Chapter 1

After my wife was promoted to chief conductor, her work kept her so busy that I saw her only twice in three years.

Each time, she came home in the middle of the night and left before dawn with her bag in hand.

When my father‑in‑law fell seriously ill and urgently needed money, I wrote to her several times but never received a reply. I had no other choice, so I went to the train station to find her.

I handed over our marriage certificate.

The ticket clerk frowned and read the document three times before handing it back.

"Sir, you are not listed as Chief Conductor Lewis' spouse in our system. Please do not cause any trouble."

My heart skipped a beat. I thought something terrible had happened to Olivia.

I bought a standing‑room ticket without hesitation and boarded the train, heading straight for the driver's cabin.

Before I knocked, I heard her subordinates cheering inside.

"Olivia, you really had it made! Hiring a caregiver for your father‑in‑law for three whole years must have cost a fortune!"

My hand froze on the door. Shock covered my face.

My parents had been dead for nearly ten years. Where did Olivia get a father‑in‑law?

As I stood there in disbelief, a man in a ticket inspector's uniform brushed past me, pushed open the door, and pulled Olivia into his arms.

Everyone in the cabin stood and joked,

"Julian, you were late today!"

Chapter 1

"Come on, let us go. Let us give Olivia and her husband some privacy."

The group laughed as they filed out of the driver's cabin and shut the door tightly behind them.

When they saw me standing in the aisle, one of my former coworkers, someone who had worked shifts with me years ago, froze in surprise.

"Nathan? You quit. What brought you back?"

Quit? When had I ever quit?

My mind went blank. The words caught in my throat.

Three years earlier, shortly after Olivia and I married, her father suffered a stroke that left him partially paralyzed.

Olivia earned far more than I did and could not afford to leave her job, so she begged me to take care of him.

"Nathan, you are the person I trust most. I know you will do a great job.

"I will make sure your ticket inspector position is waiting for you. As soon as my dad recovers, I will transfer you back."

I loved Olivia with all my heart back then. I agreed without a second thought.

Looking back, I realized every railroad position was spoken for. There was no way my job had been waiting for me all those years.

She must have arranged for me to be quietly removed and given my position to the man I had just seen, the guy everyone had been talking about.

My former coworkers sounded almost offended when they saw the dazed look on my face.

"You disappeared without saying goodbye, and you even missed Olivia's wedding. We wondered why one of our old coworkers was not there."

"You showed up out of nowhere and did not say a word. Nathan, what happened to you?"

I forced a smile that looked more painful than tears.

When Olivia married me, she said money was tight. We had a simple meal back in our hometown for our wedding reception.

There were two red candles, no decorations, and not even a wedding banner.

My heart turned cold at the memory. Just then, the man from earlier rushed out of the driver's cabin.

"What is everyone doing out here?"

Someone introduced us right away.

"Julian, this is Nathan Carter. He used to work in our division and started at the railroad with Olivia.

"This is Olivia's husband, Julian Hayes. He took over your ticket inspector position. Olivia adored him. Those two were inseparable. We were all jealous of them."

Julian laughed loudly.

"That is because Olivia hired such a thoughtful caregiver for my dad. Otherwise, I would not be able to work on the train without worrying.

"Once I get paid next month, I am giving that caregiver a raise. Finding someone this reliable for just 500 dollars a month is a steal."

The others joined in right away.

"500 dollars a month is not cheap. Olivia really went all out for you."

500 dollars?

I stood there listening. My chest felt so tight I could barely breathe.

Ever since Olivia arranged for me to stay home and care for my so‑called father‑in‑law, she claimed money was tight and never sent me another cent.

Even his medical bills were paid with the money I earned by staying up late, writing letters for other people one word at a time. In our era, lots of people couldn't read or write.

So, the person I had devoted 3 years of my life to caring for was Julian's father.

I, Olivia's legal husband, had been reduced to the paid caregiver they hired.

"Nathan, why are you crying?"

After showing off his happy marriage, Julian finally looked at me in confusion.

I reached up and touched my face. Only then did I realize my tears had soaked the front of my shirt.

"Have things been rough for you? Are you hoping to come back to work? Do not worry, I will talk to Olivia for you."

He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and offered it to me.

"Here. Keep it. You can have it."

The moment I saw it, another sharp pain twisted in my chest.

Before our wedding, I spent half a day picking out that handkerchief as a gift for Olivia.

She smiled and tucked it away carefully, telling me she would carry it with her wherever the train took her.

It had become a worthless trinket, passed from her lover's hands back to mine.

I clenched the handkerchief tightly. My hands trembled.

Julian looked me up and down. His eyes stopped on my faded suit.

"Nathan, that is a great‑looking suit. Did you buy it at a department store?"

I shook my head. "No. It was custom‑made."

His face lit up right away and he told me it looked amazing. He even asked me to help him get one made too.

Before I answered, the train's whistle pierced the air.

Chapter 2

I was desperate to get off the train and find out the truth, but Julian grabbed my arm.

