Chapter 1 Chapter 1.

At Stonehaven City Courthouse.

“Hurry up and sign, what are you spacing out for?”

The deep, hoarse voice, laced with anger, snapped Catherine out of her daze. Looking at the divorce papers in front of her, she couldn't help but feel bitter about her situation.

“Don’t pretend. Didn’t we already discuss this at home? Are you trying to back out now?”

The man, growing impatient, urged her. As he spoke, he gave her a shove, causing her frail, sickly body to wobble, nearly falling over.

Catherine bit her lip, determined not to let herself cry, and finally picked up the pen to sign her part. It's over.

Her three-year marriage had ended.

She touched her stomach, where it remained silent, much like her emotions in that moment.

Once the divorce procedure was completed, the man turned to her again and said, “In consideration of the three years we lived together, and the fact that you can’t have children, I’ll give you a villa in District X to live out your days. But remember, from now on, don’t ever show your face around me or Juliet, or I’ll make sure you spend the rest of your life in poverty.”

“Haha, Gabriel Sterling, so you're not even bothering to hide it anymore, are you? Who was it that said there was nothing between you and Juliet? And now, as soon as we’re divorced, you’re warning me not to go near her?”

Catherine laughed bitterly. The man standing in front of her was her ex-husband, and the woman he mentioned was the adopted younger sister she had rescued from human traffickers three years ago.

The old saying was true: rescue an animal and it will repay you, rescue a human and they will betray you. Even a dog knows loyalty, but saving an ungrateful person like Juliet had cost her even her husband.

Gabriel’s patience wore thinner, his voice growing harsher. “Don’t embarrass me here. If you can’t have children, someone else will. Giving you a villa is already more than enough.”

Catherine wiped her tears, her expression resolute as she replied, “I don’t need your charity.”

Gabriel sneered, “Still pretending to be noble at a time like this? Are you planning to refuse the house so you can cause trouble for me later? Cartherine, don’t think I won’t do something to you!”

Catherine felt a sharp pain in her heart at his cruel words, but she remained outwardly strong, replying firmly, “Don’t worry. From now on, I’ll disappear from your life forever.”

Her decisiveness in words was like a knife cutting through the last lingering threads that bound them, yet inside her heart, she felt an uncanny emptiness. Gabriel looked at her disheveled appearance with disgust before leaving her with two words, “Suit yourself,” and turning away, walking out of the city court.

Catherine remained standing at the courthouse gate, unmoving. Her entire body felt cold, her heart even colder, and her lips turned pale from the biting wind. A numbness spread from her fingertips to her heart, as if every emotion had been frozen solid after that final decision. In the end, her tears flowed uncontrollably, like a river breaking its banks.

In her hand was the divorce paper, and with it, all the feelings of the past years were severed.

The fragile sheet of paper now felt unbearably heavy, it did not merely mark the end of a marriage, but stood as proof of the collapse of the trust and the hopes she had once cherished. She wandered down an empty street, the fatigue spreading through her entire being. How had it all come to this?

The man who once swore to love her for a lifetime, it turned out, his "lifetime" lasted only three years. The sweet memories of the past now played like slow-motion film reels, only deepening the bitterness and harshness of the present. In the first two years, they had been inseparable, clinging to each other in happiness. But in the last year, every meeting led to an argument, with even the smallest of things plunging them into silent cold wars. And finally, she had endured until the moment he uttered the words, “divorce.”

The saddest part was that as soon as she agreed, he dragged her to the courthouse to finalize the divorce, showing just how tired he had become of the wife he once claimed to love every day.

His haste and restlessness today clearly reflected his long-held impatience and desire to break free from her. In Gabriel's eyes, Catherine had transformed from a gentle, understanding flower into a shrewish woman who couldn't tell right from wrong, but was that really true when he was the one who had an affair?

Was she truly the sharp-tongued, cunning one, while Juliet was innocent and obedient? Ridiculous! Since when has a husband-snatcher ever been innocent? Her innocence was nothing more than a perfect façade for a heart full of calculation and deceit. It was simply that he had changed and didn't want to admit it.

Back when she and Gabriel were still deeply in love, Juliet always showed up at just the right time, finding excuses to separate them. Each time it happened, Juliet skillfully played the part of someone in need of comfort, while Catherine became the suspicious and harsh one in Gabriel’s eyes. How foolish she had been, even blaming him for being petty towards her. Now, looking back, the real fool was herself.

In reality, Catherine knew that even without Juliet, Gabriel would still have divorced her. His family would never have allowed him to remain childless when she couldn’t conceive, right?

But was the real reason truly that she couldn’t conceive? Or was it merely the perfect excuse for him to justify his betrayal and change of heart? And was that her fault? Clearly, she was injured shielding him from a bullet, and now he was using that as an excuse to abandon her.

The physical wound from years ago had healed, but the scar it left behind had now become a weapon for the very person she once protected to use against her. Catherine held her face, crying uncontrollably. She squatted by the roadside, silently shedding tears. Passersby saw her but didn’t stop to ask if she was okay, because in this tiring world, who doesn’t have their own burdens to bear?

The loneliness she felt now did not stem merely from the loss of a relationship, but from the crushing sense of being abandoned by the whole world — with no one who could truly understand the pain tearing her apart inside. Catherine returned to her old, dim house deep in the alley and collapsed onto the bed, having lost all appetite.

This was the house her parents had left behind before they passed away. Every month, she would return to clean it, but she never imagined she would one day live here permanently.

The house was now filled with memories of a once peaceful past, yet in the present, it had become nothing more than a temporary shelter for a broken soul.

The next morning.

Bang bang bang!

"Catherine, open the door! If you don’t open it, I’ll call a locksmith to break in!"

Last night, Catherine had cried herself to sleep after returning home and had barely woken when the loud pounding on the door echoed through the house, accompanied by an all-too-familiar voice.

The person was Emily, her closest sister-like friend.

"Coming, stop banging on the door."

Catherine stepped outside, looked at Emily, and asked:

"How did you know I was here?"

She hadn’t told her friends that she’d divorced Gabriel, so no one knew she had left the Sterling family home. How had Emily found her?

Emily, hands on hips, replied:

"You texted me last night, remember? Still not awake?"