Rebirth: The New Bride Wants A Divorce-Chapter 406: Let’s announce our marriage

After Anna left, Roseline remained where she was, staring at the space her daughter had just vacated, her words echoing long after the door closed behind her.

She knew Collin would escape. She had warned him—made sure he understood exactly what was at stake if he stayed. Yet Anna’s calm delivery unsettled her. There had been no fear in her voice. No panic. Just certainty.

That was what disturbed Roseline the most.

What does that mean? she wondered, unease curling in her chest.

Anna’s behavior during the visit had been strange from the start. First, she had questioned Ester’s supposed violence toward her. Then she had mentioned Collin’s escape as if it were already decided—already expected.

Too composed. Too aware.

Roseline had spent years ensuring the truth of her past never reached her daughter. With Hugo’s help, she had erased every trace—every document, every witness, every whispered rumor that connected her to Collin beyond what she allowed the world to see.

Back then, she had used him.

Manipulated his loyalty. Fed his ambition. Played the part he wanted until she earned his trust—and his name. Their marriage had been nothing more than strategy, and for a long time, she had controlled every move.

She had believed she still did.

Even after all these years, she wanted things exactly as they were—contained, buried, obedient.

Her mind drifted to the moment she had threatened Collin again, twisting her words carefully, reminding him she could trap him just as easily as before. He had known she wasn’t bluffing.

She never was. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

What she hadn’t anticipated was his unraveling. His sudden violence. The night he had turned erratic, desperate—and attacked her.

And Anna.

The scar on his face burned vividly in her memory—the one she had given him while shielding her child. That single incident had tilted everything in her favor, casting her as the victim and burying the truth beneath sympathy and outrage.

Her schemes had vanished beneath that narrative.

Roseline’s lips curved into a cold, humorless smile.

"I hope he doesn’t make the same mistake this time," she murmured, her gaze hardening as it fixed on the wall ahead. "Because if he does... I’ll make sure he dies in prison this time."

The room felt colder as the words settled—final, deliberate, and without remorse.

Roseline knew that—for now—she had managed to spare Collin.

That alone was no small victory.

But she was not foolish enough to believe it was permanent.

A man like Collin was never truly neutralized. He didn’t forget slights, and he certainly didn’t forgive them. He waited. He calculated. And when the moment was right, he struck with twice the venom.

This time, however, he ran off and that alone sent chills to her spine.

But this time she would make sure he never got close to Anna again—not like before, when his presence alone had been enough to rattle her, when his veiled threats had lingered like poison in the air. Whatever Collin was planning, it would end with her standing firmly in the way.

If he thought he could reach Anna again, he was gravely mistaken.

***

Back at Glorious International, the atmosphere buzzed with a different kind of tension—one filled with excitement, relief, and cautious optimism.

Anna sat curled into one of the plush chairs in her dressing room, her phone balanced in her hand as her thumb scrolled endlessly through the comments under the trailer launch post. Her heart fluttered each time she read another line of praise, another stranger validating what she had poured so much of herself into.

She doesn’t act—she lives the character.

So raw. So real. I felt every emotion.

Finally, a fresh face who can actually act.

Anna swallowed, blinking rapidly as her lips curved into a quiet smile. The knot of doubt that had lived in her chest for weeks loosened, just a little. For the first time since filming began, she allowed herself to believe that she truly belonged here.

That this wasn’t some borrowed dream she would soon be asked to return.

Her gaze flickered briefly toward her reflection in the mirror across the room. She didn’t look like someone pretending anymore. She looked like someone becoming.

But the warmth didn’t last long.

As she scrolled further, the tone shifted.

Not toward her—but toward Fiona.

How can they cast someone associated like Fiona?

That woman is wicked and so is her family.

Disgusting. The industry never learns. Why ruin a film with Fiona in it

Anna’s fingers stilled.

She exhaled slowly, her smile fading as discomfort settled in. The comments weren’t new. The scandal surrounding Fiona’s family had never truly disappeared—it had merely been buried under time and selective silence. And now, with the spotlight back on them, the embers were flaring again.

Anna felt a familiar twist of unease.

She didn’t hate Fiona. She despise her. However she also believed that judging someone on basis of their scandal other than their talent was unfair.

"She brought this to herself" Anna sighed and began scrolling, but even after trying to distract herself she couldn’t.

Outside the digital chaos, however, things were being handled very differently.

When Kira had attacked Roseline, the incident had been explosive enough to spiral into a full-blown media disaster. In the past, such a scandal would have been dissected mercilessly—every rumor magnified, every connection dragged into the open.

But this time, Hugo hadn’t allowed history to repeat itself.

He moved swiftly, quietly, and decisively.

Legal teams were activated before whispers could turn into headlines. Footage disappeared. Statements were revised. Narratives were redirected. What little information leaked was diluted until it lost its bite, reshaped into something vague and forgettable.

By the time the media caught a scent of trouble, there was nothing left to chase.

No viral outrage.

No public spectacle.

Just silence.

Behind the scenes, traces were erased so thoroughly that even those looking closely found nothing concrete to hold onto. Ester became an unfortunate footnote rather than the center of a storm, and Roseline’s name never surfaced in a way that could harm her—or Anna.

It was a level of control that bordered on frightening.

Anna, unaware of the full extent of the cleanup, sensed only the absence of chaos. And for once, that absence felt like mercy.

She locked her phone and leaned back, staring at the ceiling as the hum of the building wrapped around her. Applause, criticism, secrets, and lies—all coexisting in the same fragile space.

Her success was real.

So were the dangers circling her.

"Everyone is praising you" suddenly a voice pulled her out from her trance and she looked at Daniel who approached her after attending a meeting.

Somhow his presence swallowed the shadow of her thoughts and she smiled.

Daniel had heard everything from Henry and the first thing he wanted was to see his wife as soon as he meeting ended. However what she said next made him stop.

"Daniel lets announce our marriage"