Time flew by, and soon it was my first birthday. It was the day of the traditional 'Grab' ceremony, where the first object I snatched would foretell my entire future.

The family threw a celebration to mark it.

A week earlier, Claire had suddenly turned into a different person, overflowing with maternal affection.

Not only did she make sure I was fully fed, she held me in her arms, calling me “sweetheart” and “baby.”

Whenever she had the chance, she would dangle an emerald charm in front of me, her voice syrupy sweet.

“Sweetheart, pick this at the ceremony. Then you’ll be the Lewis family’s lucky star.”

I sneered inwardly.

Others might not know, but I knew perfectly well.

Back then, Derek’s father had spent over twenty million dollars at an auction just to win an emerald charm for his mistress, which angered Derek’s mother so much that she vomited blood on the spot and passed away not long after.

She wanted me to touch Derek’s deepest sore spot in public, to make him resent me?

Claire really thought this through.

Too bad she chose the wrong target.

I had been with Derek for eight years. No one understood him or the Lewis family better than I did.

The selection ceremony began.

In the grand hall, a red carpet stretched across the floor, golden lights dazzling overhead.

A ten-meter-long table was laid out, covered with symbolic prizes: a stack of property deeds, the company’s official seal, a title deed to a harbor terminal… and at the very center sat a luminous emerald charm worth eight figures.

I crawled across the long table, bare-bottomed.

Treasure after treasure lay within reach.

The crowd held its breath, waiting to see what I would choose.

I didn’t even glance at them.

I crawled straight to the corner, reached out, and grabbed an unremarkable silk pouch.

Someone in the crowd let out a snort of laughter.

“So tacky. Surrounded by a fortune, and she picks up trash.”

Hearing the mockery, Claire showed no instinct to protect me.

Instead, she curled her lips and watched my performance.

Amid the laughter filling the hall, only Derek’s expression changed.

His eyes widened as he rushed forward, lifting me high into the air, his voice trembling.

“Sweetheart, it seems even the Lewis ancestors have acknowledged you.”

He opened the pouch in front of everyone.

Inside lay an antique cufflink, its inner edge engraved with a single line of fine script: Heir to the Lewis family.

“Congratulations, Mrs. Lewis, your daughter picked the best fortune!” someone called out from the crowd.

Claire froze where she stood, her nails digging into her palm. The corners of her mouth twitched again and again, yet she still forced out a composed smile.

Curled up in Derek’s arms, I let out a soft giggle.

Derek once told me that the pouch contained the Lewis family heirloom, passed down only to each head of the family.

After the celebration, he became even more devoted to me, the picture of a doting father.

He had my crib moved into the master bedroom and personally fed me and burped me at night.

When he traveled for work, it was even more over the top—there was always a folded stroller tucked beside his luggage, and wherever he went, I went with him.

During business negotiations, I sat beside him in a baby seat, clutching my bottle and gulping happily.

When his assistant quietly reminded him that it wasn’t appropriate, Derek glanced up coldly.

“The future heiress of the Lewis family sits here. What’s inappropriate about that?”

At evening functions, he let me sit on his shoulders, showing me off to everyone he met.

“Look at my daughter. Isn’t she beautiful? Isn’t she adorable?”

Outside, people spread the word that he and his wife were deeply in love and that he spoiled his daughter beyond measure.

When Claire heard this, she flew into a rage in the kitchen, smashing a stack of dishes, her fingers trembling with anger.

But soon, it was as if she had made up her mind. A cold smile curled on her lips.

Under Derek’s care, I lived a life soaked in sweetness, like being dipped in honey, until I turned three, and Claire was pushed into the delivery room once again.

A few days later, she returned triumphantly, holding a wrinkled newborn boy, smiling like she had just won a battle.

“You little brat, you’re finished! Now that there’s a son, let’s see if your father even looks at you anymore.”

Her nails dug into my cheek, almost drawing blood.

Tears welled up at the corners of my eyes, but inside, I sneered—she had just dug her own grave.

