cassian slid it onto my finger was proof enough of his love.

But now, I suddenly didn't know how much of what I had believed was ever real.

My marriage to Cassian was never about love from the start.

At least, not at first.

Before I became a Blackwood, I was Eleanor Valerie.

Because of my rare bloodline, the Elder Council chose me to marry Cassian Blackwood, heir to the vampire throne.

Back then, everyone told me this was the greatest fortune of my life.

A human, marrying the future ruler of the vampire world.

But only I knew how terrified I was.

Someone had warned me that Cassian had a childhood sweetheart, another vampire. If my bloodline hadn't been so valuable, she might have been the one to marry him.

She had married someone else, but apparently divorced before Cassian and I wed. After that, she rarely appeared in public.

I had heard too many stories about vampires.

They were powerful and cold, with strength far beyond any human's.

And I was just an ordinary human.

I didn't know if Cassian would look down on me.

If he would treat me as nothing more than a bloodline tool.

The first time I met Cassian, I didn't even dare to look him in the eye.

But he was nothing like what I had imagined.

That evening was the formal dinner between our two families.

I had rehearsed their etiquette over and over, afraid I would make a mistake.

But once I walked into a room full of vampires, I still stuck out like a sore thumb.

I thought Cassian would be embarrassed.

But he simply came to my side and quietly told me not to be nervous.

When others spoke too quickly, he would quietly fill me in.

When I didn't know how to respond, he would discreetly cue me.

After that evening, for the first time, I felt that maybe this marriage wouldn't be so terrifying after all.

Later, during our engagement, I gradually discovered that Cassian was even gentler than I had imagined.

When I struggled with vampire customs, he arranged for someone to teach me.

When I couldn't adjust to their diet, he had the kitchen prepare human food.

The first time I attended a large banquet, I left early because of the pressure. He didn't blame me. Instead, he stayed with me in the garden until it was over.

He said, "Eleanor, you don't have to turn yourself into someone else just to be my wife."

I remembered that line for years.

So even when many people called our union a strategic alliance, I didn't care.

Because I knew Cassian truly cared about me.

After the wedding, he continued to treat me well.

My health was fragile, and he remembered every single checkup.

When I was pregnant for the first time, he seemed even more worried than I was.

Watching him from behind in the hospital corridor, I felt for the first time that I truly had a home.

But the baby didn't make it.

During that time, I kept blaming myself.

I couldn't give Cassian a child. I had failed in my duty as his wife.

I couldn't live up to what everyone expected of me.

I cried for a long time.

But Cassian held me and told me not to blame myself.

So when I lost the baby a second time, and then a third, I still believed him.

I believed he was suffering just as much as I was.

I believed he wanted our child just as badly, that the only reason he couldn't always be by my side was the weight of his position and responsibilities.

But last night, I saw a different answer.

In the early hours of the morning, I finally heard the front door.

I looked up.

Cassian was home.

He saw the dark circles under my eyes and stopped short when he realized I was still sitting at the dining table.

Then he walked quickly to my side.

"Eleanor, why are you still up?"

His voice was laced with concern.

Just like every other late night in the past five years. Exactly the same.

He pressed a hand to my forehead.

"Are you feeling sick?"

If this had been before, his concern would have melted me.

But now, all I felt was a growing chill.

Because I knew exactly where he had just come from.

I knew who he had just held and the tender voice he had used to soothe another woman.

And yet, here he was, caring for me as if nothing had happened.

I didn't pull away from his hand.

I just asked quietly, "Cassian."

"Hmm?"

"When you were young, did you have a close friend? A female vampire?"

His hand paused for just a fraction of a second.

If I hadn't already seen everything, I never would have noticed that moment of hesitation.

"Why are you asking about that all of a sudden?"

I lowered my eyes.

"I heard someone mention it a while ago."

"They said you had a really close friend growing up."

I tried to keep my voice sounding normal.

"It just popped into my head."

Cassian looked at me.

He seemed to be weighing why I would suddenly bring this person up.

After a few seconds, he finally spoke.

"Yes."

"Her name was Seraphina."

When I heard the name, my heart seized.

Just as I thought.

It was her.

The mother of that child.

The woman Cassian had been living with in secret.

But I only nodded quietly.

"So that's her name."

Cassian leaned back on the sofa.

