Love has its end, and there is no return date
Chapter 2
Madison, having tasted love for the first time, was dazzled by the glittering world beyond the temple.
After bidding Walter farewell, she followed Louis to Capital City.
Walter tried to dissuade her. “The outside world is all neon and intoxication,” he cautioned. “It’s easy to lose yourself to its temptations. Life in the temple may not be as bleak as you imagine, and the world outside may not be as beautiful as you hope.”
But Madison’s mind was made up, her resolve unshakable. “I’ll come back to visit you, Walter—I promise!” she insisted.
Louis brought her into his family’s home, providing her with a life free from want. In the circles of Capital City, rumors soon spread that he was keeping a caged songbird.
For five years, Louis spoiled her, indulged her, molding her into a pampered princess.
If she threw a tantrum, he would abandon business deals worth tens of millions, flying back overnight from abroad just to calm her.
Once, after she fell into the water and developed a lung infection—with doctors warning him to prepare for the worst—Louis braved a torrential downpour to climb to the hilltop shrine. There he prayed for a protective charm to save her life. He climbed all one hundred and eight steps on his knees, bowing his head to the stone three times with each one, until his knees were bruised and battered.
Later, he spent a hundred million to buy the naming rights for a minor planet—and named it after her.
Before the temple’s matchmaking shrine, he prayed with devout sincerity, personally engraving both their names on one of the symbolic love locks.
Everyone said Louis was crazy in love with her.
On their fifth anniversary, she carefully prepared a gift and went to find him, only to overhear him talking easily with a friend.
“Christine went abroad for treatment, but her health isn’t improving,” Louis was saying. “Her greatest wish is to marry me. I promised her a grand ceremony.”
His friend teased, “Aren’t you afraid Madison will find out and raise hell?”
Louis lifted his eyelids lazily. “Madison gets jealous easily. You’ve all got to help me keep this under wraps.”
His friend scoffed. “If she knew your marriage certificate was fake, she’d be heartbroken!”
Madison’s breath hitched. Tears welled up uncontrollably.
Christine was Louis’s first love—his forever love, the one who got away, a permanent mark on his soul.
They had fallen for each other in their youth, only to be torn apart by their families. Christine suffered from a congenital heart condition. Louis’s family sent her abroad, forcibly separating the star‑crossed lovers. The exorbitant cost of his childhood sweetheart’s treatment had always been covered by Louis.
Louis’s voice softened, tender enough to drown in. “Christine loves a party. I want all of you there for the wedding!”
His friend’s tone turned mocking. “Madison has clung to you for five years—and with such desperate intensity.”
Low, vulgar laughter rippled around them. “A natural‑born siren like that must be wild in bed, right?”
Louis twisted the beads on his wrist. “Christine’s constitution is too frail. I can’t bear to touch her. So… I channeled all that pent‑up desire into Madison. She’s adventurous, full of tricks. We tried every position in the book.”
Madison felt as if she’d plunged into an abyss, a suffocating sensation overwhelming her.
His friend, speaking from experience, advised, “Louis, don’t invest too deeply in feelings. Otherwise, it’s hard to walk away unscathed.”
Louis raised a brow slightly. “I’ve been slipping contraceptives into the milk Madison drinks every day. She won’t get pregnant. There won’t be any deep ties between us.”
Madison clenched her fist. The wedding band bit into her flesh, the pain piercing to her core.
So all his kindness had been laced with cold calculation.
She pulled off the ring, crushed it out of shape, and discarded it like trash.
Then she pushed the door open and entered the private room. Inside, the laughter died abruptly.
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