The taste of blood filled her throat as Leila coughed, a wracking, tearing sound. Her trembling hand, fingertips still stained crimson, reached out to gently touch his cheek. "Landon," she whispered, her voice raw, "you knew, I could only forgive you seventeen times." Seventeen acts of forgiveness, seventeen plunges into bone-deep despair. And still, he had chosen Aurora. Their marriage was nothing more than an obligation, a dying wish from his grandfather. For three years, she had been a prisoner in a gilded cage, a "soulless object for amusement" as he often called her. On their wedding night, he had leaned close, his breath warm against her ear, to whisper the cruelest vow: "Don't love me. Just obey, and you shall forever enjoy the glory of Kensington." Just days later, Aurora began her brazen provocations. The explicit messages, too vile to read, appeared brazenly on Landon's own phone. "Did you see that?" His brow furrowed with undisguised irritation when he found her holding his phone. He simply told her to reply for him, then turned and walked into the bedroom, leaving her heart, riddled with a thousand holes, to bleed silently in the dark. The next day, Aurora, strutting like a peacock, blocked her path and sneered, "Little mute." Her friend Rose stepped forward, fiercely defending her, yelling at Aurora, "Shameless homewrecker!" Aurora's face contorted, and she lunged forward, completely abandoning her composure. "Leila! What are you doing here?! Didn't I tell you to go home?!" The cold voice wasn't directed at Aurora; it was for her. Landon helped the feigning-injured Aurora to her feet, his eyes utterly devoid of warmth. "This little mute wants a divorce!" Aurora declared triumphantly. He didn't even spare her a glance. He opened the car door for Aurora to get in. Before closing it, his voice was as low and cutting as ice shards: "You, find your own way home." This was the twelfth time he had utterly abandoned her. In the pouring rain, Leila collapsed to her knees before the tightly shut front door of their home, the rainwater mingling with her tears as they streamed down her face. "Landon," she sobbed, "why... why are you so cruel..." He controlled her, ignored her, played with her—did he really think his mute wife would never leave? 🤐 It wasn’t until she filed for divorce that he realized: the silent ones are the deadliest. 💥💔