When my husband's first love's daughter was kidnapped, she banged her head against the floor until she bled in front of me. "Lily is just a child. If you want to kill someone or torture someone, come at me!" Eight months pregnant, I had no idea what she was talking about, but my husband's face darkened. "Have I spoiled you so much that you would actually do something like this?" My usually doting husband choked my neck viciously. As my consciousness blurred, I finally realized they believed I was the one who hired someone to kidnap Lily. Failing to receive the ransom in time, the kidnappers brutally killed her. The first love, holding Lily's broken body, nearly sought death herself. My husband, with bloodshot eyes, hired the top biologists and worked tirelessly for a month until he finally obtained a viable cloned cell from Lily. Unfortunately, the first love had suffered a difficult labor when she gave birth to Lily and had long lost the ability to have children. So, his gaze fell upon my pregnant belly. 1 I shook my head in terror, clutching my stomach as I backed away step by step. "Arthur, I sympathize with what happened to Mia, but I had nothing to do with Lily's kidnapping. You can't do this to me." "Chloe, Mia's husband died young. Lily was her only reason to live. Even if you were jealous, you shouldn't have touched her child." "This is what you owe Lily." Refusing to listen to my pleas, he forced an induced labor upon me. Our baby was already full-term. When he was taken out, he could still cry, but he was smothered to death right there. Before I could even catch a glimpse of the child nurtured in hope and love, I was tied back onto the operating table. Having just lost my baby, I was now being forced to incubate the flesh and blood of my enemy. I struggled madly on the table, fighting the heavy dose of anesthesia to stay awake. Due to my resistance, the surgery couldn't proceed. Seeing that Lily's hard-won cell was about to lose its viability, Arthur walked in carrying the lifeless body of our baby. Looking at my baby with his eyes tightly shut, looking as if he were merely sleeping, my heart ached so much I wept tears of blood. Arthur clamped his hand around our baby's neck. "If you don't cooperate and Lily's cell dies, causing the surgery to fail, don't even think about your child leaving here in one piece." "Arthur! He is your flesh and blood too!" I screamed hoarsely, but my body grew heavier and heavier. "You're a mother too. How could you be so cruel to Lily?" Arthur looked at me with deep sorrow and indignation. I didn't do it. But no one believed me. My body slowly lost the strength to fight the anesthesia. Amidst profound grief, I unwillingly closed my eyes. When I woke up again, my hands and feet were firmly strapped to the hospital bed. I looked down at my now-flat stomach, truly realizing that my baby was gone forever. And the warm bed that once held him was now nourishing the bloodline of his murderer. Having lost all will to live, I bit down hard on my tongue. Arthur pushed the door open. Seeing the pristine white sheets covered in the blood I had coughed up, he rushed over, pinching my cheeks to force my mouth open. I clamped my jaw shut, watching him chuckle darkly. With bloodshot eyes, he summoned all the doctors in the hospital. I thought he was worried about my health, but after the emergency treatment, he slapped me hard across the face. "I'm warning you, until Lily is safely born, don't even think about committing suicide to escape your punishment." He looked down at me from above. I stared at the canine tooth he had knocked onto the floor, my heart a barren wasteland. To prevent me from attempting suicide again, he ordered someone to put a bite guard on me. Chapter 2 I lost a small piece of my tongue and could no longer speak clearly, but it didn't matter. After all, no one would listen to what I had to say anyway. Once my tongue completely healed, I didn't have to eat a liquid diet anymore. Arthur personally brought over a bowl of nutritional soup. He sat down beside me in silence, gently removing the bite guard. I had no strength left to resist. Like a lifeless doll, I let him do as he pleased. He scooped up a spoonful of soup, blowing on it softly, just as gentle and careful as when I was first pregnant. "Chloe, making you carry Lily is your punishment. As long as Lily is born smoothly, Mia might not pursue charges against you." He rambled on, but I gave no response whatsoever. "Inducing our child was to teach you a lesson. Life is not a game. If you admit your mistake, I can have another one with you." I couldn't hold back anymore and turned my head to look at him. Before I could say anything, my gaze locked onto the contents of the bowl. It was my placenta. 