Chapter 3

"Oh? What's a jade bracelet doing down here?"

Marian's foot came down, and the bracelet snapped clean into two halves.

I shoved her aside and snatched it up, but it was already broken. Broken all the way through.

Edwin threw his arms around Marian. "What are you doing? There are sharp pieces everywhere in here. You knocked Marian down. If she gets hurt, if she breaks the skin, how are we supposed to go through with the wedding?"

I'd swallowed it and swallowed it, and now I couldn't anymore. The tears finally spilled over. "Edwin, have you forgotten? That bracelet is the only thing my parents left me. They said one day my husband and I would protect it together—"

Edwin cut me off at once. "Yes, so what? It's a bracelet. A piece of jewelry. Is it worth more than a person?"

"If Marian got hurt over some broken bracelet, your parents' spirits would be punished for it too."

Hearing that, my whole body swayed. Disbelief was written all over my face.

Marian and I had become friends because we shared the same history. Neither of us had parents.

Just two days ago.

Marian had made a fuss about needing to go back to her hometown. Her parents used to drink from an old thermos, and she wanted to bring it back as a keepsake.

Our wedding was supposed to be today. Yesterday was the rehearsal. And because of that thermos, we'd traveled halfway across the country to Marian's hometown.

The date some fortune-teller had picked was pushed back a whole day, all so Edwin could retrieve a thermos so rusted you couldn't even make out what it was.

"Mari, you really are so sentimental. You treasure even an old thermos this much."

Edwin wrapped that thermos up like it was priceless. He even paid a small fortune to have it professionally restored, then set it out on display in Marian's home.

A jade bracelet passed down through generations of my family, and it couldn't compare to a thermos in Marian's house.

He must have caught the change in my face.

Edwin seemed to sense he'd maybe said something wrong.

But a person's life really was worth more than a thing.

It was only a piece of jewelry, after all—

"Ah!"

Marian's sudden scream cut straight through his thoughts, and whatever had flickered through his mind was tossed aside.

"It hurts so much!"

Marian had stumbled into the tower of scented cups behind her, and every last cup came crashing to the floor.

Edwin didn't spare that flickering thought another second. He pulled Marian into his arms.

He got a splash of wine down himself, and shards too, but still looked her over again and again. "Are you all right?"

"I'm sorry, it's all my fault, I'm so clumsy, I made the two of you fight, it's all my fault!"

Then she held out a finger. The tip was cut.

"Maud, you've caused a scene all this time, and now Marian's hurt. Happy now? Don't you know how much she hates pain!"

"If Marian has any other injuries, then we're postponing the wedding. We'll hold it whenever she's recovered!"

That cut on her fingertip would have healed on its own if she'd waited a little longer to see a doctor.

And in that moment, all of it suddenly felt pointless to me.

"I don't see any reason to go through with it."

"The wedding dress isn't even my size. You never intended for me to be at my own wedding anyway."

Edwin's eyes went red, angrier than mine even. "We designed that dress together, the two of us! Marian oversaw the whole thing for nearly half a year."

"She strained her eyes for you, worked them raw, and you'd slander her like this? Have you got any decency left?"

With that, he shoved me away.

I went down hard onto the cake, cream and fruit smearing all over me, the pan inside biting so deep I sucked in a breath.

Blood bled out across the cake.

The pain sent tears streaming down at once.

And Edwin didn't even register that he'd knocked me down. He simply picked up Marian, who had barely a scratch, and walked off.

He left with his back to me, and one last line.

"Marian likes healing soup. Make some and bring it over. Apologize to her."

"Do that, and the wedding goes ahead as planned!"

The wedding?

I wiped away tears, not knowing anymore whether the ache was in my chest or my body.

There would never be a wedding between us again.

It was the other workers who noticed something was wrong and helped me up, who got me to the hospital.

I'd lost so much blood that even passersby flinched at the sight of me.