His tone was casual.

"We were close as kids."

"But we lost touch after that."

He said it so naturally.

If I hadn't seen that house with my own eyes, I would have believed every word of his lie.

I looked at him.

The gentle, patient Cassian I knew suddenly began to feel like a stranger.

For the first time in five years, I realized that Cassian could lie this calmly.

He knew I trusted him completely.

He knew I wouldn't easily doubt him.

So he didn't even need to craft an elaborate story.

All he needed was that same gentle tone, and I would believe him.

"Where is she now?"

I pressed.

Cassian shook his head.

"No idea."

"She left after her divorce."

"I haven't seen her in years."

I listened in silence.

I didn't question him, either.

Didn't challenge him.

Because in that moment, I suddenly wanted to see just how long he could keep lying to me.

"Eleanor."

Cassian took my hand.

"Have you been thinking too much about the babies today?"

"You've been under too much stress lately."

"Don't let your mind run wild."

In the past, those words would have made me feel safe.

But now, all I felt was bitter irony.

He always did this.

He gave me tenderness whenever I was most vulnerable.

Then he let me go on believing him.

I leaned into his embrace, but for the first time, the warmth of his arms felt ice-cold.

That night, Cassian's hand rested on my waist out of habit, just like countless nights before.

But I lay there with my eyes open until dawn.

I thought about the girl who had met him for the first time five years ago.

The girl who, because of his gentleness, had slowly let down her guard and decided to give him the rest of her life.

She didn't know.

That one day, the person she trusted most would stand before her and speak the cruelest lies in the softest voice.

Chapter 3

Eleanor's POV

The next morning, Cassian left the house just like he had countless times before.

He stood in the entryway adjusting his cuffs, then leaned down to fix a strand of my sleep-mussed hair.

"There's an Elder Council meeting today. I might be a little late getting home."

His voice was as gentle as ever.

If this had been before, I would have reminded him not to push himself too hard.

I would have overseen dinner preparations myself, then sat in the living room that evening and waited for him to come home.

Because for the past five years, that was what I always did.

When Cassian was busy, I waited.

When Cassian was tired, I was there for him.

I always believed that being his wife meant understanding his responsibilities and accepting how busy he was.

But today, I just stood there, watching his silhouette disappear.

I didn't ask when he would be back.

I didn't remind him to be careful on the road.

I didn't even hug him before he left, the way I always used to.

The moment the door closed, I looked down at my hand.

The ring was still on my ring finger.

In five years, it had become a part of my body.

I once believed it stood for Cassian's promise to me.

Now it felt like a reminder of how much I had never truly seen over the past five years.

After confirming that Cassian had left, I didn't stay home. Instead, I took out the address from yesterday's order again.

In five years, it had never crossed my mind that I would one day need to investigate my own husband this way.

If anyone had told the woman I used to be that one day she would go digging for Cassian's secrets, I would never have believed it.

Back then, I thought I was the luckiest woman in the world.

But the man I had trusted without question had deceived me for five years and, in doing so, cost me three pregnancies.

I stood outside the house for a long time, unable to make myself go in.

Up close, I realized this place looked just like my home. Almost identical.

The flowers in the yard were the same kind I had once told Cassian would look beautiful around a house.

The furnishings in the living room matched the style he and I had picked out together.

The vase by the window was identical to the one at our estate.

Standing there, I suddenly saw how absurd it all was.

All those things I thought belonged only to us could apparently exist in another place.

I pushed the door open.

Seraphina's face showed only a flash of surprise. But when she noticed the dark circles under my eyes, she quickly composed herself and said coolly, "So you finally came."

I looked at her.

This woman showed no panic. No fear.

She sat there like the lady of the house.

And I stood before her, feeling the bitter irony of my own position for the first time.

I was Cassian's wife in name.

Yet this place felt more like where he truly lived than my own home ever did.

When I said nothing, Seraphina gave a soft laugh.

"You've been wondering who I am, haven't you?"

I didn't answer.

She didn't wait for one.

"Actually, I've been curious too."

"I've been curious whether Cassian ever told you about us."

My fingers slowly curled tighter.

"When did you and Cassian start? Before our wedding, or after?"

I asked the question that had been gnawing at me since last night.

I couldn't hold back any longer. I had come here to torture myself with the truth because I needed to hear it from her own mouth.

