The day my boyfriend brought his sweetheart home for intimacy, my lifeless body lay just a wall away from their tender moments.

Selena sat in her wheelchair, her eyes moist. "If it weren't for Lyra having me kidnapped, I wouldn't have ended up crippled, nor nearly violated..."

Sebastian held Selena close, his voice thick with sympathy. "She's been punished. I'll make sure those people teach her a lesson."

I watched as Selena feigned innocence, her eyes filled with a sly, triumphant glint.

How terrified would she be when she knew that my corpse had been separated from her by just a thin wall?

After all, it was she who had mercilessly killed me.

As for Sebastian, I wondered how he would react when he discovered that his beloved had staged her own disability and that I was the one who suffered at Selena's hands.

The thought alone was amusing.

This was the third day since my death.

Perhaps due to the low winter temperatures, my body had yet to decay, looking much the same as when I was alive—equally tattered and worn.

My spirit hovered in the air, watching as Sebastian tenderly lifted Selena from her wheelchair, his eyes brimming with sorrow.

Selena, with tears in her eyes, clung to his neck.

"Sebastian, Lyra had them violate me and left me disabled. This place is filled with Lyra's presence. I'm scared..."

"She will never return. From now on, you are the hostess of this house."

Sebastian's voice was cold when he mentioned me, with undisguised loathing in his eyes.

But did you realize that I would never return, Sebastian?

I was already dead, brutally tortured to death by Selena.

Selena was on the verge of tears again, and Sebastian's eyes were fill with compassion, quickly turning to rage. He picked up his phone.

"Has Lyra admitted her mistake?" Sebastian asked coldly.

Whatever was said, Sebastian's anger intensified, his knuckles whitening as he gripped the phone.

"Since she's so stubborn, keep her confined. Teach her a lesson until she realizes her wrongdoing!"

Sebastian hung up, turning to Selena with a gentle gaze. "Since she crippled you, I'll make her pay with her own leg."

He ordered my captors to break one of my legs.

Unbeknownst to him, my leg was already broken.

On the first day of my confinement, Selena had ordered the guards under Sebastian's name to break my leg.

"Now you're crippled too. I'll see how you go to Sebastian," Selena said with an innocent face, uttering the most cruel words.

"Lyra, the Clark family has fallen. Do you still think you're the beloved daughter you once were?"

But it my family that took Selena in, raising her in luxury from childhood.

When I was ten, my parents took me to a charity event where we met Selena, who was abandoned by her family.

So, my parents adopted her, raising her for fifteen years.

Out of sympathy for Selena's plight, my parents indulged her every wish, treating her like their own daughter.

And I always considered Selena as my sister, sharing everything with her.

Little did we know, we were nurturing an ungrateful creature.

On the fourth day since my death, Selena lay in my bed, wearing my nightgown, sleeping.

Suddenly, she woke from her dream screaming, and Sebastian rushed in from the study.

Selena pretended to have been haunted by a nightmare, trembling as she threw herself into his arms.

"Sebastian, I had that dream again. Lyra let that man come close to me... Sebastian, I'm so scared..."

Selena wept uncontrollably, her fair complexion full of terror, making Sebastian's heart ache.

He cradled her in his arms, whispering soft reassurances, but his gaze grew colder by the minute.

I was beside myself with frustration, wanting to scream, "It's not like that at all!

"It was Selena who had people try to assault me, yet she staged it as if I had framed her!"

But I was already dead, incapable of any defense.

I recalled that nightmare of a night.

"Lyra, you think you're still God's favored one? I'm going to destroy you now, and we'll see if you still have the nerve to stay by Sebastian's side!"

With a flick of her wrist, Selena locked the door.

I was terrified, cursing, and resisting, but with my legs broken, I couldn't move an inch.

That night, I was utterly ruined.

After soothing Selena back to sleep, Sebastian tucked her in and stepped out of the bedroom.

He didn't see that the moment he closed the door, Selena's eyes snapped open, revealing a look of triumph.

Sebastian returned to his study and redialed a number.

"Lyra, do you still not admit your mistake?"

"Selena deserves it! I hate Selena. I wish she were dead! I shouldn't have just broken one of her legs. If I had known it would come to this, I should have destroyed her!"

The phone transmitted my voice, filled with intense hatred and curses.

No, I wasn't on the phone! It was just a recording of me. At this very moment, I was already dead!

Just before I was destroyed that night, Selena looked down at me condescendingly.

