Grayson spun around abruptly, his gaze equally tense.

"Ember, what's going on? You're leaving home?"

My heart jolted. In my rush to catch the rogue wolf, I'd forgotten to hide my suitcase. I gripped the wound in my sleeve tighter and forced a calm smile. "Seeing you all travel made me want to get away too, so I packed my stuff ahead of time. That way I can pick a destination and leave right away."

Victoria immediately walked over, clinging to Grayson's arm coquettishly: "Uncle, sister probably just wants to clear her head, don't worry. But sister, if you leave and I suddenly need wolf essence, what am I gonna do?" She deliberately brought up "wolf essence," reminding everyone of the purpose of my existence.

Father and Mother's faces immediately darkened. "Get away? What for! Didn't I tell you to stay by Victoria's side forever!"

"Exactly! What if Victoria feels sick in the middle of the night and you're not here? If something happens, who's gonna take responsibility? Have you forgotten why we had you!"

Grayson looked at my pale face, suddenly feeling uneasy. He remembered when he'd bought the engagement gift a few days ago, I'd casually mentioned "wanting to find a place with forests to paint." Was I actually serious? But Victoria tugged on his hand again: "Uncle, sister's probably just throwing a tantrum. When she comes to her senses, she'll come back. If you push her, she'll definitely get angrier."

He hesitated—on one side was the resolve in Ember's eyes, on the other was Victoria's "understanding," and ultimately he chose to believe the latter: "Ember, if you wanna go somewhere, that's fine, but give us a heads up. It's too dangerous alone."

I laughed silently to myself. He still didn't get it—where I was going was a forest they'd never be able to find.

A few days later was mine and Victoria's birthday. Though we were three years apart, our birthdays happened to fall on the same day, but there was always only one cake in the house—Victoria's favorite strawberry cake, with candles matching only her age.

In my previous life I'd naively asked Mother "why aren't there candles for me," but Mother said "two cakes would be wasteful, you can blow them out together with Victoria." Now I realized it wasn't about waste—they simply didn't want my birthday to steal any of Victoria's spotlight.

At the birthday party, pink balloons filled the living room. Victoria stood in the center wearing a princess dress Grayson had bought her, unwrapping gift after gift. "Thanks for the bracelet, Mom!" "Thanks for the stuffed animal, Brother!" "Uncle, this gemstone necklace is gorgeous!"

Everyone crowded around her while nobody noticed me standing in the corner, clutching a birthday card I'd drawn myself—something I never got to give in my previous life, and now there was even less point.

"Hey Uncle, why do you have two boxes for your gift?"

Victoria picked up two similarly wrapped boxes, looking at Grayson with confusion.

Everyone's curious gazes followed, and Grayson somewhat awkwardly handed one box to me.

"This one's for you."

I took the box, my fingertips recognizing the familiar weight—in my previous life he'd given me the same box, containing a freebie that came with Victoria's necklace. Sure enough, opening it revealed a cheap bracelet, while Victoria held a necklace studded with rubies.

Finn couldn't help laughing: "Oh, so it's a freebie. Pretty fitting for Ember."

Mother chimed in: "Yeah, Ember doesn't usually wear jewelry anyway. Giving her something too nice would just be a waste."

Victoria pretended to be shocked, covering her mouth: "Oh! So this was a freebie? Uncle, why didn't you say so earlier? I thought you'd gotten sister something really nice!" As she spoke, she secretly raised her eyebrows at me, her eyes full of smugness.

I said nothing, just quietly threw the bracelet in the trash when no one was looking.

After the party ended, Victoria suddenly said: "I just got my license and want to drive everyone home today. Is that okay?"

Father and Mother immediately agreed: "Sure! Our Victoria's so capable!"

Finn also smiled: "I'll ride shotgun and keep an eye on things for you."

They all forgot I was still standing by the garage door. Before driving, Victoria deliberately glanced at me, then said to Finn: "Brother, sister's standing behind me. I'm worried about hitting her when I back up. Could you ask her to move aside?"

Finn waved his hand: "Ember, move it! Don't block Victoria's driving!"