2 I threw up violently. Arthur used a wet wipe to carefully clean the vomit from the corners of my mouth. The next second, he pinched my cheeks and forced the placenta down my throat. "Chloe, this is highly nutritious. It's very good for both you and Lily." I wanted to struggle, but my limbs and head were restrained. I could only let the boiled placenta slide down my esophagus. Seeing me swallow it all, Arthur let go. "Mia's mental state is still poor. I'm going to take her abroad to relax. Take good care of the pregnancy during this time. Don't cause any more trouble." "As long as you behave, I'll find a good burial spot for our baby. But if anything happens to Lily, don't even think about getting his complete ashes." "Wasn't he your child too?" I couldn't help but ask. Salty tears slid into the corners of my mouth, more bitter than my heart. His footsteps paused, but in the end, he didn't look back. "With a mother like you, even if he grew up, he would only be a menace." The door closed, and the last shred of feeling I had for Arthur extinguished with it. He was gone for exactly nine months. During these nine months, Lily gradually took shape in my belly, while I gradually stopped looking like a human being. She seemed to feel my hatred for her; my pregnancy symptoms were incredibly severe. Morning sickness plagued me throughout the entire pregnancy. I rapidly wasted away, yet my stomach protruded terrifyingly. Arthur video-called every day, not to see me, but to look at Lily through my belly. Mia even did prenatal education for Lily over the video call. To prevent me from harming Lily, my hands and feet were firmly restrained for nine months. The wounds from my struggles had long since healed over the shackles. Bedsores had almost rotted away my entire back, but no one cared, as long as Lily was healthy. In the month I was due, Arthur and Mia finally reluctantly returned from abroad. "Why are you so thin?" This was the first thing Arthur said to me after not seeing me for nine months. "If you're this thin, will Lily be malnourished?" Hearing that Lily was very healthy, Arthur nodded in satisfaction. "After Lily is born, I'll properly nurse you back to health." "Lily, Mommy finally gets to see you again. In this life, Mommy will never leave your side. I will never let you get hurt again." Chapter 3 Mia looked at my belly with maternal love in her eyes. "Arthur, could you leave me alone to talk to Lily for a bit?" Arthur immediately looked at me warily. After confirming that I, barely clinging to life, posed absolutely no threat to Mia, Arthur left the room, looking back anxiously with every step. Mia instantly dropped the gentle facade from her eyes. "I orchestrated Lily's kidnapping myself." 3 She looked at me with a smile, but there was no warmth in her expression. "Do you know why I did it?" Mia leaned in close, almost touching my nose. She carried the distinct woody scent from Arthur's clothes, a cologne I had personally chosen for him before I got pregnant with our baby. My eyes remained indifferent, giving her no reaction. "Five years ago, to tear Arthur and me apart, his mother hired someone to pose as my husband, forcefully taking me and sending me abroad. Arthur swore he would never marry anyone else. But when I finally escaped his mother's control abroad and rushed back to find him, I found out he had already married you a year ago." Mia's expression turned fierce. "I suffered so much abroad, but he never proactively contacted me. I thought his mother was controlling him, but who knew he had forgotten all about me!" "I clearly had Arthur first. What right did you have to steal him?!" "I thought you were the daughter of some prestigious family, a perfect match for Arthur. Turns out you're just an orphan whose background isn't even as good as mine!" The more Mia spoke, the more agitated she became, eventually slapping me across the face. The taste of blood filled my mouth. I spat the blood directly onto her face. As if she couldn't believe I would dare do such a thing, she wiped her face fiercely. Her expression, smeared with blood and grime, looked even more grotesque. "Just to make a scumbag change his mind, you would even sacrifice your own flesh and blood?" She froze. Then she started laughing. "What's the point of a cheap life living without even a legitimate status?" "Since she was useless, I might as well use her for a gamble." "I originally just wanted to use her to get rid of you and the bastard in your belly. Who knew Arthur cared about me so much that he'd use cloning technology to bring Lily back. Even I didn't expect him to go this far for us." "The 'scumbag' you're talking about has enough power to bring the dead back to life. Do you still think it wasn't worth gambling my own flesh and blood to win him back?" Her fingertips gently traced my belly. "If you had been a bit more cooperative, Arthur might have saved some of your baby's hair or fingernails. Too bad he rushed to burn it all to ashes~" At the mention of my baby, my emotions uncontrollably surged. I roared, trying to lunge forward and bite Mia. She stepped back with a smile, but a shriek of terror escaped her throat, completely contradicting her expression. "Mia!" Outside the door, Arthur's anxious footsteps grew closer. Mia unhesitatingly bit down on her own palm. My breathing grew rapid, my belly tightening in waves. Triggered by Mia, I went into premature labor. With a loud bang, Arthur kicked the door open and rushed in. Mia successfully managed to bite her right hand until it was bleeding profusely, putting on a tearful, pitiable