I looked at Co Khoi Nien standing in front of me.

He was still wearing the uniform he had worn while helping La Yen move.

The same uniform he had worn while placing my grandmother’s bracelet on another woman’s wrist.

“What did you do at Command?” he asked again.

I took off my coat slowly.

“Official business.”

His eyes narrowed.

“What official business requires you to go there personally this close to giving birth?”

I smiled.

“You’ll know soon.”

For the first time, uneasiness crossed his face.

But it disappeared quickly.

Perhaps he remembered the woman I had been for years.

The woman who loved him enough to marry an ordinary soldier despite her family’s objections.

The woman he believed could never leave.

That night, he slept beside me peacefully.

I didn’t.

At dawn, I packed one suitcase.

Not much.

Documents.

Uniforms.

A few photographs.

And the small baby clothes my mother had secretly sent me.

I left everything Co Khoi Nien had bought.

There wasn’t much anyway.

At seven, Tieu Ly arrived.

“The vehicle is ready, Major.”

I nodded.

Before leaving, I placed one envelope on the dining table.

Inside was the transfer order I had signed yesterday.

Temporary reassignment to the Southwest Military Region Command.

Effective immediately.

I had also submitted a formal request for separation from Co Khoi Nien.

I didn’t know whether our marriage would end quickly.

Military marriages involved procedures.

But emotionally, mine had ended the moment I saw my grandmother’s bracelet on La Yen.

I had barely reached the courtyard when Co Khoi Nien came running outside.

“Lac Le!”

I stopped.

He had found the envelope.

His face was pale.

“What does this mean?”

“You can read.”

“You requested a transfer?”

“Yes.”

“You’re pregnant!”

“I know.”

His fingers tightened around the papers.

“And this separation request?”

I looked at him calmly.

“You planned to bring another woman into our home on the day I gave birth.”

His entire body froze.

That was enough.

I knew everything.

“Lac Le, listen to me.”

“No.”

“La Yen’s husband died because of me.”

“I know.”

“I promised to take care of her.”

“I know.”

His expression changed.

Apparently he hadn’t expected those answers.

Then I said quietly:

“I also know she’s pregnant.”

Silence.

“And I know you named her son Co Tu Thua.”

His face drained of color.

I remembered the notebook he had shown me.

The names prepared only for a daughter.

And the single boy’s name that had never belonged to my child.

“Who told you?”

It was almost funny.

Not Is it true?

Not Let me explain.

Who told you?

“Does it matter?”

He stepped toward me.

“The child isn’t what you think.”

“Then whose is he?”

Co Khoi Nien stopped.

That hesitation answered more than words.

I turned away.

He grabbed my arm.

“Lac Le, you can’t leave.”

I looked down at his hand.

He immediately released me.

Perhaps he finally remembered who I was.

Not merely his wife.

Not the foolish Commander’s daughter who had once followed him despite everyone warning her.

I was Major Lac Le.

And before becoming his wife, I had already been a soldier.

“I’ll explain everything after you give birth.”

I laughed softly.

“That was always your plan, wasn’t it?”

His expression stiffened.

“Wait until I give birth.”

“Wait until I’m weak.”

“Wait until my father and brother are away.”

“Move La Yen in first.”

“Then tell me afterward.”

Every sentence made his face paler.

I repeated almost exactly what I had overheard: he had deliberately chosen the period when my father and brother were away and believed my love for him would eventually force me to accept his decision.

“Did you hear us?”

“Yes.”

“How much?”

“Enough.”

His shoulders sank.

Then suddenly he seemed to remember something.

“The bracelet.”

I said nothing.

His eyes widened.

“You saw that too?”

“My grandmother put it on my wrist before she died.”

His lips moved.

“I thought you never wore it anymore.”

“So you thought it became yours?”

“No. I was only lending it to La Yen. She’s pregnant, and people say jade—”

“Keep it.”

He stared at me.

“What?”

“Let her keep everything.”

“The bracelet.”

“The room.”

“The gifts.”

“The name.”

“And you.”

For the first time, panic appeared openly on his face.

“Lac Le.”

I entered the vehicle.

He tried to follow.

Then engines sounded beyond the gate.

Three military vehicles entered the courtyard.

The first stopped directly in front of us.

A tall man stepped out.

My older brother.

Lac Minh.

Co Khoi Nien went rigid.

According to his calculations, my brother should still have been hundreds of kilometers away.

That was why he had been so confident.

My brother walked toward us.

His eyes first went to me.

Then to my stomach.

Finally to my husband.

“Captain Co.”

Only two words.

But Co Khoi Nien straightened instinctively.

“Colonel Lac.”

My brother handed him a document.

“Your temporary suspension order.”

Co Khoi Nien’s face changed.

“What?”

“Pending investigation.”

“For what?”

My brother’s expression remained cold.

“Misappropriation of protected personal property.”

I understood immediately.

The bracelet.

But that couldn’t be enough for suspension.

Then my brother continued.

“And falsification of dependent-family documentation.”

Co Khoi Nien stopped breathing.

I slowly turned toward him.

“What documentation?”

Nobody answered immediately.

My brother looked at me.

There was something in his eyes I didn’t understand.

“Le, you should leave first.”

“No.”

I stepped out of the vehicle.

“What did he falsify?”

Co Khoi Nien suddenly spoke.

“Lac Le, get in the car.”

That frightened me more than anything else.

Because he wasn’t angry anymore.

He was terrified.

My brother opened another folder.

Inside was an application submitted three months earlier.

It concerned La Yen.

Housing privileges.

Medical benefits.

Military dependent status.

Then I saw the section concerning her unborn child.

Father:

Co Khoi Nien.

My vision blurred for a second.

I looked at my husband.

“You said the child wasn’t what I thought.”

“It isn’t.”

“Your name is here.”

“I can explain.”

“Then explain.”

Before he could speak, another voice came from behind us.

“Because he’s not the child’s father.”

Everyone turned.

La Yen stood outside the gate.

She was wearing my grandmother’s jade bracelet.

One hand rested over her pregnant belly.

Her face was completely white.

Co Khoi Nien stared at her.

“Why are you here?”

La Yen ignored him.

She looked directly at me.

Then she removed the bracelet from her wrist.

“Major Lac.”

Her voice trembled.

“There is something your husband has been hiding from both of us.”

She placed the bracelet into my palm.

“The baby isn’t his.”

I stared at her.

“Then why is his name on the document?”

Tears filled her eyes.

“Because the baby’s real father is alive.”

Co Khoi Nien suddenly shouted.

“Enough!”

La Yen flinched.

My brother’s soldiers immediately stepped forward.

But La Yen continued.

“The man everyone believes died during that mission never died.”

The courtyard went silent.

I remembered everything.

The fallen teammate.

The promise.

The widow Ethan—no, Co Khoi Nien—claimed he could never abandon.

La Yen looked at me.

“He was secretly transferred after the mission.”

“Why?”

Her next words made even my brother’s expression change.

“Because he discovered what really happened the day Captain Co supposedly took the bullet for you.”

My heart stopped.

That bullet was the reason I had married Co Khoi Nien.

The reason I had defied my family.

The reason I had believed I owed him my life.

La Yen looked toward the military vehicle behind my brother.

Its rear door opened.

A man stepped down slowly.

There was a long scar along his temple.

Co Khoi Nien stumbled backward.

“No…”

The stranger looked directly at him.

Then at me.

“Major Lac.”

He saluted.

“You’ve been thanking the wrong man for seven years.”

And suddenly I understood that my husband’s betrayal was only the smallest secret waiting to be uncovered.