I was about to step forward when I saw Victoria's lips curve into a sinister smile. The next second, accompanied by the screech of brakes, the car slammed into me hard, knocking me to the ground.

As my consciousness faded, I heard Victoria's fake crying: "Sister! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! I hit the wrong pedal!" Then came Mother's screaming: "Ember!"

So she'd never intended to let me live from the very beginning.

When I woke up again, I was lying in the hospital's ICU, my whole body aching.

I never would have dreamed that after giving so many essence transfusions to Victoria throughout my life, when I was facing life and death, not a single person would be willing to use Victoria's essence to save me —especially when this car accident was orchestrated by her all along!

The doctor was negotiating with my family outside the door, his voice filtering through the crack: "Ember's wolf soul was severely damaged in the crash. She needs an immediate essence transfusion or she won't make it through the night! Victoria and her wolf soul share the same origin—they have the highest compatibility rate. Why won't you let Victoria donate?"

I heard Mother's urgent voice: "No way! How could Victoria donate wolf essence? She's so frail, something might happen to her if she donates!"

Father chimed in: "Exactly! Think of some other solution, find other compatible people. We'll pay whatever it costs!"

Finn's voice was full of anger: "Ember got hit because she wasn't careful—why should Victoria have to sacrifice herself?"

Finally came Grayson's ice-cold, decisive voice: "I'll definitely find another donor for Ember."

My heart felt like it was being pierced by ten thousand arrows. I remembered how his fingers trembled when he marked me in my previous life; remembered the night light he secretly left for me; remembered when he gave me the engagement gift and asked "is this enough to buy a forest"—turns out those were all just my delusions. When it came to Victoria, I would always be the one who could be sacrificed.

Intense pain washed over me again, and I sank back into darkness.

When I woke up next, three days had passed. Opening my eyes, the first person I saw was Grayson. He was slumped over the bedside asleep, his eyes bloodshot, clutching a piece of paper—it was a forest sketch I'd drawn before, though I had no idea where he'd found it.

Hearing my movement, he immediately woke up, his eyes full of surprise: "Ember, you're awake! Does anything hurt? I'll get the doctor!"

As he turned to call the doctor, I noticed blood stains on his cuffs—my blood from the car accident, which he apparently still hadn't washed.

After the doctor's examination, he said: "Fortunately we found a compatible wolf essence donor just in time, otherwise it really would have been dangerous."

Grayson sat by the bed, carefully tucking in my blanket: "What do you want to eat? I'll have the kitchen make it for you."

"That day... I'm sorry, it wasn't that I didn't want to save you, it's just Victoria she..." He wanted to say something but stopped—he couldn't explain why between me and Victoria, he always chose the latter.

I looked at the guilt in his eyes, but my heart remained completely calm. He might love me, but I didn't need it anymore.

After Grayson left, I asked the nurse, "Who ended up donating essence to me?"

The nurse sighed: "It was a healer from our hospital. He was supposed to be on vacation but rushed back specifically when he heard about your condition. Your family's really weird though—we tried persuading them for ages, but they refused to let your sister donate. They even said 'Ember's tough, she'll definitely pull through.'"

During my hospital stay, Father and Mother never came to see me once. Only Grayson came every day. He'd bring me the blueberry cake I used to like and read me books about forests, but never mentioned Victoria.

I knew Victoria must be calling him every day, using "feeling unwell" to cling to him. Sure enough, I once overheard him on the phone in the hallway, his voice full of helplessness: "Victoria, I know you're not feeling well, but Ember's still hospitalized. I can't leave for too long..."

On discharge day, he came to pick me up as promised. Just as we reached the hospital entrance, his phone rang. Seeing the caller ID, his expression immediately changed—it was Victoria.

He answered the call, his voice immediately softening: "What's wrong? Are you feeling sick again?"

I don't know what was said on the other end, but his brow furrowed and his knuckles went white gripping the phone: "Don't be difficult, I need to take Ember home right now... Okay, okay, I'll come over immediately. Don't get upset."

After hanging up, he looked at me somewhat guiltily: "Ember, Victoria says she suddenly feels dizzy. I need to take her to the hospital first. Can you take a cab home by yourself?"

I nodded calmly. "Sure, go ahead."

