But now, with my decision already made, I no longer had the energy to argue with them.

"You're absolutely right," I said calmly. "I'll move out as soon as possible."

Then I added, almost casually, "And there's no need to transfer me to another department. I'm resigning."

Dante let out a cold sneer. "So you're still planning to cling on like a leech?"

"Fine," he continued dismissively. "For my mother's sake, I'll overlook it this once. But you'd better remember your place from now on."

I walked past him without another glance, my voice soft but firm as I murmured, "There won't be a next time."

Although this place had once held so many of my cherished memories, I finally understood something.

It had never truly been my home.

I had thought that packing my things would take a long time, that I would need hours, maybe even days, to sort through everything I had accumulated over the years. But when I actually began, I realized how wrong I was.

After taking a closer look, there was barely anything left that truly belonged to me. The room felt emptier than I remembered, as if my presence had already been erased long before I made the decision to leave. The compound had a way of doing that. You could live inside its walls your entire life and still own nothing that couldn't be taken back by the family whose name was on the gate.

Nearly all of my clothes had been chosen by Dante. Back then, he would smile and say, "Bianca is the most beautiful princess, so of course she should dress up prettily every single day."

Those words had once made me feel cherished. But now, those same clothes lay piled on the floor, soaked in dirty water, giving off a foul, unidentifiable stench.

It was almost laughable.

The "princess" he once spoke of had long since disappeared. In his eyes, I had become nothing more than a troublesome parasite with an undeserved sense of pride.

As I pushed the damp clothes aside, my eyes landed on a scatter of photographs lying across the floor.

Back then, Nico had loved taking pictures of me. He used to say he wanted to capture every moment of my life, every smile, every memory.

Whenever the three of us took photos together, he would even compete with Dante, both of them trying to stand as close to me as possible.

Those moments had once felt warm and full of meaning.

But now, every single one of those photos had my face crossed out with a thick red pen, scribbled over without mercy.

I didn't have the courage to look any longer.

Without hesitation, I gathered them all and threw them straight into the trash, as if discarding something that had already lost all meaning.

Just as I was doing that, Dante happened to walk downstairs with Serena and saw everything.

For a brief moment, a trace of surprise flickered in his eyes. After all, I used to treasure every single thing he gave me.

But that moment passed quickly. His expression turned into a cold sneer. "You really don't mind wasting the DeLuca family's money, do you?"

The Dante I once knew had never hesitated to spend anything if it meant making me happy. He would go out of his way to give me the best of everything.

But ever since Serena appeared, everything I did had become wrong in his eyes.

I had lost the right to be willful, to complain, or even to feel hurt. And I no longer had the energy to argue.

"I'll pay you back," I said quietly, my voice calm.

"The DeLuca family doesn't care about that little amount of money," Dante replied dismissively. "But you need to remember one thing. Don't trouble Serena again."

Serena gently tugged on his sleeve, pouting slightly as she spoke in a soft voice. "Dante… don't waste your time on unimportant people."

"Besides, I still want to go to that secret place to watch the stars. Let's go," she added sweetly.

Her words made me freeze in place for a moment. My thumb pressed hard against the pulse point inside my wrist, holding there until I felt the beat steady beneath my skin.

The "secret place" she mentioned was something Dante had created just for me.

Back then, Naomi DeLuca had been occupied with family obligations and had entrusted Dante, who was six years older than me, to take care of me. It was the way things worked inside the compound: the eldest son carried what the household head couldn't, and for a time, that weight had included me.

He had tried his best to give me everything he could. He once told me that I was his "pure moonlight," something gentle and irreplaceable.

So he had built that place. An endless, dreamlike sky filled with stars, just for me.

I still remembered that night clearly. Standing under that artificial sky, the stars glowing softly above us, Dante had looked at me with warmth in his eyes.

"Bianca," he had said gently, "remember this. This sky belongs only to you, just like my feelings."

We had spent twenty years together, slowly turning that place into something magical, something that felt like a world of our own. The compound had a thousand rooms, a thousand locked doors, but that one space had been ours. Not the Family's. Not the business. Ours.

And somewhere along the way, my heart had quietly begun to lean toward him.

But every time I thought I had made my choice, Nico would interfere, stirring things up, making me hesitate, making me question everything all over again.

As for now…

They had found a new "rose" to admire and had long forgotten about me, the fading moon.

But it didn't matter anymore. None of it did.

I took a deep breath, steadying myself, and turned to leave.

In the end, I didn't want either of them anymore.

Suddenly, Serena reached out and grabbed my wrist. Her long nails dug into my skin, leaving thin red scratches behind.

"Why won't you listen to me?" she asked, her voice trembling as if she were the one being wronged. "Are you looking down on me?"

The sharp pain made me flinch instinctively. Without thinking, I shook her hand off with force.

Serena staggered backward, falling gracefully as if it were part of a performance. "Dante! Brother! Save me!" she cried out.

Dante's face filled with panic as he rushed forward, catching her and pulling her into his arms protectively.

Before I could even react, his hand came across my face.

The sound was sharp and sudden.

At the same time, Nico rushed in, his voice filled with anger. "Bianca, why do you always pick on Serena?"

"Don't forget," he continued harshly, "if the DeLuca family hadn't taken you in back then, you would've been nothing but a homeless orphan digging through garbage!"

"Not only are you ungrateful, but you repay us with cruelty!"

A loud buzzing filled my ears, drowning out everything else.

This was the first time in my life I had ever been struck like that.

In that moment, it felt as if my entire world shattered into pieces.

