I drove back to Corleone Estate on Whitton Island. The moment I stepped through the door, I was doused with icy water.

"I'm sorry, Elena! I was watering the flowers and didn't notice you!"

Sophia continued aiming the water hose at me and only set it down after I was completely drenched.

I wiped the water from my face and struggled to open my eyes. I was stunned by what I saw.

The lilies that I had personally nurtured for the last five years had been totally uprooted. They were Papa's favorite flowers when he was still alive.

In their place were dozens of rose bushes. Their bright red petals stung my eyes.

The chilly March breeze billowed past, making me shiver violently since I had just had surgery.

I was suddenly hit with a dizzy spell, and I nearly collapsed.

A scoff resounded from the door.

Antonio and Matteo stood side by side, wearing matching mocking expressions.

"I thought you were going to keep being stubborn and stay away for the rest of your life, Elena."

"Even her own Madre doesn't want her. Where else can she go?" Matteo sneered while balancing a cigarette between his lips, looking at me with disdain.

My heart throbbed painfully.

I recalled the first day I had arrived at Corleone Estate.

Antonio had given me the best and biggest room in the estate, saying, "This room belongs to you for the rest of your life, Elena. No matter who moves into this house, you'll forever be the only lady of our family."

Matteo had grabbed my hand and pressed a piece of chocolate into my palm. "You're the Principessa of our family from now on, Elena. Don't worry. I'll protect you from today onward."

After we grew up, we had to move to this villa on Whitton Island.

As expected, Antonio had remembered the promise that he made to me. He had created an identical replica of my room in the villa's estate.

However, everything changed when Sophia appeared.

At first, she used the excuse that she wanted to atone for her Padre's sins to occasionally work at the villa. Later, she started showing up every day until she eventually moved into the villa.

Sophia broke my perfumes, claiming that they had slipped from her grasp. She "accidentally" misplaced my documents. She also destroyed the only photo I had of Papa right in front of me before she hid behind Antonio, stammering that she hadn't done it on purpose with teary eyes.

The first time I lost my temper, Antonio had shoved me aside.

He frowned and said, "Sophia and her Madre were forced to live on the streets because we helped you take revenge on her family. She's lived a tough life. Her Padre is already dead, and her family has already atoned for their sins. What more do you want?"

"He's right," Matteo chimed in. "She's only 22 years old. She's so much younger than you, so why don't you be a little more understanding?"

A wave of confusion washed over me for the first time as I gripped the torn-up pieces of the photo.

Everything changed after that incident. I was no longer the lady of the villa.

Sophia began to usurp my place a little at a time.

I felt eerily calm as I stood in that familiar but unfamiliar place in my soaked clothes, looking at the lilies that had been dug up from the ground. I realized that I wouldn't miss anything once I left.

I entered the villa and saw my belongings piled up in a messy heap in the hallway.

There were coffee stains on my clothes, and my books had been torn apart. The photos that I had treasured for the last two decades were scattered all over the ground.

Antonio had one arm wrapped around Sophia as they approached me. He looked down at me from the tip of his nose and said, "You should know your place, Elena. You're just a temporary member of the Corleone family. You don't have the right to look down on Sophia.

"You'll be moving to the maids' quarters from today onward. You also don't have to concern yourself with the family business anymore. We're short on housekeepers, so you're responsible for the house's cleanliness from now on. We can talk more once you've learned your lesson."

Matteo tore the teddy bear that Mamma had given me in half, causing the cotton to scatter everywhere before landing near Sophia's feet.

"We won't let you off the hook so easily if you upset Sophia again, Elena."

If I had heard their hurtful words in the past, I probably would have lost sleep over how devastated I was.

However, I didn't feel much at that moment.

"No need," I said in an eerily calm tone as if I was talking about another person. "I'll move out as soon as possible. I'll also leave the family as you wish."

Antonio scoffed. "I see you're determined to stay here and be a useless piece of trash. Forget it. I'll let it slide this time for Mamma's sake. Remember your place next time."

I circled him as I headed for my room, whispering, "There won't be a next time."

Although I had made many wonderful memories in this villa, at the end of the day, it wasn't my home.

I thought that I would need a long time to pack my belongings, but when I opened my suitcase, I realized that I didn't have anything to take with me.

Nearly all the clothes I had were given to me by Antonio.

"You're the Principessa of the Corleone family, Elena. Of course, you have to dress in the finest clothes."

Those same clothes were soiled and stained at that moment, emitting a foul scent.

Instead of a Principessa, I had turned into a useless piece of trash in Antonio's heart.

I moved the clothes aside and looked at the scattered photos on the ground.

Matteo loved taking pictures of me when we were younger, saying that he wanted to record my image during every moment of my life.

Every time we took pictures, Antonio and Matteo would fight over who got to stand next to me.

However, at that moment, someone had drawn a red cross over my face in all of our photos.

Unwilling to look at them any longer, I stuffed everything into a trash bag.

Antonio happened to see what I was doing when he was leading Sophia downstairs. Surprise flickered in his eyes. I had treated my belongings as if they were precious treasures in the past, after all.

He scoffed and said, "I see you have no hesitation to squander the Corleone family's fortune at all."

