Chapter 4

On the third day of my hospital stay, the family doctor finally agreed to let me return to the estate to recuperate.

He said my uterus had been damaged by the miscarriage procedure, I had severe soft-tissue bruising in my abdomen, and a hairline fracture in my leg. I would need to be monitored for at least another week.

But I didn’t nod. Instead, I asked quietly, “Can I walk now?”

The doctor studied me for a long moment before finally closing my medical file. His tone turned colder.

“You can sign yourself out, but once you leave this medical facility, you’ll be responsible for whatever happens next.”

“Fine.”

When Nina came to pick me up, she was carrying a stack of freshly printed documents.

The marriage dissolution papers, a property division list, and a draft petition for the family arbitration court.

She placed everything in my arms, then looked at my leg, which was secured in a cast. She held herself back again and again, but finally couldn’t stop herself.

“Valentina, are you really sure? Maybe wait another couple of days. In your condition—”

“We can’t wait.” I cut her off.

“The estate manager just called. The scene of the incident in the west wing has already been documented, and I’m allowed to go back and retrieve my belongings. If I wait any longer, they’ll start clearing and repairing the area, and my things will be even harder to find.”

Nina frowned.

“Are you sure there’ll be anything left?”

I lowered my eyes to the documents resting on my lap, my fingers slowly tightening around them.

The attack that night had begun at the side entrance of the west wing.

At the height of the chaos, the corridors of the west wing, the lower level of the tower, and the stairwell had been nearly destroyed. The walls were battered and cracked, the curtains and furniture had been torn apart, and even the floors had split from the impact when the family guards forced their way inside.

But the family guards had arrived quickly enough. The main tower had not been completely breached. It had only been ransacked, and most of the things inside the cabinets should still be there.

My identification documents, the family registry, the estate deed.

And the sandalwood box my mother had left me.

It contained the keepsakes she had left behind, and it was the only thing I had been unwilling to let get damaged all these years.

More importantly, all the original documents I needed for the arbitration court were inside it.

If I waited too long, who knew whether I would ever get them back?

“Let’s go there first.” I lifted my head and looked at Nina. “I’ll take my things and leave.”

Nina was silent for a few seconds before finally sighing and helping me into the car.

Once we were on the road, she kept her eyes on the traffic ahead and said quietly, “I’ve already spoken to the estate manager. He has the spare key. Don’t worry. I’ll go inside with you. I won’t let you stay there alone for too long.”

I hummed in response and turned to look out the window.

The afternoon sky was heavily overcast, and the olive trees along the roadside rustled in the wind.

The sunlight wasn’t even harsh, yet my eyes still stung, as if the chaos of that night had left something behind inside me that refused to fade.

I had spent so much time arranging that estate.

The color of the sofas in the drawing room, the style of the dining tables in the banquet hall, the pattern on the curtains in the master bedroom, the warm light in the hallway—even every plate and bowl in the kitchen had been personally chosen by me.

I thought it was home.

Only later did I realize it was nothing more than an estate I had built with my money, my effort, and my love—only for someone else to move in and live there.

And now, I wasn’t going back to “home.”

I simply had to retrieve the last things that belonged to me before everything was completely ruined.

By the time the car stopped outside the estate, the wound in my leg had begun to throb faintly.

Nina got out first and came around to help me.

The oppressive aftermath of the attack still lingered inside the main building. A new security inspection notice from the family guards had been posted on the wall, while several bags of debris that hadn’t yet been cleared away were piled at the end of the hallway. The air was damp and suffocating.

I slowly made my way upstairs. Every step felt as though my abdomen and back were being torn open all over again.

Afraid I wouldn’t be able to keep going, Nina muttered under her breath,

“That bastard better never fall into my hands.”

I said nothing.

When we reached the master bedroom, Nina inserted the spare key she had gotten from the estate manager into the lock and gently turned it.

The door opened.

What hit us wasn’t just the oppressive atmosphere that still lingered inside.

It was also the heavy smell of alcohol.

My brows twitched.

Nina froze as well, instinctively stepping in front of me.

The master bedroom was even more of a wreck than I had imagined.

Large dents and scratches remained across the walls. One corner of the ceiling near the hallway had been shaken until it yellowed and cracked. Debris and footprints left behind by the family guards when they forced the door open covered the floor in dried, grimy patches.

Yet in this very room that had nearly cost me my life, the coffee table was covered with empty liquor bottles, takeout containers, and ashtrays. A woman’s shawl and stockings had been tossed across the sofa, along with a pair of glaringly bright red-bottomed heels.

It looked as though someone had turned this bedroom, barely recovered from an attack, into a place for drinking and pleasure.

My fingers slowly tightened around my cane until my knuckles turned white.

Nina’s expression darkened too.

“She really moved in?”

I didn’t answer. Bracing myself against the wall, I slowly made my way farther into the master bedroom.

The door was slightly ajar.

Soft breathing came from inside.

The moment I pushed the door open, my entire body froze.

On the master bed, Camilla was sleeping beneath my blankets.

She was wearing my nightgown, her hair spread across the pillow I had bought. Half a bottle of red wine and a basket of unopened imported fruit sat on the bedside table.

She looked exactly like the mistress of this estate.

Even like a cherished guest who had been carefully taken care of.

