Chapter 3

Ophelia’s POV

The next day, I took the perfume and went straight to the company.

Zane and I had already discussed it—this perfume was the “gift” to be given to Conrad.

On the day of the new product launch, it would make him completely fall into hell.

After handing the perfume over to the R&D department, I followed my usual routine and slowly felt my way toward the laboratory.

There was some necessary equipment that I had still stored here. Even if I was going to resign, I had to take all of these things away.

I had barely started packing when other employees from the R&D department walked up to me, their faces full of contempt.

One said, “Some people are just thick-skinned. They haven’t made the slightest contribution to the R&D department, yet they still come to the lab every day to put on an act. If the director hadn’t handed over her own perfumes to let her submit them every time, this kind of employee would have been fired long ago.”

Another staff member couldn't wait to chime in. “Exactly, exactly. Someone blind—who knows where she gets the nerve to rely on connections to join the team and get her salary for doing nothing. No wonder people say it’s good to have connections backing you.”

“People like her are even more disgusting because they don’t know how to be grateful. The director lets her submit the perfumes, and she turns around and sets her sights on the director’s man. Who doesn’t know that the CEO and our director are a pair?”

I clenched my palm tightly.

From the very beginning of the company’s establishment, Conrad had concealed my identity.

He said it was so that I could work with peace of mind.

I believed him, and that secret lasted all these years.

I never expected that after Estelle entered the company, everyone would think that the two of them were the real couple.

I was blind. Even if I heard things on a daily basis, I was never able to see the complete picture.

On top of that, Conrad would always explain things to me in a righteous and sincere manner.

And it was precisely because of this that I never doubted them.

Now, it seemed that the matter of the two of them being together was something everyone in the company already knew, and they even thought that I was the third party.

I had no intention of paying attention to those people. I only tightened my grip on the things I was holding and prepared to leave.

But they refused to let it go. Seeing that I was about to leave, they grabbed the stuff in my hand, their faces full of mockery.

“What? You still haven’t realized that the person we’re talking about is you? How can you be so shameless? Stealing other people’s perfume works and trying to steal another woman’s boyfriend, too. With someone like you around, the reputation of our R&D department in this company is about to rot completely!”

After saying that, they shoved me hard.

I slammed straight into the sharp corner of a table, and blood immediately gushed out violently from my waist.

I could no longer endure it. Gritting my teeth, I said word by word, “All the perfume formula I submitted were my work, and Conrad and I are the real—”

Before my words finished, Estelle’s hypocritical voice suddenly came from the doorway.

“What are you doing?” She widened her eyes in surprise, looking as if she hadn’t expected this.

The people around immediately put on ingratiating smiles.

“Director, we were getting along amicably with Ophelia. Who knew she would suddenly fall to the floor on her own? As expected of someone who seduces other women’s boyfriends, this kind of trick really comes naturally. Director, you mustn’t be fooled by her.”

Hearing this, Estelle frowned deeply.

She glanced at the staff in the R&D department and said disapprovingly, “Even if it’s just for fun, this is a bit too much. Ophelia is blind after all; treating her like this isn’t very appropriate. Although she did indeed cause the CEO a certain amount of trouble…”

She looked at me as if she wanted to say something but stopped, letting out a silent sigh, and fully putting on a show in front of others.

“Forget it. Ophelia, just don’t do this again next time. You don’t need to worry; so long as I’m still in the R&D department, you will definitely have perfumes to submit. I’ll also help speak for you to the CEO.”

After she finished speaking, everyone looked at her as if she were a saint.

She didn’t explain anything in detail, yet she pushed all of it onto me.

It was me who stole her work.

It was me who seduced Conrad.

But clearly, the perfume was mine, and Conrad was also my lawful husband.

She extended her hand toward me with a look of pity on her face, but after lowering her head, a trace of mockery flashed through her eyes.

I was furious beyond restraint and slapped her hand away hard!

