When Clara woke up in the hospital, it was the next morning.

The doctor frowned as he explained her condition. "Your previous wounds hadn't healed, and now you’ve been stabbed twice. If a passerby hadn't rushed you here, you would have bled out and died. Next time you're unwell, have your family look after you. Don't take risks alone."

A passerby?

Arthur had been right there. What was he doing?

Clara’s mind flashed back to the night at the bar. She shook her head at the doctor with a bitter smile. "I don't have a family anymore."

"Clara, I don't understand how you still have the nerve to cling to Arthur."

Mia was standing in the doorway at some point, arms crossed, her eyes full of triumph.

She looked perfectly fine as she walked gracefully into the room. "Yesterday, I just faked a little fainting spell, and Arthur completely ignored you to rush me to the hospital. If I were you, I would have divorced him long ago."

"Is this how you've stayed by his side all these years? By being so thick-skinned?"

"I really underestimated you, Clara. You’re quite hard to kill, aren't you?"

Every word from Mia was dripping with mockery and contempt.

She expected Clara to be provoked into a rage.

But she was wrong.

Clara was beyond feeling anything now.

Faced with the provocation, Clara only replied flatly, "If you're so dizzy, you should get more rest. If you're going to fake it, try to be more convincing. If he ever sees through you, your little dream will be over."

"You—!"

Before Mia could snap back, footsteps echoed in the hallway.

She moved quickly to the bedside and intentionally collapsed onto the floor. "Clara, I just wanted to check on you. You didn't have to push me. Did I do something wrong?"

Arthur and Leo arrived at the door just in time to hear her.

Arthur couldn't contain his rage for a second. He stormed in, tenderly lifting Mia up while glaring at Clara. "What are you doing? You go out and make enemies, and now you’re taking it out on Mia?"

Leo ran over and punched Clara directly in the stomach. "Bad person!"

He hit her exactly where her stab wounds were.

The muffled pain made her gasp, and blood began to soak through the sheets beneath the blanket.

Clara trembled violently, her hand shaking as she pressed the nurse's call button.

Arthur stared blankly at the scene, a flicker of regret crossing his mind.

The nurse rushed in to re-bandage her. After learning what happened, she glared at Arthur. "You're the father? Don't you know how to discipline your child? Punching a fresh wound like that—if she hemorrhages and dies, can you take responsibility for that?"

Arthur’s lips moved, but no words came out.

Mia played the peacemaker, smiling to diffuse the tension. "He’s just a child, he doesn't know his own strength."

Leo, sensing a shield, hid behind Mia.

The nurse narrowed her eyes, recognizing Mia. "You're that 'other woman,' aren't you? The one who insisted on every test only for us to find absolutely nothing wrong? There's a limit to faking it; don't take us for fools."

The nurse shouldn't have said it, but she simply couldn't stand it anymore.

Mia’s face paled instantly, and Arthur looked at her with a questioning gaze.

In her desperation, Mia blurted out, "Clara, even if you hate me, you shouldn't manipulate the medical staff into lying like this!"

She sniffled, looking piteously fragile.

Arthur immediately sided with her, looking at Clara with cold eyes. "You truly are a disappointment. Apologize to Mia."

Clara—a woman who had just been stabbed twice, who had returned from the brink of death, who nearly died because her husband refused to help her—was being told to apologize to a lying mistress who didn't have a scratch on her.

It was beyond absurd.

She pressed her lips thin and closed her eyes, her stance clear.

Arthur forced out a final threat: "If you don't apologize to her, don't expect me to ever visit you again."

With that, he turned and left.

He truly was a man of his word. For two whole weeks, Arthur never showed his face.

Mia sent her messages every day, showing off their "happy family of three."

Clara didn't even bother opening them; she simply saved them all into a single file.

On the day the divorce agreement finally took effect, Clara insisted on being discharged. She went home, packed the last of her things, and booked her ticket. She took all the saved videos and photos and scheduled a timed email to be sent later.

As she walked out the door, she placed the signed divorce papers in the most prominent spot in the house.

Goodbye, to this house that stifled her with pain.

Goodbye, to the father and son who had put her through hell.

May we never meet again.