expression. However, Arthur's tense expression only lingered on her injured hand for a second. Chapter 4 He strode purposefully toward me. 4 Without even looking down, I knew my water had broken. Arthur was anxious about Lily inside my belly. Even so, a venomous look flashed across Mia's face. What a terrifying woman, jealous even of her own daughter. Arthur assembled the top obstetricians in record time, but upon seeing the injury on Mia's hand, he commanded coldly: "C-section. No anesthesia. Make her watch the child be born smoothly while fully conscious." "I'm sorry, Ms. Hayes." Watching Arthur leave with his arm around Mia, the doctor put on his gloves and whispered sympathetically: "Don't blame me. I'll try to finish the surgery as quickly as possible so you suffer less." The moment the cold scalpel sliced into my abdomen, the pain shook my very soul. For the first time, I realized a person could be butchered like a piece of dead meat without a shred of dignity. I screamed until my throat bled, passing out several times. To keep me conscious, the doctor had to inject me with adrenaline. By the end of the pain, I had completely lost my mind, even forgetting I was human. Lily's cries felt like my pardon. The moment she was carried out of the operating room, the female doctor assisting rapidly injected me with a painkiller. "Ms. Hayes, it's all over. Get some good sleep." The moment I closed my eyes, the pain all over my body instantly vanished. I thought her painkiller had worked. My body gradually felt lighter. I relaxed, only to realize I was floating up uncontrollably. When I opened my eyes again and saw myself looking down from above at my mutilated body on the operating table, I realized I was already dead. If I weren't the only one left in the operating room, I wouldn't have believed the person on the table was me. Since losing my baby, I hadn't looked in a mirror. My once chubby cheeks were deeply sunken. My belly, which I had taken such good care of during my pregnancy with my baby that not a single stretch mark had appeared, now looked like blackened, shriveled fruit peel, covered in deep and shallow grooves. My limbs were emaciated. On my wrists and ankles were permanent scars from long-term restraints, where wounds had healed into the shackles only to be torn open again. I gazed at my broken self for a long time. The operating room door opened. The person who walked in was actually Arthur. Even in death, my soul trembled uncontrollably. What was he doing here? Did he think he hadn't punished me enough? If he found out I was dead, would he feel sad and heartbroken, or would he blame me for dying too soon, saying the punishment wasn't enough to atone for Lily? He brought in a basin and a kettle of boiling water. Did he think I was sleeping instead of breastfeeding Lily right after giving birth, and wanted to scald me awake? He poured in the boiling water, then added cold water, repeatedly checking the temperature with his hand. I was starting to get confused. Seeming satisfied with the temperature, Arthur took out a soft towel, soaked it in the basin, and wrung it out. He lifted one of my arms and began to carefully wipe it with the towel. Arthur was giving me a sponge bath. I laughed in disbelief. He tortured me to death over crimes forced upon me, and now he's putting on a show of tender affection? I couldn't wait to see the expression on his face when he realized I was already dead. To my surprise, the next second, my corpse opened its eyes. Chapter 5 5 Seeing "me" wake up, Arthur spoke. "Lily will need you to take care of her until she's weaned. To make it easier for Mia to see the baby, you'll live in the annex attached to her bedroom. As long as you behave, I'll gradually loosen the restrictions on you." With that, he gently stroked the wounds on my wrists and sighed. "I," naturally, didn't reply, merely staring at him blankly, eyes as clear as an innocent child's. "Once Lily is weaned, I'll compensate you with another child." "I" still showed no reaction. Seeing my continued silence, Arthur's face instantly darkened. He probably thought I was still throwing a tantrum. He ordered someone to bring Lily in, with Mia following closely behind. In front of everyone, Arthur shoved the crying Lily into my arms. To prevent me from hurting Lily, he once again locked my hands in the shackles. Starving, Lily latched onto me and began sucking greedily. "I" showed no expression or movement, my face a mask of numbness and emptiness. I understood my situation now. The agony of a C-section without anesthesia had exceeded my limits. My body's self-defense mechanism had triggered dissociation. My consciousness and emotions had left the body; what remained in front of Arthur was an empty shell driven only by biological instincts. I realized with sadness that he seemed to prefer this shell, unresponsive to external stimuli. Because Lily sucked too hard, my blood seeped from the corners of her mouth. "I" acted as if I couldn't feel the pain. Seeing the blood, Arthur grew anxious. He quickly snatched Lily away and examined her thoroughly inside and out. Only after confirming there were no wounds in Lily's mouth