Chapter 5

Yara sat quietly in her room.

The door opened behind her, and Westley stepped inside. “About today… we were wrong to blame you.”

Yara didn’t respond.

It was as though she hadn’t heard him, or maybe she just didn’t care.

She didn’t care about the three of them, so she didn’t care about being wronged or about his apology.

Westley felt a hollow ache in his chest. “Yara…”

But she remained turned away from him. “Westley, where’s my mattress?”

He froze.

Yara’s mattress had been a custom-made piece that cost a significant amount.

As a lawyer, she spent long hours sitting and reviewing case files, often for stretches that lasted hours on end.

Her back injury was severe—so much so that she’d sometimes wake up in pain.

On her doctor’s recommendation, she’d had the mattress specially designed to provide corrective support.

Westley said nothing.

Yara wasn’t surprised.

“Elena took it, didn’t she?”

Her voice was so calm, like a stagnant pool or an empty well, devoid of life.

Westley felt like his chest was stuffed with cotton, suffocating him. “Yara…”

The truth was that Yara had already noticed the missing mattress on her first night back from prison.

That evening, she’d casually asked Westley, “Why does the mattress feel different than before?”

He hadn’t answered, and she hadn’t pressed.

The next morning, as she passed by Elena’s room, she overheard voices from inside.

“Elena, give your sister her mattress back. She has noticed.”

“So what if she has?” Elena’s voice was light, almost mocking. “She’s spent a year in prison. They sleep on wooden boards there. Does she really deserve a luxury mattress like that?”

Westley said nothing more after that.

Yara knew his silence meant agreement.

Because she had been to prison, even sleeping on a decent mattress was deemed too much for her.

Yara knew for a long time that her time in prison would become an indelible stain on her life.

What she hadn’t expected was for it to become a blade wielded by those closest to her, stabbing directly into her heart.

Not content with just the initial wound, they twisted it, over and over, until her heart was left raw and bleeding.

…

Half a month after Yara’s release from prison, it was Elena’s birthday.

Early in the morning, the house was bustling with activity as the servants prepared for the evening’s grand celebration.

Yara glanced at the commotion downstairs before turning away with a bitter smile.

The third day after her release had been her own birthday.

While she was still in prison, she often imagined finally celebrating her birthday at home, surrounded by her family.

But when the day arrived, not a single person remembered.

She ended up cooking herself a plate of spaghetti, buying the smallest cake she could find, and singing “Happy Birthday” to herself in the dark.

“Happy birthday, Yara…”

The dim candlelight reflected her face, and she forced a fragile smile.

When she blew out the candle, tears streamed down her cheeks.

However, Elena’s birthday tonight was a completely different story.

The guests had already arrived, even before the official start of the banquet.

Elena, dressed in a pastel pink gown with a diamond tiara perched on her head, stood at the center of attention, basking in the adoration of the crowd.

Everyone competed to praise her—Robert’s younger daughter, the dazzling rising star of the legal world.

Yara stood in a forgotten corner, invisible to them all.

Midway through the banquet, a young woman approached Yara with a friendly smile.

"I just met Elena recently. Are you one of her friends? May I ask your name?"

"I'm Yara Cullen."

As soon as the words left her mouth, the girl’s smile vanished without a trace.

Rolling her eyes, she turned on her heel and muttered, "So it’s you. Why didn’t you just say so earlier..."

Around her, judgmental stares pierced through the crowd like arrows.

Suddenly, a man Yara didn’t recognize stepped in front of her. Without a word, he grabbed a glass of red wine from a waiter’s tray.

With a quick flick of his wrist, the crimson liquid poured down over her head, soaking her completely.