“Estelle! Who wants your fake kindness? Do you dare tell them clearly—tell them that the perfume I submitted is my own work, and what exactly the relationship between Conrad and me is? You wouldn’t want to lie right in front of me, would you?”

I stared at her fiercely. For a moment, she panicked terribly, stammering and not daring to answer.

At that moment, Conrad’s voice came from the doorway.

“What are you all doing here?”

Estelle’s eyes instantly turned red.

The people from the R&D department beside her also started talking all at once.

“Sir, it’s a good thing you came. You have no idea—this blind woman almost hurt the director to death just now. She actually said that all of the director’s perfumes were made by her. And she even said that her relationship with you is even closer than the director’s…”

After hearing this, Conrad tightly furrowed his brows.

The look he gave the people from the R&D department became dark and unreadable.

He only heard himself say coldly, “Who allowed you to call her a blind woman? I’ll give you three seconds to pack your things and get out immediately!”

After saying that, he stretched his hand toward me, and a few traces of heartache appeared in his eyes.

The faces of the people from the R&D department instantly turned pale. They stammered a few times, but still didn’t dare to shout while facing the CEO’s cold gaze.

They hadn’t expected him to really stand up for me, and the way they looked at Estelle also carried hesitation.

“Sir, isn’t your girlfriend the director? Could it be that she is lying? And every time she presents those perfumes at meetings, they’re exactly the same as the ones Ophelia submitted. It was the director who told us that the perfumes in Ophelia’s hands were hers.”

“Could it be that the director is lying to us all along?”

Seeing that they were about to be kicked out of the company, at that moment, the men and women of the R&D department couldn’t care about anything else and directly questioned her in front of everyone.

In an instant, everyone present looked at her with eyes full of disdain.

Seeing this, Estelle hurried forward and grabbed Conrad’s sleeve, looking at him with tears welling up.

“Conrad, the R&D just misunderstood for a moment, but everything I said is true. You can prove it for me, right?”

A struggle flashed through Conrad’s eyes.

As the pleading in her eyes became more and more obvious, the guilt in the way he looked at me also grew heavier.

In the end, he directly pulled his hand back, leaving me lying there in front of everyone in utter embarrassment.

He didn’t even think for a moment that I was still pregnant.

Maybe he did think of it, but all of this still couldn’t compare to Estelle.

I thought this was already embarrassing enough.

But I didn’t expect her to still be unsatisfied. She sobbed, let go of Conrad’s sleeve, and said aggrievedly, “Conrad, after what happened today, I no longer have the face to stay here. Thank you for taking care of me before. I still can’t…”

As she spoke, large tears fell drop by drop.

Conrad instantly forgot everything else. He reached out, pulled her back, and held her tightly in his arms.

He patiently comforted her for a few words. Only after she completely calmed down did he look at the people from the R&D department.

“That’s definitely nonsense! Any perfume Estelle submitted was created by herself and has nothing to do with anyone else.”

He cast a seemingly casual glance at me from the corner of his eye, then said resolutely, “As for the relationship between Ophelia and me, that’s even more something you imagined. There’s nothing improper between us. Perhaps I did something inadequately that caused her to misunderstand.”

What he said was airtight. If I were just a shameless woman chasing after him, maybe I would have corrected myself from then on.

But I wasn’t. I was his wife in name, yet in front of everyone, he turned me into the mistress.

In an instant, I only felt that everything before my eyes had become so ridiculous.

Even though I had long expected that he wouldn’t stand by my side, I still didn’t expect him to so decisively choose to sacrifice me.

In an instant, the originally wavering crowd looked at me again with the same disdain as before, even with a few more traces of disgust.

I lowered my head and slumped on the floor, letting the blood from the wound at my waist drip down drop by drop.

When Conrad caught sight of the desperate, hollow expression on my face, his heart jolted.

He uncontrollably reached his hand toward me, but in the end, under Estelle’s tear-filled gaze, he silently gave up.