"Olivia loves it when I wear a suit. Help me get one made. I am going to wear it to our son's one‑month celebration. It will look great."

Before I refused, he stuffed a slip of paper with an address into my shoulder bag.

The train roared away, its green cars disappearing one by one before my eyes.

I stood there in a daze until a station employee told me to leave. That was when I finally came to my senses and stumbled away.

The moment I pushed open the door at home, an enamel mug flew at my head.

"Where the hell have you been? Are you trying to starve me to death, you worthless piece of trash!"

Blood ran down my forehead and covered half my face.

Pressing a hand to my wound, I stared coldly at the old man in front of me.

After 3 years, I realized he did not look anything like Olivia.

Yet the resemblance between Julian and him was unmistakable.

The old man shifted uneasily under my gaze before snapping angrily,

"What are you staring at? Get your ass in the kitchen and make me something to eat!"

I ignored him, slammed my bedroom door shut, and crouched in the tiny room as tears poured out.

After my parents died, Olivia had become the last bit of warmth in my life.

The happiness I cherished all those years had been a lie. She was the person who had deceived me more cruelly than anyone else.

I cried until I had no strength left and collapsed onto the makeshift wooden bed. Then my hand brushed against the note Julian had slipped into my pocket.

In the fading light of the sunset, I read the address written on it.

3, Maple Street

My blood ran cold.

That was my parents' house.

After we married, Olivia told me she did not want me living there because it would remind me of my parents and make me sad. She rented a run‑down house on the outskirts of town and moved me and the old man there instead.

She took the keys to my family home herself and told me she had rented it out. In 3 years, however, I had not seen a cent of rent money.

I did not sleep at all that night. The next day, I arrived at the address right before noon.

The moment Julian saw me, his face lit up.

"Come in. I was thinking I had forgotten to get your measurements and wondered where I could find you. I cannot believe you came here yourself."

The spacious courtyard looked nothing like the home I remembered. The apricot tree my parents loved was gone, replaced by a fish pond.

Noticing me staring at it, Julian blushed and laughed.

"Everyone else likes planting trees, but Olivia knows I love fishing. She had them all cut down and turned this place into a fish pond for me.

"Come in and try this. Olivia brought it back from the capital last time."

He pressed the cup into my hand before stuffing a piece of milk candy into my palm.

As he spoke, he turned on the radio in the corner, filling the room with foreign music I did not recognize.

"My wife says it is romantic."

He laughed as he swayed along to the music. His face glowed whenever he talked about Olivia.

As I looked at him, I felt as though something sharp were lodged in my throat.

For a moment, I wondered whether I should tell him the truth, that he was nothing more than the other man in someone else's marriage.

Then Julian suddenly remembered something.

"Oh, right. Make sure you tell the tailor I am in a hurry.

"Our son's one‑month celebration is coming up in a few days. I want to look my best and make Olivia proud.

"You should come, too. I will ask Olivia to find you some work so you do not have to struggle out there anymore."

Chapter 3

"You... you had a child together?" My voice trembled as I spoke.

Julian was so wrapped up in his happiness that he did not notice anything strange about my reaction.

"Yeah. I did not want kids so soon, but Olivia kept saying she wanted a baby that was a symbol of our love. She was so persistent. I could not say no.

"But do not worry. Even though she was busy, she hired a postpartum nanny to take care of the baby, so it did not interfere with our time together at all."

My eyes stung with tears.

Olivia and I once had a child, too.

Back then, I was just as happy as Julian.

However, when I told her the news, the first thing she did was frown. "Nathan, this is not the right time.

"You know my mom needs someone taking care of her. I am already working nonstop to support us. If I take maternity leave to stay home with the baby, who is going to pay the bills?"

I suggested hiring a nanny, but she scolded me right away.

"We are perfectly capable of taking care of our own child. Why would we waste money hiring someone? Do you want people laughing at us?"

In the end, she dragged me to a small clinic and made me terminate the pregnancy.

After that, she said she did not want to suffer through another pregnancy and never let me touch her again.

The heartbreak I felt back then still lingered somewhere inside me. Only now did I understand that Olivia did not dislike children.

To her, I was nothing more than a live‑in caregiver.

I was not worthy of being the father of her child.

I turned away quickly and wiped the tears from my eyes.

Julian thought I was looking at the framed wedding photo on the table. He smiled and began introducing the people in it.

"This was taken on our wedding day. See? That is my dad standing next to me.

"He was so skinny back then and did not look very healthy. Thanks to the caregiver, though, he put on quite a bit of weight."

I had learned everything I needed to know. Not wanting to stay any longer, I excused myself and left.

The moment I opened the door when I got home, a sharp pain shot through my leg.

I looked down and saw the old man dragging his paralyzed body across the floor, swinging a broom at me with all his strength.

This was not the first time he attacked me.

I believed he was Olivia's father. I endured it patiently. Even when he beat me until I bled, I never fought back.

Yet this time, I looked at him coldly and kicked him away.

He rolled across the floor twice before screaming hysterically.

"You homewrecker! You are trying to steal my wife!

