"If I were Andrew, I wouldn’t want everyone in Riverdale to know I had such a shabby sister. Wouldn’t that just be giving people a stab at my back?"

Andrew Gardner’s face darkened in displeasure. "Everyone, shut up! How could you possibly say anything bad about Vivian? Remember this: even if she can’t ever enter the Gardner estate in this lifetime, she’s still the eldest daughter of our family, my sister, Andrew Gardner. If anyone dares to slander her again, don’t blame me for turning hostile."

Everyone fell silent.

At this moment, Andrew’s phone rang in his pocket.

Seeing the call from My Little Princess flashing on the screen,

his gloomy expression instantly softened. When he answered, Emily’s voice was full of joy and surprise.

"Brother, are you really giving me Master Daniel’s posthumous crown? Wasn’t that the one you ordered for me?"

"Yes, it’s for you. It’ll arrive tomorrow. My little princess, aren’t you worried about losing your love? Are you?"

Emily feigned concern. "Will I be upset if I find out?"

"Little fool, you’re my only precious sister. Your happiness is my priority. Nothing else matters."

Emily exclaimed happily.

"Thank you, brother. I knew you were the best to me. Wait until my birthday party. I want you to put the crown on my head."

"Okay, whatever you say."

After the call ended, the surroundings immediately erupted in laughter.

"Andrew, the doting brother, said he was second to me." But no one dares to claim first place.

"That’s Master Daniel’s posthumous crown. I heard it’s worth a billion. Who’s the real sister? Such a huge expense!"

Andrew’s lips curled with a doting smile.

"Emily has been pampered by me. I can’t bear to see her suffer even a little, so of course, the best is best for her. Vivian is different. She’s used to being simple, so she doesn’t deserve such expensive jewelry. I’ve had someone prepare a set of silver jewelry for her. Five hundred dollars is a lot of money for her."

The wind blew in from the window, carrying a salty, astringent smell that made my eyes sting.

So, my brother never even considered taking me home.

Eight years of ‘misfortune’ were just an excuse to keep me out.

Just to prevent me from stealing the affections of his only precious sister.

How ridiculous that I never doubted it, fearing that my bad luck would bring disaster upon him.

In fact, he could have told me that he didn’t want me as a sister.

I would have left. But why did he use eight years of lies to trap me in his hypocritical care?

He made me so happy he loved me that I swallowed the heat in my eyes.

Footsteps approached from inside the door, and I swallowed hard.

Before I could leave, my brother had already opened the door.

The moment he saw me, panic flashed in his eyes.

"Vivian, how long have you been here?"

I pinched my fingers together, pressing them white under the strain.

I looked at him calmly and reminded him, "I just arrived. Today is the fifteenth."

The fifteenth!

It was the only day of the month when my brother agreed to have dinner with me.

During the eight years I’d been living away from home, my brother always told me,

Even if I couldn’t return to the Gardner family for a while, I would always be the eldest daughter of the Gardner family, his only precious sister.

The fifteenth of every month is the night of the family reunion.

For eight years, he had never missed this day.

My brother smiled suddenly and gently rubbed my head.

"Well, let’s go. I’ll have dinner with you."

I had just taken a bite of my food when the doorbell rang. Emily arrived uninvited. "Brother, I came specially to have dinner with you."

Just as I was about to refuse, she squeezed in.

"Wow, so many delicious dishes, all seafood! Brother is so kind to me! I don’t have the luxury of eating his own cooking."

She picked up her chopsticks and was about to take some food, but I raised my hand to stop her.

"I didn’t invite you. Please leave."

She froze for a moment, her lips trembling slightly, her face full of grievance.

"Brother, I mean no harm. I just wanted to have dinner with you."

I looked at her, my voice soft. "Every month, you have twenty-nine days to eat with him. I only have one day."

Andrew Gardner frowned; his steps about to move forward stopped abruptly.

Emily’s tears suddenly fell.

"I… I understand."

"You’re siblings. I’m an outsider, sobbing. I’m leaving now."

She choked out, turned around, and ran out. I accidentally knocked over the potted plant by the door and fell.

My brother’s hand on the shoe cabinet suddenly tightened, and he stepped forward to help her up with a harsh tone.

"Emily, there should be a limit to your pretentiousness. Today was supposed to be my day to have dinner with Vivian. Who asked you to come?"

"Don’t think that just because Vivian can’t return to the Gardner family for the time being, you’ve truly become the eldest daughter of the Gardner family."

"If you’ve fallen, go to the hospital yourself. I won’t take you."

Emily bit her lip, tears welling in her eyes for a long time before she finally couldn’t hold back and ran away crying.

My brother stared at her back, then stiffly closed the door and sat down.

"Vivian, don’t worry about her. She’s a bad habit. Today, I’ll be with you no matter what."

