Chapter 1

I once loved him for a full seven years. I loved him so much that even when his mistress pushed me off a building, I wouldn't let him go.

But he locked me in a psychiatric hospital and used electroshock therapy to strip away the last shred of my dignity.

I cut open my brain, removed part of my hippocampus, and personally erased him from my memory completely.

He held my "ashes" and went mad for three years, thinking I died in that car accident I staged for him.

Until he traveled thousands of miles to Zurich and saw me living a radiant life.

And I looked at him and only asked softly.

"Sorry, who are you?"

Polina's POV

When I woke up, I heard Ethan Harper on the phone, his voice gentle.

"Lily, I've already suppressed the media coverage. No one will know you pushed her."

After hanging up, he met my gaze, his expression instantly turning cold.

"You're awake?"

"Now that you're awake, get this straight. Last night you slipped and fell on your own. Don't say anything to the media. Lily scares easily, don't frighten her."

She scares easily?

If she scared so easily, she wouldn't have pushed me off a building.

I rolled down from a second-floor balcony and nearly died.

And my fiancé Ethan Harper didn't ask if I was in pain, but warned me not to ruin his beloved's reputation.

Last night, Ethan held Lily in his arms, kissed her forehead, and treasured her like a jewel.

When I went up to confront them, Lily gave me a provocative smile, then suddenly leaned backward and grabbed onto my evening gown with all her strength.

She was faking a fall, but dragging me into a real hell.

"Ethan."

My voice was hoarse, and I couldn't help but mock him. "Are you actually blind, or just pretending to be?"

Ethan's brow furrowed.

"Polina, enough."

"Lily had too much to drink and lost her balance. Instead of helping her, you want to make a big scene out of this?"

"The Harper family's stock price can't withstand this kind of scandal. It's time you showed some sense."

Lily was the Harper family driver's daughter. The Harpers adopted her as a child, and she enjoyed all of Ethan's favoritism.

And I was the heir to the White family, his rightful fiancée.

Just because I came from a good family, he assumed I could bear anything. Even when I was hurt, I didn't need comfort.

Because Lily came from nothing, he felt that even a slight frown from her meant she'd suffered a terrible injustice.

When I waited for him to cut my birthday cake, he was riding the Ferris wheel with Lily at an amusement park.

When I was humiliated and belittled by the Harper family board of directors because of our arranged marriage, he flew into a rage because a server made Lily wait one second too long.

When my appendix ruptured and I crashed my car into a guardrail from the pain, he was running all over the city to get macarons from another district because Lily mentioned wanting them.

Because I had family background and dignity, I deserved to suffer grievances.

"What if I refuse?" I stared at him, asking each word slowly and deliberately.

Ethan's expression turned completely dark.

He stepped forward and gripped the wrist where my IV was attached.

The needle shifted in my vein, and blood instantly flowed back into the IV tube, shockingly red.

Cold sweat ran down my temples.

But he acted as if he didn't see that tube of backflowing blood. His fingers tightened mercilessly, his tone ice-cold.

"Polina, don't push me. As long as you behave, the position of fiancée is still yours."

"Otherwise, don't blame me for being heartless."

My wrist throbbed with pain. More painful than the bone-deep ache was the instant my heart died.

Just then, the hospital room door burst open.

His assistant rushed in frantically. "Mr. Harper! Lily is having a panic attack in the next room. She won't stop crying, and the doctor says her condition is bad!"

Ethan's face changed instantly.

He immediately let go of my hand, not even leaving a single instruction, and rushed out.

I watched that section of red backflow slowly stain the transparent IV tube. The hospital room door slammed shut before my eyes.

I pulled the needle out of my hand myself and pressed down on the bleeding puncture site.

It really hurt.

But compared to watching Ethan go insane over another woman, this pain actually cleared my head.

I picked up my phone and pulled up that webpage I'd browsed late at night a few days ago.

A neuroscience center in Zurich.

They had a very special procedure. Removing a small portion of hippocampal neurons could completely erase someone from your memory.

Before, I always hesitated, feeling that although these seven years were bitter, I couldn't bear to forget them entirely.

After all, I truly had loved him.

But now, I felt there was nothing worth keeping.

I clicked on the appointment portal and filled out the application form.

In the reason section, I only wrote: I don't love him anymore.

Even if I became a person without a past, I would never be Ethan Harper's fiancée again.