The Arrival of a Warm Spring

After giving birth, Belinay Scotch suddenly stopped pretending and began openly sleeping with other men in our bedroom. When I caught her in the act, she showed no signs of remorse. Instead, she mocked me without a care in the world. “The baby’s already here. What can you possibly still use to threaten me now?” Our friends all turned to look at me, afraid that I would throw a fit like I used to. However, this time, I did not yell or make a scene. I simply picked up my daughter and walked out of the room with a calm expression. From that day on, I became the perfect husband she had always dreamed of. When paparazzi came knocking, I paid them off for her. When she had conflicts with her lovers, I helped her resolve them. Then, my daughter’s christening came around. Other men brazenly showed up to force me to leave. Belinay finally could not help but laugh. She joined in with the others to mock me. “How is my ‘good husband’ going to pretend to be gracious this time?” I did not get angry. Instead, I simply turned around and handed the baby to her. “Consider this child my repayment for saving my life back then.” Chapter 1 The room fell instantly silent. Belinay’s gaze was incredibly intense. Under her gaze, I calmly went over the care instructions for the baby. “Don’t feed more than 2 ounces at a time. Feed the baby about every three hours, and keep the baby’s head higher than its body while feeding....” Belinay stared at me coldly. Then, she suddenly let out a derisive snort. Her voice carried a hint of disdain. “I thought your month of silence meant you’d come to your senses, but it turns out you’re just cooking up more crazy schemes. Albert Clark, do you really think the child can’t survive without you, her biological father? “Let me tell you, if you leave, there are plenty of others who’d love to be her father!” Her cold voice echoed through the villa. The servants looked at me with pity, sighing one after another. I smirked. I had long grown accustomed to this. When I uncovered her first affair, she watched me break down and lose my mind as if it had nothing to do with her. While she leaned against the door with her arms crossed, she spoke indifferently. “Albert, stop making a scene,” she said. “It won’t do you any good.” I did not believe her. So, I forced her to break things off with her lover. However, Belinay simply packed up and fled with her lover. She did not come home for three months. Her family blamed me and cut off my living expenses. Even my close friends began to distance themselves from me. Even the servants looked down on me as they openly mocked me to my face. In the end, I had no choice but to bow my head and beg her to come back. Belinay did not make a single move, yet she emerged triumphant. So, this time, she continued to mock me with utter confidence. “Albert, I think you’ve gotten too used to the good life. You don’t know your worth until you’ve caused trouble.” As she spoke, she took a step toward me. The confrontation caused my face to turn three shades paler. “You should be thanking me, shouldn’t you? After all, if it weren’t for me, my mother wouldn’t have saved you and your mother. Then, your mother wouldn’t have lived another eight years.” As soon as she finished speaking, I plopped down into a chair. The child was placed back in my arms again. Belinay stroked my face with satisfaction. Her voice was tinged with amusement. “As long as you behave yourself, you’ll always be the master of this house.” With that, she wrapped her arm around her new lover, Hubert Spencer, and strutted into our bedroom. The housekeeper could not help but come over to advise me. “Sir, why provoke the missus? It’s fine as long as she spends her money on you. After all, back then, wasn’t it because…” As she neared the end of her sentence, a look of embarrassment flashed across her face, and she suddenly stopped. I knew what she was going to say. Back then, I had married into her family solely for the money. When I was thirteen, my father had an affair. On a stormy day, he kicked my mother and me out of the house. My mother was already bruised from all the beatings she had taken. We had no money. My mother was seriously ill, and she was barely clinging to life. All I could do was kneel on the busiest street and beg. It was then that Belinay appeared. She was like a ray of light shining down on me. She took my mother and me home. She would always stroke my head tenderly, protecting me like an older sister. Later, when I grew up, Belinay’s mother, Maryam Scotch, discovered that our birth charts were extremely compatible. So, she drove away Belinay’s boyfriend, with whom she was deeply in love, and forced her to marry me. From that moment on, the way she looked at me changed. She took on one lover after another, even as I broke down and kicked up fusses. Belinay would simply mock me without batting an eye. “Isn’t this what you begged for? You’ve lost all your dignity for money.” She knew that I had agreed to marry her only after extorting a million from Maryam. However, she did not know that it was the life-saving money I needed to pay for my mother’s liver transplant. In the end, the surgery went wrong. My mother passed away. Perhaps it was a destined punishment for my greed. I was left in this zombie-like state. It felt like I was neither alive nor dead. Chapter 2 Perhaps there really was a special bond between a father and his daughter. Suddenly, without any warning, the child burst into tears. No matter how hard I tried to calm her, she just kept wailing. The tapping sound of footsteps quickly echoed from upstairs. Hubert Spencer looked at me with disgust while wrapped in my bath towel. “Albert, can’t you stand to