The compound had gone silent around us. Not the comfortable silence of a house at rest but the held-breath silence of men who had heard the sound of skin against skin and knew better than to witness what came next. Somewhere beyond the terrace, a soldier shifted his weight and looked away.

Dante seemed to freeze as well, as if only now realizing what he had done. His expression shifted slightly. "Are you alright? I…"

"I'm fine," I said quietly, wiping the blood from the corner of my mouth. "I don't blame you."

I truly didn't.

I took that slap as repayment for everything the DeLuca family had given me over the years. Every meal at their table, every roof over my head since my father's crew collapsed and left us with nothing.

From this moment on, we owed each other nothing. There were no more debts between us.

But Nico stepped forward, blocking my path firmly. He refused to let me leave.

"Stay here," he said coldly. "You're not going anywhere until you apologize to Serena."

The fierce look in his eyes was nothing like the boy who used to follow me around, calling me "sister" in a soft, affectionate voice.

But I knew exactly what he was capable of.

Once, there had been a boy at school who harassed me. Nico had secretly retaliated against him, while Dante handled the consequences behind the scenes. Between the two of them, favors were called in, pressure applied through channels no teenager should have had access to. The boy's entire family ended up leaving the neighborhood, relocated by a kind of quiet force that never left fingerprints.

I had never imagined that one day, that same ruthlessness would be turned against me.

Looking at the smug expression on Serena's face, I swallowed all the words I wanted to say.

There was nothing left for me to fear.

Even if they hadn't forced me out, I had already decided to leave.

Nico was still seething, his anger written plainly across his face, his jaw clenched as if he could barely contain himself. His right thumb cracked against the side of his hand once, sharply, and I felt the threat of it in my chest.

However, Dante, who seemed to feel a faint trace of guilt, raised a hand to stop him. He smoothed an invisible crease from the front of his tie before speaking, his tone softened slightly, though it still carried an air of authority. "Forget it," he said. "I overreacted earlier. Don't take it to heart."

He paused briefly before adding, almost as if offering compensation, "When I get back, I'll bring you your favorite chestnut cakes."

Then his expression turned serious again. "But I have one condition. You must promise not to make things difficult for Serena anymore."

There was an old saying: strike with one hand and reward with the other. That was exactly what he was doing now.

But Dante had forgotten something important.

I couldn't even eat chestnut cakes. My stomach had always been weak, and certain foods would trigger unbearable pain.

Years ago, he had gone to great lengths just to take care of me. He had tried countless cooks brought in through the compound kitchen, dissatisfied with each one, until he finally spent sleepless nights researching and crafting a medicinal diet tailored specifically to my needs.

At the same time, Nico had taken it upon himself to monitor everything I ate, making sure I followed that diet strictly, never letting anything slip.

Back then, they had remembered every detail about me.

Now, they had forgotten everything.

A cold gust of wind swept past me, cutting through my wet clothes. The chill seeped deep into my body, making me shiver uncontrollably.

Only then did I realize I was still completely soaked. My body, already weakened, couldn't take it. A fever was inevitable.

As I struggled to stay on my feet, Dante brushed past me roughly, his shoulder colliding with mine.

"You're still acting?" he said coldly, not even bothering to look back.

That final push was enough. The last bit of strength I had left drained away, and I collapsed directly into the mud.

Dante paused for a moment and turned slightly. There was a flicker of hesitation in his eyes, something that almost looked like concern.

But in the end, he said nothing.

He left with Nico, placing Serena carefully between them, shielding her as if she were something precious. Two soldiers fell in step behind them without a word.

After a long struggle, I managed to push myself up. Every movement felt heavy and painful, but I forced myself forward and called an ambulance. My thumb pressed hard against the pulse point inside my wrist the entire time I waited, counting the seconds until the line connected.

When my doctor saw the state I was in, his face darkened with anger. He couldn't hold back his frustration.

"You just got out of the hospital, and you ended up like this again?" he scolded harshly. "Do you even understand how serious your condition is?"

"You're pushing your body to the limit," he continued. "At this rate, you're heading straight toward collapse."

I didn't dare argue. I simply lowered my head and listened, quietly enduring his reprimand.

I stayed in the hospital for several more days under observation. Only after my fever subsided and my condition stabilized was I finally discharged.

By then, I knew I had lost too much time. I couldn't afford to delay any longer. I had to move forward with my plans.

I returned to the front office to submit my resignation, hoping at least to say goodbye to the few associates I had grown close to over the years.

But when I arrived, I found that all of them had already been cut loose by Serena.

The few people who remained looked at me with cold avoidance, as if I were something contagious, something they didn't want to be associated with.

I stood outside the building for hours, waiting, hoping to see someone familiar.

In the end, I was told that Dante and Serena had left on family business.

The three of them had gone to the seaside, the very place I had loved since childhood, the place I had always dreamed of visiting but never had the chance to go.

A bitter laugh escaped my lips.

I tossed my resignation letter aside. I had spent so much time worrying about how to explain my absence, only to realize that no one cared whether I was there or not.

At that point, there was only one thing left for me to do.

I needed to say goodbye to Naomi DeLuca.

Knowing that I would come to see her, she cleared her entire schedule and even canceled an important sit-down with an overseas associate just to make time for me.

The moment she saw me, her eyes turned red with emotion. "Why have you become so thin?" she asked, her voice filled with concern.

"I heard about your engagement to the Moretti family's heir," she continued softly. "He's a good young man. My dear child… I hate to see you leave."