Mom and Dad were deeply concerned about the progress of the investigation—after all, catching the murderer was directly tied to how soon they'd receive compensation.

So, Leo contacted a police officer he knew and got a copy of the case report.

They flipped through the photos—crime scene images, pictures of the corpse. My charred body was exposed right in front of them.

As a firefighter, Dad immediately identified that the fire had started from the body itself, and he knew that the accelerant used could reach temperatures of up to 750℉ in an instant.

Mom pointed at the photo, detailing all the suffering I had endured before death.

I knew—Mom had always wanted to be a forensic doctor. But when she became pregnant with me, she felt that coming home to hold me after handling corpses in the hospital wasn't right, so she gave up that dream.

I once overheard her holding Ravenna and saying, "Being a forensic doctor is a great profession. If you ever want to become one in the future, I'll be the first to support you."

I watched as Ravenna smiled and nodded at Mom, then turned away and brushed off her shoulder in disgust.

That was the first time I ever laid a hand on my sister. I twisted her arm. Mom had given up her dream for me. I wouldn't allow Ravenna to treat her that way.

In the end, I was punished. I was made to kneel in the snow for three hours.

If Leo hadn't come home and taken me inside, Mom and Dad would have left me out there all night.

Now, looking at their pained and regretful expressions as they examined my corpse, I let out a bitter smile.

They seemed devastated over a lifeless body in a photograph, but if they knew it was me, would they still feel this way?

After all, they had always said it would be better if I died somewhere far away, rather than embarrassing them.

Mom turned the page and saw the scar on my foot—an indentation from when I had stepped into a hunting trap back on the farm in the countryside.

I remembered on the day I came home, Mom wouldn't let me inside with my dirty clothes.

I had to strip down at the door and wait for her to disinfect me. Only after putting on new clothes was I allowed to enter the house.

That was the first time she saw my scar.

She was a doctor who had seen countless gruesome injuries. Yet when she saw mine, the only thing she said was, "Disgusting. From now on, no skirts in this house. Always wear socks—I don't want Raven to see it and get scared."

From then on, I never wore a skirt again.

Maybe—just maybe—Mom would recognize me from that scar?

But she simply flipped the page and said indifferently, "An old wound."

Just then, a phone rang. It was Ravenna's voice—her pre-recorded ringtone for Mom's phone.

There were still many pages left in the report, but Mom immediately tossed it aside and picked up the call.

Her voice was impossibly gentle. At that moment, the murder case, the compensation—everything was forgotten.

The charred, nameless corpse upstairs could never compare to her precious daughter.

"Hello? Raven, sweetheart, what's the matter?"

"Tomorrow is Family Day at your school?"

"Of course, we will be there! Leo is busy, though—he won't make it."

Ravenna's voice rang sweetly from the speaker. "I know! That's why you're the best! Will Danica come? My classmates don't believe I have an older sister—they say she's never visited me.

"But it's okay if she doesn't want to. I know she doesn't like me. I stole your love from her."

Mom and Dad had always been indifferent to me, at most just annoyed by my presence.

But Ravenna—she was cruel. From the very first day I returned home, she had watched me like a wary predator.

She bullied me whenever no one else was around. Yet in front of Mom and Dad, she would cry like a helpless little girl, pretending to long for my affection.

And as always, Mom and Dad wouldn't bother figuring out what actually happened.

It was always my fault.

Sure enough, the moment they heard Raven's slightly aggrieved voice, they immediately defended her.

"That's right—how dare she ignore your calls? I'll find her right now! If she doesn't come, I'll cut ties with her. From now on, you'll be our only daughter."

Ravenna finally laughed in satisfaction.

Before hanging up, she even remembered to remind them to tell me to be careful—playing the role of the concerned, affectionate sister until the very end.

After the call ended, Mom and Dad exchanged pleased smiles.

"She really is the daughter we raised—kind and considerate. So what if she's not our biological child? She's even more thoughtful than our real daughter. I should never have let Danica in when she came back."

Maybe because I grew up on a farm in the countryside, I had to learn many things about their world from scratch.

But to Mom, that just made me seem crude and unsophisticated. Having a daughter like me was an embarrassment.

That was why they never let me change my last name.

Whenever someone asked, they always said they only had one daughter.

I wondered whenever they got worried about Ravenna's safety, did they ever think that I was a girl as well?

That I, too, could be in danger.

I wondered what they would do if they ever found out that their beloved, obedient daughter, Ravenna, played a part in my murder.

That weekend, Ravenna came back with photos from the Family Day at school.

It was a truly enviable family portrait.

Aside from the annual Christmas photo that Leo insisted on taking, Mom and Dad never took pictures with me alone.

Every year at my school's Family Day, they would refuse to attend, always using work as an excuse. They were afraid of people finding out that someone as crude as me was their daughter.

I used to think it was because they didn't like my grades, so I worked hard and got straight A's. Later, I realized—it wasn't about my grades.

They just didn't like me.

Outside, the blackened exterior of the building was being repaired.

As Dad watched the workers repainting the walls, he suddenly asked, "Honey, I called Danica again today, but she still won't pick up. She hasn't even responded to Leo's messages as well. Do you think something really happened to her? Should we report it to the police?"

