To pay for my mom's treatment, I accidentally became his kept woman.
Adrian James—the man whose name alone could make the Capital tremble—showered me with extreme indulgence.
He remembered all my preferences. Just because I once said, "I like snow," he created an entire room of icy winter scenery in the middle of summer.
I naively thought we at least had a clean arrangement.
Until his charity birthday banquet, when his fiancée made her grand finale entrance pushing a massive cart.
On it sat nineteen luxurious birdcages—pure gold, encrusted with gemstones.
Inside each cage stood a young girl.
And every single face was seventy to eighty percent identical to mine.
My legs nearly gave out. I fled to the restroom.
"Mr. James went too far this time. Keeping a mistress so openly—does he think the Simmons family is a pushover? But Miss Simmons hit back hard. That slap echoed through the whole room."
"Shh. True love? Please. She's just a toy."
"The James-Simmons marriage alliance is set in stone. Outside women—no matter how pampered—are just collectibles. Once he's bored, they all get discarded."
Only then did I realize I had "been made the other woman."
I stumbled out, but outside the second-floor lounge, I heard the crisp crack of a slap.
"Adrian James! Do you have to humiliate me like this? Finding all these women who look like me? What are you trying to remind me of? What happened back then…"
Through the door, I felt strangely calm.
I still believed he loved me. That pampering wasn't fake. He was only using stand-ins to resist this arranged marriage—I was the one he truly wanted.
But the next second, a tender, pained voice I'd never heard before spoke: "Did your hand hurt from hitting me?"
1.
All sound blurred into static.
I took a deep breath, steadying my weakening legs. I'd just turned to leave when a figure darted out from the side, slamming hard into my shoulder.
After the shock, I instinctively shielded my lower abdomen.
The server who hit me apologized repeatedly.
I waved it off, but my heart was pounding. The spot beneath my palm was still flat—a secret I'd only confirmed days ago. I hadn't told anyone yet. Not even Adrian.
"Sis-in-law?"
I looked up. Lily James, Adrian's younger sister, was hurrying over. "Are you okay? Why is your face so pale?"
"Lily, Adrian… he has a fiancée, right?"
Lily froze, then her expression shifted to worry.
"You found out? My brother and Victoria Simmons—it was arranged between the families ages ago. But don't worry. Victoria broke off the engagement for some random guy, even got plastic surgery for him. I heard she messed herself up so badly overseas she can't even have kids anymore."
"My brother almost died for her back then. Now that she's back, he doesn't have time to do anything but hate her…"
If I hadn't heard what happened in that lounge, I might have believed it.
But I knew my place now. Victoria showing up with that birdcage stunt—wasn't it just to remind me of my status?
I just didn't expect that in Adrian's eyes, I didn't even rank as a canary.
He kept me, spoiled me, made me feel special.
And the result?
I was only a tool Adrian used to provoke his fiancée. A pawn in their war.
He used me to twist the knife in her heart. The more she bled, the more satisfied he was.
From beginning to end, the only one who'd been made the other woman was me.
Disgusting.
"But sis-in-law, if you can have a child, wouldn't your position be secure? Put some effort into it!"
My heart turned to ice.
I had once imagined that if we had a child, it would be the proof of our love. Now it could only be used as a bargaining chip to secure my place.
