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.

The silver whip wounds from that beating kept me bedridden for two whole days.

Until my phone buzzed with a message from the staff, informing me that the paperwork for purchasing the forest was complete. That isolated forest was now mine!

I was overjoyed and immediately called the number.

The person on the other end confirmed with me repeatedly. "Miss Ember, are you certain you want to move to the forest in three days?"

I had never been more sure of anything. "Yes, I'm certain."

The staff member replied, "Very well, Miss Ember. We'll escort you to the forest in three days as scheduled."

Just as I hung up, Grayson suddenly pushed open the door.

"Move to what forest?"

I put away my phone and changed the subject. "It's nothing, Uncle. Did you need something?"

He didn't press further, simply answering, "Your competition entry won an award. The organizers invited you to the ceremony the day after tomorrow."

If Grayson hadn't mentioned it, I would have nearly forgotten. I was quite skilled at painting and had qualified for the finals of a prestigious national competition a month ago. I never expected to actually win.

On the day of the ceremony, Victoria insisted that the whole family accompany me to the event.

"Ember, you're my sister! Of course we have to witness your moment of glory!"

But then her tone shifted, and she sighed with apparent regret.

"I wish I could win an award too, but my health has been so poor that I haven't had time to learn painting."

"But that's okay—you winning is just like me winning!"

I didn't respond, but I had an ominous feeling in my heart.

The awards ceremony began, and finally came the moment to announce the gold medal winner.

I sat in the audience, sweating nervously.

This award was important to me—it was recognition of my work and validation from industry peers.

The host took out the winner's list, suddenly looking confused. But after a moment, he recovered and announced:

"Let's congratulate our gold medal winner—Victoria Blackwood!"

The audience erupted in confusion. No one had heard this name before, and people whispered quietly.

"Who is Victoria Blackwood? Some industry newcomer?"

"I have no idea. I distinctly heard the gold medal should go to Ember Blackwood for her painting 'Sunset'!"

I sat frozen for a long time before snapping back to reality. Just as I was about to stand and question the organizers, Finn yanked me back down.

"Enough. I contacted the organizers an hour ago to make the switch and put Victoria on stage."

"Victoria enjoys the feeling of glory. From now on, all your work will be published under Victoria's name."

I turned around in disbelief. Father and Mother looked proudly at Victoria on stage, then glanced at me dismissively. "Don't compete with your sister. It's just one award."

Grayson's gaze was intense, all his attention focused on the radiant Victoria on stage. He completely failed to notice my pale face.

In that moment, I felt ice-cold all over.

Once again, Victoria had stolen what belonged to me.

And the accomplices were all of them.

Amid the applause, Victoria thanked everyone—everyone except me.

Back at the Blackwood house, I went to my room and gathered all my artwork.

Along with the stuffed animals I'd saved three months of allowance to buy, the handmade dolls I'd carved alone in my room, and my worn-out clothes and dresses.

Then I took all these things to the living room and dumped them in front of Victoria.

Victoria jumped in surprise. "Ember, what are you doing?"

I pointed at the pile on the ground, my voice calm. "Didn't they tell me to give you all my artwork? Well, here's not just my work, but everything I own. It's all yours."

After speaking, I looked around at everyone, thinking bitterly to myself:

And Dad, Mom, brother, Uncle—I don't want them anymore either. She can have them all!