see me happy? If you’d just made the little one cry on purpose to disturb us, I’d let it slide. But she’s your own flesh and blood! How could you be so heartless!” My whole body stiffened. The twisted misunderstanding sent a wave of humiliation crashing over me. For the nine months that Belinay was pregnant, I was the one who cooked for her every day and made sure she took her nutritional supplements. Ever since our daughter was born, she had never been out of my sight. No one loved her more than I did. Unwilling to deal with Hubert’s unreasonable tantrum, I turned and walked away with Charlotte in my arms. He rushed forward and snatched my daughter from my arms. “You’re not fit to be a father at all!” His movements were rough, and Charlotte’s cries grew even more heart-wrenching. My heart clenched instantly. The heartache was so intense it felt like I was suffocating. My head buzzed, and I raised my hand to shove Hubert hard. He fell to the floor with a terrible scream. “Albert Clark, what are you doing! Hubert is still sick!” Belinay rushed down, nearly exploding from rage. Then, she stepped in front of the pale-faced Hubert. Hubert coughed uncontrollably and looked up at her with a pained expression. “Belinay, the baby wouldn’t stop crying. I wanted to help Albert, but he hit me right away. I don’t know what I did wrong. Maybe everything I do is wrong...” Hubert’s voice was low and sorrowful. Belinay would not listen to my explanation at all. With a stern expression, she strode forward and snatched the child away. I suppressed my heartache and pleaded softly, “Don’t hurt her. I’ll give her to you.” Amid Charlotte’s hoarse, pitiful cries, Belinay coldly tossed a wad of cash at me. “Go buy a cake as an apology to Hubert.” Charlotte struggled desperately, stretching out her tiny hands. She was waving toward me as if begging me to save her. Belinay ignored my teary eyes and snapped, “Hurry up and go!” Hubert held Charlotte in his arms. He was smiling lightly at me as if he were holding a trophy. “Albert, go and come back quickly. I’ll take care of the child for you.” My daughter’s helpless cries pierced my temples like needles. I glanced toward him. My heart felt like it was bleeding. After biting down hard on the tip of my tongue, I bore with my dizziness and turned to leave in a hurry. I pushed the car to its limit, racing to the cake shop to make the purchase. In less than half an hour, I rushed back, panting heavily. The moment I pushed open the door, the room was deathly quiet, and my heart sank. I stumbled into the nursery. Hubert was just walking out. The instant he saw me, his expression betrayed a hint of guilt. Then, he quickly smiled and took the cake from my hands. He looked up and called out to Belinay. “Honey, come down and have some cake.” I looked down at Charlotte. She was sleeping peacefully, and I breathed a slight sigh of relief. However, soon, I noticed something was wrong. Charlotte’s face was flushed. Even though she was clearly unwell, she lay completely still. I panicked. I called out to her softly, then patted her firmly. She still did not make a sound. Chapter 3 In that moment, despair enveloped my entire body like a dense, interwoven web. “Charlotte!” My eyes were bloodshot as my shrill scream echoed through the villa. I charged out like a desperate lion and pinned Hubert beneath me. Frantically clutching his throat, I screamed, “What on earth did you do to my daughter?!” Hubert’s face flushed crimson. His bulging eyes were oozing with malice. “That little brat… wouldn’t listen, so I just gave her some sleeping pills…” My vision went dark. My ears were filled with what sounded like the screech of a demon. I tightened my grip with all my might. Hubert’s screams gradually grew fainter. Suddenly, a powerful force knocked me over from behind. Belinay tossed aside the table lamp and frantically wrapped her arms around Hubert. Then, she roared at me in fury, “You’re out of your mind! You almost killed him!” I pushed myself up. My eyes were brimming with tears as I screamed in despair, “Death is more than what he deserves! He gave Charlotte sleeping pills! He was trying to kill her!” Belinay froze. A flash of panic crossed her eyes. Then, she immediately rushed to check on Charlotte. Hubert grabbed her sleeve and said anxiously, “I only gave her a tiny bit. In fact, I consulted a doctor. There’s absolutely no problem. Albert is just using this as an excuse to beat me up.” He looked at me. His face was still etched with the terror of a man at death’s door. “If Albert hates me that much, I’ll just leave. But surely, I don’t deserve to die!” As soon as he finished speaking, he began coughing uncontrollably. His body trembled like a flickering candle in the wind. Belinay looked at the bruises on his neck with pity. A few seconds later, she said coldly to me, “Come over here and apologize to him!” I stared at her in disbelief. A sharp pain nearly tore my body apart. “She’s your daughter. Isn’t she more important than your lover?” Belinay looked away, refusing to meet my swollen, red eyes. Her voice was cold and detached. “All I know is that you nearly killed someone. Apologize now.” Dizziness swept over me in waves as I walked toward the nursery. I picked up the baby and headed for the door. Belinay did not stop me, but her expression grew even darker. “Albert, if you leave, don’t ever come back!” Her mocking tone made it sound as if she were shooing away a stray dog. I did not care. All I wanted was for my daughter to be healthy. When we arrived at the hospital, Charlotte was examined and found to be fine, but the doctor still looked a bit concerned. “How could you give a baby sleeping pills? As a parent, you’ve displayed such