Chapter 2

Felix stood in the doorway with a frown, holding the two children by the hand.

Amy rushed over and snatched the stuffed rabbit from me. The moment she saw the tear in its arm, tears welled up in her eyes.

“Mommy, I only hugged Lillian. Did you really have to tear my bunny apart because of that?”

Seeing how upset his sister was, Toby immediately felt sorry for her and shoved me angrily.

“Why are you so mean, Mommy? Even if you destroy all our toys, we’ll still like Lillian more!”

The moment I fell to the floor, something inside me seemed to shatter with me.

The disgust in Felix’s eyes was even more obvious.

“Are you really going to hold a grudge against your own children? They have the right to decide who they like.”

“It’s not what you think.” I kept shaking my head, desperate to explain.

Amy thrust the rabbit toward me as evidence and cried, “Its arm is already torn off! Why are you still lying, Mommy?”

Convinced that I had damaged the toy to punish them, Toby glared at me with open hostility.

“We just want to live with Lillian, Mommy. From now on, you can stay in this house by yourself.”

His words struck exactly where it hurt most.

Felix watched the entire scene unfold without saying a single word in my defense.

Instead, he tossed the rabbit in front of me and said coldly, “Stop taking things out on the children. If you want to tear something apart, then tear apart whatever you like.”

I was so furious that I actually laughed, though the smile on my face looked more painful than tears.

Never again. I was done with all of it—with all of them.

And I meant it.

I stopped forcing the children to go to bed on time and let them stay up until midnight, so naturally, they overslept the next morning.

In the past, I had gotten up at five every morning to prepare breakfast, making sure everything was at just the right temperature by the time they sat down to eat.

That day, I slept until I woke naturally. When the household staff brought out breakfast fresh from the kitchen, the children predictably burned their mouths.

Sticking out their tongues, they complained, “Bad Mommy. We’re never eating your breakfast again.”

Even if they wanted it, I had no intention of making it anymore.

Felix was obsessive about his appearance and couldn’t tolerate a single wrinkle in his clothes.

Before he left for work every morning, I used to iron everything for him carefully. That day, he went out in a creased suit and shot me a dissatisfied look.

Without me quietly taking care of everything, the entire house soon fell into disorder.

A week later, Felix finally lost his patience.

“How much longer are you planning to keep throwing this tantrum?”

“I’m not throwing a tantrum.” Without even looking at him, I turned over and tried to go back to sleep.

My dismissive attitude clearly irritated him, and his voice rose sharply.

“As their mother, you haven’t been taking proper care of the children.”

“And as my mate, you haven’t done anything to share the responsibilities of this family.”

“You’ve spent the entire week doing nothing and avoiding everything you’re supposed to do.”

The longer he spoke, the darker his expression became, until the look he gave me was colder than winter frost.

“And you still claim you’re not being unreasonable?”

Rather than arguing immediately, I simply looked at him in silence.

In my previous life, I had devoted myself completely to this family and given them everything I had, only to receive indifference and cruelty in return.

They had accepted everything I did as though it were only natural, without offering so much as a word of praise or thanks.

Yet the moment I stopped giving, accusations and criticism came pouring down on me from every direction.

Too tired to keep arguing, I asked, “I’m exhausted. Am I not even allowed to rest for a while?”

The two children, who had apparently been listening outside the door, suddenly rushed in with excitement.

“Okay! Then Lillian can take Mommy’s place for a while. You don’t mind, right?”

“She’ll definitely do everything a thousand times better than Mommy!”

A bitter smile touched my lips. “If that’s what you want, then I don’t care.”

A flicker of surprise passed through Felix’s eyes.

He clearly liked the idea himself, yet he still put on the air of someone reluctantly making a compromise.

“Fine. Lillian can move in and help you for now. The place next door hasn’t been cleaned yet anyway.”

Just as they wanted, Lillian moved into the house without any difficulty.

Strangely enough, the chaos disappeared almost immediately, because none of them could bear to make Lillian tired, so they began correcting the very habits they had always expected me to tolerate.

Toby and Amy no longer needed anyone to coax them into eating, and they even started putting their own toys away.

Felix hired someone specifically to take care of his clothes.

As for Lillian, she began acting like the lady of the house and rearranging everything according to her own preferences.

One day, she pointed at the large framed photo from our mating ceremony hanging on the wall.

“Doesn’t this take up a little too much space? Wouldn’t the house feel warmer if we put up more casual family photos instead?”

I had begged Felix for an entire month before he had reluctantly agreed to let that photograph hang in the living room.

This time, however, he didn’t hesitate for even a second before ordering the staff to take it down.

“From now on, whatever Miss Lillian asks for, you do it.”

Following his instructions, they replaced our portrait with framed photographs of different sizes.

Not a single one of them included me.

The house became more unfamiliar with every passing day.

Whenever I heard their laughter drifting from the dining room, they sounded exactly like a happy family.

My chest ached, but I said nothing to spoil the mood.

Since I had already decided to leave, I needed to let go of everything that came with this life.

But they still wouldn’t leave me alone.

I had just finished filing my pack transfer papers when Felix called.

“Come to the hospital.”

His next words were sharper and more urgent.

“Now.”