On the snowy mountain, Shawn Foster's neighbor, Susan Taylor, suffered from altitude sickness. He blamed me for not bringing supplies in time.

He tied me up and left me on the mountain, five thousand meters above sea level.

"You should experience the pain Susan went through."

I rushed up the mountain to find them, completely forgetting that I was already exhausted.

Without an oxygen supply, I gasped for air desperately.

He held Susan in his arms and headed down the mountain. I begged him for mercy, but he did not even glance at me.

I struggled, but I could not break free from the Prusik knot he tied himself.

The same knot I once taught him.

Three days later, he asked his colleagues about my whereabouts.

"I would never have forgiven her so quickly if it's not Susan's kindness."

But he did not know—I had long been buried beneath the snow.

"Where is Emily? The next group of tourists is arriving."

A colleague looked at Shawn Foster with confusion and asked, "Didn't Emily bring you the supplies? Did you not come down the mountain together?"

A flicker of unease crossed Shawn's face, but he quickly masked it.

"She's a guide herself, she can't possibly be stuck up there."

The colleague's expression shifted to shock.

"Emily's supply bag is still in her room. How could she be on the mountain?"

Realizing that Shawn was not joking, the colleague grew anxious.

"No, this is bad. There was an avalanche two days ago. She must be in trouble. We need to go up and find her—now!"

Shawn cut him off irritatedly, "Do you know how rare avalanches are? What are the chances she got caught in one on such a huge mountain? She's just being stubborn and trying to get back at me. I won't give in to her. If she doesn't show up by tomorrow, I'll go myself."

Just as he finished speaking, the medical team sent word that Susan had awakened.

Without hesitation, Shawn rushed to her bedside. His voice softened. "Are you still unwell, Susan? Don't worry. I'll make sure Emily suffers even more than you did."

Susan leaned her head against his chest as he gently patted her back.

"I'm so lucky to have you, Shawn." Two glistening tears rolled down her cheeks at the perfect moment.

"I don't think Emily did it on purpose. I just wanted her to admit her mistake. She doesn't need to go through the same pain I did. She's going to hate me because of that, won't she?"

Watching the two of them act so tenderly toward each other, I was furious.

Yes, I was caught in the avalanche. Before I suffocated, the snow buried me completely.

The immense pressure crushed my body, forcing blood to spill out uncontrollably.

The moment I died, my spirit drifted out of the icy grave.

My body was twisted at unnatural angles. My hands, still tied behind my back, struggled against the ropes until my wrists were scraped down to the bone.

My chest had caved in. My face was stained with the blood that had been squeezed out of me.

The unbearable pain of being crushed by the snow made me curl up involuntarily.

Even as a spirit, thinking back to that moment made me shudder.

Back in the hospital, Shawn gently comforted Susan.

"Don't worry. I'll never leave you in such danger again. And I won't let Emily off the hook.

"She knew you weren't in good health, yet she delayed the supplies purposely. She tried to kill you! I'll make sure she appreciates being alive."

His eyes were ice-cold, his voice filled with nothing but disgust for me.

I drifted into the corner of the room, devastated.

Shawn was right. Staying alive was not easy. Even when the avalanche came for me, I fought to survive.

To punish me, he tied the knot so tightly that it was impossible to undo. He even stripped me of my winter gear.

I struggled to untie myself but failed. I forced myself to stay conscious, hoping someone would find me.

He had forgotten that, before we climbed the mountain, I had just donated 800 milliliters of blood to his mother.

When the avalanche came crashing down, my survival instincts drove me to crawl forward, desperately hoping to escape.

Truth was, I completely vanished in the avalanche without a trace.

"Find Emily and get her down here, now. She still owes Susan an apology."

Shawn demanded an answer from the colleagues who had gone up the mountain to look for me.

Susan, wrapped in thick layers, stayed close by his side.

"Emily doesn't owe me an apology. She's your wife. I've already forgiven her. She'll only get upset again if she hears what you say.

"She already misunderstood you last time. Don't argue because of me again."

Shawn's expression darkened with displeasure, but he gently held Susan's hands in his own to warm them.

"So she's getting bold, huh? You wouldn't have suffered from oxygen deprivation if she had not dragged her feet. You're always forgiving, and that's why she keeps pushing her luck."

He clenched as he spoke, but he quickly adjusted his expression, not wanting to scare Susan.

His words were laughable to me.

When we started our climb, Susan had whispered in my ear, "I'm not going with you. You disgust me."

Then, she pulled Shawn away, leaving me to carry the heavy supply pack by myself.

Later, when she experienced altitude sickness, she told Shawn that I had withheld her supplies purposely to humiliate her.

Two weeks ago, she furiously barged into my home and accused me of selling my blood just to marry Shawn.

"Even if you turn yourself into his mother's personal blood bank, Shawn will never love you. You and your blood are both worthless."

I was not bothered, so I pushed her out the door.

She turned around and tripped over nothing, collapsing at my doorstep.

