Chapter 4

Upon seeing me, Mrs. Winters slammed down her teacup with a bang, her voice sharp and bitter.

"Serenity, come here right now and kneel before the old lady's memorial tablet!"

My steps faltered as I was heading upstairs. I've always felt guilty towards Madam Winters.

Turning around, I walked towards Madam Winters' memorial tablet.

Mrs. Winters was so angry she didn't even give me a cushion. The cold, hard floor made my knees ache as I knelt.

I hadn't fully recovered yet, and when the ruler struck my back, it caused a dragging pain in my lower abdomen as well.

"Hmph, how many times has this happened now? Even if I raised a female dog, it would have given birth to several litters by now! And you? You're not even as good as a bitch!"

"You'd be better off not getting pregnant at all, at least then we'd have some peace!"

"Look at the state of you! How can you face the old lady's fondness for you? If she were still alive and saw that you couldn't even hatch an egg in five years, she'd have made you divorce Xavion long ago! But here you are, thick-skinned as ever, still shamelessly staying in the Winters family, occupying Mrs. Winters' position!"Various insults and verbal lashings hammered at me, the underlying message clear: I'd better gain some self-awareness and get out of the Winters family fast.

I looked up at the mastermind behind my repeated miscarriages.

My first pregnancy came a month after our wedding. Xavion's month-long brutal behavior left me with severe tearing down there, forcing me to stay in the hospital for observation.

When I found out I was pregnant, I was overjoyed. I thought the arrival of this child might ease the tension between Xavion and me to some degree.

But I was wrong. Xavion just looked at me with a smile, his laughter chilling me to the bone.

He spoke.

"You're so lowly. How dare you think you're worthy of bearing my child?"

Xavion forcefully shoved the bitter abortion pills into my mouth. The drug worked quickly. In less than half an hour, I was writhing in excruciating pain, losing my first child.

The second pregnancy happened when Xavion had just hooked up with mistress number fifty-two. When she said she wanted to see me drink, Xavion ordered ten bottles of Armand de Brignac in the private room.

I refused to drink, so Xavion personally forced it down my throat.

After two bottles, I started bleeding.

During my third pregnancy, I was late in delivering sex toys to Xavion and his sixty-seventh mistress. Mrs.Winters was forced to kneel at the entrance of the mansion for a day and a night.

That evening, Xavion, seeking a thrill, passionately made love to his sixty-seventh mistress right in front of me.

After kneeling for a day and enduring such heartache, I lost my third child.

That pregnancy had two heartbeats.

Due to extreme distress, my heart stopped beating, and I was rushed to the ER, barely surviving.

Until the theater incident, this was the longest I had ever carried a child. I truly believed this one would make it, considering I was already eight months along.

Unfortunately...

Xavion just sat there the entire time, completely detached, as if all the children I had lost had nothing to do with him.

Vivienne, by his side, looked down at me, her eyes filled with smugness and mockery.

Mrs. Winters, exhausted from scolding, tossed aside the ruler and leaned back on the sofa with a sigh, clutching her head.

"I should never have agreed to your marriage under the old lady's pressure! Now look what's happened - we've brought home a debt collector, a jinx! What are we supposed to do now?"

I smiled bitterly, bowing my head three times to Madam Winters' memorial tablet.In the Winters family, I've already experienced heartbreak far too many times; Madam Winters' death, Xavion's infidelity, losing five children in five years...

"If that's the case, then I'll leave it to your decision, Madam. I'll divorce Xavion, and this way, the Winters family can be rid of me once and for all."