"Lyra, I'll let you go if you're willing to repeat what I tell you."

She made me memorize what she said and recorded it.

At that time, I was so scared that I would say anything to avoid being violated.

So, with a trembling voice, I recorded those words, begging Selena to spare me.

Unexpectedly, after I finished recording, Selena leaned over, patting my face.

"Lyra, you're still as naive as before, believing everything I say. How could I let you go? I wish you were dead!"

With a wave of her hand, Selena left the room, leaving me alone in despair.

Sebastian, unaware that the recording had been prepared by Selena, saw his anger deepen.

"Lyra, I thought you would have learned your lesson after these days of punishment, but you're still unrepentant!"

His face darkened as he decided on the next punishment for me.

"Since she enjoys tarnishing others' innocence so much, you have a few people 'scare' her a bit."

Sebastian hung up the phone.

Hearing his words, I felt like I had fallen into iced water.

I knew Sebastian hated me because of Selena.

But I didn't expect he would detest me to such an extent, even going so far as to have people violate me for Selena!

Feeling a wetness at the corner of my eyes, I touched it and found tears.

So even ghosts could cry.

But, Sebastian, your revenge would never be realized because I had already been destroyed by your so-called "pure and kind-hearted" sweetheart.

I recalled that night, the endless dark night.

On the fifth day after my death, Sebastian began to feel restless.

I had been upset with him before, but never like this.

Sebastian, Selena, and I had grown up together since childhood.

Since I was little, I loved to follow Sebastian, tagging along behind him as his little follower.

Sebastian also loved to take me everywhere. When people teased that I was his "little wife", he would drive them away while giving me all his snacks.

"Lyra, you're so naive, thinking everyone in the world is good-hearted. What will you do when I'm not around to look after you?

"Once you eat my candy, you're mine. Lyra, grow up quickly. When you do, I'll marry you."

When did Sebastian, who had worried about my innocence and simplicity and promised to cherish me for a lifetime, start to distance himself from me?

It was after Selena suddenly barged into our world with her frequent unexplained bruises and her evasive, ambiguous words.

It was her "coincidental" encounters with Sebastian, her tears of grievance, the feigned horror when she looked at me and my parents, and her affected loneliness and pitiful state.

In the end, Sebastian was utterly drawn to her side.

And I transformed in his mind from an innocent girl to a malicious and jealous woman.

Sebastian took out his phone, scrolled to my number, and his finger lingered on the call button for a long time.

Just as he was about to dial my number, Selena wheeled herself in.

She glared at my number on his phone, her expression ferocious, but when Sebastian looked at her, it softened into a look of understanding.

"Sebastian, let Lyra go. Although she crippled me, she's always been pampered and has never suffered. Besides, her family has raised me for fifteen years."

Selena, with moist eyes, tugged at her fake disabled legs on the wheelchair, her eyes full of grievances and forbearance.

"As for me, it doesn't matter. No one has loved me since I was a child. I thought coming to the Clark family would mean I had parents and a home again. I didn't expect Lyra and her parents to treat me like that..."

Sebastian's face turned cold all at once, and he looked at Selena with compassion.

"Selena, you don't have to be so humble. Although the Clark family raised you, they've caused you too much harm over the years! As for Lyra, she had you kidnapped, almost destroyed you, and left you crippled. I won't let her off the hook!"

"Moreover," Sebastian said, his eyes revealing loathing, "when we were kidnapped three years ago, she abandoned us and ran away by herself when I was knocked unconscious! I won't forget that it was you who stayed by my side and risked your life to save me! Without you, I might have died there."

I was stunned. Sebastian actually thought she had been saved by Selena!

Three years ago, Sebastian, Selena, and I went to a holiday resort and were kidnapped.

He was knocked unconscious during the resistance.

Seeing the chance to escape, Selena left Sebastian and fled without hesitation.

To help Sebastian, I risked my life to drag him away, never leaving his side until we were both captured again and suffered greatly.

My parents called the police immediately.

After being rescued, Sebastian and I were taken to the hospital for treatment.

At that time, to stabilize the company and for my reputation, my parents did not announce that I had been kidnapped and asked Sebastian and me not to mention it again.

I always thought he knew I had saved him, but when he woke up and saw Selena by his bedside, he believed it was her!

Selena's eyes flickered with evasion for a moment, then returned to normal.

"Sebastian, no matter how Lyra treats me, I can't bear to see her suffer. You should call her."