Once I had my answer, I could make up my mind about what to do.

Seraphina looked at me.

Her eyes held the composure of someone who had already won.

"Eleanor, do you really not know?"

"Or do you just not want to admit it?"

I said nothing.

Because she was right.

Last night, I had still hoped it was all a misunderstanding.

I had hoped the child wasn't Cassian's.

I had hoped Seraphina was nothing more than an old friend.

I had hoped the ring was just a coincidence.

But reality was staring me in the face.

Seraphina leaned back on the sofa and said slowly, "Cassian and I grew up together."

"Everyone knew we were the ones who were supposed to end up together."

"Our families had always assumed we would eventually marry."

I watched her.

I didn't interrupt.

Because I wanted to know the full story of the past that Cassian had kept hidden from me.

"But then I married someone else."

"So when the Elder Council proposed that Cassian meet you, he agreed."

"He needed a marriage to dull the pain."

"And you happened to fit everyone's expectations perfectly."

The color slowly drained from my face.

These were the very fears I had once harbored.

When I first learned I was to marry Cassian, I had doubted it too.

I was just a human, and I had never even met him.

I had been consumed by anxiety and fear, convinced he was marrying me only because a woman with the right bloodline could serve as his public wife and bear him a powerful half-blood heir.

But Cassian's tenderness made me forget those fears.

He told me I didn't need to change who I was to be his wife.

He said that even without children, he would love me forever.

So I believed him.

I believed he saw me as a person, not as something to be used.

Seraphina watched the color drain further from my face, flashed a provocative smile, and continued, "Later, before your wedding, I got divorced."

"Cassian said he had no idea I'd been so unhappy all those years."

"He said he regretted not stopping me from leaving. He also regretted accepting the match the Elder Council arranged with you."

My breath caught for an instant.

Cassian had never told me any of this.

He had only said that Seraphina was a childhood friend.

Someone who had long since left his life.

But now I knew.

This woman had never left his world.

In fact, during the moments when I had felt closest to happiness, he had been filled with regret.

Regretting being gentle with me. Regretting having to keep up the act. Regretting marrying me.

Seraphina walked to a cabinet and opened a drawer.

"He said that keeping me in this position, only able to stay by his side like this, was unfair to me. So he would make our son his only heir."

My fingers went ice-cold.

Unfair.

So Cassian did know what it meant for a woman to be treated unfairly.

But for the past five years, the one who had sacrificed for this marriage was me.

I had left my parents.

I had left the human world I knew.

I had come to live in vampire territory.

I learned their language, their customs, their etiquette.

I bore the Elder Council's pressure to produce an heir, trying my hardest to be the wife everyone deemed worthy of Cassian.

During my pregnancies, I endured the toll on my body again and again.

When I lost the babies, I told myself not to blame him.

Because I believed Cassian loved me.

I believed all that sacrifice was worth it.

But now, I finally knew.

He had known what it was to ache for another woman.

And every promise he'd made me, every embrace, had been perfunctory.

The woman he cared about was never me.

Seraphina opened a box.

Inside was a necklace.

My breath stopped.

That necklace was identical to the one Cassian had given me.

She took out another box.

Inside was a woman's ring.

It was also part of the matching set Cassian and I had chosen together.

I stood there, unable to speak for a long time.

The gifts that had once made me happy for days now felt foreign.

I had thought Cassian remembered my preferences because I mattered to him.

I had thought those carefully chosen gifts were memories that belonged only to us.

But now, I found that those same things existed in another woman's life.

He had given Seraphina an exact copy of everything he had given me.

No.

Maybe what he gave her was far better. Maybe the necklace and the ring bore engravings mine never had.

So what did that make me?

I was his wife, yet standing there, I felt like the one intruding on their relationship. The whole thing was absurd.

Chapter 4

Eleanor's POV

Seraphina looked at me.

"He is good to you, I'll give him that."

"He takes care of you, protects you, gives you everything you want."

"Because you're his wife in name."

"But Eleanor, do you really think that's love?"

I didn't answer.

Because I didn't know.

Cassian's kindness toward me was real.

The happiness I once felt was real.

But now I realized that too much of what I had accepted as truth was only a false picture I had wanted to believe.

She said that every anniversary, she would ask Cassian to stay, and he had never once refused.

