Chapter 1

The final piece of Jared's grand masterpiece was missing one rare pigment.

As a pigment artisan, my wife, Cecilia, ignored her pregnancy and insisted on trekking deep into the mountains to find raw azurite.

Jared finished his painting, but Cecilia lost our baby.

In the hospital room, she snapped at me when I questioned her reckless behavior.

"It was just an early-stage embryo! Once I recover, we can always have another!"

She assumed I would continue to indulge her selfishness as I always had.

This time, I looked at her with cold eyes.

"There won't be a next time," I said. "We're done."

1

The moment the words left my mouth, Cecilia grabbed the glass on the nightstand and hurled it at me.

It shattered against my chest, splashing milk all over my clothes while broken glass scattered across the floor.

Tears welled in her eyes as she glared at me. "Garrett, what is wrong with you?"

"I just lost our baby, and you're kicking me while I'm down! Do you even have a heart?"

Do I have a heart?

My fingers turned white as I clutched the medical discharge papers.

I stared at Cecilia, lying pale and frail in her thin hospital gown.

In the past, my heart would have ached for her pain, and I would have done anything to soothe her.

We had tried for five long years of marriage to conceive this child.

When she insisted on accompanying Jared into the remote backcountry, I vehemently objected.

Hiking into rugged terrain was far too dangerous for a pregnant woman, but she refused to listen.

"Whatever Jared needs, I will find it myself," she had declared.

"Besides, the doctor said the pregnancy was stable. A hike won't hurt anything."

I offered to go with her, but she flatly turned me down.

In the end, her quest for Jared's rare minerals cost us our unborn child.

Cecilia did not notice the hollow despair in my eyes and kept rambling on.

"Garrett, we only lost an unformed embryo."

"If Jared didn't get that pigment, his masterpiece would have been ruined."

"He would have missed his golden opportunity to break into the international art world."

Listening to her, I forced down the suffocating fury in my chest.

To her, our child was less important than her lover's painting.

She brushed it off so casually while my heart sank into an abyss.

Seeing my grim expression, her tone softened slightly.

"Alright, stop throwing a tantrum. It's not like I wanted this to happen either."

"The doctor said I need bed rest. Go home and make me some chicken noodle soup!"

Impatience returned to her face as she waved her hand to shoo me away.

I wanted to confront her more, but looking at her pale face, I held my tongue.

I had loved Cecilia for eight years, and part of me still grieved for her loss.

Without another word, I cleaned up the shattered glass and walked out into the corridor.

Just outside the door, the attending physician approached me. "Are you Cecilia Mercer's family?"

I gave a numb nod. "I'm her husband."

The doctor frowned and gave me an irritated look while flipping through her chart.

"How could you be so reckless? Don't you know intimacy is strictly forbidden during the first trimester?"

I froze instantly, repeating his words in disbelief. "Intimacy during pregnancy?"

The doctor didn't notice my blood run cold and kept lecturing me.

"Yes! I've seen far too many careless husbands like you over the years."

"The pregnancy couldn't be saved, but you're lucky she didn't suffer massive internal bleeding."

A loud ringing filled my ears. Cecilia's loss was no mountain hiking accident.

She had always been physically distant with me, and we had slept in separate bedrooms ever since she conceived.

I couldn't hear whatever else the doctor was saying.

I turned to look through the glass window into the hospital room.

Inside, Cecilia and Jared were laughing, playfully feeding each other bites of fresh fruit.

All the years of her cold indifference and mocking smiles rushed through my mind.

An overwhelming exhaustion washed over me as I stumbled toward the hospital exit.