With Derek’s condition, there was no way he could have another child.

On the day I was reborn, an administrator in the underworld had whispered to me—if I hadn’t agreed to be born into the Lewis family, their bloodline would have ended.

But I knew this wasn’t the time to drop the act.

Since Claire wanted to play her part, I’d stay on stage with her.

When I came of age, I’d deliver her a “gift” she wouldn’t forget.

Before that, I had to make myself worthy of the title “heiress.”

While Evan Lewis was still drinking from a bottle, I brought home the city’s kindergarten recitation championship.

While he played in the mud outside, I won first place in the elementary school math competition.

When he was disciplined in ninth grade for fighting, I had already secured early admission into an elite university program.

When he got into trouble for dating too young and the girl’s parents came knocking, I was interning at Lewis Group over the summer.

From top to bottom, the Lewis family couldn’t stop praising me, certain that the company would only grow stronger in my hands.

I left early and returned late every day, so much so that Derek could hardly find a moment to speak to me.

At that moment, he sat in his top-floor office, quietly sulking.

“Yuna’s really grown up. She’s got her wings now. She used to cling to me all the time when she was little.”

The assistant froze, unsure how to respond, but Derek quickly talked himself out of it.

“Well, my girl’s outstanding. Of course she’s busy.”

Somehow, word got back to Claire that Derek had been “upset” at the office because of me.

At dinner, she seized the chance to take a jab.

“Derek, Yuna has been spoiled too much by us…”

“Spoiled?” Derek looked up, his voice cold enough to chill the room.

“Yuna can read financial reports at sixteen and rotates through three departments a day during her internship. And Evan? What does he do besides getting into fights and chasing girls? So, tell me, who exactly is the one being spoiled?”

Claire’s smile stiffened as she forced out an explanation.

“I just worry she’s growing up too fast and missing out on the joys of being young.”

Derek let out a cold snort and ignored her.

Instead, he placed a piece of fish onto my plate, his voice soft again.

“Sweetheart, I’ve picked out the bones. Eat slowly.”

I lowered my head and continued eating. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Claire’s nails digging into the tablecloth until it turned pale, yet she didn’t dare speak again.

Across from me, Evan looked reluctant to accept it, glaring at me as if he could burn a hole through me.

During the final summer before college, I had just stepped off the plane when I received a call from Claire.

“Yuna, your father’s been in a car accident; he’s in the ICU. Get over here and stay with him! If Derek doesn’t wake up, don’t even think about coming back to the Lewis family!”

I stood outside the hospital room with my suitcase, staring at Derek’s still sharp features, the old hatred in my chest refusing to fade.

Back then, in this very hospital, Derek had personally signed six surgical consent forms, pinning me to the operating table and cutting out my heart to save Claire.

Now his life hung by a thread, yet Claire was nowhere to be seen.

The irony was almost laughable.

I suppressed the hatred in my eyes, a faint smile curling at my lips.

Take care of Derek?

That was something I was very good at.

The caregiver had just brought in a cup of warm water when I casually stirred in two spoonfuls of mustard.

Even unconscious, Derek swallowed reflexively. The next second, his brows twisted into a tight knot, his throat bobbing in discomfort.

During his daily sponge baths, I mixed extra menthol oil into the medicated oil, deliberately focusing on sensitive areas—his underarms, inner thighs, and the base of his spine.

Even in his sleep, his body tensed like a drawn bow, cold sweat sliding down from his temples.

The silence in the room was suffocating, so I put on a couple of over-the-top soap operas—titles like “Wife and Her Affair Pulled My Oxygen Tube” and “After the Paternity Test, I Lost Everything.”

Whenever the plot hit its peak, I turned the volume up, letting the drama echo through the room.

Late at night, bored out of my mind, I set up a projector and played horror movies.

Derek had always been timid.

He couldn’t even walk alone at night.

On the monitor, his heart rate shot straight up to 130.

Watching him restless even in a coma, I almost laughed out loud.

Too bad the good times didn’t last.

