Chapter 2

Ethan didn't speak again.

He lowered his head, intently focusing on my body.

When he got to my hands, he suddenly paused.

My heart lurched; I thought he'd seen the diamond ring on my finger.

But he just calmly looked at Scarlett.

"Did you two fight?"

"Yes."

Scarlett nodded.

She lowered her eyes, as if deeply wronged.

After a long moment, she spoke with reluctance.

"She said Lily told her to ruin my face."

"I was too scared, so I had no choice but to fight back."

A flicker of disdain crossed Ethan's stern face.

He scoffed, his doubts vanishing instantly.

"So many years have passed, and Lily's spoiled princess attitude hasn't changed a bit."

"It might do her good to suffer a harsh lesson in prison."

"Maybe then she'll wise up."

Saying this, he used forceps to pry open my stiff fingers, one by one.

He was looking for any lingering traces hidden within the body.

The nail on my index finger was gone.

The other fingers were twisted to varying degrees.

The diamond ring on my ring finger was caked in dried blood.

If Ethan had paid a little more attention.

He would have seen that the ring was engraved with our names.

He had personally placed it on my finger.

But he didn't.

His complete focus was on Scarlett.

He carefully removed the skin tissue from beneath my fingernails.

As if handling a work of art.

Piece by piece, erasing Scarlett's traces.

I watched his focused, patient profile.

Suddenly, I remembered our wedding day.

That day, he had also looked so serious as he placed the ring on my hand.

And together, we had vowed to be with each other through life and death.

Now, to exonerate Scarlett.

He broke his vows, abandoned his ethics.

And personally desecrated my body.

The skin tissue from beneath my nails was quickly cleaned.

Ethan then turned his gaze to my slightly swollen abdomen.

"Repeatedly driving over the victim goes far beyond the scope of self-defense."

"I need to re-examine the victim's internal organs."

"Scarlett, if you're scared, just close your eyes."

Scarlett nodded timidly.

But her eyes held an unmistakable excitement.

I sighed helplessly, marveling at Ethan's naivety.

Why would she be scared? She's the one who killed me!

She was the one who smashed my head with a roadside stone.

And when I was barely clinging to life, she drove over me.

I believe that with Ethan's professional skill, it wouldn't be hard to imagine the scene of my death.

But he didn't care.

He didn't care if the dead felt pain.

He didn't care how heartbroken I was when I found out about his affair.

The evening breeze swept through.

Clouds drifted, obscuring the moon.

Scarlett held up her flashlight.

Ethan positioned the scalpel toward my lower abdomen.

At this moment, I stared wide-eyed, shaking my head repeatedly.

"Ethan, no, don't do it!"

"You'll regret this, you'll definitely regret this!"

I screamed at the top of my ethereal lungs.

But no one could hear the cries of a soul.

The blade sliced, and Ethan cut through my skin.

The standard Y-incision, the very one I had personally taught him.

After eight years together, Ethan had memorized all my habits.

The way he held the knife, the decisiveness of his cuts.

Even the details of the sutures were indistinguishable from mine.

He truly was the genius forensic expert his professors always raved about.

But... such a brilliant man.

He failed to recognize that the body beneath his hands was me.

Processing internal organs required utmost concentration.

Ethan held his breath, the knife gliding over my body.

Fat layer, muscle layer...

Finally, the uterine wall.

When the last cut was made.

Ethan, who had been so calm and composed, finally broke.

His hand trembled, and the knife skewed slightly.

Ethan quickly regained his composure.

But his voice was filled with shock.

"She's pregnant."

"How could a wanted fugitive be pregnant?"

I closed my eyes in despair, unable to watch.

"Ethan, because that was your child."

Our little life, expected for so many years, dreamt of day and night.

Finally conceived.