Chapter 1

Eight years of love. He quit smoking and drinking for me.

He even sent his childhood best friend abroad, just to beg for my forgiveness.

I thought I was the exception in his life. Until that sudden multi-car pileup.

At the critical moment of life and death, he yanked the steering wheel hard, keeping the passenger seat where Olivia sat in the safest angle.

He shielded her with his own body, leaving me trapped in the back seat, crushed inside the mangled car.

At that moment, floating bullet comments appeared in the air, telling me that I was just a vicious villainess, while Olivia was the reborn female lead.

Watching him carry Olivia away without once looking back, I finally realized that our eight years of devotion was nothing but a joke.

I wiped the blood from my face, threw my engagement ring into the snow, and turned to marry the man who would always put his body on the line to protect me.

The mountain pass was freezing, the wind cutting like a knife.

The moment the multi-car pileup happened, an out-of-control heavy truck slammed straight into our SUV.

Nicholas, in the driver's seat, made his most instinctive choice in that split second.

He spun the steering wheel hard to the left.

The car tail-spinned violently, exposing the back seat—where I was sitting—directly to the oncoming truck.

Meanwhile, he unbuckled his seatbelt and threw himself over the passenger seat, using his broad back to shield Olivia.

"CRASH—"

The deafening roar shattered the silence of the snowy mountain.

The windows shattered instantly. Shards of glass rained down on me, stabbing deep into my arms and forehead.

The crushing weight came from all sides. I was pinned inside the mangled frame, the metallic taste of blood filling my throat.

It hurt. A gut-wrenching, agonizing pain.

But through the pain, my vision was terrifyingly clear.

I watched Nicholas kick open the warped door, carrying a completely unharmed Olivia in his arms as he stumbled out.

He didn't even look back at the back seat.

Not a single glance at his fiancée of eight years, whom he had just personally pushed to the brink of death.

"Olivia, don't be scared. It's okay, I'm here."

His voice trembled with a mix of relief and sheer panic.

He had never used that tone with me.

Right then, a faint blue glow flickered in the air.

Lines of glowing text materialized out of nowhere, floating right above Nicholas and Olivia's heads like ghosts.

【The reborn Olivia is brilliant!】

【She purposely damaged the brake pads to cause this accident, forcing Nicholas to choose in a life-or-death moment.】

【See? Nicholas's body is the most honest.】

【Subconsciously, he has always loved Olivia. Who does that toxic Catherine think she is?】

【Catherine always uses breakup threats to manipulate him. This time, he finally sees his true heart.】

【Next, Catherine will definitely throw a massive tantrum at the hospital, pushing Nicholas completely away and ruining her own reputation.】

I stared blankly at the floating screen. Blood trickled down from my forehead, dripping onto my eyelashes and blurring my vision.

Reborn? Vicious Catherine?

Ignoring the agonizing pain, I reached into my coat pocket and pulled out a neatly folded piece of paper.

It was the written promise Nicholas had signed on his knees in front of both our families just two weeks ago, begging for my forgiveness for the ninth time.

Bold black ink on white paper: "I, Nicholas Vance, swear to never see Olivia again. If I break this vow, I will gladly accept any consequences."

At the time, his eyes were bloodshot. He held me tight, saying he would cut off everyone else just for me.

He said, "Catherine, you are the only exception in my life."

And I believed him.

I thought the playboy had finally changed. I thought our eight years of history had finally paid off.

But now, this written promise was soaked in my own blood.

The glaring crimson felt like a vicious slap to my face.

The sirens of the rescue team echoed from a distance.

As the hydraulic rescue tools cut open the deformed door, the paramedics carefully lifted me onto a stretcher.

When they wheeled me past Nicholas, he was kneeling in the snow, wrapping his heavy winter coat tightly around Olivia.

Olivia huddled in his chest, shivering. Yet, her eyes secretly darted toward me, flashing a smug, victorious smile.

Nicholas finally noticed me.

He saw my blood-covered face. He saw me strapped to the stretcher.

A flash of panic crossed his eyes. He instinctively tried to stand up.

"Nicholas, my head hurts so much... Am I going to die..."

Olivia cried out right on cue, clutching his coat.

Nicholas froze instantly and squatted back down.

He looked up at me, his brow furrowed with a touch of impatience and self-righteousness:

"Catherine, it happened so fast. Olivia was in the front seat. I couldn't just watch her die."

"Your injuries aren't that bad. Be mature for once. Don't start throwing a tantrum now."

*Be mature. Don't throw a tantrum.*

I looked at him, then at the floating comments: 【Nicholas chose Olivia as expected!】 【Catherine got what she deserved!】

It was laughably absurd.

I didn't cry. I didn't scream. I just let go of my hand.

The blood-stained promise slipped from my fingers, swept up by the cold wind, and landed right under Nicholas’s boots, crushed into the muddy snow.

"Okay," I said, my hoarse voice sounding incredibly clear against the howling wind. "I won't throw a tantrum."

The stretcher was pushed into the ambulance.

The moment the doors slammed shut, I closed my eyes, completely cutting off my eight years of foolish devotion.