Chapter 3

"It's some things you left at home, and..." Horace's voice grew quieter. "And the allowances and bonuses you received over the years. Mr. Blaze said they're all yours."

I couldn't help but be a little surprised. Cassian might be proud and cold, but when it came to money, he was fair.

As the wife of the head of the military compound, I had received some allowances and benefits over the years. Technically, those should have ended with the divorce, but he actually had them sent to me.

"Thank him for me," I said, taking the package. "But tell Mr. Blaze that from now on, we're even."

Horace nodded, looked like he wanted to say something but thought better of it, and finally just turned and walked away.

Opening the package, I found some small items I'd forgotten about, plus a thick envelope.

Inside the envelope was money, 70 dollars. Back then, when a worker's monthly wage was only 15 dollars, that was a fortune.

But I didn't feel touched. I knew it wasn't Cassian having a change of heart. It was just guilt eating at him. He knew ditching his wife for Talia was a pretty lousy move.

Guilt didn't fix anything, and no amount of cash could buy back my pride.

I put the money away and went back to waiting for Draven's reply.

To my surprise, the very next evening, Draven just showed up at the guesthouse out of the blue. He called out, "Larissa."

Seeing Draven's familiar face, I nearly broke down in tears. In my previous life, when he passed away from illness, I hadn't even gotten to see him one last time.

"How'd you get here so fast, Draven?" I asked.

"As soon as I got your message, I jumped on a train that night," Draven said, looking me over. "You look skinnier. Have you had a rough time?"

Draven was ten years older than me and had always looked out for me. He worked at a publishing house in Mebland now. The pay wasn't much, but these days, it was a decent gig.

"Can I go with you to Mebland, Draven?" I asked.

"Of course, I've been wanting to bring you there for a long time. But..." Draven frowned. "You really split up with Cassian?"

"Yeah, it's over," I said.

"Why? Did he treat you badly?" Draven asked.

I was quiet for a moment, then gave him the short version. Of course, I couldn't tell him about getting a second life. I just said I finally saw Cassian for who he really was and couldn't put up with it anymore.

Draven's face darkened. "Cassian's a total jerk. Fake divorce? Please, he just wanted to have his cake and eat it too."

"That's why I'm leaving," I said, gripping Draven's hand. "There's nothing left for me here."

"Alright, we'll leave tomorrow," Draven said, making up his mind. "Mebland might not be as steady as this place, but at least you can start over."

Just as we were talking about our plans for tomorrow, there was another knock at the door.

"Miss Aviir, someone's here to see you again," the receptionist said.

Draven and I exchanged a look, both of us getting a bad feeling.

When we walked into the lobby, I saw someone I never expected. She was Talia.

Talia was younger than I thought, maybe eighteen or nineteen. She was dressed in plain blue work clothes, with two braids, looking just like a typical sent-down youth.

But I knew it was all just a front.

"Are you Larissa?" Talia's voice was soft, like she might break at any moment. "I'm Talia. I'd like to talk to you."

Looking at this act of being a helpless sent-down youth, I felt a wave of disgust rise up inside me.

In the old life, it was that face, that poor-little-me routine, that fooled everyone including Cassian, the whole military compound, even me.

"Talia?" I looked at her, pretending to be confused. "What do you want with me?"

"I... I wanted to apologize for everything with Cassian," Talia said, her eyes filling with tears, putting on that innocent, pitiful look. "I'm really sorry for all the trouble I caused you and Cassian."

Draven, standing nearby, frowned. He didn't know all the details, but his gut told him Talia was definitely not as simple as she looked.

"Apologize?" I let out a cold laugh. "Talia, what exactly do you think you need to apologize for?"

Talia looked a bit thrown by my sudden coldness, but she quickly slipped right back into that fragile, helpless act.

"It's my fault Cassian got dragged into all this. If I hadn't run into those local thugs, Cassian never would've come up with a fake divorce just to protect me," Talia said softly.