I could barely hear what she was saying anymore. All I knew was that I had come here to force myself to face reality, to kill whatever hope was left in my heart.

But my heart already ached too much to beat.

Footsteps sounded on the stairs.

The boy walked down.

He saw me and stopped in his tracks.

Seraphina went over and picked him up.

"Eric, don't be scared. She wouldn't dare touch you."

Eric nestled against her and asked in a small voice, "When's Daddy coming home?"

In that moment, I couldn't help but laugh, closing my eyes, the sound hollow with self-mockery.

Seeing those identical, even more exquisite gifts.

Hearing that boy call my husband Daddy again.

I finally let go of the last shred of fantasy.

Cassian already had a family.

He had never loved me, and I had never truly known happiness.

I had lost three children.

Every time, I told myself there would be another chance.

I believed Cassian wanted a child just as much as I did.

But now, looking at this boy, all I felt was a bone-deep chill.

He already had a child who called him Daddy.

And I had simply been waiting for a future that would never come, a fool so easily deceived.

A long time passed before I slowly regained my composure.

I didn't cry.

I didn't ask Seraphina anything else.

Because none of it mattered anymore.

I looked at her and said quietly, "If Cassian never loved me from the beginning, he could have told me."

"I never forced him to marry me."

"This marriage was the Elder Council's decision."

"If his heart belonged to someone else, he could have refused. I would never have clung to him."

"But instead, he chose to lie to me for five years."

I lifted the corners of my mouth in a bitter smile, but the tone of my voice held no trace of amusement.

Seraphina fell silent.

I looked down at my ring and said slowly, "Three days from now is my anniversary with Cassian."

She frowned at me.

"What are you going to do?"

I looked up.

"Eleanor Blackwood is going to disappear from the vampire world for good."

Seraphina's expression finally changed.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm leaving Cassian. On our anniversary, three days from now. So I need you to keep him busy, just like you always do. Make sure he doesn't come home to me on our anniversary."

She stared at me as if she didn't believe me.

"You think I'd help you?"

I gave a faint smile.

"You won't be helping me."

"You'll be helping yourself."

Seraphina was silent for a long time.

Because she knew better than anyone.

If Cassian actually chose to come home and spend the anniversary with me three nights from now, she would be the one who lost.

Finally, she said quietly, "I agree."

I turned and left.

As I walked out of the estate, I glanced back one last time.

This was where Cassian had hidden his secret for five years.

The other life he had never wanted to tell me about.

Once, I thought I would spend the rest of my life with him.

But now, I finally understood.

From the beginning, I had been the only one fully committed to this marriage.

Cassian had regretted our engagement all along.

This time, I would end our five-year mistake with my own hands.

Three days from now.

I would vanish from his life.

Chapter 5

Eleanor's POV

After coming back from his other home, I didn't bring up Seraphina to Cassian again.

Everything stayed peaceful and happy on the surface, the same as always.

Cassian was still as gentle as he had been for the past five years.

He ate breakfast with me every day.

He reminded the servants to look after me.

When he came home at night, he would hold me just like before and ask how my day had been.

But only I knew that everything had changed beyond repair.

During those three days, I secretly contacted my father, Edmund Valerie.

When the call connected, I didn't speak right away.

I sat in my room, staring out at the perpetually overcast sky of vampire territory.

Five years ago, I had sat in this same spot.

Back then, I had just married Cassian.

Everything here was foreign to me.

I was afraid I wouldn't be a good enough wife.

Afraid every vampire noble would think a human with nothing but a rare bloodline wasn't worthy of the heir to the throne.

But Cassian took my hand and told me I only needed to be myself, that I didn't have to worry, that he would take care of everything.

Back then, I truly believed him.

So for five years, I kept trying to become someone worthy of his love.

But now, I finally saw the truth.

Perhaps all he had ever wanted was a suitable, presentable wife for the public eye.

Who that woman was had never mattered at all.

On the other end of the line, my father spoke first.

"Eleanor, are you alright?"

Hearing those words, I suddenly didn't know how to answer.

For five years, I had never told my family what was really going on.

Whenever they asked how I was, I would smile and say everything was fine.

Cassian treated me well.

Life among the vampires wasn't as hard as I'd imagined. Nothing was weighing on me.

I told them I had gotten used to it here, and that maybe soon I would give them a grandchild.

