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!

In my room, I skipped dinner and locked myself in, packing my final belongings.

Father and Mother assumed I was just throwing a tantrum, complaining outside my door.

"Her temper's getting worse and worse. It's just a few paintings—does she really need to give her sister attitude?"

"Exactly! I think she's getting too big for her britches!"

Amid all the criticism, Grayson gently knocked on my door.

"Ember, stop being angry. Come out and eat something, okay?"

I turned toward the door, feeling awful inside, but my eyes were dry.

I'd already shed too many tears—now I couldn't even cry anymore.

Outside, Finn irritably pulled Grayson away. "Uncle, don't bother with her. She just likes making a scene. Let's see how many meals she can skip."

I laughed.

One meal.

Because I was leaving tomorrow.

The next day, I got up extra early, but to my surprise, the Blackwood family was already gone.

Checking my phone, I discovered they'd left at dawn to pray to the Moon Goddess at the Sacred Grove.

They say the shrine there is very powerful, but you have to hike up on foot and hang your prayer tokens before sunrise.

No wonder they left so early—it was all for Victoria's blessing.

On social media, each of them had posted. Every photo and prayer token was about Victoria.

Father: "May Victoria be safe and happy forever!"

Mother: "My precious girl, may all your wishes come true!"

Finn: "May Victoria live a life of peace and joy!"

Grayson didn't post Victoria's photo, just a picture of a prayer token's text:

"Hoping for peace and lasting tranquility!"

In my previous life, Grayson had hung many prayer tokens on that sacred tree.

A man who never believed in gods or spirits, yet he visited that shrine almost every year.

Just because his prayer tokens contained the character for "my love," I always thought the person in his heart was me.

Only before I died did I learn that every prayer token had Victoria's name on the back.

All those years of one-sided emotional investment were nothing but a joke.

Fortunately, heaven gave me a second chance, and I finally woke up completely, refusing to repeat past mistakes.

My phone chimed with a text notification.

"Miss Blackwood, welcome to your forest residence. Please proceed to the airport immediately. Our staff will meet you there. We wish you every day on the forest to be filled with success and peace."

I smiled as I closed my phone, then placed the prepared document severing parental ties on the table.

Before leaving, something occurred to me. I stopped and removed the necklace from around my neck.

This was the family heirloom Grayson had given me when I'd successfully confessed my feelings years ago.

He'd said the person wearing this necklace would be his Luna, the future mistress of the Storm wind pack.

But now, I no longer had any desire to be his Luna.

I placed the heirloom on top of the severance document and left with my luggage.

Just then, my phone started buzzing frantically.

I paused and pulled it out.

The screen showed dozens of missed calls from Father, Mother, Finn, and Grayson.

I opened the group chat to find countless messages tagging me.

"Ember, Victoria accidentally fell down the mountain and her wolf is failing heavily. Get to the hospital right now for an essence transfusion!"

"You have thirty minutes—get to the hospital now!"

"If anything happens to Victoria, I'm holding you responsible!"

I paused for a moment, then expressionlessly exited the group chat and blocked them all one by one.

From now on, I would no longer be Victoria's essence bank, no longer Father and Mother's second daughter, no longer Finn's sister, and definitely no longer Grayson's fiancée.

I was Ember Blackwood, and only Ember Blackwood.

I turned for one last look at this place I'd lived for over twenty years, then dragged my luggage to the waiting car without looking back.