Watching his car disappear from sight, I tugged at the corner of my mouth—Victoria had used "dizziness" to trick him away again, just like countless times in my previous life.

I turned off my phone and hailed a cab directly to the Alpha Council—this time, I wouldn't let Victoria get away with it.

When I returned home from the Alpha Council, the house was empty. I was just about to head upstairs when I heard footsteps at the door.

The door opened, and Father and Mother walked in first, their faces livid. Then Finn came in supporting Victoria, who was trembling and sobbing. Her eyes were red and swollen, making her look particularly pitiful.

Seeing me, Father immediately rushed over, pointing at my nose and cursing: "You crazy girl! What the hell do you think you're doing? Did you report Victoria's car accident to the Alpha Council?"

Victoria immediately threw herself into Mother's arms, crying: "Mom, I'm sorry, it's all my fault! I shouldn't have been driving. I hurt sister and got everyone interrogated by the council..." As she spoke, she secretly pinched Mother's arm with her nails—reminding Mother to take her side.

Mother got angry as expected: "Victoria just hit the wrong pedal—it wasn't on purpose! Why would you report her? You want her to go to prison? How can you be so vicious!"

Finn also chimed in: "You only got a little hurt, but do you know how long Victoria was interrogated? Three hours! She's so frail, how could she endure that kind of ordeal? If we hadn't signed that settlement agreement, she would've suffered even more!"

I was so furious I laughed. For the first time, I dared to look at them with defiant eyes: "Yeah, I reported it to the council. So what? She deliberately hit me with the car—shouldn't she be punished?"

"Deliberately?" Mother sneered. "Victoria's so kind-hearted, how could she deliberately hit you? You must have been careless! Last time you fought with Victoria over paintbrushes and even pushed her down, and now you want to frame her again!"—she remembered Victoria's previous "grievances," completely forgetting that Victoria had been the one to steal my paints that time.

Father also said: "Ember, can't you be more sensible? Stop always going against your sister!"

Victoria secretly raised her head, seeing the despair in my eyes, and a barely noticeable smile tugged at her lips. She knew that as long as she played the victim, the family would always take her side.

Suddenly, Father grabbed a silver whip from nearby, raising his hand to strike me: "Today I'm gonna teach you a proper lesson about what it means to be obedient!"

I closed my eyes, waiting for the whip to fall, but heard Grayson's roar: "Stop it!"

He'd come back at some point and rushed over to grab Father's hand, snatching the silver whip away. Looking at the unhealed wounds on my arm, his eyes were full of heartache: "She's already injured—what more do you want?"

Victoria immediately ran over crying, tugging on Grayson's arm: "Uncle, don't blame Mom and Dad. It's my fault. I shouldn't have made sister angry... Sister must be deliberately getting revenge on me because I postponed your ceremony."

Her words were like a thorn piercing Grayson's heart. He looked at me, his eyes full of disappointment: "Ember, did you really report this to the council because of the ceremony?"

I looked at the suspicion in his eyes and suddenly felt incredibly ironic. So even when he saw me being beaten, he'd still believe Victoria's words.

I bit my lip until I tasted blood, then endured the bloody tears to say word by word: "You don't want me as your daughter—do you think I want parents like you?"

"You brought me into this world and forced me to be Victoria's essence bank. Did you ever ask if I was willing?"

"She deliberately hit me with the car, and you defend her; she steals my paintings, and you call me petty; she lies and frames me, and you say I'm being difficult..."

My voice grew smaller and smaller, until I was almost choking as I said: "I've had enough. I don't want to be her shadow anymore."

Father and Mother were both stunned—they'd never seen me look so desperate. Grayson was also stunned.

He suddenly remembered all the details he'd ignored: Victoria getting "sick" always coincided with when I needed him; my paintings mysteriously disappearing; the increasing number of needle marks on my wrist...

Could it be that he'd been wrong all along?

He stepped forward to help me up. "Ember, I..."

I shook my head with a bitter smile and turned to walk away.

Grayson instinctively wanted to follow, but behind him Victoria suddenly clutched her head and collapsed backward.

"Uncle, my head hurts so much..."

He stopped in his tracks and ultimately turned back toward Victoria.