Mom cut him off impatiently. "Don't bring up Danica when Raven is home. You know how sensitive she is—it'll upset her.

"Danica is just hiding. She's trying to make us worry and go looking for her. Don't fall for it. Once she runs out of money, she'll come back on her own. Stop sending her living expenses, dear."

"What? I thought you were the one sending her money?" Dad looked at Mom in confusion.

"No. She never asked since last year, so I stopped giving her any. I thought you were giving it to her."

"I didn't either. So, Danica hasn't been getting living expenses for a year? Then how has she been getting by and still managed to buy my medicine?"

A serious expression crossed Dad's face as if something had just clicked in his mind.

"She became an adult last year. Maybe she found a part-time job? If she were still living in the countryside, she'd probably have started working already. There's no need to worry about her."

How had I been surviving this past year?

Besides attending school, I worked at a café in the afternoon, washed glasses at a bar at night, and delivered milk in the early morning.

That was the only way I could afford to live—and to buy Dad's medicine.

Actually, every time Mom and Dad sent me living expenses, Ravenna would get seniors to corner me in the bathroom and take the money from me.

At first, I went home crying and told my parents.

Dad would say, "Why would they rob you and not anyone else?"

And then, Mom would say, "Are you trying to scam us out of more money?"

Ravenna then would put on her usual innocent act and say, "Mom, Dad, don't scold Danica. I saw her go into a bar with someone—maybe she got drunk and someone stole her money. Just take some from mine and give it to her. I don't need much anyway."

After that, Mom and Dad never sent me money again. And I never asked.

The sound of the front door opening broke the silence—Leo was home.

He was carrying a large cake. A mango-flavored one—my favorite.

Ravenna saw it and ran over excitedly.

"Leo, you're back! I missed you so much! Thank you for getting me a cake! Even though I like strawberries better, anything from you is my favorite!"

Mom also walked over happily, but when she saw the cake, her tone turned slightly irritated. "You're her brother—how could you not know Raven's favorite flavor? Why did you buy the wrong one?"

Still taking off his shoes, Leo lifted the cake high above his head, keeping it out of Ravenna's reach. "This cake isn't for Raven. It's for Dani. Today is her birthday—October 3rd."

A brief silence filled the room.

Ravenna pouted and buried herself in Mom's arms. "But, Danica isn't even coming home. Maybe she doesn't want to celebrate with us."

Mom was just about to agree and criticize me for not coming home when Dad suddenly spoke, "October 3rd… Honey, that date sounds so familiar."

He walked over to the storage room and took out the case report, flipping to a photo of a pendant necklace.

"Look—is this it?"

Mom stared at the numbers engraved on the pendant, a trace of surprise in her eyes. She seemed to recall that that was my birthday.

Leo immediately set the cake down and said, "October 3rd, 2015—that was the day Dani came home. Did you forget? Did you mention this when the police questioned you?"

Mom and Dad remained silent.

Growing anxious, Leo dialed the police.

The moment he mentioned the date on the pendant, the officer on the other end of the line responded, "Perfect timing—we just found the engraver."

The police told them to wait for further notice before Leo ended the call.

Mom and Dad avoided eye contact—after all, they hadn't even finished reading the police report.

In their hearts, nothing was more important than Ravenna.

If they had just turned a couple more pages, they would have seen that a shattered glass lunch box was found at the crime scene. It was the same lunchbox I used every time I brought Mom food when she worked late.

The night I was kidnapped, I was about to leave the house to bring her dinner.

"Why are you glaring at me? You're becoming more and more like that Danica. Remember this—Raven is the sister you grew up with. Danica was raised on a farm in the countryside—she's rough and vulgar. What kind of decent child could she be?

"Do you know how many people have birthdays on October 3rd? That doesn't mean it's her. A silver necklace? I don't believe she could afford that—she probably stole the money. If she turned into a thief, she might as well be dead."

Mom was furious and unusually agitated.

The date that I wanted to cherish so badly turned out to be a sin worthy of death to Mom.

"The police haven't found the killer yet, and there's no DNA match for the body in the missing persons database. Maybe the victim's family hasn't even reported them missing. Mom, we need to find Dani, or at least report it to the police."

Mom immediately took out her phone and dialed my number—twice. No answer.

"See? I called, and she didn't pick up. Danica is so disobedient."

"Honey, don't be upset. We just need to take care of Raven. Look at that victim's family—their child has been missing for so long, and they haven't even reported it. They're such irresponsible parents."

"People like that don't deserve to be parents. They don't care about their child at all!" Mom spoke with righteous indignation.

They condemned those so-called negligent parents, yet it never even crossed their minds that they, too, didn't care about their own daughter's disappearance.

I thought of my foster mother and what she told me before she passed away.

"Sometimes, blood is not necessarily thicker than water."

I didn't believe it. I thought no parent could truly not love their own child. That was why I came back.

But I should have understood from the very beginning that I wasn't welcome.

I stood at the doorstep, wearing a dress made from my foster father's old shirt and socks with holes in them.

Meanwhile, Ravenna, dressed in a designer gown, was nestled in Mom and Dad's arms when they opened the door.

The moment I called them Mom and Dad, they covered Raven's eyes—afraid that just looking at me would dirty her eyes.

But I was the one who had been stolen from my parents.

Still, their love had never belonged to me.