But now, the future I had painted for my parents no longer had any chance of coming true.

This time, I finally told my father everything.

I told him Cassian had another woman and that he had fathered Eric with her four years earlier.

I told him about the miscarriages I had suffered over the years, and that Cassian had never intended for me to carry his heir.

At the end, I simply said I was ready to leave.

The line went quiet for a long time.

I gripped the phone, waiting for my father's reaction.

Finally, all he asked was, "You've thought this through?"

My eyes filled at once.

I whispered, "Yes."

My father didn't ask why I was only finding out now.

He didn't ask why I had endured it for so long, or why I had never told a single family member about my three miscarriages.

He just told me, "Then come home."

"Eleanor, you will always be a Valerie."

In that moment, I finally understood.

I hadn't been without a way out after all.

For five years, I had trapped myself inside the world Cassian built for me and let his flimsy lies keep me there.

My father had already arranged everything.

On the night of our anniversary, someone would be waiting at the back entrance.

All I needed to do was stage an accident.

Make everyone believe Eleanor Blackwood was dead.

The plan sounded drastic.

But for me now, it was the only way to leave cleanly.

Seraphina had already been divorced once.

The Elder Council would never accept Seraphina as Cassian's bride after her divorce.

So I, the gullible and easily controlled wife, had to remain Cassian's wife on paper.

I had to keep covering for their relationship.

I had to remain childless so I could never come between them.

If I simply told Cassian I wanted a divorce, he wouldn't agree.

He would do what he always did and pull me into his arms.

He would tell me to stop overthinking.

He would tell me he loved me.

Then he would keep me at his side.

Because he knew I would give in.

He knew all it took was a little tenderness. I would believe him again, stop fighting as I always did, and place all my hopes once more in a man who did nothing but lie.

This time, I would not give myself that chance.

...

On our anniversary, Cassian came home earlier than usual.

When he pushed open the door, he was holding a bouquet of flowers.

White roses. My favorite.

Every time I used to receive them, they would make me happy for days.

Because Cassian remembered what I liked.

He remembered my favorite color.

He remembered I didn't like strong fragrances.

Those little details once made me feel that I truly mattered to him.

But now, all I felt was bitter irony.

He remembered how to make me happy, yet behind my back, he had let me play the fool for five years while I lost three pregnancies.

"Happy anniversary."

Cassian walked up to me and handed me the flowers.

I took them and gave him a smile that didn't reach my eyes.

"Thank you."

He studied me.

"Eleanor."

"You seem a little different today."

I looked down and arranged the petals.

"Just tired, maybe."

Cassian took my hand and said softly, "I know I've been too busy these past few years to properly spend our anniversary with you."

"But not today."

"I've already taken care of everything."

"Today, I'm all yours."

I listened to his same rehearsed lines.

A deep sadness came over me.

He sounded so sincere.

I couldn't even pinpoint when he had become able to lie to me this effortlessly, or when the last trace of guilt had left his heart.

He was telling me now that today was just for me.

Was he thinking about Seraphina? About Eric?

I just frowned slightly, then let out a quiet laugh.

"Okay. I believe you."

Cassian seemed to relax.

He pulled me into his arms.

"Eleanor, I won't let you down again."

I leaned against his chest, feeling nothing but numbness.

Because I knew.

All the lies, all the happiness I had imagined for myself, would come to an end tonight.

Chapter 6

Eleanor's POV

Before dinner, we sat in the garden.

Soft lamplight fell across his profile.

The scene overlapped with so many moments from the past.

I had once wished so desperately for time to stop while we sat together like this. But now, all I wanted was to get away from here and never come back.

I looked at Cassian.

I let myself ask one last question.

"Cassian."

He turned to me, his eyes full of tenderness so convincing it could fool anyone.

"What is it?"

"After five years of marriage, have you ever regretted being with me?"

He looked surprised for a moment.

Then smiled softly.

He leaned down and kissed my forehead.

"Of course not."

I gently pushed him away, my expression calm. "If you have, you can tell me. I don't want to hold you back, and I don't want to settle."

But he didn't hesitate for even a second. The same perfunctory smile touched his lips again.

"Eleanor, how could I possibly regret it?"

"You're my wife."

"I have never regretted choosing you."

I looked into his eyes, a wave of nausea rising from somewhere deep inside.

