Chapter 1
I became deaf to save Ethan, but he proposed to my sister Violet at our wedding.
“Violet and I are truly in love, please help us.”
My parents immediately congratulated them on their wedding.
All the guests were laughing at me, only Ethan’s uncle Archer stood
- up.
He said he had loved me for ten years and asked me to marry him.
I thought Archer really loved me until five years later when I regained my hearing and ran into his brother who laughed and teased him:
“If Felicity knew that you married her just because you were afraid- that she would pester Ethan and destroy Violet’s happiness, she would be so sad.”
“You forgot that Felicity is deaf and can’t hear us talking.”
It turned out that the love and protection for five years were all lies made up for the happiness of another woman.
Since you don’t love me, I will leave forever.
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Being informed by the doctor that my ear had fully healed, I rushed home immediately, eager to share this news with Archer.
My heart raced at the thought of soon being able to hear my lover’s voice again.
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But just as I reached the doorway, I heard a deep, affectionate male voice coming from inside:
“When I’ve written ten thousand love letters to Violet, I’ll give her the Harrington Group. That way, she’ll be financially secure for the
rest of her life.”
Looking up, I saw Archer sitting face–to–face with his good friend Swallow on the sofa. Swallow’s mouth hadn’t moved, so it could only have been Archer speaking.
Then, with a worried expression, Swallow asked:
“If you give away Harrington, you’ll become just an ordinary person. What about your wife? She’s still a Winters heiress, after all. Are you going to make her live a hard life with you?”
Archer dismissed this concern, his face full of tenderness as he
said:
“Violet didn’t choose me back then, and I couldn’t take care of her for life. So I’ll give her the Harrington Enterprises to her, let her know that I’ve always loved her and will never abandon her. As for my wife, I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to her. She said she loves me and is willing to go through hardships with me. It’s just a slightly lower standard of living, not like we’re broke. She won’t complain.”
Swallow sighed helplessly upon hearing this:
“You, you’ve really fallen for Violet and sunk this lifetime. If your wife knew you married her not out of love, but because you were Lafraid she’d cling to Ethan and ruin Violet’s happiness, I reckon it’d
break her heart.”
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These words struck me like a bolt from the blue, leaving me frozent in place. My heart felt like it was being violently torn apart, the pain making my body tremble.
Swallow was about to say something more, but just as he opened his mouth, he noticed me standing in the doorway. His face instantly tensed up, and he nervously said:
“Sis… Sis–in–law, you’re back.”
Archer also looked over, a flash of nervousness in his eyes that quickly faded to indifference:
“What are you panicking for? She’s deaf. Even if you yelled right in her ear, she wouldn’t hear what we’re saying.”
With the person in question saying this, Swallow was no longer afraid. He stood up, bowed to me, and then used sign language to greet me.Archer approached me, draping a shawl over my
shoulders. He then signed with concern:
“Darling, why did you run out in such cold weather, wearing so little? You’ll catch a cold.”
Initially, Archer didn’t know sign language. After we married, he hired someone to teach him so we could communicate without barriers. To master it, he often stayed up all night practicing, and several times ended up in the hospital from exhaustion.
I’d cry and beg him not to push himself so hard, but he’d just gently wipe away my tears.
“All these years you couldn’t hear, you suffered so much hurt and rejection, having to bear it all alone with no one to confide in. I
don’t want that for you anymore. It breaks my heart. I want to be
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the first person who can truly communicate with you.”
I was once moved to tears by this, because he was the first person willing to make such an effort for me. Even Ethan, whose life I had saved, never learned sign language for me. My birth parents certainly didn’t, as they only had eyes for Violet.
But now, watching his fluent signing, I felt nothing but bitter irony.
He expressed his care for me with the gentlest signs, yet took advantage of my deafness to profess his love for another woman right in front of me.Right after that, he used sign language to
remind me:
“Darling, Violet’s birthday party is about to start. We need to get going. If we’re late, people will gossip.”
Archer’s eyes were
were bright, filled with love. It seemed like a display of affection for me, but in reality, he was just excited about seeing
Violet soon.
A dull ache spread through my chest. I withdrew my hand, trying to keep my voice as calm as possible:
“You wait for me a moment. I’ll go change clothes.”
With that, I hurried upstairs, afraid that if I waited even a second longer, tears would start to fall.
After changing and coming back downstairs, I noticed Archer’s study door was ajar as I passed by.
In five years of marriage, I had never entered Archer’s study. He said he wanted a space of his own where no one would disturb him, so I had never set foot in there.
But now, I felt a sudden urge to go inside.
The moment I walked into the study, I felt like the biggest joke in the world,
The walls were almost completely covered with photos of Violet, documenting her growth from childhood to adulthood. There were pictures of her happiness, sadness, and even angriness- every emotion imaginable. The only thing missing was any photo of me.Recalling the past five years of marriage, my heart sank as I realized Archer spent most of his time in his study.
So this was his so–called “work” staring at a wall full of photos, pining for another woman.
As I moved closer, I could see a thick stack of love letters on the
desk.
The topmost one read: “The 9,999th love letter to Violet,” every word brimming with Archer’s deep love for her.
Next to it lay the transfer contract for Harrington Enterprises. Harrington Enterprises was the lifeblood of the entire Harrington family. Archer had poured his heart and soul into running it, yet now he was willing to hand it over to Violet. By returning to an ordinary life, he was also condemning me to become a common woman, no longer able to enjoy a life free from financial worries,
For Violet, Archer had sacrificed nearly everything, even using our marriage as a pawn in his schemes.
My heart turned to ice, and in that moment, my last shred of hope for Archer completely died.
