Chapter 1

Chapter 1

“Let’s get divorced! She has recovered!”

Darren’s voice was low, almost a whisper, yet it carried a cold weight capable of freezing the air in the magnificent dining room. The man placed a thick brown envelope on the white marble table without slamming it down. His sharp eyes stared blankly at Lyonna, conveying deep dislike without needing to dirty his voice with a raised tone.

Lyonna Andreas Purry could only freeze. The fork she was holding remained suspended in the air, right above the plate of pasta that was no longer warm. Her heart pounded violently, as if it wanted to leap out of her chest. She had expected this day to come, but hearing it directly from Darren’s lips still hurt terribly.

“Viona is awake,” Darren continued calmly, his fingers lightly tapping the surface of the table. “The doctor said her condition is stable, and she can already be spoken to. She is my future, Lyonna. Not you. I already told you before, if Viona wakes up, then we will get divorced.”

Lyonna lowered her head, staring at her trembling fingers. Their two-year marriage had been a joke she entered into with full awareness. They had married not out of love, but because of the ambitions of both their parents. The Purry family and the Graham family were two pillars of the business world seeking to strengthen their positions at the top of the conglomerate hierarchy. Darren, who at the time only loved Viona Rosalina, had been forced to submit to his father in order to secure his position as the future CEO, especially because Viona was in a coma. If he refused, his position would be given to one of his brothers.

For Lyonna, meanwhile, this marriage had been a naive hope. She had grown up as a child whose parents were always away overseas for business. She spent her childhood accompanied by nannies in a house that was far too large for her to live in alone. She thought that by getting married, she would finally have a real home. She would have someone waiting for her to come home, someone who would call her his wife.

But the reality was hell. Darren spent more time overseas under the pretext of business expansion, leaving Lyonna alone in this luxurious mansion. The loneliness slowly crept in, gnawing away at her soul, and Lyonna tried to fill the emptiness with food. She ate to suppress her sadness, to calm her tense nerves. Gradually, her once-slim body began to swell. Her expensive clothes no longer fit, and Darren came home less and less often.

“I understand,” Lyonna whispered, her voice hoarse.

“Good. Sign it now, and prepare to leave this house,” Darren urged coldly, without the slightest emotion crossing his handsome face.

Lyonna slowly raised her head. She looked at the man she had called her husband for the past two years. Darren was still as handsome as ever—cool, calm, and dignified—but it was precisely that calmness that made him seem like a stranger.

“I’ll sign it. But I have one request,” Lyonna said firmly.

Darren raised one eyebrow, looking at Lyonna with a judging gaze. “A request? Do you think you’re in a position to make demands of me, Lyonna?”

“Fine! Then let’s not get divorced!” Lyonna retorted casually, deliberately provoking a reaction from the man.

Darren fell silent for a moment. His brows furrowed slightly, showing a hint of displeasure at his wife’s audacity. “Tell me. What is your request?”

“For these two years, you have never once treated me as your wife. Not once have you taken me out to dinner, not once have you asked how I was doing, not even made small talk with me when you came home from a business trip,” Lyonna said, her voice beginning to rise. “I only want 100 days. Give me 100 days to be your real wife. Treat me like a partner, take me on dates, fill this house with the attention I have never experienced. After that, I will leave without demanding anything.”

Silence enveloped the room. Darren did not immediately laugh or shout. Instead, the man leaned back against his chair gracefully, folded his arms across his chest, and looked Lyonna up and down with a faint smile filled with sharp sarcasm.

“You’re asking for one hundred days?” Darren’s voice came out low, so calm yet piercing that it seemed to reach deep into her bones. “You want me to hold your hand in public and pretend to love you? Take a look in the mirror, Lyonna. Your appearance right now is far from the aesthetic standards I can tolerate. Your presence by my side in public would only lower the credibility and image I have built. Now you expect me to treat you like a wife? Do you think I don’t have a mirror, Lyonna?”

Lyonna bit her lip until she could taste blood. Those words hurt even more because they were spoken in such a cold and calculated tone, as if she were a defective object unworthy of being displayed.

“This is my request, Darren,” Lyonna insisted, tears beginning to well up in her eyes, though she held them back with all her strength. “If you don’t agree, I won’t sign those divorce papers now. I’ll hold on to them for as long as I want, and I’ll make sure this divorce becomes public news involving the media and shareholders. You know your father won’t allow the company’s reputation to be tarnished by a personal matter.”

Darren did not hit the table. He merely narrowed his sharp eyes, allowing the suffocating silence to take over. The man hated being threatened, but the business calculations in his mind moved quickly. He knew Lyonna had found the exact leverage she needed. A divorce scandal while he was securing the CEO position had to be avoided at all costs.

“You’re good at taking advantage of a situation,” Darren said coldly, his voice remaining controlled without the slightest hint of anger, displaying the absolute dominance of a cool and dangerous man. “You want one hundred days? Fine. I’ll grant you that. But don’t ever expect me to look at you, touch you, or give you the warmth you desire. I’ll play that role in public solely for the sake of the company, while you’ll get to enjoy how exhausting it is to stay beside a man who will never be willing to love you.”

Lyonna took a deep breath. She had made up her mind. She knew the risks. She did not truly want those 100 days to change her fate, but rather to prove to herself that she could endure for a little while before walking away with her dignity intact.

“Fine. The one hundred days start tomorrow,” Lyonna said quietly before rising from her chair and walking away, leaving Darren still sitting calmly at the end of the dining table.

Lyonna walked with steady steps. In her mind, she knew that short period would be more than enough to make her realize that staying beside a cold-hearted man like Darren was the biggest mistake of her life, before she truly disappeared from his life forever.