A person could say the gentlest things.

The same person could commit the cruelest acts at the same time.

I asked again.

"What if I can never get pregnant?"

Cassian frowned. "Why would you bring that up?"

"If I can't give you an heir."

"If I can't fulfill the Elder Council's expectations."

"Then wouldn't it make sense to end this marriage?"

"I won't fight you."

Cassian looked at me, a hint of exasperation in his eyes.

"Eleanor, stop this."

"Why are you thinking about this again?"

"I love you. I'm not letting go."

I looked at him.

And finally understood.

That was the most terrifying part of this marriage.

His refusal to let me go, his sweet affection, were all designed to wear me down and trap me in this marriage so he and that vampire could go on with their happy life.

But he didn't know.

The woman he had kept captive. The Eleanor who had believed him for five years.

Tonight, she would die here.

Just then, Cassian's phone rang.

He glanced down at the screen.

For a split second, something shifted in his expression.

I didn't need to see the screen to know who it was.

I had seen that same subtle change too many times over the past five years.

It was only recently that I learned the person who had always called on important days, pulling him away with work emergencies, was no assistant.

On the other end was the other woman, his childhood sweetheart and the mother of his secret son.

Cassian stood up and walked away to take the call.

A few minutes later, he came back.

His face wore an apologetic look.

"Eleanor."

"Something came up. I need to handle it."

"I might have to step out."

I looked at him.

I watched him stand in front of me and give that familiar excuse one more time.

But this time, I didn't feel sad.

Because I had known all along.

He would leave.

I just wanted to see it with my own eyes, one last time.

To watch him choose to walk away on our last day together.

That way, I could "die" here without a shred of guilt.

Everything was his own choice. He had no one else to blame.

I glanced at the dinner on the table.

Then I looked at the gift I had never gotten to give him.

Then I looked up and smiled at him.

"Okay. Go ahead."

Cassian seemed caught off guard. He had noticed my mood these past few days, and he hadn't expected me to let him go so easily on our anniversary, to once again miss an important dinner together.

"You're not upset?"

I shook my head, smiling as I watched him turn, put on his coat, and open the door.

"Next time, I'll definitely stay with you the whole day. I promise."

He furrowed his brow slightly and put on that troubled expression again, delivering the same lie I was sick of hearing.

So I stood where I was, ignoring his open arms. I wouldn't give him even a final embrace.

"Cassian."

"Goodbye."

He stopped for an instant.

Maybe he sensed something wrong beneath that ordinary farewell.

Maybe, for the first time, he noticed that my eyes no longer held the adoration he was used to.

But in the end, he turned and left.

He didn't look back.

I stood by the window, watching his car pull away from the estate.

I watched the man I had loved for five years drive toward another woman.

I kept watching until the headlights vanished into the darkness.

The dinner on the table had gone cold.

The gift I had chosen with such care would never be opened.

"I'm going to bed. Don't let anyone disturb me."

I gave the servants one last instruction, went back to the bedroom, and locked the door.

Then I picked up a lighter and set the curtains on fire.

The flames slowly consumed the curtains.

Consumed the bed where we had spent countless nights together. Consumed this room.

And consumed the Eleanor who had once believed in love.

I slipped the ring off my ring finger.

I took one last look at its smooth, blank inner band, thinking of the other ring with "Love you forever" engraved inside.

I tossed it into the flames. It caught the light for just an instant, then disappeared without a trace.

I changed my clothes and climbed out through the bathroom window.

I followed the planned route to the back gate.

Behind me, I could hear the frantic footsteps and shouts of the servants. They couldn't break through the door I had already locked, and could only watch helplessly as my bedroom turned to ash.

The car pulled slowly away from the estate.

The mountain road was long.

I looked back at the distant glow of the fire.

That had been my home.

And my prison.

My father handed me the new identity documents and simply placed a hand on my shoulder, saying nothing.

A strange name, a place I had never been, and a future without Cassian.

The tears I had held back for so long finally fell.

But soon, I was laughing through them, unable to stop.

Because this wasn't a loss.

This was a rebirth.

Starting today.

I was no longer Cassian's wife.

For the rest of my life, I would never see him again.

The car kept moving forward.

The firelight behind me gradually faded.

I closed my eyes.

For the first time, the future truly belonged to me.