Before I could have my fill, Derek woke up.

That day, I went home to grab a change of clothes. By the time I returned to the hospital, the room was already packed.

Claire stood by the bed, holding Evan’s hand, her face full of concern as she looked at Derek.

“Derek, you’re finally awake! These past few days, it’s all thanks to Evan staying up day and night to take care of you. Look at him, he’s even lost weight!”

As she spoke, she shot me a sideways glance, smugness practically spilling from her eyes.

I was genuinely impressed and in disbelief, but I had to admire the audacity.

When it came to digging her son into trouble, she was practically a master.

The next second, Derek’s face darkened.

He kicked Evan to the ground without hesitation.

“You little bastard. This is how you’ve been taking care of me?”

Claire’s expression shattered in an instant.

“Derek, what are you talking about?”

Derek didn’t even bother looking at her. His voice was ice-cold.

“You’ve raised quite the son. He’s practically walking all over me. Keep spoiling him like this, and he won’t get a single cent from the Lewis family.”

Before he could finish, his gaze swept to the back of the crowd to where I stood.

His voice softened immediately, almost dripping with warmth.

“Yuna’s back? Come here, let me take a look. My girl’s gotten even prettier.

“That’s on me. I should’ve picked you up from the airport. Are you tired from school? Do you have enough money? Has anyone been giving you trouble?”

Watching his expression change so quickly, Claire’s lips trembled with anger.

“Dad, you’re way too biased toward her!” Evan muttered, clearly unhappy.

Derek didn’t waste a word; he kicked him again.

“Did I tell you to speak? You dared to spike my water with mustard, rub that menthol crap on me, and play horror movie in the middle of the night? Got some nerve, don’t you? I think you’re asking for it.”

Evan froze on the spot, completely stunned.

Claire whipped her head toward me and shrieked, her voice laced with venom.

“That’s not true! Derek, you’ve got it wrong. Yuna did all of that!”

“Yuna?” Derek let out a low laugh, like he’d just heard a joke.

“Didn’t you just have Charles report to me that she’s been working on a closed project in the neighboring city and only got back today?”

Claire choked, her chest tightening as if she might have a heart attack on the spot.

The moment she got the call that Derek had woken up, she rushed over with Evan.

By sheer coincidence, I hadn’t been there at the time.

She figured she might as well go all in, push Evan forward as the devoted son keeping vigil, and claim all the credit for herself.

To avoid being exposed, she even got Charles to back her up, insisting I had “just landed.”

What she didn’t expect was that I wouldn’t play by the rules at all.

Now that it had backfired, she had no choice but to swallow it.

The moment I stepped out of the room, Claire came at me in her heels, grabbing my arm.

“Stop right there! You little brat, how dare you pin your own mess on Evan.”

I shook her off, a smile still on my face.

“Pin it on him? Weren’t you trying to steal the credit for taking care of Dad?”

Claire choked on her words, then flared up in anger.

“You’re a girl. Why are you fighting your brother? You should be thinking about marrying young and bringing in resources!”

Evan chimed in from the side, “Exactly, sis. I think that cripple from the Rowell family suits you just fine. Their status isn’t any lower than ours.”

I let out a cold laugh.

“Sure. Go bring it up to Dad. As long as he agrees, I’ll get married immediately.”

Over the years, Derek had doted on me like the apple of his eye, guarding me like something precious.

In middle school, when a boy handed me a love letter, he was transferred out the very next day.

In high school, when a senior asked me to dance, he was quickly “sponsored” to study abroad.

Every day, his assistant sent him updates on my whereabouts like clockwork.

Any little change reached him first.

Marry me off to someone disabled? I didn’t believe Derek would ever allow it.

But what I didn’t expect was that on the day he was discharged, he publicly announced my engagement to the Rowell family.

“The Lewis family heiress will be marrying into the Rowell family. Her dowry will be twenty percent of Lewis Group shares.”

When I heard the news, my fingers stiffened, my heart clenched tight, missing a beat.