After purchasing the cheapest painkillers that were available, I didn't even have enough money left to take the bus. As a result, I had to walk 18 miles home. The journey took me over four hours.

The party was in full swing when I arrived at the Lewis residence. It was Summer's coming-of-age today. Many powerful and illustrious figures in the city had shown up to celebrate her special day.

Everyone knew that Summer became part of the Lewises because the nurse had switched us at birth, causing me, the true heiress of the Lewis family, to be taken away by a poor family in the outskirts for eight years.

Despite that, my biological family hated me. When I was about to enter the villa, I was blocked by the security guard.

"You don't have the permission to enter. Mrs. Lewis informed us that Ms. Summer's party had started. Latecomers are not allowed to enter because they have no respect for Ms. Summer."

Night had already fallen, and the biting winds were picking up in intensity. Soon after, rain began to pour from above relentlessly.

When I tried to leave, the security guard said coldly, "Mr. Jimmy said that as punishment for delaying Ms. Summer's party, you need to stand at the door and reflect on your actions. You're not allowed to leave before the party is over."

I had no other choice but to stay rooted in the spot. Jimmy had a short temper. He would take his wrath out on me if I didn't follow his orders.

The rain came down harder. Chunks of hail were mixed in with the raindrops. My clothes were drenched in no time, and it hurt when the hail collided with my body.

I squatted down and covered my head with my arms, doing my best to protect my head from getting injured. It didn't take long before stinging pain began to radiate from my hands.

I could hear excited cheering coming from inside the villa. Every cheer felt like an arrow that pierced my heart. The arrow would then be plunged deeper into my heart, twisted slowly to hurt me as much as possible. The pain was unbearable.

It was actually my birthday today as well, but I didn't have a party, a cake, or any blessings. In fact, no one remembered that it was my special day, too.

I recalled how Summer had slipped and gotten hurt during one of my birthday celebrations in the past. Kenneth and Autumn had rushed her to the hospital, and everyone had stayed by her side to watch over her.

I had used all my savings to buy a small cake to celebrate my birthday at the time. When Sherman returned home and saw the cake, he had been so infuriated that he threw the whole thing into the trash.

He told me that by celebrating my birthday, I would be bringing misfortune upon Summer since we shared the same birthday. It was why she had fallen and hurt herself. As a result, I was forbidden from celebrating my birthday from that day forward.

I recalled the first time I was brought back to the Lewis residence. There were over a dozen rooms in the building, but Summer's belongings were scattered in all of them. She had wailed loudly and refused to let me stay in even one of the rooms.

"This is my dance room. That's my piano room. And that's my study. I need all of them!"

Autumn hurried over to Summer to comfort her, saying, "It's alright; you can keep all of them. Don't cry."

Kenneth's heart had clenched painfully when he held Summer's hand. He then turned to me and said, "We're sorry, Winter. You'll just have to stay in the storeroom temporarily."

Andy had been there, too, and he had chimed in to support Kenneth. "That's right, Winter. You can stay in the storeroom for now. We'll move you to another room later."

Sherman and Jimmy had also joined in to convince me. I didn't want to trouble them, so I agreed.

The storeroom ended up becoming my permanent room for the next eight years. The winds and the rains would often leak into the storeroom. After staying there for so long, I developed rheumatic disorders.

The Lewises didn't treat me particularly well even from the beginning, but at the very least, they respected me. Their behavior toward me changed in the span of a single night when Summer dropped by the storeroom.

I had switched off the lights, so I became frightened when I saw someone's shadow looming in the dark. When I pushed her away, a cry echoed throughout the villa.

Summer tumbled down the staircase after I shoved her. She had been holding the family heirloom, an emerald pendant, when she fell down the stairs, and it shattered into a million pieces upon impact.

Upon hearing the commotion, Kenneth, Autumn, Andy, Sherman, and Jimmy rushed to where we were.

"Winter, why did you push me?" Summer wailed, clutching onto what was left of the emerald pendant.

She was gasping heavily, and the back of her head was bleeding profusely. She looked utterly miserable and pitiful at that moment.

I wasn't given the chance to explain myself when Kenneth aimed a powerful kick at me, causing me to collide against the wall.

"Summer wanted to give you the emerald pendant out of the kindness of her heart. How dare you return her kindness by hurting her?" he screamed.

