Chapter 2

Elena’s POV

The rain was freezing.

The stone steps were ice-cold.

I ran out of the estate barefoot, blood running down my legs.

Every step felt like a knife carving into my abdomen.

I didn’t know how long I ran before I finally saw the lights of the vampire hospital in the wealthy district.

The receptionist’s face changed when she saw me.

Maybe because this was the wealthy district, and a woman showing up in the middle of the night drenched in blood likely meant a noble family was involved.

They didn’t turn me away right away. Instead, they wheeled me into the emergency room.

Cold white light shone down on my face.

After the examination, the doctor’s expression was grave.

“You’re pregnant. The baby isn’t full-term yet.”

I froze, remembering that after Adrian had left home that day, my stomach had been bothering me for a long time.

He continued immediately, “The baby is in very bad shape right now.”

“If we begin treatment immediately, there’s still a chance to save the baby, and you won’t sustain too much lasting damage.”

My fingers dug into the sheets.

A baby.

I hadn’t even known I was pregnant.

I hadn’t even had time to know this tiny life existed before I was about to lose it.

The nurse quickly brought over paperwork, asking me to pay the deposit and confirm my identity.

The treatment required noble-class vampire medical resources and authorization from a spouse or clan.

My voice came out hoarse. “I’m Adrian Blackwood’s wife.”

The nurse glanced at me.

It was a light glance, but it scraped across my face like a blade.

I knew what I looked like.

Soaking wet hair.

A nightgown stained with blood.

No shoes on my feet.

A face so pale I looked worse than a blood slave who’d just escaped from an underground auction.

Nothing like the rumored human wife that Adrian kept in his castle, treasured like a jewel.

She asked me for the Blackwood family pass, a private seal, anything at all that could prove who I was.

I had none of it.

Because those things had never been in my hands.

All I could do was borrow a phone and call Adrian.

The phone rang for a long time.

The person who answered was Celeste.

“Mrs. Blackwood?”

Her voice was perfectly calm, even carrying a faint trace of amusement.

“What’s the matter now?”

I gripped the phone, the pain so intense my vision was going black.

“Let Adrian answer. I’m at the hospital. The baby... the baby is in danger. I need him to confirm my identity.”

The other end of the line went quiet for a moment.

Then I heard her rise from her chair.

She didn’t hang up.

I clearly heard her walk over to Adrian’s side, her voice deliberately low.

“Adrian, your wife ran off again.”

“She says she’s at a hospital, something about a baby.”

“She’s probably just trying to guilt you into coming home.”

I held my breath.

I thought that at least this once, he would listen to me.

But the next second, I heard Adrian’s voice.

Flat.

And exhausted.

“Don’t bother with her.”

“She’s just putting on an act again.”

The call ended.

I held the receiver as the strength drained from my fingers, one bit at a time.

The nurse stood beside me, the last of her patience gone.

I had no money for a deposit.

No proof of identity.

They lifted me off the emergency bed and walked me out, deaf to my pleas.

The doctor frowned, as if he wanted to say something more, but in the end, he just looked away.

When they put me out of the hospital, it was still raining.

The pain in my abdomen suddenly surged so violently that I collapsed onto the steps.

I pressed my hands over my lower belly. Blood soaked through my clothes, seeping between my fingers and running down the freezing stone steps.

The doctor had just said the baby could still be saved.

But now, no one was going to save him.

And no one was going to save me.

I sat in the darkness outside the vampire hospital and finally understood something.

From the day I severed ties with my family and insisted on marrying into the vampire world, I had been wrong.

My father had warned me: “vampires would never love a human with true equality or respect.”

Adrian didn’t believe the servants were really mistreating me.

Didn’t believe I really couldn’t eat the cold food, that my body was wasting away day by day.

In his eyes, I was probably just a human wife who’d been spoiled and grown less and less obedient.

What he liked was never me.

It was the version of me who sat quietly by the gallery window, smiling at him, following his plans, and never fighting back.

The rain washed over my face.

I didn’t know how I managed to stand.

I only knew that from this moment on, I would never wait for Adrian to come home again.