Chapter 1

After we got back together, Constantin Ligier cheated on me again.

When his personal assistant triumphantly flung a used condom in my face once more, I didn't grab her hair and make a scene as I did in the past until the whole company knew about it.

Nor did I hysterically demand a divorce.

I simply thoughtfully picked up Constantin's soiled underwear and went to the bathroom.

“Next time, don't get so wild. These things are a pain to wash,” I deadpanned.

The man on the bed stopped what he was doing and glared at me.

Late that night, paparazzi photos surfaced of Constantin having sex with his mistress in a car.

The entire city was waiting to see me humiliated.

But I calmly signed a check for a large sum to silence every single scandal.

After that, I also thoughtfully took care of the aftermath for mistresses number four, five, and six one by one.

When it came to the seventh mistress, Constantin finally snapped.

He tore the check to shreds, grabbed my hand with bloodshot eyes, and yelled hysterically, "Lydianne Ximenez, where’s your pride? Aren't you going to throw a tantrum like before? Are you just going to stand there and watch me fall into the arms of other women? The Lydianne Ximenez from ten years ago would never be this cold-hearted!"

I smiled faintly. “You're drunk. I'll go get you something to sober you up.”

Constantin didn't know that I could never be the Lydianne Ximenez of ten years ago again.

That was because I came back from ten years in the future…

*****

"Lydi, don't go… don't be so heartless to me…" Constantin mumbled incoherently.

When I came back with some soup, Constantin had already fallen asleep.

He was sleep-talking and mumbling something under his breath.

There were dried tear stains near the corners of his eyes.

Anyone who walked in now would think I was the one who had broken his heart.

I set the soup down. I watched Constantin's chiseled face before my eyes drifted to the night outside the floor-to-ceiling windows.

I suddenly chuckled. Ten years ago, I had indeed loved this man very much.

I had even broken off all ties with my family to marry this penniless nobody.

Back then, we were passionately in love with each other. We were young and full of idealistic dreams.

Nonetheless, reality was harsh. We delivered food, sold stuff as street peddlers, and did all kinds of dirty, exhausting jobs to get by.

When we finally secured our first business deal, we hid in our tiny rented apartment, hugging and crying with excitement.

But like all couples who struggled through hard times together, after we made it big, Constantin cheated on me.

After a night of drinking with his team, he ended up in bed with the new secretary.

When I walked in on them, they were still entangled in each other's bodies, like they couldn't bear to be apart.

At that juncture, I felt as if my whole world had come crashing down.

For the first time, I totally lost control. I went ballistic and wrecked the entire hotel room in a fit of anger.

Constantin was like a kid caught red-handed. He crouched at my feet and kept slapping himself repeatedly.

He kept saying all those classic lines men use when they were caught cheating.

"Honey, I was wrong. I was drunk and thought she was you. Just hit me as much as you like," he begged.

I shot a side glance at the girl. The trembling girl lifted her head. Sure enough, she did resemble me a little.

I couldn't remember what came out of my mouth.

All I remembered was that after I had screamed myself hoarse, my heart felt like it had been hollowed out. Then everything went dark before my eyes.

Next thing I knew, I woke up in a hospital bed. I also found out I was pregnant.

I did not utter the word "divorce," which remained stuck in my throat after that.

In the end, for the sake of our baby, I decided to give Constantin another chance.

He fired the secretary and even changed all his assistants to men. He bent over backwards to show how sorry he was, and he did everything he could to be the perfect husband.

However, just when I finally started to relax, a girl showed up at my door halfway through my pregnancy, clutching an ultrasound report.

"Ma'am, I didn't mean to come here. I just… I don't know what else to do," she stammered.

"That night, Mr. Ligier got drunk at a business dinner. He said you were pregnant, but he couldn't hold it in anymore. I was too scared to turn him down. Now I'm terrified to face him, and I don't have the money for an abortion," she explained as she sobbed into her hands.

I felt an overwhelming sense of nausea, and I puked on the spot then.

By the time Constantin rushed to my side, I already had the abortion. I flung the divorce papers at him.

There was no awkwardness or guilt in his eyes this time, unlike the first time I caught him.

Instead, he stared at me in disbelief. "Did you abort the baby?"

He then went berserk and wrecked the hospital ward. His eyes were so bloodshot they looked like they could bleed.

"Lydianne, do you know how much I hate it when you always do things on your own without ever consulting me?

"Being with you is suffocating! If you could just be a little more gentle, if you could act like the perfect submissive wife everyone else has and try to make me happy, maybe I wouldn't have cheated! This is all your fault!" he bellowed.

That day, every last bit of pretense was ripped away.