I looked at the chopsticks he held upside down in his hand and lowered my eyes calmly. He checked his phone over twenty times in ten minutes. Then he answered a call and told me, apologetically, "Vivian, something urgent has happened at the company. I’ll pick you up tomorrow for a dress fitting." Before I could respond, he hurried away.

I put down my chopsticks and scratched the red bumps that kept popping up on my arms.

I opened my drawer and found I’d finished my allergy medicine. I had no choice but to put on my coat and go to the hospital.

At the hospital stairwell, as I emerged with my medicine, I saw Emily, sobbing in grief, and her brother, coaxing her softly.

I stood on the steps, peering through the bustling crowd.

I watched my brother, with his severe mysophobia, kneel on one knee, gently massaging Emily’s foot.

Emily, draped in his expensive suit jacket, nibbled at the seafood in her lunch box.

My brother glanced at her and, unfazed, wiped the grease from her mouth with his sleeve. Emily pouted and snorted, "Didn’t my brother say I’m not the eldest daughter of the Gardner family? Then why are you looking for me? Go stay with your sister."

My brother was caught off guard and was pushed to the ground.

But his expression didn’t contain any anger, only a hint of helplessness and doting indulgence.

"Little Ancestor, who am I saying this to?"

"The reason I didn’t let you stay for dinner is that I had people buy pre-made seafood. This one you have is the one I personally selected and cooked."

"I know you love seafood, so I pick the best and freshest. It’s much better than what Vivian eats."

The stinging pain from the seafood allergy seemed to suddenly intensify, making me unsteady.

Emily smiled contentedly. "Silly girl, Vivian is different from you."

"She was lost when she was little, and has been through so many hardships. No one loves her, no one cares for her. She’s suffered so much. If I give her a little sweetness, she’ll be grateful."

"A few cheap, pre-made dishes will make her happy. If she’s happy, she won’t challenge your position. Why don’t you understand my good intentions?"

"Don’t go to her place anymore, Emily. Her place is small and inconvenient. If you get hurt, it’s me who’ll feel bad."

Emily snorted, dissatisfied. "I just don’t want to see her monopolize my brother, not even for a single day. My brother is mine. Who is she? She’s lost, so why would she come back? Can’t she just die out there?!"

My brother scratched her nose indulgently. "Okay, okay, I’ll find an excuse from now on and not go to Emily anymore. I’ll just spend every day with my little princess, okay?"

"Hmph, that’s more like it."

A surge of pain rushed through my heart, and I leaned against the wall, somewhat exhausted.

So, this is what my brother always thought. The more I’ve suffered, the more I should be content. Even a small favor is enough to make me willingly abandon.

To be Miss Gardner, a lifelong lover of no one.

He’s worked so hard, sacrificing himself so much for his precious sister.

He even has to set aside one day every month to persuade me not to covet his sister’s position.

But clearly, before I was five,

he said I was the only little princess he loved in this world.

He said he wanted his sister to live a happy, carefree life.

So, my name is Vivian.

I thought he would remember what he promised.

But it turns out I was the only one who remembered.

Tears fell without warning, burning my cheeks.

The old wound in my heart suddenly throbbed, and I remembered the doctor’s advice that emotional fluctuations could relapse.

I desperately raised my head, and the tears I’d suppressed flowed into my throat, bitter and astringent.

I turned away from the two laughing and joking people. I turned silently, walked into the crowd, and left alone.

Perhaps, I should have left long ago. After all, there’s someone who truly loves me, waiting for me far away.

Andrew Gardner seemed to sense something and hurriedly looked up, but found nothing.

He clutched his chest, which was a little uncomfortable, and pulled out his phone to send a message to his assistant.

The assistant quickly replied,

"Mr. Gardner, I personally handed the invitation to Miss Vivian. She looked at it and put it in her bag. She didn’t react too strongly."

Andrew finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He knew I cared about him so much that I would silently accept whatever decision he made.

The next day, my brother came to pick me up.

I leaned quietly against the car door. My brother glanced at me in the rearview mirror.

"Vivian, I’ll find you a new place to live."

When I didn’t say anything, he cleared his throat awkwardly.

"There’s a new apartment building in the north of the city, close to the subway, and only half an hour from the main house…"

Before he could finish his sentence, the ringtone that belonged only to Emily rang. "What? Swollen feet? Wait, brother’s coming soon."

After hanging up, he remembered I was still in the car.

He touched his nose, feeling a little guilty. "Vivian, Emily sprained…"

"Okay," I interrupted with a smile. "I’ll go myself."

Andrew hesitated, looking at my thin, lonely figure and suppressing his irritation.

He thought he’d wait until Emily’s birthday party was over before coaxing me properly.

After all, to him, I was easily moved by even the smallest favors.

I pushed open the dress shop.

But my steps stopped at the door.

At the counter, Emily, holding a pair of scissors, was haphazardly cutting a dress.

It was the coming-of-age gown my mother had designed for me before she died.