Chapter 1

My boyfriend, Viktor—non-marriage doctrine—suddenly proposed to me.

I thought he had finally come around.

Until the day of our wedding, when he casually tossed the marriage certificate into a drawer and said, as if it meant nothing:

“Go cancel your lawyer’s license tomorrow.”

“I’ve been transferred to a community court. I’ll be the chief judge.”

As a lawyer, if your spouse works in the court system due to conflict-of-interest regulations, everything I had built over the years—my cases, my network, my clients, even my chance at promotion—would be wiped out overnight.

I stared at him, my voice trembling.

“Why? You knew this…”

He leaned back on the couch, not even bothering to look at me.

“I did.”

“Then why did you marry me?”

Only then did Viktor look up. He smiled and gently wiped my tears away.

“I wasn’t planning to get married in the first place.”

“But you refused to step aside. You insisted on competing with Celina for that partner position.”

He paused, the smile on his lips deepening.

“She couldn’t beat you… so I had to help her.”

In that instant, my blood ran cold.

He looked at my pale face, his tone still gentle even considerate.

“Now that the goal’s been achieved, if you want a divorce, go ahead.”

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I stood there, stunned.

The wedding dress on my body, once so light, suddenly felt suffocating.

Viktor stubbed out his cigarette.

“I actually planned to keep this from you for the rest of your life.”

“But the day you had gastric bleeding… I was shopping with Celina.”

His voice was light, as if he were talking about something utterly trivial.

“When I went to the hospital later and saw how hard you were working, I suddenly felt sorry for Celina.”

I stared at him in disbelief, wondering if I had heard wrong.

“I was dying… and you felt sorry for her?”

He nodded.

“I felt sorry for her having to work so hard. She’s not as capable as you, and she can’t endure as much.”

“You could still crawl out of bed and review case files with a bleeding stomach. If she were in your position, it would be even harder for her.”

“I can’t bear to see her suffer like that.”

My nails dug deep into my palms.

I couldn’t understand.

We had been together for seven years.

He knew perfectly well that since childhood, Celina had treated me like a punching bag.

She stole my toys. Tore up my homework.

She even pushed me down the stairs on purpose and broke three of my ribs.

Back then, when he found out, he clenched his fists and warned her:

“If you touch her again, I won’t let you off.”

So that was what he meant by “not letting her off.”

Not to stand up for me—

but to wait until today, and personally hand over everything I had spent half my life building… to her.

I looked at him with red eyes, my voice shaking uncontrollably.

“So your sudden proposal… wasn’t because you wanted to marry me.”

“It was because once you transferred to the community court, as long as I became your wife, I’d have to withdraw from California cases and automatically lose my eligibility for partnership.”

“You planned this from the very beginning, didn’t you?”

Viktor didn’t deny it.

He simply reached out and adjusted my slightly messy veil, his movements as gentle as all the times he used to comfort me.

“Celina couldn’t beat you.”

“So I had to give her a hand.”

My heart felt like it was being crushed in a giant grip. Just as I was about to suffocate—

his phone rang.

It was Celina.

He didn’t answer. Instead, he looked at me calmly.

“Have you made your choice? You know your sister’s temper. If she starts making a scene later, I won’t be able to calm her down.”

I suddenly raised my hand and slapped him, screaming in breakdown.

He didn’t dodge.

Blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.

“Viktor, get the hell out!”

Facing my uncontrollable tears, Viktor clicked his tongue in annoyance.

“Fine. See you at the civil affairs office tomorrow.”

“Anyway, you can’t practice law in California anymore. I’ll compensate you. I won’t let this be for nothing.”

The moment the door slammed shut, I collapsed to the ground, unable to stand any longer.

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