carelessness. In other countries, you’d lose custody over something like this!” The doctor’s criticism hit me like a wave. I hung my head in shame and heartache. That night, I did not take my daughter back with me. I would never do that again, because I could not leave Charlotte in that nightmare of a home. So, the next day, I returned to the villa alone. Belinay did not show the slightest bit of concern for her daughter. Instead, she was celebrating Hubert’s birthday and entertaining friends. I did not spare them a single glance. I walked straight over, grabbed my luggage, and began stuffing my identification documents and clothes inside. Suddenly, Belinay yanked my wrist and glared at me. “Albert, what are you up to so early in the morning? Where’s our daughter?!” I shook off her grip and said coldly, “I’m not letting you near her again.” Before she could fly into a rage, I got straight to the point. “Belinay, let’s get a divorce.” Chapter 4 The room instantly fell silent. When Belinay came to her senses, her eyes were filled with disbelief. “Do you really have to make such a scene? Why can’t you just behave yourself?” As soon as she finished speaking, the others chimed in. “That’s right, Albert. It’s Hubert’s birthday today. Don’t steal the spotlight from the guest of honor.” “You’ve already had a child with her. You need to take responsibility. You can’t leave the baby without a complete family, can you?” “Don’t do anything shameful just to be petty and jealous. Wouldn’t it be better to get along peacefully?” Everyone chimed in, shifting all the blame onto me. I knew that ever since I married into her family, everyone had looked down on me. “Social climber,” “good-for-nothing,” and “lowlife” were some of the things they called me. The insults hurled at me were vile. However, I was no longer the timid Albert I used to be, the one who would burst into tears at the slightest provocation. “Belinay, I’m serious about the divorce. Charlotte is a girl, so I’m sure your family won’t value her much anyway. Let’s part ways amicably.” With that, I picked up my mother’s urn and headed for the door. Belinay furrowed her brow and coldly grabbed my wrist. Just as I was about to say something, one of Hubert’s friends suddenly roared in anger. Pointing at the urn in my hand, he shouted. “No wonder Hubert’s been having heart palpitations lately. So, you are the one who’s been harming him in such a despicable way. You beast!” My head buzzed. I had no idea what he was talking about. The others were just as baffled. Hubert’s face was deathly pale as he explained fearfully, “For the past few days, I’ve been vomiting nonstop for no apparent reason, and I’ve been having heart palpitations and tremors, so I found a psychic. He said someone in my family has placed a cursed object close to me. They mean to do me harm.” Hubert’s lips trembled as he looked at me with a terrified expression. “Albert, since you hate me, I’ll just leave. But please, spare my life!” As he spoke, he staggered forward and knelt before me, looking utterly helpless and victimized. The people in the room instantly erupted in fury at me. “Albert, you’re horrible. How could you do something so despicable?” “Kick him out immediately! He’s shameless. There’s not a smidge of humanity in him.” I shook off the hand gripping my arm and snapped angrily, “What nonsense are you spouting? These are my mother’s ashes, not some evil spell. You must have hit your head. How could you believe Hubert’s nonsense?!” As soon as I said that, several people’s faces turned red instantly. However, someone still sneered and said, “Some people are just shameless. They’ll never admit what they’ve done.” The metallic tang of blood rose in my throat. I was sick of arguing with them. Belinay grabbed me by the arm and snatched the urn from me in an instant. A warning bell went off in my head. I held out my hand and shouted, “Give it back to me! Give me back the ashes!” Belinay pushed me away. Her eyes were filled with disappointment. When she bent down to open the jar, she discovered the seal was completely unbreakable. Hubert’s friend snorted coldly. “If you can’t open it, then smash it! Let’s see what’s inside!” My heart was pounding so hard it felt like it was about to leap out of my throat. My voice was choked with emotion. “Please, just give me the urn back.” Mocking laughter rang out around me. Someone shook their head and said slowly. “What a drama queen. I can’t believe you staged all this by yourself.” Belinay had intended to smash it right then and there. However, when she spotted the tears welling up in the corners of my eyes, she hesitated for a couple of seconds. Finally, she ordered coldly, “If you want the urn, apologize to Hubert. Be sincere, or I’ll throw the contents down the drain.” My blood ran ice-cold in an instant, and I shot Belinay a bloodshot glare. Without a moment’s hesitation, amid the contemptuous whispers of the crowd, I bowed my head toward Hubert. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have bullied you or laid a hand on you. Please forgive me.” Everyone held their breath in anticipation. During those agonizing few seconds, I felt as if my pride was being thrown to the floor and trampled on. Finally, Hubert gave a soft chuckle and helped me to my feet. “I forgive you, Albert. From now on, we’ll be good friends.” Belinay’s expression softened considerably as she held out the urn. “Don’t bully Hubert anymore. I hope—” “Ah!” Hubert suddenly let out a scream. He clutched his chest and collapsed backward. His body crashed down right next to Belinay’s hand. The urn slipped from her grasp in an instant. With a crash, it shattered into a thousand pieces, scattering the ashes all over the floor.