Chapter 2

My emotional turmoil couldn't escape Sebastian.

He held me tightly, his tone gentle and pitying. "Nora, even though we lost our baby, don't worry.

I'll always be by your side. Believe me, sometimes loss is a kind of gain."

He tenderly kissed my eyelids. "However sad you are, I'm ten thousand times sadder."

I clenched my fists, blinking hard to hide my unstoppable hatred from him. "How sad are you?"

Sebastian looked down at me, his eyes swollen like walnuts from crying for so long. "Incomparably sad.

The moment the child died, my whole world went dark. Thank God you're still here, otherwise I really couldn't go on living."

What an actor.

No wonder I never discovered all these years that he'd always loved Mia.

When I first got pregnant, Sebastian posted several messages on social media, ecstatic about becoming a father!

Later when my appetite was poor during pregnancy, he specifically learned to cook for me, personally preparing every meal.

Who could have predicted this was all his long-game setup for that illegitimate child!

Sebastian went downstairs to get food from the cafeteria, leaving his backup phone behind.

His password wasn't my birthday.

I unlocked it with Mia's birthday instead, and chat logs hit me like a ton of bricks.

"Sebastian, what we're doing isn't fair to her." During my eighth month, Sebastian constantly traveled between home and abroad, barely spending any days with me.

I felt sorry for him, so I only shared good news during prenatal checkups and morning sickness, trying not to worry him.

Now I learned he spent those days abroad accompanying Mia through her prenatal visits, checkups, and delivery.

The endless chat logs showed his every moment with Mia.

He never missed a single important pregnancy milestone.

Sebastian rubbed pregnancy oil on her, massaged her swollen feet, even personally helped her with intimate needs.

Scrolling further up, they'd argued about custody, until Mia finally agreed to let me raise the child while she pursued her career abroad.

I closed my eyes.

I remembered when our switched identities were revealed, Mia smiled at me with seeming relief:

"I never blamed you for taking Mom and Dad. I long for a wider world.

Don't worry, I won't compete with you for Sebastian either." She went abroad to become a light chaser.

Mom and Dad resented me for her departure.

They barely showed up at my wedding.

And Sebastian killed my child for Mia's sake, just to pave the way for her child.

I really envied her.

Everyone loved her, not me...

If that's how it was, I should leave too.

Heart dead as ash, I put down the phone and sent my mentor a message, agreeing to return in a month to accompany him gathering herbs in the mountains.

"I don't trust hospital food, so I cooked something myself. See if you like it?" Sebastian fed me spoonful by spoonful.

My tears dropped heavily into the bowl.

He gently wiped away my tears, teasing: "Little kitten, crying from gratitude already!"

I lowered my eyes without responding.

It wasn't gratitude.

It was sorrow.

I only received this treatment because Mia repeatedly demanded it.

I was just borrowing her light.

Seeing me like this, Sebastian hugged me with concern: "Nora, are you thinking about the baby again?" His mention broke me completely.

My tears flooded out.

Sebastian panicked, then had a flash of inspiration: "I've got it! I heard your sister also had a baby abroad.

She's always on the move—why not bring her child back for us to raise as our own? We can tell everyone you gave birth.

That way both sets of parents are satisfied, and you won't face gossip."

I looked up at him in a daze.

If I didn't already know what Sebastian had done behind my back, I might actually believe he was thinking of me.

But I'd already decided to leave and let them have what they wanted: "That works. Everyone wins."