In the past, Antonio was willing to spend a fortune on me to make me happy. However, after Sophia appeared, everything that I did was wrong from his perspective.

I didn't try to argue or explain myself. "I'll return your money, Antonio."

"The Corleone family doesn't need your money. You just have to remember your place. Don't upset Sophia again."

Sophia grabbed Antonio's sleeve and batted her lashes at him. "Don't waste your time on her, Antonio. I want to look at the stars in the secret base. Let's go."

My hands froze in place.

Antonio had built the secret base for me when I was 16 years old.

Maria had been swamped with work that year. She didn't have time to take care of me, so she passed on that responsibility to Antonio, who was five years older than me.

Antonio had given me all the best things in the world. He called me his star and personally designed a sea of stars that would never go out.

He used optical fibers and glass to create a small dome on the villa's rooftop. When he flipped the switch, countless lights began to slowly move across the dome, reminiscent of a real galaxy.

Antonio had looked at me under the sea of stars and said, "This starry sky belongs to you, Elena. It's also my promise to you. My love for you is like the stars in the galaxy that will never go out."

I had believed him.

Over the next 14 years, we finished building the secret base little by little. It harbored so many secrets that could never be revealed to another soul, and it also hid the unspeakable and tender feelings of my youth.

In the last few years, whenever I couldn't decide between Antonio and Matteo, I would head over to the secret base to be by myself for a little while.

However, Antonio and Matteo no longer loved me. They had found a new lover.

Antonio had forgotten that he had created that starry sky for me—forgotten that he had promised to love me forever.

It was fine.

I took a deep breath as I picked up the trash bag and headed outside.

I didn't need the stars anymore, just like how I didn't need Antonio and Matteo anymore.

Sophia suddenly grabbed my wrist. Her freshly manicured nails left scratches on my arm.

"Why are you never willing to listen to me, Elena? Do you hate me?"

I hissed in pain and shook my wrist free.

Sophia fell backward and shouted, "Save me, Antonio!"

Antonio immediately steadied her, his face twisting in anger. He then slapped me hard across the face before I realized what was going on.

Matteo sprinted toward us and roared, "Why are you always picking a fight with Sophia, Elena? If the Corleone family didn't take you in, you would have been sold off a long time ago and would be living in the slums. You ungrateful bitch!"

I covered my face. There was a loud buzzing in my ear.

It was the first time in my life that someone had struck me.

I felt as if my entire world was falling apart at that moment.

Antonio also seemed to realize that he had struck me as he looked at his hand. He opened his mouth and said, "Elena, I—"

"Va bene," I said as I wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth. "I don't blame you."

I would treat the slap as repayment to Antonio for saving my life all those years ago. I had settled the score. The two of us no longer owed each other anything.

I turned around and tried to leave, but Matteo continued to block my path.

"Don't leave just yet. Apologize to Sophia right now!"

There was a fierce glint in his eyes. It was as if he were a completely different person compared to the young boy who would run around calling my name in the past.

I knew how ruthless Matteo could be.

In the past, when a foreigner harassed me in a bar, Matteo had led his men to drown the foreigner in the Porco River.

Antonio had handled the aftermath, smoothing out any trouble that arose from the incident.

I never would have imagined that Matteo would use the same ruthless methods on me one day.

I looked into Sophia's smug eyes. I shook my head and said, "I won't apologize. I didn't do anything that I need to apologize for."

Besides, I was already planning to leave. There was no need for them to chase me away.

Matteo looked like he had more to say, but Antonio held him back. He softened his tone and said, "Forget it. I acted impulsively just now. I'll bring your favorite strawberry cream cake for you when I return."

He paused before continuing, "But you have to promise me never to upset Sophia again."

It seemed that Antonio wanted to smooth things over by extending a sweet olive branch to me. Unfortunately, he had forgotten that I was lactose intolerant and couldn't eat cream cakes.

It was hard to believe that Antonio had switched countless chefs in the past to cater to my diet. He even brushed up on his nutrition knowledge to create personalized recipes for me.

Meanwhile, Matteo had monitored my mealtimes like a hawk, making sure I always ate on time.

However, both Antonio and Matteo had forgotten everything they had done for me in the past.

The March breeze whistled through the gaps in the door.

I was freezing in the soaked clothes that clung to me like a second skin. I could feel a fever coming on.

Just as the awful feeling reached its peak within me, Matteo collided right into me.

"You're putting on an act again."

Black spots exploded across my vision before I collapsed on the stairs.

A hint of hesitation flickered in Antonio's eyes when he turned to look at me. But in the end, he still left with Sophia, flanking either side of her with Matteo.

I had no idea how long I lay on the ground. I struggled to crawl back to my feet before calling 911.

The doctor was furious when he saw the condition I was in. "How did you end up like this when you just left the hospital? You're drenched in cold water when your stomach hasn't recovered yet. And why did you continue wearing these wet clothes when it's so windy outside? Do you have a death wish?"

I was too weak to explain and obediently checked myself into the hospital to be monitored for the next three days.

After my fever broke, I discharged myself from the hospital.

I had to leave as soon as possible after being delayed for so many days.