Chapter 4

Eleanor's POV

Seraphina looked at me.

"He is good to you, I'll give him that."

"He takes care of you, protects you, gives you everything you want."

"Because you're his wife in name."

"But Eleanor, do you really think that's love?"

I didn't answer.

Because I didn't know.

Cassian's kindness toward me was real.

The happiness I once felt was real.

But now I realized that too much of what I had accepted as truth was only a false picture I had wanted to believe.

She said that every anniversary, she would ask Cassian to stay, and he had never once refused.

I could barely hear what she was saying anymore. All I knew was that I had come here to force myself to face reality, to kill whatever hope was left in my heart.

But my heart already ached too much to beat.

Footsteps sounded on the stairs.

The boy walked down.

He saw me and stopped in his tracks.

Seraphina went over and picked him up.

"Eric, don't be scared. She wouldn't dare touch you."

Eric nestled against her and asked in a small voice, "When's Daddy coming home?"

In that moment, I couldn't help but laugh, closing my eyes, the sound hollow with self-mockery.

Seeing those identical, even more exquisite gifts.

Hearing that boy call my husband Daddy again.

I finally let go of the last shred of fantasy.

Cassian already had a family.

He had never loved me, and I had never truly known happiness.

I had lost three children.

Every time, I told myself there would be another chance.

I believed Cassian wanted a child just as much as I did.

But now, looking at this boy, all I felt was a bone-deep chill.

He already had a child who called him Daddy.

And I had simply been waiting for a future that would never come, a fool so easily deceived.

A long time passed before I slowly regained my composure.

I didn't cry.

I didn't ask Seraphina anything else.

Because none of it mattered anymore.

I looked at her and said quietly, "If Cassian never loved me from the beginning, he could have told me."

"I never forced him to marry me."

"This marriage was the Elder Council's decision."

"If his heart belonged to someone else, he could have refused. I would never have clung to him."

"But instead, he chose to lie to me for five years."

I lifted the corners of my mouth in a bitter smile, but the tone of my voice held no trace of amusement.

Seraphina fell silent.

I looked down at my ring and said slowly, "Three days from now is my anniversary with Cassian."

She frowned at me.

"What are you going to do?"

I looked up.

"Eleanor Blackwood is going to disappear from the vampire world for good."

Seraphina's expression finally changed.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm leaving Cassian. On our anniversary, three days from now. So I need you to keep him busy, just like you always do. Make sure he doesn't come home to me on our anniversary."

She stared at me as if she didn't believe me.

"You think I'd help you?"

I gave a faint smile.

"You won't be helping me."

"You'll be helping yourself."

Seraphina was silent for a long time.

Because she knew better than anyone.

If Cassian actually chose to come home and spend the anniversary with me three nights from now, she would be the one who lost.

Finally, she said quietly, "I agree."

I turned and left.

As I walked out of the estate, I glanced back one last time.

This was where Cassian had hidden his secret for five years.

The other life he had never wanted to tell me about.

Once, I thought I would spend the rest of my life with him.

But now, I finally understood.

From the beginning, I had been the only one fully committed to this marriage.

Cassian had regretted our engagement all along.

This time, I would end our five-year mistake with my own hands.

Three days from now.

I would vanish from his life.