Chapter 2

Julian stiffened, his eyes focusing on me.

"Seraphina, you know better than anyone why our marriage began.

"Since it's a business alliance, why are you demanding so much? If we divorce, the stock prices of the Davies and Thorne families will inevitably be affected."

"Seraphina, you know, this isn't a smart business move."

I tried desperately to find a hint of the familiar Julian in his voice.

But the man before me now felt terrifyingly strange.

On our wedding day, Julian held my hand, his palm sweaty with nerves, yet his voice was shockingly firm.

"You might think ours is a business arrangement."

"But at your eighteenth birthday party, I fell in love with you at first sight."

"Seraphina Thorne, what we have isn't business. It's because I love you."

But now, the same face, the same voice, told me,

"This isn't a smart business move."

Julian stood up and walked towards the door.

"Isabelle is waiting for me. I'll take her home first."

"Seraphina, I still stand by what I said. Isabelle won't affect your position as Mrs. Davies. You don't need to be so defensive about her."

From standing up to walking out the door, Julian didn't spare me a single glance.

The heavy sound of the door closing was the signal for my tears to finally stream down.

I had never spoken the words "I love you."

But the meals I cooked myself instead of the housekeeper, the light always left on late at night, my sleepless nights caring for him when he drank too much...

I thought Julian knew it all.

Perhaps Julian did understand, but he simply pretended not to know.

I sat numbly on the sofa. I didn't move until Julian came home in the early hours of the morning.

Julian arrived home completely wasted, his secretary having escorted him inside.

Looking at Julian lying on the bed, I sighed deeply, but still got up and went to the bathroom to prepare a warm towel.

Julian lay on the bed, eyes closed. The warm towel had barely touched him when I heard him mumble softly.

"Stop, it hurts."

I didn't stop.

"Wipe yourself off before you sleep."

Julian grabbed my hand.

"Good girl, Isabelle, my sweet Isabelle, let me sleep a little longer."

I froze, stopping my actions, and turned to walk out of the bedroom.

After that day, Julian didn't come home for several consecutive days.

Perhaps because I already knew about Isabelle's existence, Julian no longer bothered to hide their relationship.

Soon, their affair spread throughout the entire city.

Everyone said that Mr. Davies had fallen for a young woman, even more deeply than he had loved me.

He put aside work to take her to amusement parks, he scoured for rare and precious trinkets for her, and even spent a fortune at auctions just for her.

Hearing those rumors, I simply smiled, but tears welled in my eyes.

It seemed Julian truly liked her.

She'd probably only have to ask for the moon, and he'd find a way to pluck it for her.

Julian once told me,

"Seraphina, I want to lay the world at your feet."

And now, he treated her no less.

A week later, Julian came home.

He carelessly tossed his jacket onto the sofa, and a small receipt fluttered from his pocket, unnoticed by him.

It was a reservation slip from a bakery on the west side of town.

The name of that bakery was exceptionally familiar to me; it was my favorite place, and their cakes always required advance booking.

Though I had already decided on divorce, seeing that receipt, a flicker of warmth still bloomed in my chest.

No matter why he'd ordered a cake.

After all these years, he still remembered my favorite bakery.

I quietly tucked the receipt back into his pocket, pretending not to have noticed it.

The next day, at the city's top business gala, I accompanied Julian.

We weren't divorced yet.

Officially, I was still Mrs. Davies.

Whether for the Davies family or the Thorne family, I had no choice but to be there.

But I never expected to see Isabelle again at such an event.

Among the shrewd and calculating businessmen, she was like a lone splash of color, unconsciously drawing everyone's gaze.

Including Julian's, right beside me.

He probably didn't even realize it himself, but the moment he walked in, his eyes landed on Isabelle.

Isabelle saw him too, and ignoring everyone else, she bounced over to him.

"I got your cake."

"But I didn't like it. That bakery's cake isn't sweet at all."