An angry and cold voice sounded behind her.

"Belland! How dare you treat the Lipton family's daughter like this? How dare you marry outside without permission? Such audacity!"

Belland turned around and looked at Charlotte. His face was cold and gloomy. "Let go! I'll explain this later!"

Charlotte's eyes narrowed. Initially, she had brought Eunice here, thinking that Belland had thought things through and would come round to the marriage. However, she had not expected Belland to give her such a big 'surprise'.

When Eunice cried and told her that Belland's wife had appeared at the cocktail party, Charlotte had become extremely furious.

"Let you go? So that you can find your wife, who will never be acknowledged by the Glatton Family? Come on, Belland, have you forgotten the mistakes your father committed back then? Have you forgotten the price he had to pay for this!"

"You will come back with me immediately, and give me an explanation! Unless, you want your wife to repeat the situation that your mother went through!"

At one side of the hall, Francis was holding a goblet in his hand. He watched the scene quietly and looked in the direction where Mary had left in.

--

For an entire week, Mary did not hear from Belland.

He had not hurried to comfort her that night, nor did he return home. For an entire week, he did not even call her.

It was as if the man had suddenly disappeared from Mary's world.

But there were still their cups on the sink, Belland's clothes in the closet, and Belland's watches in the drawers.

Every time she saw these, Mary felt her heart throb.

She had felt angry, wronged, and sad that she had been lied to, but what made her even sadder was Belland's disappearance.

She had also thought of countless possibilities, but none of them could explain why Belland would be so unwilling to call her if he still loved her.

Perhaps the only possibility was that the rich man had played the game enough, and was now bored.

For a whole week, Mary went to work during the day, but at night she curled up at the head of the bed, crying like a child until she passed out.

She had the same dream every night.

In the dream, Belland went home as usual, hugged her from behind, and kissed her hair.

But every day when she got up, there was only a cold, wet pillow beside her.

Loneliness, sadness, and despair overwhelmed her.

But she had to pull herself together because of the bank loan and the regular rent. The pressure that should have been shared between the two of them now fell on Mary alone.

That night.

When Mary fell into a deep sleep, a figure stepped into the dark room, skillfully lifted the quilt, and gently hugged the woman who was still sobbing faintly in her sleep from behind.

But this time, he froze.

The woman in his arms was naked.

The truth was, Francis still came back every night, but he came back very late every day. Mary, who was as soulless as a walking corpse, did not notice him at all.

Francis was clearly aware of Mary's state of mind. He had secretly settled the bank loan for her and paid the next month's rent, but nonetheless, there was no way he could not let Mary go back to her previous life.

One night, he heard crying sounds from Mary's room. When the crying stopped, he opened the door, finding Mary asleep, but with tears still in the corners of her eyes.

He had hugged her and kissed her hair, until she stopped trembling and fell asleep properly.

Since then, Francis would sneak into Mary's room every night and hold her till she fell asleep.