did he realize the blood was mine. Arthur looked grimly at the wound on my chest; Lily's toothless gums had actually bitten off a small piece of my flesh. Noticing Arthur's gaze, "I" stared blankly at him. In the moment our eyes met, a fawning smile actually crept onto "my" face. Interrupted from her feeding, Lily immediately began to wail impatiently. Mia scooped Lily up, cooing and patting her sympathetically. "Her temper hasn't changed a bit. When I raised her alone abroad, she was like this too. If she bit me on the left, I'd let her feed on the right. Often, the wound hadn't even healed before she sucked it open again..." Arthur frowned deeply. Mia attempted to guide Lily toward my other side. "It's going to be hard on Ms. Hayes for a while." "You know it hurts the mother, yet you still indulge her? Can't she just drink formula?" Arthur pushed Mia so hard she stumbled and nearly fell to the floor. A flash of disbelief crossed her face before she forced a smile: "Back abroad, I didn't have much money for formula. Even if it hurt, I just had to endure it. Now that Ms. Hayes's situation is different, Lily can certainly try formula. It's just that, as a cloned baby, her constitution is naturally weak. I worry that formula won't provide enough nutrition, and if something happens to her again..." "Let her try formula first. If it really doesn't work, I'll find a wet nurse." With that, Arthur ignored her. He took cotton swabs and iodine from the nurse, crouched down, and carefully treated my wound. Mia held Lily, biting her lower lip as she stood by, the resentment in her eyes practically spilling over. Unable to nurse, Lily cried her heart out in Mia's arms, but Mia turned a deaf ear. Chapter 6 6 "The child is crying her eyes out, can't you hear her? What are you standing there like an idiot for? Waiting for Chloe to make her a bottle? Who is the mother here anyway?" Startled by Arthur's scolding, Mia trembled and quickly carried Lily out of the room. For the next few days, Arthur practically lived at the hospital, guarding me day and night. If it weren't for the shocking wounds on my body, I would have thought we were back to the days before Mia returned. He ordered the family chef to make different nutritious meals for me every day, personally feeding me bite by bite. He also personally changed the dressings on my limbs and chest every day. Once they healed, he found the best plastic surgeons in the country to remove my scars. The bedsores on my back were so severe that the skin had completely rotted away; there was no better solution than a skin graft. But my rejection reaction to other people's skin was too severe; the worst episode almost killed me with a high fever. When the operating room light went out and he learned I was safe, Arthur pulled me into his arms, afraid to hold me too tightly, his eyes filled with the profound cherishing of regaining something lost. To make me better, after testing that I had no obvious rejection to his skin, Arthur resolutely donated skin from his own back and thighs to me. "From now on, we are truly one, Chloe." He held my hand tightly. I stared at him blankly, still not speaking. Arthur finally realized something was wrong with me. "Chloe, you haven't spoken to me for so many days. Have you still not forgiven me?" Arthur sat properly in front of me, our fingers intertwined. I was as quiet as a porcelain doll; only my eyes would blink. "No matter what, Lily is a life. You had her child kidnapped and even killed just because you were jealous of Mia. I only treated you that way to teach you a lesson." Seeing no response from me, Arthur grew anxious. "Now the punishment is over. I gave our baby a proper burial long ago. We're still young, we'll have many more children. Once you recover, I'll take you to Iceland to see the Northern Lights, and travel to all the places you've always wanted to go to relax, okay?" At the mention of our baby, the "me" in front of Arthur still showed no reaction. "Chloe, don't scare me. Say something." Arthur reached out a trembling hand to stroke my head. In the past, I would happily nuzzle my head into his palm. But now, even when his hand completely covered my head, I just sat there quietly. He pulled his hand back as if electrocuted. Due to inertia, I fell straight backward. With a smack, my still-healing back hit the headboard heavily, and the pristine white sheets instantly stained red. Yet, I didn't utter a single groan of pain, only staring blankly at the ceiling. Arthur, a man who would remain unfazed even if a mountain collapsed in front of him, showed an expression of pure terror. 7 To figure out what exactly had happened to me, Arthur hadn't left the hospital for a full month. The top neurologists and psychologists in the country were all brought in. After a series of evaluations and tests, the final results would take another three days. Arthur's physical and mental state had reached the breaking point. Under the doctors' half-advising, half-forcing suggestions, Arthur finally agreed to go back and get some proper rest so he would have the mental fortitude to face the results.
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