"Winter, you've crossed the line," Autumn scolded. "You may be jealous of her, but that doesn't give you the right to do something so despicable!

"The emerald pendant is broken, too. That pendant was passed down in our family through so many generations. You're truly nothing but an evil eye!"

Andy carried Summer in his arms, feeling heartbroken for her sake. When he looked at me, his eyes were as cold as ice, regarding me as if I were a sworn enemy.

"Thank God the staircase wasn't too high up. If anything happens to her, I'm going to make you pay with your life!"

I attempted to explain myself again, but Jimmy didn't give me a chance and interrupted me.

"Stop trying to make up excuses. We don't have the patience to listen to your lies. It only makes sense that a country bumpkin from a backward village would have a strong sense of jealousy.

"You're nothing but a useless piece of crap. Our kindness is completely wasted on you. Dad, Mom, let's go. We should leave her to her own devices in the future."

From that day forth, the Lewises treated me coldly.

As I was pulled out of my memories, the terrible pain racking through my body assaulted me all at once. I felt like I was drowning in a sea of hurt. Eventually, I lost consciousness and collapsed on the ground.

Those who saw my unconscious form chose to ignore me. No one was willing to send me to the hospital.

The cancerous cells in my stomach continued to spread rapidly, pushing me into the last moments of my life.

Summer's birthday party lasted for the entire day.

The next morning, the guests who were leaving spotted me, the heiress of the Lewis family, passing out on the ground. I was completely drenched, and blooming bruises littered the skin of my arms and cheeks.

I finally stirred awake from the pain when I heard them insulting me. I maintained a calm demeanor when I crawled back up onto my feet. When I entered the villa, the man I was terrified of collided with me, causing the blood in my veins to freeze over.

"Winter, you're back. Why are you all wet?"

The old man with a wrinkled face grabbed my arm as he leered at me salaciously, giving me a once-over. He reached out his hand and touched my waist.

"It's been a long time since I last saw you, so I came to see you."

He yanked at the buttons of my shirt and said obscenely, "Hurry and take off your clothes. You'll catch a cold if you don't."

A fear from my past consumed me ever since I laid eyes on him. I was so scared that I was paralyzed where I stood, unable to force myself to move.

The man was my adoptive father, Frank Kingston. He was also Summer's biological father.

I lived with him for a decade. He would constantly scold and hit me. His filthy hands had turned into a nightmare that would haunt me for the rest of my life.

I was terrified of his touch and subconsciously retreated a few steps. "Don't touch me!" I hissed.

Summer was smiling when she walked over to us. "Mr. Kingston, Winter never liked other people touching her. She's not that easy of a person."

Autumn jeered coldly in response, "You don't have to speak on her behalf, Summer. Her bad luck is going to rub off on you.

"Everyone knows that she doesn't care who touches her and welcomes any and all men to place their hands on her. But she still wants to act reserved now. I feel disgusted just thinking about what she did in high school."

Everyone's expressions twisted when Autumn brought up the high school incident. They turned their attention to me, looking at me in disdain.

During my time in high school, a PE teacher had the tendency to touch me inappropriately. Eventually, I couldn't take it anymore and reported his misdeeds to the school.

But the teacher turned the situation around and accused me of seducing him and stripping my clothes in front of him. He even uploaded a few videos onto the school forum.

When the news spread among the student body, everyone turned against me and criticized me for my actions. I was innocent, but no one was willing to listen to my explanations. Some people even shared the incident around, and it eventually ended up being covered by the local news.

That was also when my identity as the heiress of the Lewises was exposed. The incident had caused the Lewis family to be ridiculed.

Kenneth and Autumn had forced me to my knees to grovel at the teacher's feet for forgiveness and bumped my head against the floor again and again. They didn't let me go until my forehead began to bleed. From that moment on, I turned into the school's laughingstock, and I was also seen as the black sheep by the Lewises.

The pain in my stomach was acting up again. I was still feeling dizzy as well, so I reached out a hand to support myself against the wall, doing my best to power through the pain. Frank strolled over to me and wrapped an arm around my waist before shooting a malicious smile at me.

"Winter's a grown woman now. It's normal for her to have such thoughts."

Everyone was looking at how Frank was caressing me. An expectant look flickered across Summer's face. Autumn frowned but did nothing to stop Frank while Kenneth averted his repulsed gaze away.

