Chapter 002

As I left the garden that night, my legs felt weak, like they no longer belonged to me. Every step away from that table felt unreal, as if I were walking through someone else’s nightmare. I didn’t cry. Even with eyes full of tears, it refused to fall.

My heart felt hollow, scraped clean of anything soft.

I went straight to my room and locked the door behind me.

This room was the only place left that still felt like mine. My mother had helped decorate it years ago. The curtains, the shelves, even the little crack in the wall near the window...I knew them all. I leaned my back against the door and slid down slowly until I was sitting on the floor.

I thought it was over.

I thought they had taken enough from me.

I was wrong.

A knock came at the door.

My body stiffened. I didn’t answer at first.

Another knock. Softer this time.

"Evian," Kate’s voice called gently. "It’s me."

My fingers curled into fists.

I stood up and walked to the door. The moment I opened it and saw her face, calm and smiling, something ugly twisted in my chest. I wanted to slap her... but I held my face.

"Can we talk?" She said gently.

"I have nothing to say to you."

I tried to shut the door immediately, but she was faster. She placed her foot between the door and the frame and smiled wider.

"Don’t be rude." she said sweetly. Her hand reached out and held my wrist tightly. Her grip was stronger than it looked. "Francis is coming this way."

My breath caught.

Just then, footsteps sounded behind her. Francis appeared at the end of the hallway.

Kate’s expression changed instantly. Her eyes softened, her lips trembled.

"Francis," she said quietly. "I wanted to thank Evian… and also apologize. I feel terrible about what happened earlier. Can I talk to her? Alone?"

Francis hesitated, then nodded. "Alright. I’ll be downstairs."

He left without a glance at my way.

The moment his footsteps faded, Kate stepped fully into my room and shut the door behind her.

Then she laughed.

It wasn’t a soft laugh. It was sharp and ugly, filled with delight.

"Evian, Evian. My beloved sister. Look at you,"she said, slowly looking me up and down. "Still alive. I’m almost disappointed."

"What do you want?" I asked, my voice shaking despite myself.

She walked around my room like she owned it, touching my things with careless fingers.

"You know," she said casually, "people think you’re just dull. Academically weak. But that’s not true, is it?"

I said nothing.

Her smile widened. "You failed because of me. In fact you're a failure because I'm here."

My heart skipped. "What are you talking about?"

"Don't act too surprised. Of course it was simple to do." She chuckled. "I slept with the professor," she added plainly. "The one who supervised your finals. He failed you because I asked him to. A crazy doggy and he didn't hesitate."

The world tilted.

"You..." My throat closed. "Why? What the hell do you want from me?"

She shrugged. "Everything. And everything I want, I get."

She turned to face me, her eyes bright with excitement. "I don’t even like Francis. He’s boring. Predictable. But taking things from you?" She laughed again. "That’s fun. It's now like a hobby."

She stepped closer. "Your father. Your home. Your fiancé. Watching you lose everything, piece by piece… it’s entertaining."

My hands trembled.

"You know," she continued softly, cruelly, "you wouldn’t have gone through all this if you had just died with your miserable mother."

Something inside me snapped at that word.

I didn’t think twice.

I raised my hand and slapped her across the face, hard.

The sound echoed in the room.

Kate staggered back...but instead of crying, she laughed. A dark, chilling laugh.

"Oh, Evian," she said calmly. "You’re going to pay for that."

She looked at the door, then back at me. "Let’s see how your precious fiancé reacts."

Before I could understand what she meant, she screamed.

A loud, piercing scream that made me clamp my hands over my ears.

Then she reached at her side, lifted her blouse.

Before I could understand what was happening, she brought out a small table knife and cut herself across the arm.

Blood spilled instantly.

My eyes widened in horror. "Kate—stop! Are you insane?"

She dropped the knife and clutched her arm, her face twisting into pain just as the door burst open.

"Christ, Evian!"

Francis rushed in and went straight to her.

Kate collapsed into his arms, crying. "I only came to apologize," she sobbed. "I told her the marriage demand was wrong of me, that it was fake and she should just bear it for two months… and she attacked me. She said she’d kill me. If I hadn’t moved, the knife would’ve gone into my stomach."

I opened my mouth to speak.

But Francis didn’t listen.

He stepped toward me and slapped me hard across the face.

I fell to the floor.

My cheek burned as I stared up at him, tears filling my eyes. No matter what I said, no one would believe me. They never did.

Kate cried again and fainted dramatically.

The door opened once more.

My stepmother screamed when she saw her daughter on the floor. My half-brother rushed in after her.

Without a word, he grabbed my hair and yanked me up. I cried out in pain.

"That’s enough," Francis said. "Take Kate to the hospital."

I thought it was over.

But then he grabbed my arm and dragged me along.

"Let go of me!" I struggled weakly.

"What if she needs blood?" he said coldly. "You’ll give as many as she wants. You caused this."

I couldn’t even argue. I heard a sharp pain behind my neck. I was hit.

Slowly, everything went black.

When I woke up, I was in a hospital bed. My arm ached. I turned my head slowly and saw two blood packs with one already filled beside me and the other almost filled up.

I was dizzy. Weak.

Francis stood nearby.

"Kate was short on blood," he said flatly. "Don’t worry. I’ll have the doctor give you supplements."

When the second pack was done, he left with the doctor.

I laughed quietly, tears sliding into my hair.

I stayed there until night.

No one came.

Not my father. Not Francis.

I heard nurses whispering about how my half-sister was treated like a princess.

I was discharged alone.

When I got home, there was music. A small celebration.

Before I reached my room unnoticed, my half-brother blocked my path.

"You're back. You still need to apologize to Kate."

I ignored him.

Angrily, he pulled me back and slapped me.

My father watched and said nothing. Francis who said he would never let anyone bullied me watched in silence.

I was dragged to meet Kate that was seated beside Francis and forced to kneel by the same guards my mom had hired years ago.

"I didn’t do it," I said hoarsely. "She stabbed herself."

My father’s face hardened. "Since you’re not remorseful… I won’t tolerate the nonsense your late mother filled your head with."

He looked at my half-brother.

I understood.

They dragged me away.

Past laughter. Past music. Past my fiancé feeding my half-sister.

They locked me in the cold storage room.

The freezer was on.

I cried. I begged. I banged on the door.

No one came.

Cold seeped into my bones. I hugged myself, shaking violently.

"Mom…" I sobbed. "What should I do? I didn’t ask to be born. Who gave you permission to die and leave me?"

My vision blurred. And then everything went dark.