The knocking came again.

Three times.

Calm.

Unhurried.

Adrian’s face changed completely.

—Why is Damian Xie here?

I almost laughed.

—Didn’t you hear him?

I walked toward the door.

—He’s here for his fiancée.

Adrian caught my wrist.

—Star, don’t be ridiculous.

I looked down at his hand.

In my previous life, that hand had signed orders that destroyed everything I cared about.

This time, I pulled free immediately.

—Major General Shen, you’re a married man now.

I smiled.

—Please behave appropriately in another man’s fiancée’s bedroom.

Then I opened the door.

Damian stood outside in a black military uniform.

Behind him were two officers and my father’s security chief.

His gaze moved past me.

Straight to Adrian.

The temperature in the hallway seemed to drop.

—Major General Shen.

Adrian straightened instinctively.

—Young Lord Xie.

Damian looked at the clock.

—It’s after midnight.

Then at Adrian.

—And you’re inside my fiancée’s room on your wedding night.

Adrian’s jaw tightened.

—This is between Star and me.

—No.

Damian’s voice remained calm.

—It stopped being between you two when you married someone else this afternoon.

I stepped aside.

Damian didn’t enter.

That detail surprised me.

He remained outside the threshold and asked:

—Miss Lu, would you like to leave?

No hand grabbing mine.

No orders.

No assumption that I belonged to him simply because our families had agreed on marriage.

Just a choice.

I picked up my coat.

—Yes.

Adrian finally panicked.

—Star!

I stopped.

—What?

—You can’t seriously marry him.

—Why not?

His face darkened.

—You don’t love him.

I stared at him.

Then laughed.

—And Nora loves you?

He froze.

I continued.

—Or did she simply know that crying in front of you was enough to make you abandon every promise you made to me?

Adrian stepped forward.

Damian’s officers immediately moved.

He stopped.

I looked at him one final time.

—You said marriage was only a title.

—So why are you so upset about who gets mine?

I walked away with Damian.

Behind me, Adrian didn’t follow.

He couldn’t.

Because for the first time, someone more powerful than his arrogance was standing between us.

The next morning, the Xie family’s three hundred million investment reached my father’s defense project.

Exactly as promised.

No delay.

No hidden conditions.

My father stared at the transfer confirmation.

—They actually sent everything before the wedding.

I nodded.

—Contracts are useful.

My mother sighed.

—You’re really going through with this?

—Yes.

She looked worried.

—What about the rumors surrounding Damian?

A voice came from the doorway.

—I can answer that myself.

Damian entered the study carrying a folder.

He placed it in front of my father.

Inside were medical clearances, military background documents and an official statement regarding the rumors.

Apparently, years earlier, Damian had refused several arranged marriages.

Afterward, gossip spread through the capital that he wasn’t interested in women.

He never corrected it.

Why?

Because it stopped families from sending daughters to his door every month.

My father almost choked on his tea.

—You deliberately let people misunderstand?

Damian sat down calmly.

—It was efficient.

For the first time in days, I laughed sincerely.

Then he looked at me.

—But there’s something more important.

He pushed another folder toward me.

Military disciplinary records.

Adrian Shen’s name appeared repeatedly.

Unauthorized use of personnel.

Interference in internal investigations.

Improper protection of Nora Gu.

And one report that made my fingers go cold.

Nora had never “sacrificed herself” to save Adrian.

The original medical report showed Adrian had been treated by a military doctor that night.

Nora had entered his room afterward.

The story about the enemy drugging him had been exaggerated into something completely different.

I looked up.

—He knew?

Damian’s expression remained unreadable.

—Not initially.

He paused.

—But six months later, an investigation clarified what happened.

My hand tightened around the paper.

—And Adrian still married her yesterday using that story as justification.

—Yes.

Something inside me finally settled.

In my first life, I had destroyed myself believing Adrian was trapped by responsibility.

He wasn’t.

He had learned the truth.

And still chosen Nora.

Not because he owed her.

Because he wanted to.

That afternoon, I sent Adrian copies of the records.

He arrived at the Lu residence within an hour.

Security stopped him outside.

I went to the gate.

His face was pale.

—Where did you get these?

—Does it matter?

—Star, listen to me.

—Did you know the truth about Nora?

Silence.

That was enough.

I nodded slowly.

—When?

He looked away.

—Last year.

I almost admired how calm I felt.

—And you still told me yesterday that you had to marry her to repay a debt.

—She has nothing!

His voice suddenly rose.

—No family background. No protection. If I abandoned her after everything that happened, what would become of her?

I stared at him.

There it was again.

Nora’s life mattered.

My dignity was negotiable.

—Then protect her.

I stepped backward.

—For the rest of your life.

He grabbed the gate.

—What about us?

—There is no us.

Fifteen days later, I married Damian.

It wasn’t a grand romantic ceremony.

I didn’t want one.

There were signatures.

Witnesses.

Two families.

And a contract thick enough to stop a bullet.

The most important clause was mine.

Neither spouse could interfere with the other’s career, property or personal decisions without written consent.

Damian read it once.

Then signed.

—Anything else?

I looked at him.

—No.

—Good.

He handed me the pen.

—Then Captain Lu, congratulations on acquiring three hundred million in financing.

I laughed.

—Congratulations on acquiring a wife who reads contracts.

—That’s exactly why I agreed.

Meanwhile, Adrian’s life began unraveling.

Not because of me.

Because once Damian reopened the old disciplinary reports, several buried complaints resurfaced.

Adrian’s protection of Nora had crossed professional lines repeatedly.

Assignments had been altered for her.

Evaluations had been influenced.

Personnel had been pressured into silence.

The military launched a formal review.

Adrian was suspended from command pending investigation.

Nora blamed me publicly.

That lasted less than forty-eight hours.

Then archived messages leaked during the inquiry.

Messages where she admitted she had always known Adrian would choose her if she appeared weak enough.

One sentence spread through the entire military district:

“Star Lu is too proud to beg. That’s why she’ll always lose.”

I read it once.

Then closed the file.

She had been wrong.

I had lost only while I kept competing.

The moment I walked away, the game ended.

A year later, Adrian saw me again at a military aerospace conference.

I had been appointed director of a new aviation defense program funded jointly by the Lu and Xie families.

Damian stood several meters away speaking with officers.

Adrian approached alone.

He looked older.

—Star.

—Major Shen.

He flinched at the formality.

—Nora and I divorced.

I said nothing.

—The investigation cleared some charges, but I lost my command.

Still nothing.

Finally he asked:

—If I had chosen differently that day… would we still be together?

I thought about my previous life.

About the woman who once believed love meant enduring anything.

Then I thought about the life I had now.

A career.

A family that respected my decisions.

A marriage built on clear boundaries rather than sacrifice.

I smiled faintly.

—Maybe.

Hope flashed in his eyes.

Then I finished:

—But you didn’t.

I walked past him.

The first time I lived that wedding day, Adrian convinced me that I should accept being second because his heart supposedly belonged to me.

The second time, I finally understood something.

A woman doesn’t need to win the man who keeps asking her to lose herself.

So when Adrian chose Nora again—

I didn’t fight for him.

I chose a life where no one would ever ask me to become “the other woman” in my own story again.