Chapter 3

Lucien drove back to the place where he had left me the day before.

The sun was about to rise, and the mist had not yet fully dissipated.

There was not a single figure on the empty road.

In that moment he felt a wave of panic.

He felt as if he had lost something extremely important.

When he read the message I had sent him, that feeling grew even stronger.

Back at the villa, I began packing my luggage.

Even though my heart ached, I still decided to end this relationship.

Lucien called, but I did not answer.

I only stared at the screen, watching it light up and then go dark again.

The man who had once promised to share eternity with me had chosen Evelyn over me at the birthday party I had looked forward to most.

My brothers were the same.

It seemed no one had ever firmly stood behind me.

When I was little I got lost and wandered for several years. Not until I was ten did my family find me.

By then the family already had a girl about my age.

I stood in the living room, filthy all over—the traces left by years of living on the streets.

I looked up at Evelyn. She wore a pretty dress and stood on the second floor, with tall Xavier and Jack behind her.

In her eyes I saw contempt and disgust, as if I were a dirty vagrant rummaging for food in a garbage heap.

She offered to teach me manners, yet repeatedly humiliated me in front of the maids.

She refused to let me eat with her and tore up the pretty dresses and exquisite dolls my parents had given me.

Afterwards she would tell my parents that I had wandered for too long, that I was withdrawn, selfish, and a habitual liar.

To fit into this family I tried hard to be obedient and friendly. Even when Evelyn bullied me, I stayed silent.

All I received was more bullying.

My family’s attitude toward me grew colder day by day.

They said Evelyn was an elegant young lady, while I was an uncultured wild girl.

They said I had picked up the base habits of a street rat, that I was vulgar and worthless.

They even said I was worse than the maid’s daughter.

Only then did I realize that the girl my family treated as their own was actually the maid’s child.

In those dark days when my entire family despised me, only Lucien wanted to be my friend.

Now even he was going to leave me behind.

I did not answer his calls, so Lucien brought Evelyn, her daughter, and my two brothers straight to my house.

Ever since Evelyn had dissolved her blood bond with her partner, she had returned more and more frequently.

This villa felt more like Evelyn’s home than mine.

Whether she was present or not, her room was always kept tidy.

It had the best natural light in the entire house.

Even though she rarely returned, the room was cleaned every day and no one was allowed to enter.

When I came downstairs, Lucien rushed toward me and pulled me into his arms.

“Camilla, I know you’re angry. You haven’t been answering my calls. I came to apologize. Can you forgive me?”

The moment I saw Lucien, tears I could not hold back streamed down my face.

Seeing me cry, he panicked. He clumsily tried to wipe the tears from my face while softly comforting me.

Evelyn angrily slapped the half-eaten cookie out of Lily’s hand.

The next moment she turned to me, her expression flustered and uneasy, her voice trembling with emotion.

“Camilla, I’m sorry. I really thought you invited me. The only reason I brought Lily to the birthday party was because of that. It’s all my fault. Please don’t be angry at Lucien, okay?”

“He was already very tired yesterday, but he still drove all the way back to find you. I was really worried something might happen to him on the road.”

She was about to say more when Lucien interrupted her. He looked at me, his eyes full of deep remorse.

“Camilla, this has nothing to do with anyone else. It’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have forgotten to come back for you. Evelyn didn’t know anything. She’s innocent.”

I stared at him blankly. It felt as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over me; my whole body turned ice-cold.

From the day before, I had been grieving over what Lucien had done. The moment I saw him I especially wanted to ask why he suddenly no longer loved me, but I never had the chance to say it.

All I saw was him defending someone else.

He was afraid I would take my anger out on Evelyn, afraid I would blame her. So he took all the blame onto himself.