Chapter 2

I survived in the corporation building until I turned twenty-two, with only three more years until I could be released as a free person.

But after the company's annual gala that year, the Chairman's personal letter arranged for me to become Ethan's wife.

They said that when I was pouring wine at the gala, Ethan caught a glimpse of me and fell in love at first sight.

He desperately pleaded with the Chairman to grant me to him in marriage.

Ethan — famous from a young age, rising from a security guard to Vice President of the corporation through his achievements.

The man of so many wealthy young ladies' dreams.

Yet he fell for me, an utterly ordinary janitor with no power or influence.

What an honor.

In the joyous wedding, all my emotions were buried.

I was sent from the square corporation building to a square villa.

When Ethan lifted my veil, he seemed dazed for a moment.

I looked at him, my heart not entirely without hope.

We drank champagne together at the wedding banquet. The room was lit with scented candles.

He blindfolded me with a silk ribbon.

Through the pain, I thought — this would be my life.

If he was sincere with me, then so be it.

Dazed and confused, I spent my wedding night.

The next day, Ethan got up and looked at me with interest.

"Like a pear blossom in rain, a beauty clutching her heart — from now on, you'll be called Elara."

No discussion, no notice.

He brazenly changed my name.

I looked up at him then, refusing stubbornly.

"I'm not Elara. My name is Savannah."

But he seemed not to hear, getting up and leaving on his own.

I thought the matter would pass, but when I finished washing up, I found the room locked.

I was confined for two days and one night. No matter what I said or did, only one voice came from outside the door.

"Is Mrs. Elara requesting to go out?"

At first, I could repeat with dignity.

"I'm Savannah."

But when I was dying of thirst and retching from hunger, I learned that the wise submit to circumstances.

When they asked again outside the door, I clenched my fists.

"Yes, I am. Elara."

The door creaked open. Ethan came in holding a bowl of thin broth, gripping my chin and forcing it down my throat.

I struggled to swallow. What I couldn't swallow in time dripped down my chin into my collar, sticky and disgusting.

Ethan stroked my hair, smiling with satisfaction.

"Honey, how much better if you'd been this obedient from the start."

Back then I thought I'd simply encountered a pervert who loved to torment people.

But later, I discovered that Ethan wanted to remake me into someone else.

Someone he couldn't clearly remember.

That woman had saved him in his moment of crisis and left before he woke.

He only remembered her retreating figure and the coral earrings swaying gently.

So that nameless woman became the most perfect woman in his heart.

And my silhouette at the annual gala was eighty percent similar to hers.

But I found it absurd.

I told Ethan seriously.

"I'm not her. The person in your heart isn't her either. You only met her once. You don't understand her at all. You love only the person you've imagined."

Ethan looked at me, his eyes blood-red.

He grabbed my wrist viciously and despite my resistance, stripped off my outer clothes.

He had the maid push me, wearing only underwear, to crouch in the courtyard.

He made all the servants come watch me in my wretched state.

That day it snowed heavily. The snow-covered ground was freezing.

The snow under my knees melted, then froze into ice.

The winter sun was blinding but offered no warmth.

Ethan wore a mink coat, holding a hand warmer.

"What did you just say?"

I bit my lip hard. Ethan smiled contemptuously, extending a warm hand to slap my freezing face.

"You're just a janitor whose fate is worth less than paper. What right do you have to mention her? Being even slightly like her is your good fortune."

Seeing I still wouldn't speak, his hand moved from my cheek to my neck, then lingered at my collar.

His finger lightly hooked the neckline of my underwear.

"Admit you're wrong, or I'll strip you naked and let you freeze to death. Choose one."

The cold engulfed me.

I trembled, my bitten lip bleeding, my spine breaking as I became mud in the snow.

"I was wrong."

Who told me to be born humble? Who told me I was powerless?

Falling to this state — I was wrong.