Chapter 5

When I woke up again, it was the next day.

Kael was keeping watch by the bed. Seeing me open my eyes, he immediately came over:

"Alicia, you're awake?"

He pulled out various expensive nutritional supplements, vitamins, and gifts, but I just stared numbly at the ceiling, my eyes vacant.

That day, while Kael went out to buy me porridge, the recovered Talia snuck into my room. "Well, well, if it isn't my lifesaver?"

"Alicia, you're so pathetic—unconscious for so long! Nearly all the blood in your body was transfused to me. Thanks to you, I survived."

I felt nothing but disgust and said hoarsely, "Get out."

She glared at me viciously. "A blood bank acting all high and mighty!"

With that, she stormed out angrily.

Shortly after, Kael burst into the room, immediately accusing me: "Alicia! Why did you bribe a nurse to poison Talia's medication?!"

I was baffled. "What?"

"Talia said! You hate that I forced you to save her, so you bribed a nurse to add poison to her medicine, causing her to have a severe toxic reaction. She just barely survived the emergency room!"

His tone was stern, filled with unquestionable accusation.

"I didn't!"

Finally unable to take it anymore, I sat up abruptly, tears streaming down my face as I screamed:

"Kael! I've had enough! Really had enough! You always only believe her! Always favor her! I was nearly killed by her! I'm covered in injuries!"

"And you?! Besides forcing me to sign settlements, forcing me to donate blood, forcing me toward death, what have you ever done for me?!"

"Your love makes me sick! Absolutely sick!"

Kael froze.

The door opened, and Talia leaned against the frame, her voice tearful:

"Kael, you promised me! You said you'd hand her over to me for three days!"

Kael looked at the weak Talia, intense struggle flashing in his eyes, but ultimately he agreed.

"These three days, you cannot endanger Alicia's life. That's the bottom line!"

"Don't worry, I just want to teach her a lesson. I won't kill her." Talia immediately promised.

I looked at him in disbelief. Kael was actually voluntarily handing me over to be tortured, just to appease Talia?!

"Kael! You dare!!"

I tried to get out of bed in terror.

Talia waved her hand, and two burly men in work clothes entered, unceremoniously dragging my weakened body from the hospital bed.

"Kael! Save me! No! I don't want to go!"

I cried out desperately, reaching toward him.

But he just clenched his fists, stood in place, closed his eyes, and remained unmoved.

For the next three days, I was held by Talia in a remote abandoned factory. She used every method to torture me.

Whipping, sleep deprivation, forcing me to consume vomit—she exhausted every means to humiliate my body and dignity.

Not until I was tortured to the brink of death did she stop and have someone dump me like garbage back at the emergency room.

I don't know how long I was unconscious. When I woke up, the doctor breathed a sigh of relief. "You're finally awake! We almost lost you! You need to notify your family to come."

He returned my phone. As soon as the screen lit up, I saw an encrypted message from Luna Raven: "The divorce is finalized. Leave Kael quickly."

Thinking of Kael's obsessive personality, I dialed Luna Raven's private number and pleaded hoarsely, "Please help me forge a death certificate and use an unclaimed female corpse to replace me."

"If I suddenly disappear, Kael will definitely use every resource to search the world for me. Rather than endless entanglement, better to let him think I'm dead—a clean break. Also, I need you to find me a witch. I need to sever the mate bond with Kael."

Raven was silent for a moment, then finally relented. "Follow my people. I'll handle the rest."

Under Raven's arrangement, I left through the back door and headed straight to the airport.

Meanwhile, Kael stared at his watch.

The moment the three days were up, he immediately called Talia, his tone urgent: "Three days are up! Where's Alicia? I warned you—no fatalities!"

Talia's voice was aggrieved. "You miss her that much? Don't worry, I sent her back to the hospital."

Kael immediately drove over. Just as he reached the operating room door, the light went out.

The doctor removed his mask and shook his head heavily. "Sir, I'm sorry for your loss. The patient was tortured beyond recognition, injuries too severe. We did everything we could."

Then a gurney covered with a white sheet was wheeled out.

Boom—!

Kael felt a roaring in his ears, his mind instantly blank.

He violently pulled back a corner of the white sheet.

"No—!!!"