Chapter 1

Thirteen years separate Suri and me. By the time she was born, I had already started boarding school, coming home only once a month.

After I left for Northbridge University in Grayhaven, and later, when I stayed on to work in Halcyon City, I returned even less often. Sometimes I only came back a few days every six months, or even once a year.

Whenever I did come back, I could feel the way Suri looked at me with cold eyes, and the vague hostility she never bothered to hide.

I hadn’t paid much attention at the time. I assumed she was just shy and that she didn’t really know this older sister, who was hardly ever around.

Until today.

Suri lifted a brimming glass of ice water and dumped it straight over my head, soaking me from scalp to skin, cold enough to seep into my bones.

That was when I finally realized that Suri wasn’t merely unfamiliar with me. She seemed not to know I was her sister at all.

"Hey! Didn’t you hear what I said? Get out of my house right now! Our family has already been more than generous to you. You’re the one who doesn’t know your place, still trying to steal my parents from me!"

Her shrill voice stabbed at my ears. My hair clung to my scalp, dripping. My soaked clothes stuck cold against my skin, making irritation crawl through me.

Still, she was my biological sister, and she was young. I forced my anger down and pulled out a strained smile.

"Suri, I’m your sister. I’m also Mom and Dad’s daughter. It’s just that after you were born, I was busy and didn’t have much time to stay home with you…" I spoke gently, patiently, trying to soothe her.

Alas, the apology or understanding I expected never came.

Instead, Suri’s small face flushed a furious red, her eyes blazing with raw hatred.

"You’re lying!" she screamed in a thin, piercing voice. "I’m the only one Mom and Dad love. I’m going to beat you to death!"

Suri raised her hand high, then hurled the glass straight at my forehead.

I had no time to react. Something flashed across my vision, then a sharp explosion of pain tore through my temple as the thick glass shattered against my head.

Blood poured instantly from the wound, splattering onto the floor in vivid red droplets. Some shards embedded themselves in my skin, barely millimeters from my eye.

For a child to strike that hard, she had clearly meant to cause real harm.

The anger that had been building inside me finally snapped. No matter her age, attacking someone with a weapon deserved consequences.

Clutching my bleeding forehead, I struggled to push myself up—

Only for a crushing weight to slam down on my head.

Before I could react, Suri had dropped her full body onto me, sitting squarely on my skull. She bounced there, chanting viciously, "How dare you steal my parents, you witch? I’m going to stomp you into the ground!"

Beneath my face lay the broken glass Suri had just smashed. When she dropped her weight onto me, I barely had time to throw my arms up to shield my eyes.

The lower half of my face and my forearms were driven straight into the jagged shards. They punched deep into my flesh, pain so intense it nearly knocked me unconscious.

Above me, Suri kept jumping up and down, each impact forcing the embedded glass deeper, grinding it through my skin.

I was an adult. Although I was injured, pain could unleash terrifying strength.

"That’s enough!" I twisted violently, throwing Suri off my head and scrambling to my feet.

Blood streamed from the gashes across my face. The shards were so large and rough. Under gravity, the fragments began to fall away with soft clattering sounds, leaving behind horrifying, crater-like wounds.

With my chest heaving, I covered my face, a scream tearing up my throat.