Just before losing consciousness, she called Shawn to bid farewell as if it were her dying breath.

Shawn abandoned the tourists on the mountain and ran home immediately when he received the call from Susan.

I stood inside the house and listened as he screamed, "Please don't leave me, Susan! I can't live without you!"

I thought Shawn was just being dramatic. She had barely fallen—how could it be that serious?

When he came back from the hospital, though, he shoved my head into the toilet, kicking me repeatedly in the back.

I realized I was the real fool.

"Don't forget your place, Emily. The only reason you're still here is because your blood is useful, yet you dared to lay a hand on Susan? I've been too lenient with you."

Even at this moment, he wanted me to kneel and apologize to Susan.

Unless he could bring me back to life, that would never happen.

…

"Shawn, Emily was caught in an avalanche. She's in danger!"

The voice on the phone sent a shock through Shawn's eyes.

I stared at him, waiting to see even a flicker of sorrow.

Instead, his lips curled into a mocking smile.

"How much did she pay you to lie for her? She would've done it ten years ago if she wanted to.

"Don't bother digging her out if she's really dead. Let her stay there and atone for what she did to Susan."

His rage burned so fiercely that it was practically seeping through his eyes.

The colleague on the phone tried to explain, but Shawn cut them off coldly.

"Tell her that if she's still playing games and refuses to come down, she can stay up there forever."

Without waiting for a reply, he hung up.

He turned to Susan and spoke with the utmost tenderness, "Don't go easy on her later, Susan. Make her apologize to you in front of everyone. Otherwise, she'll never learn her place."

"I'm fine, Shawn. Don't worry about me. After all, we're family, and I don't want Emily to be embarrassed."

For a brief moment, Susan disgusted me.

However, for some unknown reason, I was trapped with them, forced to watch them flirting right in front of me.

I had loved Shawn deeply—so much that I had willingly lowered myself for him.

Alas, to him, I had only ever been a tool.

I met him 10 years ago. He had a fight with Susan and went to a bar to drink, while I was kidnapped by a group of delinquent girls and taken there. They forced me to perform a strip dance.

I struggled, but it was useless. Desperate, I would rather die than be humiliated. I slammed myself against the bar's wall.

Shawn saved me. From that moment on, he was my world.

On the day he proposed, I drank for the first time in my life, despite being allergic to alcohol.

I was not aware of the real reason he married me: My blood type was the same as his mother's—a rare type. Also, marrying me would also help him make Susan jealous.

After our wedding, I devoted myself to taking care of him.

I sold the house I bought with years of hard work and my family's heirloom jewelry to fund his startup company.

I followed him to move to the snowy mountains after his startup business failed. We moved our whole lives here.

He was kind to me at first. He would take care of me when I was sick, and he would celebrate my birthday.

I believed I had won his heart.

I told him I wanted a child, and his expression turned cold.

"You want a child?"

I did not sense his unwillingness. I looked at him as my face turned all red.

"You can't be pregnant. What if my mother needs your blood while you're pregnant?"

I tried to reassure him with everything I could think of, but he refused to listen.

With that, I took matters into my own hands. I even messed up with the protection.

When he saw the pregnancy test, he pushed me so hard that I lost the baby.

That same day, Susan broke up with her boyfriend. She called Shawn, crying about how miserable she was.

He left me bleeding and ran to comfort her.

Then, he posted a spiteful remark about me on social media.

"Why hasn't she come down from the mountain yet? Still throwing a tantrum? " He seemed unsettled.

"You better not regret this, Emily," he said under his breath.

He called a colleague, but after two sentences, the line went dead. No one answered his calls after that.

His fingers pressed harder against his phone as he kept calling.

"Susan, wait in the room. I'll look for her myself and see what kind of trick she's playing now. I'll drag her back here and make her kneel before you."

Shawn climbed up the mountain trail.

When he reached the place where I had been tied up, he saw me—my body, just dug out of the snow.

"What the hell is this?"

He was disgusted and kicked my frozen corpse.

"Emily is pulling another stunt? Where did she find such a big pile of trash?"

His colleague looked at him with open disdain.

"Take a good look."

My spirit trembled. I could not bear to see myself like this. Even in death, I feared the pain of my final moments.

"Stop pretending, Emily! Show up now!" Shawn shouted impatiently.

I had fought desperately to escape, but I failed, alas.

"You really are putting on a show, huh? Did you enjoy it?"

He ran out of patience. He picked up a tool and swung it at my frozen body.

"What the hell is this?!"

Terrified, I covered my eyes. I did not want to witness what was coming next.

His strikes thawed some of the ice covering my corpse. My bound hands snapped under the force.

I caught a glimpse of myself on the ground through my fingers.

My face was covered in frozen blood, turned black and red from the cold. My arms were broken. My chest and stomach had caved in. My legs were twisted, crushed under the weight of the snow.

Shawn collapsed as he finally saw my corpse. The tool clattered to the ground. He stared blankly at my corpse as he shook his head vehemently.