Chapter 1

I'd been married to Alex for five years.

He used to be the one who treasured me above all else.

In winter, he'd tuck my hands into his pockets.

When working late, he'd take a detour to buy me cupcakes.

When he proposed, he knelt on one knee and promised to protect me for life.

But now, our marital bed was half empty.

At one in the morning, I sat on the living room sofa, staring at the motion-sensor light, having waited a full seven hours.

The door finally opened. Alex walked in with a cold aura around him.

His suit jacket carried a faint metallic fragrance—not cologne, but the distinctive scent of AI chips from his lab.

I stood up to take his jacket, just like I had countless times over the past five years, asking warmly, "Are you hungry? I made soup."

He sidestepped me, his tone as flat as if addressing a stranger:

"No need. I already ate at the lab."

His gaze never landed on me as he headed straight for the second-floor study.

That room he'd converted into his private laboratory.

Starting three months ago, it had become his second home.