Chapter 1

On the day of their third wedding anniversary, also Briseis Wexley's twenty-seventh birthday, her husband, Aldric Vance, gave her a rather special gift—divorce papers.

Aldric remained calm. He picked up a pen and signed his name in the lower left corner of the agreement, then slid the document across the table to Briseis.

He said, "Calanthe has a stubborn streak. She's incredibly hard to win over. The only way she'll accept me is if we get divorced first.

"I've already signed. Go ahead and sign yours. Don't worry. It's just for show."

His tone stayed perfectly flat, without the slightest rise or fall, as if he were simply talking about what to have for dinner tonight.

Briseis didn't pay much attention to Aldric's private affairs these days, but with all the tabloid headlines online, there was no way she could avoid hearing about Calanthe Thornwood.

Calanthe was the fresh-faced starlet Aldric had signed for his company, barely in her early twenties, young and dazzling.

The real buzz was that Aldric had been publicly chasing after her for almost two months, but she didn't even bat an eye.

With other women, Aldric usually lost interest in less than a month.

But Calanthe was different. Not only did she break his streak, but she also drove him to fake a divorce.

Briseis took the divorce agreement from him and tugged at the corner of her mouth in a faint smile. "So this is the gift you prepared for me? It's pretty unique."

Aldric looked genuinely confused for a moment, then it hit him. A flicker of guilt crossed his face. "I've been so busy trying to win Calanthe over on set that I totally forgot it was our anniversary and your birthday.

"Sorry, I'll have my assistant bring you a gift later."

'So that's how it is. Once he has a new girl, the old one just fades away,' Briseis thought.

A sarcastic smile played on her lips. "No need. We're getting divorced anyway. Save the gift for her."

Aldric frowned, his tone sharp. "It's a fake divorce. We're only signing the papers to appease Calanthe. We're not actually going to get the marriage certificate."

'Is that so?' Briseis thought. 'But I've already decided. I'm really ending things with Aldric this time.'

She didn't say a word. Instead, she picked up the pen and signed her name, drawing a final line under three years of marriage.

Once she was done, Aldric let out a sigh of relief, snapped a photo of the signed papers, and dialed a number.

Whatever was said on the other end, Aldric's mood visibly brightened. He softened his voice, coaxing, "It's done. We're divorced now.

"You can finally be with me out in the open. Be good and wait for me at the set, okay? I'll come pick you up, and we'll celebrate."

After hanging up, he grabbed his coat and headed for the door.

Just as he was about to close it, he paused and glanced back at Briseis, as if something hit him. "Today's the first day Calanthe agreed to be with me. I need to be with her."

"Next year, I'll celebrate your birthday and our anniversary with you," he said, then hurriedly shut the door and rushed off to his new girl.

He never heard Briseis's soft reply. "Aldric, there won't be a next year for you and me."

After the roar of the car faded into the distance, Briseis went upstairs, opened the safe, and took out the two marriage certificates tucked away at the very back.

She stared at them and was greeted by their names.

Back then, Briseis was twenty-four, and Aldric was twenty-six.

They were sweet, hearts full of love and hope for the future they thought they'd share.

Briseis's gaze drifted to the signed divorce papers.

'How did we end up like this?' she wondered.

She still remembered the first time she met Aldric. It was at a wrap party.

Back then, Briseis was a newbie in showbiz, and happened to see Aldric standing in the corner, holding his stomach and looking pale.

Realizing he'd had too much to drink and his stomach was acting up, she fished a bottle of milk out of her bag and handed it to him.

That simple act of kindness made Aldric take notice of her.

That attention eventually blossomed into genuine affection.

But Aldric was the heir of the Vance family, a textbook rich guy, born into a world someone like Briseis could never even dream of entering.

Briseis knew exactly where she stood. There was no way a guy like him would ever really fall for a girl like her. At best, she was a passing amusement. So she didn't hesitate to reject him.

To her surprise, Aldric didn't give up. Instead, he always stayed by her side.

The high-and-mighty CEO became her personal assistant, personally cooking and delivering meals to her, rushing her to the hospital when she fell ill from nonstop filming, and always being the first to hand her a cup of milk after she finished shooting underwater scenes.

She wasn't made of stone. With his steady warmth day after day, she gradually found herself falling for him.

The moment that truly opened her heart was during a wire stunt gone wrong. As she was about to plummet, Aldric used his body to cushion her fall.

She came out without a scratch, but Aldric ended up with two broken ribs.

After they got together, Aldric told the Vance family she was the only one he'd ever marry. Even when the family tried to pressure him with their traditions, he never backed down.

Briseis didn't want to drag him down, so she threw herself into acting, taking every job she could. After four years of relentless effort, she finally earned the title of Best Actress, and only then did the Vance family reluctantly acknowledge her.

On their wedding day, the whole internet was buzzing with blessings, wishing them a happily ever after.

Some even sighed that Aldric was one of the few truly devoted men among the elite.

Briseis believed it, too. She thought their marriage would always be sweet, right up to old age.

By their second year together, lipstick stains started showing up on Aldric's shirts.

The first time Briseis saw them, Briseis couldn't hold back her tears.

The always proud guy bowed in front of her, swearing it was just rival families trying to frame him, and promising he'd never mess up like that again.

Remembering all the memories they'd built together, Briseis decided to let it go.

But before long, Aldric started staying out all night.

Briseis would call him over and over, like she was losing her mind, demanding answers, even tailing him. When he finally came home, it always turned into another shouting match.

Aldric watched her vent, then calmly tried to talk her down. "Briseis, in this industry, nobody sticks to just one woman for life.

"You need to know that I only love you, and you'll always be Mrs. Vance. Isn't that enough?"

It wasn't just Aldric. Everyone around her kept saying the same thing. The other women were temporary distractions, and as long as she held onto her spot as Mrs. Vance, he'd always come back home. All she had to do was wait.

So she kept waiting, and waiting, until today, when Aldric asked for a fake divorce to please his latest fling.

The moment Briseis watched Aldric sign his name, it was as if the chains in her heart finally fell away.

She hadn't married Aldric for the Vance family's wealth or power.

It was simply because of the pure, genuine love between them.

But now, that love had become nothing but a pile of rot, reeking with decay.

Aldric could even use the marriage they once treasured as a tool to placate his latest fling.

If that was the case, there was really no reason to stay married anymore.

Coming back to herself, Briseis grabbed the divorce papers and her marriage certificate, then headed straight to the courthouse.

After the staff checked everything and confirmed it was all correct, they told her to come back in a month to pick up the divorce certificate.

As she stepped out of the courthouse, the sunlight bathed her in warmth, and for the first time in ages, Briseis felt truly free.

Then, she dialed a number she'd kept saved for years. "Alan, you invited me to shoot a movie in Yorkland, right? I'm in."