chapter 1

Chapter 1

“It’s no longer our concern whether she cries or not. What matters now is Sarah’s health. Sarah really needs us here right now.”

Arthur’s voice from the other end of the phone sounded so cold, cutting through the silence of the family room at the Carter residence.

Ivy immediately ended the call. Not long afterward, the phone screen that was still lit on the table displayed a photo sent by Sarah. Arthur, Jensen, Redy, and their parents were standing around a hospital bed. On the white bed, Sarah Sechan—the girl who had only been living in this house for a month—was smiling faintly at the camera, staring directly into the lens as if she were mocking someone who had been left alone at home.

Ivy Vanessa Carter lowered her trembling hand. The phone was left lying beside the birthday cake decorated with number 20 candles that had begun to melt. It was twelve fifteen. Today was her birthday, the day she turned twenty years old.

The large room felt so silent. There was no laughter, no warm embrace, and no longer the usual bickering greetings from her three older brothers, who normally always waited until exactly midnight just to be the first ones to wish her a happy birthday.

Ivy hugged her knees. Her chest suddenly felt tight and painful.

Her memories drifted back to the time when she was first brought into this house at the age of five. From the orphanage, Mr. and Mrs. Carter had pulled her into a world filled with luxury. At that time, Mrs. Carter had cried hysterically while hugging her tightly, calling out the name of a missing baby girl. Ivy’s little face did indeed look remarkably similar to the portrait of the baby inside the silver frame hanging in the living room—the biological child of the Carter family who had disappeared after being kidnapped when she was only two years old, leaving her mother with a severe depressive wound.

From that day on, Ivy became the center of the Carter family’s universe. Arthur, Jensen, and Redy treated her like a little queen. Arthur, the quiet one, always bought her anything she liked; Jensen, the second eldest brother, always spoiled her; and Redy, the youngest, was always possessive of her. For years, their birthdays were always celebrated together as six people, filled with laughter.

However, all that warmth had begun to crack a month ago.

Mr. Carter had suddenly returned home with Sarah Sechan and a sheet of DNA test results stating that the girl was his biological daughter who had gone missing. And Sarah, who had only been part of the Carter family for a month, had completely changed the way the family treated Ivy. Mrs. Carter’s smile was no longer for Ivy, but for Sarah. And what broke Ivy’s heart the most was how her three brothers—the people who had once sworn to protect her—had turned against her so quickly, as if Ivy’s presence all this time had meant nothing.

Ivy stared at the candle whose flame had already gone out, leaving behind a thin wisp of smoke rising into the air. On the table, the birthday cake looked so meaningless. For the past fourteen years, from the age of six to nineteen, they had always blown out those candles together. Now, she was celebrating her twentieth birthday alone, accompanied by the remnants of the silence in the house that felt increasingly unfamiliar.

The tears she had been holding back finally spilled. She cried silently, burying her face in the crook of her arm on the cold table until she slowly lost consciousness from exhaustion and the pain tormenting her physically and mentally.

The morning sunlight crept through the gap in the window curtains, illuminating the marble floor of the dining room. Ivy slowly blinked, feeling her neck stiff from sleeping in an uncomfortable position all night beside the birthday cake, which had now dried out.

The sound of hurried footsteps came from the direction of the main corridor. Arthur, Jensen, and Redy appeared together, still wearing the clothes they had worn the night before, looking exhausted.

Ivy lifted her head with the last remnants of her strength, staring at the three men she loved the most with eyes that were still swollen. Her throat felt constricted, but she still spoke in a trembling voice.

“Why didn’t you come home last night?”

Arthur stopped right in front of the table. Without looking into Ivy’s eyes, the eldest man placed his jacket on the chair with a rough movement before answering without a care, “Because your birthday isn’t important, Ivy. What’s far more important right now is Sarah’s health.”

Ivy froze, as though those words had just struck her right in the pit of her stomach. The air around her suddenly felt so thin that her lungs struggled to breathe. Her hand, which was gripping the edge of the dining table, trembled violently as her eyes remained fixed on Arthur’s back as he began to turn away from her and head toward the kitchen.

“Not important...?” Ivy’s voice came out softly, caught in her throat, which felt dry and burning. She rose from her chair, her knees feeling weak, refusing to appear that vulnerable in front of them. “You’re saying my birthday isn’t important? After we celebrated it together for fourteen years, today you’re ignoring me for a woman who has only been living in this house for a month?”

Jensen, who had remained silent until then, finally let out a long sigh. He rubbed his temple for a moment before looking at Ivy.

“Don’t be selfish, Ivy,” Jensen said without a trace of regret. “Sarah is in a critical condition and needs our full attention. You’re already an adult. Don’t sulk like a child just because you missed one day of celebration.”

Ivy felt the tightness in her chest growing worse. The tears she had tried to hold back since last night once again threatened to spill, blurring her vision. “I’m not sulking, Brother Jensen! Today is my twentieth birthday! You promised you would stay with me to blow out the candles tonight!”

Before Jensen could respond, Redy stepped forward with an extremely fed-up expression. The youngest brother, who had once always been her foremost protector, now folded his arms across his chest and stared at Ivy with accusing eyes.

“Stop making a scene this early in the morning, Ivy,” Redy cut in sharply, his voice filled with annoyance. “If I’d known you were going to act childish and be jealous of our biological sister like this, then it would have been better if you had never...”

Redy suddenly stopped speaking, but the words he failed to say were far more painful than a physical slap.

Ivy gasped, her breathing ragged as she struggled to withstand the overwhelming blow of emotion. The unfinished sentence hung in the air, slicing the last fragments of her sanity into pieces. So, was this the limit of the false affection they had given her all this time? The moment their real biological sister returned, she was simply discarded like a broken object that was no longer useful.

“So now you really think I mean nothing to you?” Ivy whispered faintly, her voice trembling violently as she struggled to hold back the sobs that were about to break free. “Have you really forgotten me that easily?”