Back then, everyone around us said we wouldn’t make it.
They were sure a small-town girl like me could never match someone like Raiden. But Raiden didn’t care at all, and he just wanted to be with me.
He pushed through all the pressure and proposed, blocking out every bit of malice directed at us.
With him shielding me, my once rough and poor life suddenly turned easy.
Flowers, jewelry, guaranteed grad school, and study abroad. Every opportunity leaned in my favor.
Everything I wished for came without asking.
I was just a teenage girl, simple and full of dreams.
Under Raiden’s relentless pursuit, I fell for him fast.
I gave up everything ahead of me and stepped straight into marriage.
Dating, marriage, pregnancy, childbirth, everything flowed naturally.
For me at that time, life felt almost effortless. Everything I wanted seemed close enough to touch.
I was lost in the sweetness of love, never realizing that fate had already written the cost behind it.
When Castor was born, the Curtis family’s matriarch, Jasmine, someone I had never even met, walked into the hospital room and took my baby away.
She wore a polite smile that looked refined, but her voice was cold and full of arrogance.
“Castor is the heir of the Curtis family, with a noble standing.”
“With your background and experience, you don’t deserve to raise this child.”
The baby I carried for ten long months and delivered through endless pain, I wasn’t even allowed to hold him once.
I couldn’t see him unless they gave me permission first.
I begged Raiden not to be so heartless, not to take my child away from me, but he just stared at me with an odd look.
“My mother’s right. You really are just a small-town girl.”
“She told me I could play around all I want, but when it comes to the baby, she’s the only one who decides.”
I cried until I could barely breathe. Yet Raiden ignored me, pulled me into his arms, and kissed me.
He smiled lightly. “Alright, don’t cry.”
“If you love kids that much, we can always have another one.”
I wasn’t able to push him away, but when his eyes caught the stretch marks all over my skin, Raiden stopped on his own.
Suddenly, hesitation and disgust flashed across his face.
After staying quiet, he only said softly, “You’ve been tired all day. Go to bed early.”
That coldness from Raiden felt like a splash of cold water, pulling me out of a dream I’d been lost in for too long.
I thought about Jennifer’s disapproval, the laughter, and gossip from those around me.
That’s when it hit me, this so-called love story had only ever been a rich man’s passing fancy from the start.
Life had once handed me luck, but now it was here to make me pay it back.
That child was only the start.
During my recovery after childbirth, I fell into deep depression.
I called Raiden, but he never picked up. I sent him messages, yet there was no answer.
I started to worry that something might have happened to him, but the next morning, news of his affair reached me.
Photos of him lying in bed with a young actress spread online overnight.
People started guessing when this Cinderella who married into wealth would finally be thrown out.
The gossip and laughter from strangers completely broke the last bit of hope I had.
I couldn’t accept it.
My condition worsened. I had the most violent fight ever with Raiden.
In a moment of complete collapse, I grabbed a knife and hurt myself.