And I stood in the doorway with my leg immobilized in a cast, my face pale, the scent of disinfectant still clinging to me, along with the remnants of the humiliation and chaos from the night of the attack.

I looked like an outsider who had wandered in by mistake.

Perhaps hearing the noise, Camilla slowly opened her eyes.

When she saw me, she froze for a moment.

Then she placed a hand over her flat stomach and gave me a lazy smile.

“Valentina, you’re out of the hospital.”

Her tone was so casual, as though she were greeting an unwelcome guest.

“Why didn’t you tell us you were coming? Lockard isn’t here today, so there’s no one to make you some soup.”

Nina took an angry step forward.

“Have you no shame—”

I raised a hand to stop her, my eyes fixed on Camilla.

She sat up in bed and deliberately pulled the blanket higher over her shoulders, revealing the suggestive red marks along her collarbone.

Several pieces of men’s clothing were scattered at the foot of the bed. I didn’t even need to look to know whose they were.

She followed my gaze, and the smile on her lips deepened.

“Don’t look at me like that.” Her voice was soft. “Lockard was worried I wouldn’t sleep well alone last night, so he came back to keep me company.”

Something felt like it had been violently driven straight through my chest, leaving me numb with pain.

Last night.

While I had jumped from the third floor and lain in the bushes waiting for the doctors, he had been with Camilla.

And now, after I had barely survived that attack, he had let her sleep in my bed.

I stared at her, my voice painfully hoarse.

“Get up.”

Camilla tilted her head as if she didn’t understand.

That was when I noticed the pale yellow blanket beneath her.

It was the baby blanket I had bought for our future child.

Now it was covered in red wine stains, along with a large patch of vomit.

My expression instantly turned cold.

“Get up.”

Camilla glanced down at the blanket and laughed.

“It’s just a blanket. Why are you so worked up?”

I walked over, yanked the blanket out from beneath her, and held it against my chest.

It was filthy beyond recognition, and one corner had even been burned through by a cigarette.

Camilla nearly fell off the bed, and her expression changed.

“Valentina, are you insane?”

I held the blanket and turned to leave.

But she stood up and blocked my path, lowering her voice.

“You really think you still matter?”

“Lockard doesn’t love you anymore. He just doesn’t.”

“While you were in the hospital, he ate with me, went shopping with me, and spent the nights with me. While you were lying in that medical facility losing our baby, he was out buying me breakfast.”

“Tell me. What are you to him?”

Nina had already raised her phone and started recording.

“Keep talking.” Her voice was icy. “Say as much as you want, so you can’t deny it later.”

The moment Camilla noticed the camera, something flickered in her eyes.

She suddenly raised her hand and slapped herself hard across the face twice.

Then she dropped to the floor, tears instantly streaming down her cheeks.

“Valentina, I already apologized. Why are you still hitting me?”

“I didn’t mean to sleep in your bed. I really didn’t—”

The door was suddenly shoved open.

Lockard was back.

He had just finished dealing with something outside. He hadn’t even had time to change out of his suit, and there was still sweat on his forehead.

The moment he entered, he saw Camilla sitting on the floor, covering her face and crying.

“Camilla!”

He rushed over and helped her to her feet.

Camilla clutched his sleeve, sobbing so hard she could barely catch her breath.

“Lockard, don’t blame Valentina… It’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have touched her things…”

Nina immediately spoke up.

“I recorded everything. She just—”

“Shut up!”

Lockard’s hand was already raised, but the moment he saw my pale face, his pupils suddenly contracted.

Nina rushed in front of me.

“Lockard! She just got out of the hospital, and you’re actually going to hit her?”

Lockard didn’t look at her.

His eyes remained fixed on me.

Through clenched teeth, he spoke in a dangerously low voice.

“Apologize to Camilla.”

My head was spinning, the room tilting around me. The things in my hands slipped to the floor, and I had to grab the cabinet to keep myself upright.

“You want me to apologize to her?”

“Yes.” His voice was slightly hoarse, his gaze sweeping over my cast-covered arm.

“Just one sentence. Say it, and this will be over.”

I bent down, picked up the marriage dissolution papers from the floor, unfolded them, and held them out to him.

“Lockard, let’s dissolve the marriage.”

He snatched them from my hand and clenched them tightly, his knuckles turning white.

“I told you, I’m not signing.”

“Then we’ll take it to the family arbitration court.”

With that, I picked up my suitcase and walked toward the door.

The moment I reached the doorway, a sudden cramping pain twisted through my abdomen, and everything went black before my eyes.

Cold sweat instantly broke out across my back.

Nina’s expression changed.

“Valentina!”

I braced myself against the doorframe, my leg giving way beneath me as I collapsed.

Just before I lost consciousness, I heard a low, shocked gasp behind me, followed by the sound of Lockard’s footsteps rushing toward me.

“Call the doctor! Get the doctor now!”

When I woke up, the first thing I heard was the doctor speaking outside my room.

“The patient’s injuries from the miscarriage hadn’t healed yet. She already had multiple fractures, and the shock she suffered just now caused the wound in her abdomen to reopen. If she had been brought in ten minutes later, we wouldn’t have been able to save her!”

There was a moment of silence outside the room.

Then Lockard’s voice came, completely shaken.

“…Miscarriage?”