Another two weeks had passed. A few days earlier, I had gone out to do some personal shopping...with bodyguards trailing behind me, as always. Luckily, they didn't follow me inside the mall, and I managed to slip into a pharmacy to buy a pregnancy kit.
It turned out that I was pregnant.
I had been wanting to share the news with Vincent, but I hadn't seen or heard from him since the last time I tried to talk to him.
Loneliness was killing me in this house. The only people I could talk to were Vivian or the characters in the books I read. My freedom had been limited even more since the moment we tied the knot.
I had thought that he would sense the pregnancy through the soul bond. He had marked me, after all. But after researching on my own, I learned that it was almost impossible—especially between two people who didn't love each other. Without love, the bond weakened, slowly dying until it became nothing more than a mark on the skin. Maybe that was why he hadn't sensed anything. Maybe that was why he had been so willing to mark me in the first place because he knew that with time, our bond would weaken.
I spent hours pacing circles around my room, debating whether to call him or send a message. He had to know. I was about four weeks pregnant, and my husband didn't know a thing about it. Vivian had adviced me that I should tell him, and deep down, I knew she was right.
After another lonely dinner, I waited for him in the living room for hours, fighting sleep until it finally claimed me. I only woke when I heard the front door click open. He stepped inside and headed straight for the cellar without a single word to me. I listened to the sound of glass, the pour of liquor.
"Vincent?" I called.
He glanced at me, before returning his attention to the drink in his hand.
"I… have something to tell you," I began, but he was already focused on his phone.
I closed my eyes, gathering myself, but something in me snapped.
It had already been almost a month since we got married, yet we lived like complete strangers. It was devastating to be tied to someone who didn't care whether I existed or not. So the question slipped out before I could soften it.
"Why did you marry me?!"
Why had he gone to my parents and asked for my hand in marriage? Why had he chosen me, knowing he didn't even like me?
"Because I felt like it," he answered flatly.
My heart sank so painfully it almost knocked the breath out of me. This was the man who was going to be the father of my child.
"So you didn't want to start a family?" I asked quietly, desperately hoping for at least a flicker of warmth.
He huffed at my question before downing his drink in one swallow.
"I don't need a family," he said in a dismissive tone.
Subconsciously, my hand drifted toward my stomach, brushing over the place where a tiny life grew… a life he had already rejected without knowing it. I drew my hand back before he could notice.
I stared at him for a long moment, searching for anything... irritation, remorse, something. But nothing changed. He seemed completely unbothered by my presence, by my words, by the life we were supposed to be building together. His attention slipped back to his phone as though I was a ghost passing through the room.
This was not the life I wanted for myself.
Not at all.
"We should separate then," I said, my voice trembling despite my effort to steady it. "If possible, let's just call upon Mother Lunar and break this bond. I don't see the point of living together when we don't even love each other!"
My chest tightened painfully. The way he didn't didn't care made me want to scream. It was like talking to a wall.
And just like that, without giving me a single response, he turned and began walking toward the stairs.
"Have a good night, Ella," he said casually, as if we had just finished an ordinary conversation… as if he hadn't just shattered me with every word.
I stood frozen, angry and stunned and too heartbroken to speak. I didn't answer him. I couldn't.
I watched him climb the stairs and disappear into the darkness of the hallway.
Only then did I turn away, and a tear slipped from the corner of my eye before I quickly wiped it away with the palm of my hand.
********
I went back to my room after standing there for several minutes, numb and shaken. But even when I finally lay down, sleep refused to come. My mind spun endlessly, circling the same painful truth...if I stayed here, if I stayed with him, I would lose myself piece by piece.
All I could think about was how to get out of here.
I didn't know how yet, but I would find a way. I would leave this house… leave him, too. I had agreed to my parents' conditions, but I refused to let a stranger destroy the rest of my life.
I deserved better.
My child deserved better.
Tomorrow, I would call Vivian. I would tell her to pick me up. I didn't care what the consequences were anymore. I was done waiting, done hoping, done trying to survive in this torment of a marriage.
I needed an out.
And I was finally ready to take it.