"Everyone, come look! This man is obsessed with someone else's wife!

"You want to be shameless? I will make sure everyone knows what kind of person you are!"

He clawed at my clothes as he shouted.

How ridiculous. When Olivia first entrusted him to my care, she told me that her mother had been unfaithful and that the betrayal had left her father mentally traumatized.

During his episodes, he mistook other men for the person who ruined his marriage.

She held me in her arms back then and promised she would never become someone like her mother.

Yet what she had done was even crueler.

The commotion drew our neighbors, who began whispering and pointing at me.

In front of everyone, I shoved the old man off me and said coldly,

"I am done taking care of him. Let your precious daughter‑in‑law come to fulfill her duties."

Then I pushed through the crowd and hurried to the telephone booth to call Olivia's workplace.

"I cannot take care of your father anymore. Come back and do it yourself."

Her voice rose in anger right away.

"Have you lost your mind, Nathan? You wasted money on a phone call just to tell me that?

"So what if he hits you or yells at you? Deal with it and move on. I am busy working. Can you stop making things harder for me?"

She hung up before I said another word.

Olivia was convinced that I loved her too much to let her father suffer.

What she did not know was that I already knew the truth.

My hand trembled as I gripped the receiver. I was about to call her back when a neighbor came running over.

"Nathan! You had better come back! The old man hit his head after falling. I do not think he is going to make it!"

Everyone rushed him to the hospital.

Not long after, the doctor came out carrying a critical‑condition notice.

"Which one of you is the family member? I need someone to sign the consent form for surgery."

The neighbors pushed me to the front, but I calmly slid the pen back across the counter.

"I am not his family.

"His biological son and daughter‑in‑law will be here soon. They can sign it."

The same woman who claimed she was too busy to come home arrived at the hospital less than an hour later.

Standing beside Olivia was a tearful Julian.

The moment he saw me outside the operating room, his eyes turned red with anger and he charged toward me.

"Nathan? What are you doing here?

"You are the caregiver Olivia hired for my dad?

"This morning, I was telling Olivia we should help you find a job because of how hard you worked. And this is how you repay us? You nearly got my father killed!

"I am calling the police. You belong in jail for this!"

I did not move. I simply looked at Olivia.

Chapter 4

Olivia quickly looked away and avoided my eyes as she frowned.

At last, it was as though she had made up her mind. She tightened her grip on Julian’s hand.

"Fine. We will call the police."

My entire body went cold.

I wanted to ask her what the last 3 years had meant to her.

Had she ever felt even the slightest bit guilty for what she had done to me?

"Olivia..." Before I finished, she raised her voice.

"Shut your mouth.

"I hired you in good faith to take care of him, and you put him in the hospital. We have every right to call the police."

After yelling at me, she dragged me into a corner and lowered her voice.

"Nathan, stop making a scene. I will explain everything once this is over."

I shook my head.

I did not want an explanation anymore.

I had seen enough. I refused to believe a single word she said.

However, Olivia never gave me the chance to respond. She cut me off and handed me over to the police.

"Officer, this caregiver abused my father‑in‑law and nearly killed him. Please arrest him."

Between Olivia’s statement and Julian’s tearful accusations, the officers wasted no time taking me into custody.

When the old man woke up, he demanded that I be thrown in prison for the rest of my life.

I spent 7 days in detention.

The woman who promised to explain everything never came to see me, not once.

The day I was released, an old coworker came to pick me up.

"Everyone at the railroad knows what happened. They say you were so obsessed with Olivia that you quit your job to become her family’s caregiver. They say you abused an elderly man because you were jealous of Julian and..."

I shook my head and cut her off.

"Whether it is true or not, everyone will know soon enough."

I took my entire savings and traveled to Olivia’s hometown.

After asking several neighbors for directions, I found her parents’ graves on the hillside behind the village.

Three days later, it was time for the baby’s one‑month celebration Julian had talked about.

By the time I arrived, covered in dust from the journey, Olivia stood arm in arm with Julian.

In the yard my parents had left me, she raised her glass and thanked her superiors.

"Thank you all for supporting my husband and me. I would not be where I am today without you."

The next second, I kicked open the yard gate.

Two workers followed behind me, carrying two tombstones. They dropped them in the center of the yard with a loud thud.

Olivia went pale with rage and rushed over, slapping me hard across the face.

"Nathan! Today is a special day for my husband and our child. Stop causing trouble."

Julian’s eyes burned with fury as he kicked me hard in the stomach.

"Nathan, what did we ever do to deserve this? How could you go this far?"

The pain knocked me to the ground. I struggled back to my feet and laughed as everyone stared at me in stunned silence.

"Take a good look, everyone. These two tombstones belong to Chief Conductor Olivia’s biological parents. The father‑in‑law she tricked me into caring for over the past 3 years was Julian’s father."

Then I turned toward the two police officers standing at the gate.

"Officers, my name is Nathan Carter. I am formally reporting Chief Conductor Olivia Lewis for bigamy and abusing her position to unlawfully seize private property. I request that the matter be investigated according to the law."