Chapter 1
1371words
Vincent cut the filet mignon on my plate for me.
The knife and fork made soft sounds as they cut through the medium-well done meat. Each piece was perfectly sized and neatly arranged on my white porcelain plate.
After finishing, he wiped his slender fingers with a napkin, raised those gray eyes, and gave me an impeccable smile.
"Try it, Evelyn."
His voice was gentle and polite, as if addressing an important business partner rather than a wife.
I returned an equally perfect smile and forked a piece of beef. The meat was juicy and tender, but all I tasted was cold emptiness.
"Delicious, thank you."
Our marriage was just like this steak. Exquisite, expensive, perfect.
Without a soul.
Today is our first wedding anniversary. No flowers, no gifts, just this formulaic dinner reserved by his secretary a month in advance.
Candlelight danced across the pink diamond on my ring finger. That diamond named "Eternal Heart" now froze my finger to the bone.
A year ago, our union was a marriage between two business empires. The wedding was grand, with media praising us as a match made in heaven.
To outsiders, I had everything.
But in this marriage, all I received was the empty title of "Vincent's wife."
He fulfilled his duties as a husband. Never philandering, remembering all anniversaries, pulling out chairs for me in public.
He was like a perfectly programmed husband, precisely executing every task.
But he never truly "saw" me.
His gaze always passed through me, looking toward a place I couldn't reach.
I knew someone lived there.
Victoria.
His sister.
"Buzz——Buzz——"
The phone's vibration shattered the silence.
Vincent's body instantly tensed as he picked up the phone. That silver phone had a special vibration pattern.
Reserved for just one person.
My heart clenched with a familiar dull pain.
Seeing the name on the screen, the ice and snow on his face instantly melted. A tenderness I had never seen before emerged from the depths of his eyes.
That tenderness pierced straight through my heart.
He answered the phone immediately.
"Vivi?" His voice dropped to a whisper, carrying an indulgence and nervousness he himself hadn't noticed. "What's wrong? Not feeling well again?"
Victoria's delicate, aggrieved voice came from the other end of the phone.
"...Brother, my head hurts so much... I'm all alone at home, I'm so scared..."
My fingers gripping the knife and fork turned white. My nails dug into my palm, the sharp pain helping me maintain the calm expression on my face.
Here we go again.
The same old pattern.
No matter when or where, whenever Victoria called, Vincent's world ground to a halt for her.
During business negotiations, she claimed she had a nightmare.
During family dinners, she couldn't find her hairpin.
On our wedding night, she suddenly had a fever.
Then, he left me behind, walking away without a moment's hesitation.
I quietly watched him patiently comfort his sister, the anxiety and concern on his face painfully genuine.
I became an outsider. A ridiculous intruder.
"Don't worry, I'll be right back." Vincent hung up and flashed me an apologetic look so brief it felt like an illusion.
"Sorry, Evelyn," he said, standing up and grabbing his suit jacket. "Vivi isn't feeling well. I have to go back."
I put down my knife and fork, raised my head, and quietly looked at him.
"Vincent," my voice was calm as still water, "she's already twenty years old. She has a butler, a family doctor, and servants on call twenty-four hours a day."
My questioning was met with his slightly furrowed brow.
"Evelyn, you don't understand." His tone carried a hint of impatience. "She's my only sister, she only relies on me. Besides, she's ill."
"Yes, she's ill." I repeated softly, a self-mocking smile tugging at the corner of my lips.
I had suspected more than once that their intimacy went beyond the boundaries of siblings. Victoria's gaze toward me had always been filled with naked hostility.
I once asked Vincent: "Victoria... is she really related to you by blood?"
He looked at me as if I were insane.
"Of course," he answered firmly. "Evelyn, what nonsense are you thinking?"
Indeed.
So in this marriage, Victoria always took priority.
And I was always the one left behind.
"Our anniversary only happens once a year," I made one final, futile attempt.
Vincent had already put on his coat. He leaned down and planted a cold, perfunctory kiss on my forehead.
"We'll have another anniversary next year, but there's only one Vivi."
He turned and strode away.
His departing figure was resolute, without the slightest hint of reluctance.
I stood frozen. The gazes from surrounding diners felt like fine needles pricking my skin.
The waiter approached. "Madam, would you like to settle the bill now?"
I took a deep breath, suppressed the sting in my eyes, and put on an elegantly detached smile.
"That won't be necessary," I said. "Take everything away."
……
By the time I returned to the empty villa, it was nearly ten o'clock at night.
I sank into the sofa in the darkness.
A year. What exactly had I gained?
Endless waiting, endless disappointment.
Suddenly, a surge of nausea churned in my stomach. I rushed to the bathroom and retched, but nothing came out.
My period was already almost two weeks late.
A thought split through the darkness in my mind.
My hands began to tremble.
I rushed back to the bedroom, found that item, and locked myself in the bathroom.
A long five minutes.
When I clearly saw the two distinct red lines on the pregnancy test, my mind went completely blank.
I... am pregnant?
I'm carrying Vincent's child?
Overwhelming joy, mixed with panic, instantly swept over me. I covered my mouth as tears rolled down uncontrollably.
This is my child.
Perhaps... perhaps the arrival of this child will change everything?
Vincent, would he... be happy?
A humble hope sprouted from the desolate soil of my heart.
I clutched the pregnancy test tightly in my palm.
I must give him a surprise.
Just then, my phone gently vibrated.
A message from Vincent.
My heart skipped a beat.
[Evelyn, come to the Glass Greenhouse in the back garden at midnight. I have a surprise for you.]
His tone was unusually affectionate.
A surprise?
Had he rushed back to make it up to me?
Overwhelming joy clouded my mind.
My child, my husband... was our life as a family of three about to begin tonight?
With some time left before midnight, I lit some aromatherapy candles, took a bath, changed into a new silk nightgown, and put on a warm cardigan.
After preparing everything, I looked at myself in the mirror for quite a while, even wondering... should I spray some perfume?
…………
At midnight, I hurried to the back garden with light steps.
Moonlight draped over the estate like a veil.
In the distance, the Glass Greenhouse looked like a crystal palace under the moonlight, emanating warm light.
My heart pounded in my chest.
I pushed open the carved wooden door of the greenhouse and walked in with joy in my heart.
"Vincent, I..."
My words came to an abrupt halt.
In the greenhouse, it wasn't my husband.
It was a stranger wearing a servant's uniform, with his back to me.
I was stunned.
"Excuse me... where is Vincent?"
The man slowly turned around.
On his face was an eerily stiff smile. A bone-chilling coldness crept up from my feet throughout my entire body.
Then, I saw what was in his hand.
Not garden shears.
It was a... dagger, gleaming with a cold, sinister light.
My mind went blank. Before I could react, the man suddenly lunged at me!
"Ah—!"
The scream died in my throat.
The next second, an acute, excruciating pain exploded from my abdomen.
I lowered my head, looking at the dagger embedded in my body. Warm, viscous liquid quickly gushed out, soaking through my white nightgown, blooming into a... devastatingly gorgeous blood-red rose.
Pain...
That location... will my child be alright?
My... child...
In the last moment before darkness devoured my consciousness, I seemed to hear Victoria's silver bell-like laughter outside the door, carrying a morbid delight.
