Chapter 1

In my previous life, I only realized when I was dying that my Alpha mate marked me just to better control me and make me willingly transfer wolf essence to my sister Victoria.

Victoria had suffered from wolf essence depletion since childhood—a severe condition where her wolf was failing and couldn't survive without regular essence transfusions.

My parents treated me like I was just a thoughtless child—after all, Victoria would always say "Sister's just throwing a tantrum, she loves me deep down," but then turn around and crumple up my drawings of wolf pack forests, telling our parents "Sister draws such dark pictures, is she cursing me?"

My brother Finn also only had eyes for Victoria, because she'd always play the victim in front of him, saying "Brother, sister just pushed me, she said I'm a burden."

Only Grayson had ever shown me different kind of warmth. He'd remember I was afraid of the dark and quietly leave a night light after my essence transfusions; he'd keep my casual mention of "wanting to find a quiet place to paint" in his heart—but all that tenderness was crushed by Victoria's tears.

I confessed my feelings to him. Though he was shocked, he still accepted my confession and promised he would definitely mark me.

Back then I thought I'd grasped the light, until right before I died in my previous life, I heard Victoria whisper in Grayson's ear: " Uncle, please, if you let Ember leave, I will die without her wolf essence. You absolutely can't let her know you actually care about her, or she'll make a fuss about leaving me."

After my rebirth, the first thing I did was spend five billion dollars to buy an isolated forest. That money was a courtship gift from Grayson.

"Miss Ember, are you sure you want to purchase this forest? If you buy it and move in, it'll be nearly impossible to contact the outside world." The pack staff member handling the paperwork looked utterly confused.

I nodded, my voice carrying a hint of relief: "That's exactly what I want—somewhere no one can find me."

But before I could even finish the paperwork, a black Maybach suddenly screeched to a halt in front of me.

The door flew open, and Grayson strode toward me. His fingertips were pale, and when he grabbed my wrist his touch was gentle but carried barely noticeable panic: "Ember, come with me quickly, Victoria she..."

Before he could finish, I heard Victoria's tearful voice through his phone's speaker: "Uncle, I fell down the stairs, it hurts so much... Is sister still mad at me? Won't she come see me?"

My heart went cold—in my previous life I was tricked into going to the hospital by this crying, but this time I clearly remembered that when I left this morning, I saw Victoria deliberately step on her dress hem and "accidentally" fall down the steps in front of Grayson, even sneaking a glance in my hiding direction.

"Uncle Grayson..." I tried calling out this long-unused title, wanting to see if he still had the hesitation from my previous life.

But he didn't catch my tone at all, just pulled me toward the car while his eyes couldn't help but scan my pale face, quietly asking "Why do you look so awful?"—but as soon as those words left his mouth, Victoria's crying came through again: "Uncle, I don't think I can hold on much longer..."

Grayson's movements paused, but ultimately he still stuffed me into the back seat. As the car raced to the hospital and he pulled me toward the wolf essence extraction room, his fingertips were actually gently stroking my wrist the whole time, as if worried about hurting me, but whenever Victoria's coughing sounded, he'd get pulled back into his "protector" role.

"Victoria accidentally fell down the stairs. Her wolf is failing rapidly. We won't extract too much this time, don't worry." Grayson's voice was somewhat hoarse, but I saw him secretly signal the healer, his lips moving as if saying "Draw less, don't hurt her."

But before the healer could nod, a slap landed hard across my face. "You ungrateful girl! Where the hell did you go?! Didn't I tell you to stay by your sister's side at all times? You can't leave her!"

Victoria immediately rushed over to grab Mother's hand, her eyes red as she said: "Mom, please don't hit sister. It must be my fault. Yesterday I told sister that I wanted her to come to the garden with me, sister probably thought I was annoying and hid..." As she spoke, she secretly dug her nails into my arm, making me gasp in pain.

My father put his arm around the furious mother, looking at me with disappointment: "Ember, how are you becoming more and more inconsiderate? Victoria's this sick and you're still holding grudges? Last time she told me you hid her wolf essence medication, I didn't believe it, but now it seems..."

"I didn't!" I finally couldn't help but protest, only to be interrupted by my brother Finn. He was carefully handing Victoria warm water, not even looking at me: "You didn't hide it? Then how did Victoria's medication end up in your dresser drawer? I think we should chain you up with silver to stop you from always trying to bully her."

I was stunned—that medication was clearly something Victoria had secretly given me the night before, saying "Sister, this medicine makes me uncomfortable, can you keep it for me?" Turns out she'd been setting the trap from that moment.

Grayson frowned as if he wanted to say something, but Victoria suddenly started coughing, covering her face as she cried: "Uncle, am I being too much trouble? If I wasn't here, sister and everyone would be so much more relaxed..."

"Don't talk nonsense." Grayson immediately interrupted her, and when he turned to look at me, his voice carried more helplessness: "Ember, just donate some wolf essence to Victoria first. We can talk about everything else later, okay?"

I looked at the struggle in his eyes and suddenly remembered how in my previous life when he marked me, his fingertips were actually trembling, and he'd quietly said "Don't be afraid, I'll protect you."

I gave a wry smile. He was indeed very good to me and always protected me, unless Victoria shed tears in front of him.

When the needle pierced my vein, I could feel the wolf essence rapidly draining, and my vision began to darken. The healer frowned and said: "Mr. Grayson, Miss Ember's wolf essence reserves are too low. If we extract more it'll damage her wolf soul."

Victoria immediately said: "It's okay, I'll use less, just don't hurt sister..." But her hand secretly pressed on the healer's arm, saying in a voice only they could hear: "Draw more, or I'll have to 'hurt' again."

I forced myself to open my eyes and saw Grayson suddenly grab the healer's hand, pulling out the needle: "Enough, we can't draw anymore."

But Mother immediately shrieked: "Grayson! Have you lost your mind?! Victoria's still waiting to be saved! Ember's just faking it—she's perfectly healthy!"

"I'm not faking..." My voice trembled, but no one believed me. Finn even walked over and grabbed my arm: "Stop playing the victim here and come with me for another extraction!"

When the emergency room doors opened, Victoria suddenly "weakly" leaned into Grayson's embrace, looking at me softly and saying: "Sister, I'm sorry, did I make you suffer? If you don't want to donate, I... I can hold on."

This sentence was like adding fuel to fire—our parents got even angrier, and even Grayson's gaze toward me became more complicated. He probably also thought I was holding grudges against a sick person.

I laughed mockingly, forced myself to endure the dizziness, rolled down my sleeves, stood up and walked toward the exit. Outside the hospital, I looked at the brilliant engagement ring on my ring finger and suddenly remembered what Grayson said when he gave it to me: "Ember, when Victoria gets a little better, I'll take you to that forest you love."

Turns out he remembered everything—he just didn't know that Victoria would never "get better."

Without hesitation, I removed the ring and threw it into a trash can. In this life, I wouldn't believe Victoria's tears anymore, nor would I expect my family's favoritism. As for Grayson... if he could never wake up, then I didn't want this misguided "love" either.

Since everyone loved Victoria and no one loved Ember,

Then I'd damn well love myself!