Chapter 4

Seraphina's POV

Ashton's message came quickly. "I support your divorce. After you divorce, I'll come get you. Mom and Dad miss you too."

I looked at the screen, my heart suddenly tightening.

Years ago, my parents firmly opposed my marriage to Peyton. They said he wasn't a good man.

I didn't believe them, so I severed ties with my family and suffered alongside him, betting my entire youth to prove I hadn't chosen wrong.

I didn't want a wedding. He and I only registered our marriage.

But in just five years, I'd lost that bet.

I gave up my family, my pride, my way out, and in return got a switched child, betrayal, and the pain of losing my child.

It turned out I was the stupidest one all along.

Early the next morning, I went directly to a private law firm and calmly drafted divorce papers.

Property division, liability statements. I reviewed everything carefully. I had no lingering feelings for him.

I put the agreement in a document folder and took a car to the Summers Corporation, wanting to divorce Peyton immediately.

On the way, I casually opened social media. A trending post suddenly popped up on the homepage.

The poster was Lily.

The caption was just one sentence that stabbed my eyes:

"Thank you to my love for giving me this wedding~"

The wedding location was at a delicate small chapel in the suburbs.

Wedding.

This was the regret I'd hidden for five years.

I remembered when I was twenty-two, Peyton knelt before me proposing, his eyes full of sincerity. "Seraphina, I don't have money now. I can't give you a grand wedding. But wait for me. When I succeed, I'll definitely make it up to you with the best wedding."

I smiled and said it didn't matter. Having him was enough.

Later we registered our marriage. No wedding dress, no chapel. I cooked two plates of pasta in our rental apartment as our wedding ceremony.

I thought we'd continue happily like this, but now he'd given another woman the ceremony I once longed for.

I had the driver turn around and head to that small chapel.

The chapel wasn't large, but was decorated warmly and romantically. The wedding setting was exactly what I'd secretly fantasized about countless times.

I didn't go forward, just sat silently in the shadows of the back row.

On stage, Lily wore a pure white wedding dress. Her lower abdomen was slightly rounded. She nestled happily in Peyton's arms.

The way he looked at her held a tenderness and adoration I'd never seen.

When the officiant finished speaking, Peyton leaned down, cupped the back of Lily's neck, and kissed her deeply.

Applause and congratulations rose around them. Each blessing felt like a needle piercing my ears.

After Peyton's career succeeded, it wasn't that I hadn't asked him when we'd have our makeup wedding.

But the answer I got was always "wait a bit longer."

So he didn't refuse to have one. He just didn't want to have one for me.

An invisible hand viciously squeezed my heart. The pain made it nearly impossible to breathe.

Just as the applause reached its peak, Peyton suddenly looked up.

Our eyes met.

His gaze froze abruptly, the tenderness and smile on his face instantly solidifying.

Time seemed to stop in this moment.

He saw me sitting in the corner, his pupils contracting violently.

I quietly gazed back at him.

Peyton called out my name in a low voice. "Seraphina..."

The entire venue fell deathly silent.