Chapter 2
After that day, Olivia didn't see Lucas again.
When she was discharged and got home, a brazier was burning in the living room. Charlotte was throwing things into it one by one.
Looking closer, Olivia saw what she was burning: Photos of her and Lucas traveling the world—he had hired a famous foreign photographer to follow them.
Countless matching outfits—his favorite black, her favorite red, the green they both found comfortable.
Piles and piles of love letters, each one placed by Lucas into a custom safe, which he called their most precious memories.
Now all of it was being tossed into the flames.
Olivia's eyes somehow grew moist. But Lucas just stood there silently, letting Charlotte do whatever she wanted.
Since he didn't care, why should she?
She wiped her eyes and was about to leave when Charlotte pulled out a baby outfit and held it up.
"Honey, what do you think of this for our baby? Isn't the design too outdated?"
Olivia's fingers clenched.
On their first anniversary, she had been distressed about not getting pregnant.
Lucas had taken months of sick leave, going with her every day to buy medicine, trying again and again…
Back then, her body was covered in red marks. They tried day and night, but she still didn't conceive.
Finally, to comfort her, he had custom-designed that outfit and kept it at home as a promise for their future baby.
Now the baby had come, but she couldn't keep it.
Her nose stung. She stepped forward without thinking. Charlotte acted startled and fell to the ground in panic.
"Olivia! You scared me!"
Seeing Olivia staring at the outfit in the fire, Charlotte explained, "I'm still pregnant. Mother said these things are unlucky, so I…"
Olivia said nothing. She reached into the fire and pulled out the outfit.
Charlotte shrieked and hid behind Lucas.
"Olivia, I'm thinking of my baby. Please understand. Lucas is already dead—keeping these things will only bring you pain, and they might even harm my child!"
Olivia looked at Lucas." Do you think so too?"
His brow furrowed. After a few seconds, he said, "Sister-in-law, I know you're hurting. But a dead man's things can't compare to Charlotte and her baby. Do it for me—burn them."
Olivia felt dizzy.
She remembered Lucas spinning her around the whole Blackwood Manor when she accepted his proposal, so excited that he bragged to every passing dog that she was his.
Now it was time to let go. "Fine." She nodded numbly and tossed the outfit into the fire. "I don't want the Blacks or you anymore."
Lucas frowned, as if he hadn't heard clearly, and was about to ask more when Charlotte collapsed in his arms. "Lucas, after your sister-in-law scared me, my stomach is hurting again…"
Old Mr. Black walked in and saw the scene.
He shoved Olivia and cursed her furiously, even raising his hand. "You jinx! You killed one grandson and now you want to kill my great-grandchild?
"Apologize to Charlotte right now, or I'll make your life miserable!"
He pushed Olivia to the ground. She braced herself against the wall and tried to get up.
"I did nothing wrong. Why should I apologize?"
Before she finished, the ruler struck her down again. "Fine, you're so proud! I'll beat you until you give in!"
Strike after strike, and soon Olivia's back was bleeding.
Lucas watched coldly, his brow furrowing deeper. Just as he was about to stop it, Charlotte spoke first, in a weak voice." Grandfather, Olivia didn't mean it. Why don't we have her turn her wedding room into the nursery as an apology to me?"
That one light sentence made Olivia's face go even paler.
Her heart felt torn apart.
Her child had just been lost, and now they wanted her to turn her wedding room into Charlotte's nursery.
She laughed and fell to the ground.
Lucas couldn't bear it anymore. He came over to help her up.
Olivia pushed him away.
"Olivia, I'm sorry. You've suffered." Charlotte's C-section is scheduled for next week. Once the baby is born, I'll come back to you."
So he knew she had suffered. Olivia smiled bitterly.
In the past, she was foolish—she believed everything he said. Now she wouldn't trust him anymore.
After Lucas left, Olivia threw the outfit into the fire without a second look.
Back in the wedding room, she threw away more things that Charlotte hadn't cleaned up: the toy they had argued over when they first met, the rose garland Lucas had bought her in their passionate days, the little figurines they had picked out together after marriage…
She watched all their memories burn to ash, then turned to paint the walls.
Outside, Lucas was playing with a rattle to amuse Charlotte's unborn baby, laughter and joy filling the air.
Olivia listened, but her cold heart no longer stirred.