Chapter 1The Price of Your Redemption

My childhood sweetheart fell hopelessly in love with a street thug.

I did everything in my power to pull her out of that burning pit, and with both our families playing matchmaker, we naturally tied the knot.

Yet on our wedding night, I discovered she was already pregnant with that thug's baby.

Because I loved her, I swallowed the bitter pill and kept her secret.

Only after the child was born did she hand me a cup of poison, sending me to my grave. That was when I realized she had despised me for an entire decade.

She said, "You aren't worthy of raising his child. If you hadn't torn us apart, my baby would have had a father."

Given a second chance at life, I will let you have exactly what you wished for.

I curled up on the bed, my face deathly pale, shaking violently as agonizing pain ripped through my insides like jagged blades.

My eyes remained wide open, staring straight at Clara, utterly horrified and in disbelief.

"Why...?" I rasped, blood welling up and spilling past my lips.

Clara looked down at me coldly, a sinister, venomous smirk twisting her lips.

"Leo, you actually have the nerve to ask me why?"

"Just for your own selfish desires, just so you could force me to be with you, you schemed and plotted to tear me and Marcus apart."

"Ten years. Do you have any idea how I suffered through these past ten years?"

"If you hadn't driven Marcus away from me, if I had been by his side, there's no way in hell he would've ended up in prison for manslaughter!"

Hopelessness washed over me, and I closed my eyes as my heart turned to ash.

So that was it. I had wondered why she had suddenly agreed to marry me. She was offering me up as a sacrificial lamb for her dead romance.

Clara and I had known each other for thirty years. Growing up, I had pampered and cared for her down to the smallest detail.

I admit I carried a torch for her for years, but I never once used underhanded tricks to claim her.

Yes, I tore her and Marcus apart—but Marcus was absolute human trash!

Brawling, theft, muggings, sexually harassing girls... the guy was a complete menace to society.

And Clara knew every bit of it.

Yet blinded by love, she stubbornly convinced herself that he would change, clinging to the delusion that Marcus genuinely loved her.

After trying and failing countless times to talk sense into her, I had no choice but to break the news to her parents.

Her mom and dad were furious, stepping in with an iron fist to tear them apart.

Back then, Clara gave me the silent treatment for five whole years.

Five years later, Marcus beat his own wife to death in a drunken brawl and was convicted of manslaughter.

That was when Clara came looking for me. She told me she didn't blame me anymore; she said that if it hadn't been for me, the dead wife might have been her.

Only after we tied the knot did I discover she was already pregnant with Marcus's child.

Because I loved her, I saw no other way out. I was willing to be the sucker who took the fall, keeping that dark secret buried from the entire world.

I was naive enough to believe she had finally come to her senses. As long as she was willing to build an honest life with me, I was prepared to bury the past.

Little did I know, from the very second she reached out, she was hell-bent on taking revenge.

She viewed herself as Marcus's savior. She believed that if she had been Marcus's wife, if he had only had her by his side, he never would have walked down that path.

My vision gradually faded to black, and the agonizing pain slowly slipped away.

The world spun violently around me. When I opened my eyes again, I was sitting on the living room sofa in Clara's house.

"Leo, sweetie, you called your uncle and me back home in such a rush. Is something wrong?"

I blinked, looking around. I was in Clara's living room.

Memories flooded back. This was... the exact day I blew the whistle on her relationship.

"Leo? Leo? What's gotten into you today, honey?"

Clara's mother exchanged a worried, puzzled glance with her husband.

"Oh, Uncle, Auntie... I asked you to rush back because I wanted to invite you both over to our house for dinner tomorrow."

Thinking on my feet, I grabbed the first excuse that came to mind.

They both let out a soft laugh, sighing in relief.

"Oh, you silly boy! A quick call would have been enough for something like that! You sounded so panicked, I thought the sky was falling. You scared me half to death!"

"I'm sorry, Auntie. I didn't mean to worry you."

Watching them walk out the door, I couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

Clara's parents were lifelong friends of mine; our families were as close as kin.

They had always treated me like their own son.

But I'm sorry, I thought. This time around, I won't stick my nose into your daughter's mess.