Chapter 1

My parents only ever cared about my younger brother. When I was fifteen, my mother forced me to drop out of school and work to support him.

It was Julian Vance who saved me. He paid for my education and got me back into the classroom.

When I was diagnosed with a severe illness at eighteen, Julian spent a fortune to secure the best treatment for me.

You could say that my life belonged to him.

Years later, Julian went blind in a horrific car accident. His first love, Vivian Sinclair, booked an overnight flight out of the country, leaving me with a single text message:

[Nora, I can't bear seeing Julian like this. Please take care of him for me.]

I didn't need her permission. I was going to care for him anyway.

During the five years I nursed him, Julian and I signed our marriage papers and became husband and wife.

He whispered that he loved me.

Until the day his vision was restored—and Vivian came back.

Everyone in high society whispered that they were star-crossed lovers finally reunited.

I bit my trembling lip and said, "Vivian abandoned you when you were at your lowest. I was the one who stood by your side for five years."

Julian’s face was stone cold. "I know."

"So what?"

I froze on the spot, unable to utter a single word.

He was right. So what?

I had paid back my debt of gratitude. And now, it was simply time for me to walk away.

Julian added calmly, "Vivian just landed, and her health is fragile."

"Nora, go clean up the guest room at the estate. She’ll be staying with us."

I stared at him, dazed. "Our house?"

His brow furrowed. "She doesn't have the strength to waste away in some sterile hotel."

A bitter smile touched my lips, but the burning in my eyes was unbearable.

Vivian stood right beside him, delicately tugging at his designer sleeve. "Julian, please don't fight with Nora over me."

"She took care of you for so many years. It’s only natural that she feels upset."

Julian didn't even glance at her. His gaze remained locked on me, his voice sharp and unforgiving.

"She has no right to be upset."

The private ward went completely dead.

A bone-chilling cold washed over me, numbing even the searing agony inside my stomach.

After a long silence, I nodded softly. "Understood. I’ll prepare the room."

With that, I turned around and walked out.

Behind me, Vivian’s frail, breathy voice drifted down the hall.

"Did I upset Nora?"

Julian replied without a beat of hesitation.

"She knows her place."

I pressed a hand against the cold corridor wall, finally doubling over as a sickening spasm hit my gut.

A mouthful of blood surged into my throat. I forced it back down, tasting iron and defeat.

Julian had no idea. I wasn't being "sensible."

I just remembered fifteen years old so clearly. I was at the top of my class, yet my parents locked me in a dark bedroom with one meager meal a day, trying to beat me into submission so I would give up school to feed my brother.

Julian had been visiting our district for a corporate charity program back then. Hearing that a top student had suddenly vanished, he followed my teacher to our rundown house.

When his bodyguards kicked open the door, I was starved down to skin and bones, curled on the filthy floor.

My breath had been fading, yet I kept whispering over and over: "I want to go to school... please, let me learn."

Julian took pity on me. He threw a check at my parents, demanding they let me finish college.

My parents took the money and obeyed.

At eighteen, I was diagnosed with early-stage stomach cancer.

I thought my world had ended.

It was Julian who sat beside my hospital bed, his warm hand holding mine: "Nora, as long as I’m here, your world will never collapse."

He hired top oncologists. He covered every penny.

Back then, Julian Vance was my savior, my light, my whole reason for breathing.

So when he lost his sight, when Vivian ran away, when everyone said he was broken beyond repair—I never left.

Because he had given me my life.

I had to pay him back.

And now that every ounce of that debt was cleared, it was time for me to go.

By the time I finished preparing the guest room at the Vance estate, it was already two in the afternoon.

Julian returned with Vivian on his arm.

His eyes still couldn't take harsh light, so the maid drew the heavy velvet drapes halfway.

Yet throughout the walk inside, he kept his head turned entirely toward Vivian, checking if her step was steady, adjusting the cashmere shawl draped over her shoulders.

I stood by the foyer like an obedient, invisible housekeeper awaiting orders.

Vivian spotted me and offered a faint, pitiful smile. "Nora, I’m so sorry to put you out like this."

Before I could answer, Julian cut in, "It’s fine. She has nothing else to do at home anyway."

I kept my eyes glued to the floor.

For five long years, I woke up at four in the morning to prepare his herbal supplements, guided him through physical therapy at six, read aloud heavy corporate financial filings through the day, and massaged his stiff neck and shoulders late into the night.

When his ocular pressure spiked, I stayed awake all night watching over him.

When he broke down in blind rages, smashing glasses and mirrors, I held him tightly despite the sharp shards slicing open my arms, terrified he would step on the broken glass...

In Julian’s eyes, all of that was just my duty.

The housekeeper carried Vivian’s luggage upstairs.

Vivian stopped right outside the master bedroom—the room Julian and I had shared for years. She sighed softly, "This room hasn't changed at all, has it?"

Julian followed her gaze. "Do you like it?"

Vivian lowered her gaze with a bashful smile. "It’s not about liking it. It’s just... you once told me that when you got married, the master suite would only be reserved for the woman you loved most in this world."

Julian turned to look at me.

"Nora, move your things out. Give the master suite to Vivian."