Chapter 1

With only three minutes left before I vanished, my spirit floated to my mother’s side.

She sat by my younger brother Lycus's temple bed, praying anxiously, "Lycus, open your eyes. Don't scare me like this, please."

My father stood nearby, his face twisted with rage. "If Aeolus had done his job and protected you, you wouldn't be suffering! Just wait. I'll beat him to death with my own hands!"

I watched from the shadows, bitterness flooding my chest.

"Father, save your strength. I'm already dead. Not that you care."

Around Lycus’s bed, the healers formed a tight circle.

Once they confirmed his injuries were only minor scratches, an old healer finally found the courage to ask, "Lady Althea, shouldn't we check on Aeolus? "

My mother's gentle expression instantly turned into disgust. She snarled, "What kind of act is he playing now? His body doesn't have a single scratch! Does he have no shame after what he did to his brother?"

I stared at her, frozen. Even though my heart had already burned to ash, my chest still throbbed with a painful, phantom ache.

I was their flesh and blood, too. Did they really not care about me at all?

Suddenly, Mom used her divine power to activate a transmission rune to my room.

A handmaiden held the glowing rune to my ear. Instead of the worry I hoped for, I only heard pure venom.

"Aeolus, how long do you plan to lie in bed? Get up right now and beg your brother's forgiveness!"

My soul instantly turned to ice, and the last spark of hope died inside me.

She had never cared about me.

I remembered when I was first carried into the temple, my chest hollowed out by that silent, invisible fire. I had begged Mom to save me. But she only snapped, "Can't you stop trying to get attention for once? Your brother almost broke a sacred bone!"

Then she walked away without looking back, taking every single healer with her to tend to Lycus.

How could a mother like her ever love me?

The handmaiden, unable to watch the cruelty any longer, spoke into the rune, "Lady Althea, His heart has stopped, and his pulse is completely gone."

But Mom, convinced I was still faking, let out a mocking laugh. "How much did that brat pay you to lie for him? There isn't a single mark on him! I can't believe he'd go this far!"

Just then, Lycus, who had been pretending to be unconscious, slowly stirred. He faked a weak voice and asked, "Mom, Dad... how is Aeolus?"

Looking at the obedient, caring boy on the bed, Mom's face darkened with even more disgust toward me. "Aeolus, why can't you be more like your brother? You caused his suffering, yet he's still worried about you.

"If you don't get here in the next three minutes to apologize, don't ever show your face to me again!"

She cut off the transmission, her chest heaving with anger.

Dad stood beside her, frowning. "Why even call him? He nearly got Lycus killed."

Lycus lowered his head, hiding the smug look in his eyes. When he looked up, he wore a guilty expression. "Mom, Dad, don't be mad at him. Aeolus has just hated me ever since I was chosen for the sacred pilgrimage instead of him. I understand why he hates me."

I let out a hollow laugh.

Even as I was fading away, Lycus was still trying to drive a wedge between me and my parents.

But my parents would never see through him. To them, he would always be the golden child.

And they would never know that Lycus provoked the goddess, and intentionally pushed the curse onto me.