BLOODY LIFE

Vivian Harrison used to be an ordinary nurse at the hospital, but she had the rare Rh-negative blood type.

Three years ago, she saved the life of the king of the underworld, Archie Palmer, who had been on the brink of death, with her blood. From that moment on, she had completely fallen for him.

However, when Archie awoke, he just coldly handed her a marriage contract. "I never owe anyone a favor."

The marriage, in the name of repaying a favor, became a gilded cage that confined Vivian for three years.

Archie made Vivian his wife, yet he gave all his tenderness and devotion to a vivacious and innocent woman—Cassie Fuller.

He would drive across half the city on a stormy night just to stay with Cassie because she was afraid of the dark.

He would spend a fortune at an auction to acquire a piece of priceless jewelry, because Cassie said she liked it.

Yet, all he ever offered Vivian was endless indifference and suspicion.

When Cassie suffered even the slightest grievance, he would unhesitatingly lay all the blame on Vivian and even torment and punish Vivian in the cruelest ways. "Your blood disgusts me as much as you do, Vivian."

Later, when Vivian took a fatal bullet for him and lay bleeding on the ground, he walked coldly past her, holding the frightened Cassie in his arms, without sparing Vivian even a glance.

At that moment, Vivian finally understood that this marriage was nothing but a joke from the start.

She decided that she would no longer play along with Archie.

But when Vivian, her body battered and broken, resolutely left Archie, and Archie, who had always claimed he never loved Vivian, for the first time felt his eyes sting, and frantically searched for her all over the world.

...

Today was the third anniversary of Vivian and Archie's marriage.

Inside the large mansion, the atmosphere was eerily quiet and lifeless.

Vivian sat alone at the dining table, her heart sinking as she watched the spread of dishes, which were slowly growing cold.

The clock on the wall showed it was already 11 PM.

He wouldn't be coming back.

She mockingly curled her lips.

She kept asking herself why she had not gotten used to this after three years.

Of course, someone like Archie, a man who held sway over the entire Afosso city and was even the terror of both the criminal and legitimate worlds, would never remember something so meaningless as their anniversary.

Their marriage had always been a transaction he offered out of gratitude.

Three years ago, he had been gravely injured in a gang fight and urgently needed a blood transfusion.

His blood type was the extremely rare Rh-negative, leaving the blood banks across the entire Afosso helpless.

It was Vivian, an ordinary nurse, who saved him from the brink of death with her blood.

That was when she fell in love with him at first sight.

She thought it was a gift from fate, not knowing it was the beginning of her misfortune.

When Archie awoke, his first glance at her was utterly devoid of warmth. And then he handed her a contract. "I never owe anyone a favor. Be my wife, or take a billion."

Blinded by love at the time, she foolishly chose to marry him.

From that day on, she became his wife and the envy of everyone. Yet she had also been trapped in the most gilded cage he had built for her.

Vivian stood up, ready to clear away the untouched dishes, when her phone on the table suddenly vibrated.

It was a call from Archie.

With a faint flicker of hope sparked in her chest, she answered it instantly. "Archie..."

"Make some mulled wine and deliver it to the Soleil Apartment," Archie said in a cold and flat voice, as if issuing an indisputable command.

The flicker of hope was immediately extinguished by his coldness.

Soleil Apartment was where Cassie lived.

And Cassie, a kindergarten teacher, was the only one who could melt Archie's coldness.

"It's pouring rain and thundering outside. She is scared." Archie, as if annoyed by Vivian's delayed response, added impatiently. Vivian had never heard such tension and tenderness in his tone when he talked to her.