Chapter One: I've Made Up My Mind. I Want a Divorce.

It was their fifth wedding anniversary.

Lucas Hale had spent the whole afternoon preparing a candlelit dinner, every dish laid out with care. He sat at the table and waited for his wife, Isabella Sterling, to come home.

She never came. She had taken their twin sons to celebrate her first love's birthday instead.

And the whole city of Lumenreach knew it, because it was trending.

The notification lit up his screen. His hands trembled as he tapped it open. The first photo showed Isabella nestled in Adrian Voss's arms, smiling brighter than Lucas had seen in years. She was even kissing his cheek.

Their sons stood pressed close beside them, like the perfect family portrait.

The comments were flooded with blessings. Isabella hadn't denied a single word of it. Worse, she had *liked* the top comment, the one calling Adrian "Madam Sterling's husband" and wishing the four of them a lifetime of happiness.

Lucas felt the blood drain from his body. A sharp pain split through his chest.

He clenched his jaw and called her. "You told me you were working late last night. What is that trending post supposed to mean?"

Isabella's voice was perfectly calm. "Why are you so worked up? Adrian just came back to Aurelia. We haven't seen each other in years. Is it so wrong for me to spend his birthday with him?"

Lucas's heart sank. And what about me? The words rose to his lips.

Before he could say them, a small, impatient voice cut through the phone. It was his younger son, Noah. "Dad, why are you always such a killjoy? Uncle Adrian is way better than you. I think I want a new dad."

"Yeah," his older son Ethan chimed in. "We're going out with Uncle Adrian, so stop calling and bothering us."

Click. The line went dead.

Lucas stared at the silent screen. Something inside him fell and kept falling, until it hit the bottom.

By the time the lanterns of Lumenreach glowed across the skyline, Isabella finally walked in with the boys, a bouquet of white lilies in her arms.

She pushed them into his chest. "Happy anniversary! Lilies mean a long and happy marriage. Well? Aren't you touched?"

Lucas held the flowers. He couldn't force a smile.

He had asthma. He was allergic to pollen. He had once collapsed right in front of her because of it. She didn't remember any of that, and she was asking if he was touched.

It was almost funny.

"Mm," he answered softly.

The boys kicked off their shoes and started shouting. "Dad, why are you just standing there? We're starving! Make dinner!"

Isabella told him to cook for them, then drifted into the bathroom, eyes fixed on her phone.

Lucas set the lilies on the far end of the table. "I'm not cooking," he said. "If you're hungry, order takeout."

Then, quietly: "Oh, and you've been wanting fried chicken, haven't you? Order that."

Both boys froze and stared at each other in disbelief.

Lucas had always said takeout was unhealthy, fried chicken most of all. He had refused it every time and cooked everything himself. Why the sudden change?

The shock faded fast. The twins cheered and rushed to place their order.

Lucas stepped out onto the balcony and dialed a familiar number.

"Mother, the five years are over. I want a divorce from Isabella."

Madam Margaret Sterling objected at once. "Absolutely not. You two have children together. How can you just walk away?"

Lucas gazed out at the glittering night, his voice low and distant. "Adrian is back. Isabella has spent every spare moment with him these past few days. She still hasn't let him go. Wouldn't it be kinder to let them be together?"

Margaret had seen the trending post too. She fell silent.

After a long moment, she sighed. "Adrian was never the right man for Isabella. Listen, I'll give you ten percent of the company's shares. Just drop the idea of divorce."

"No need," Lucas said firmly. "I'll leave with nothing."

He wanted out. There was no place left for him in this home.

Margaret frowned. "And the children? You would give up your own sons?"

Lucas glanced through the glass at the two boys, laughing as they picked out their fried chicken. He remembered what they had said.

"I'll leave custody to Isabella. They'll be happier with her."

After all, both boys wanted Adrian as their father, and wanted him beside Isabella, so they could have everything they wished for.

Seeing his resolve, Margaret could only give way. "Very well. If this is what you've decided, I'll respect it. You've endured so much all these years."

"Thank you, Mother."

He ended the call, and the night wind carried his thoughts back to the past.

When his mother had fallen gravely ill, he had begged and borrowed from everyone he knew. In the end, it was Margaret who covered every cost of her treatment.

When he went to thank her, he swore he would repay her kindness someday.

Margaret had gestured for him to sit. Her face was solemn. "If you wish to repay me, then do me a favor now."

That was how he learned of Isabella and Adrian. They were childhood sweethearts who had loved each other through years at the Royal Academy. When the Voss family collapsed into ruin, Isabella never left his side.

But on graduation day, Adrian ended it. He said he wasn't good enough for her. Then he vanished across the sea to the Realm of Valdoria and cut off every tie.

Isabella crossed the sea to find him again and again. Every time, he turned her away with cruel words.

Two months later, he took a new girlfriend. Isabella's heart shattered. She shut herself in a dark room and drank until she was hospitalized twice for bleeding in her stomach.

Margaret asked Lucas to become Isabella's suitor. To stay by her side and help her survive that heartbreak for five years.

He had hesitated, but only until he met Isabella again. Because she was the woman he had secretly loved for two years at the Academy.

Over the years that followed, he gave her everything. He believed he could warm her heart sooner or later.

He chased her for more than a year. Then one day, the woman who had always looked past him suddenly proposed. He said yes without a second thought.

For her, he walked away from the thriving startup he had built with his own hands and became the man standing quietly behind her.

Later, he learned the truth. She had chosen him that day only because Adrian had married someone else across the sea, and the news had broken her.

Even knowing that, he didn't regret it.

Isabella was never warm toward him, but they had two sons, and their life was peaceful enough. He told himself it was happiness.

Then, three months ago, Adrian divorced and came back to Aurelia. Again and again, Isabella put Adrian before her own husband, and now even their sons stood on Adrian's side.

The love that had once burned so fiercely in Lucas cooled slowly under years of her indifference, until nothing was left of it.

He was tired. He didn't want to keep going.

A gust of wind swept across the balcony and pulled him back to himself. He lifted his phone and answered his best friend's message.

"Alright. I promise. In one month, I'll come back to the team and return to AI research."

The reply came instantly. "Seriously?! Lucas Hale, you've finally woken up! About time!"

Lucas typed a simple "Mm."

Then he turned and walked back to his study to draft the divorce agreement.