Chapter 3

Elara's POV

Every minute, every second waiting for the reply felt like torture.

My head was buzzing. His mother's shrill voice and Ethan's calm response echoed repeatedly in my mind like poisoned knives, cutting my barely warmed heart to bloody shreds.

Finally, the information came through.

I opened it with trembling hands.

Inside was a thick stack of documents with many photos attached.

Serena Hayes, heir to the Hayes family, Ethan Sterling's first love. The two were perfectly matched, recognized in their circle as the ideal couple.

Three years ago, they were preparing to marry, but during premarital health checks, they discovered Serena couldn't have children.

For a top-tier elite family like the Sterlings, heirs were of utmost importance, so the Sterling family firmly opposed the marriage.

But Ethan loved Serena deeply and insisted on marrying her. The Sterling family began aggressively targeting the Hayes family business. Eventually, unable to withstand the pressure, Serena tearfully broke up with Ethan.

After the breakup, Ethan started going on frequent blind dates, but he didn't like any of the women.

Until he met me, the famously ugly woman in the circle.

From then on, everything connected.

He didn't marry me because I was special, much less because he saw my inner beauty.

It was simply because among all the blind date candidates, I was the most unacceptable. The most embarrassing. The most shameful. The best tool to humiliate the Sterling family and force his parents to compromise.

He deliberately married an ugly woman to defy his family, to make them give in and agree to let Serena marry him.

I stared at the information on my phone and suddenly laughed.

As I laughed, tears fell.

Pain wrapped around me like a huge net, tightening and tightening until it nearly strangled me.

Mom said being too beautiful would get me deceived, but even making myself ugly, I was still deceived. Deceived more thoroughly, more ridiculously, more pathetically!

These three years, what I thought was happiness was just an elaborate performance.

I was just a tool Ethan Sterling used to defy his family.

Just a pawn to express his love for Serena.

I thought I'd found light, not knowing that light was just someone else's mirror reflecting somewhere else!

I sat in the room and cried for a long time.

Then I wiped my tears, took out my phone, and called Ethan's mother.

My voice was calm. "I want to divorce Ethan Sterling."

A few seconds of silence on the other end.

"What did you say?!" She raised her voice in disbelief, as if she couldn't believe what she'd heard. "Elara Winters, looking the way you do, you dare ask for a divorce? Do you know how many women in our circle are desperate to marry Ethan?"

"How I look is none of your business," I said. "I must divorce him. If you don't agree, I'll get a lawyer and go through legal channels. Making a scene won't be good for anyone."

She was furious on the other end, but I could hear a hint of relief and eagerness in her tone.

Of course. She had long been disgusted by me, this "ugly woman," and wanted me gone to make room for a beautiful, suitable socialite.

In her mind, Serena wasn't good enough for Ethan, and I was even less worthy.

"Fine!" She finally agreed. "I'll handle the divorce. Wait a few days."

After hanging up, I took a deep breath, checked myself out of the hospital, and went home.

The first thing I did when I got home was throw things away.

I took out everything Ethan had given me over the years, necklaces, bracelets, rings, handbags, and threw them all in the trash.

Just like throwing away three years of foolishness.

A few days later, Ethan came home.

His back burns hadn't fully healed, slowing his movements, but he still wore an impeccable suit, his posture upright, his features handsome.

"Why are you sitting here?" he asked, his tone habitually gentle. "The servants said you've barely eaten these past few days."

I looked up at him.

Before, every time I saw this face, my heart would race and my face would flush.

But now, looking at him, I only felt strange and cold.

Ethan didn't seem to notice the change in my expression. Or rather, he'd never truly paid attention to my expressions.

He glanced at the calendar on the wall and casually took my hand. "Are you upset I haven't been back to keep you company? Today's your birthday. I had them prepare a party at the most luxurious Hilton hotel downtown. It's still early. Let me take you to pick out a dress first, okay?"

Before, hearing him remember my birthday and specially prepare a party would have made me ecstatic.

But now, my heart felt only barren indifference.

Still, I didn't expose him.

"Okay," I said softly.

Ethan drove me to a high-end boutique.

As soon as we entered, his phone rang.

"You pick first. I need to take this call," he said, walking aside.

I paid no attention and went upstairs to look at dresses.

I liked a champagne-colored gown, simple and elegant.

"This one. Wrap it up for me," I told the saleswoman.

"I want this dress."

A soft female voice suddenly spoke from behind me.

I turned and saw the woman speaking. My blood instantly ran cold.

Serena Hayes.

The bright, radiant face from the photos, nestled beside Ethan, that face was now right in front of me.

She wore a cream-colored suit with slightly curled long hair and exquisite makeup. Her eyes carried an innate sense of superiority as she stared at the champagne dress in my hands with a half-smile.