Meanwhile, a complicated emotion swirled in Andy's eyes.

"Let's go. I'll take you upstairs to change your clothes." Frank tried to drag me away.

I shook my head and mustered all the strength I had left to push him away. I lost my balance and staggered to the ground.

Frank tried to drag me away again, but I summoned the last of my strength to scream at him, "I told you not to touch me!"

Andy stepped forward and pulled Frank and me apart. He then helped me back onto my feet. "Are you mute? Why didn't you say that you have a fever?" he asked.

He then dragged me to the storeroom and threw me on the ground.

"So you still have your wits about you. I thought you were going to get involved with your so-called father and further stain the Lewis family's name," Andy said coldly as he closed the door.

I curled up on the floor and pressed a hand to my stomach. There was nothing else I could do but wait for this wave of pain to pass.

A long time passed before the pain receded. I got up and changed into a new set of clothes. I then packed my belongings into my luggage in preparation to leave this place.

I didn't want to die here. The storeroom was too cold when it stormed.

I wanted to find a warm place to quietly pass on. Besides, they would think that I was bringing misfortune upon the Lewis residence if I died here. They would probably be elated once they realized that I was dead.

I didn't have too many items that I could call my own—only four sets of clothes, a pair of shoes, and my medication. Those were all the belongings I owed. I pinched the family portrait that we had taken when I was first brought home between my fingers.

I remembered how they had happily stood around me when the photo was taken. But when the picture was printed out, none of them wanted this particular photo.

Later on, they took many other family portraits, but I no longer had a space in any of them.

Before I left, I continued working at the bar. I decided to depart from the Lewis residence after receiving this month's salary.

During this time, I would only eat a single packet of instant noodles to keep myself alive. Whenever I had to serve the patrons steak and wine, I had to force myself to swallow the drool in my mouth and ignore the pangs of hunger radiating from my stomach.

I was still in a daze when Andy and Summer blocked my path, and I nearly collided with them. Thankfully, one of my colleagues called out to me, and I was able to halt my footsteps at the last second.

"Welcome. There are two empty seats on your left. Please have a seat." I forced a smile as I greeted them.

Andy's brows knitted together as he studied me with an upset expression. "Winter, if you need money, you just have to say the word. Why do you insist on doing this type of dirty work outside?"

His words were laughable in my ears. "Mr. Lewis, I was once told that I would never receive even a single cent of the Lewis family's fortune. Even if I begged you, you wouldn't give me any money."

A complicated emotion swirled in Andy's eyes.

"If you'd like to have a meal here, please take a seat. If not, please move aside. You're blocking the way," I spat icily.

Summer tugged on Andy's arm, wearing a troubled expression. "Andy, my bracelet is missing."

Andy's eyes turned scrutinizing as he stared at me. I didn't know what they were up to, but when I rounded them to take my leave, Andy's hand shot out and grabbed my arm.

I was caught off-guard, losing my grip on the tray as it clattered to the floor. As I looked at the ruined steak on the ground, I couldn't help but think it was such a waste of a delicious meal. I would even have to compensate the bar later for the mishap.

"Hand Summer's bracelet over," Andy demanded coldly. "Why haven't you changed your bad habit of stealing what doesn't belong to you?" He criticized harshly.

I scoffed. "I didn't take her bracelet. But I can't change your mind if you're already dead set on pinning the blame on me!"

I knew that even if I tried to explain myself, Andy wouldn't believe me.

In the past eight years, I was framed for many things that I didn't do. If the incident concerned me and Summer, I would always be the guilty party.

"Your attitude is getting worse by the day," Andy said. "Summer's bracelet is worth millions of dollars. No one else in the house has a habit of stealing. Who else would have taken it if not you?"

Andy's words were heated. It was clear that he had convinced himself that I must be guilty.

Distrust and disappointment washed over his features. I let out a bitter laugh. In his eyes, this wasn't the first time I had done something so despicable.

When the scandal first broke out during my time in high school, Kenneth and Autumn had originally planned to send me back to the village. Although Andy didn't like me very much, he had begged them to let me stay.

"Dad, Mom, Winter didn't receive a good education in the past few years, but she's still a member of the Lewis family. She's just still immature. Please give her another chance!"

The incident that solidified his hatred of me was when he assumed I had stolen Summer's asthma medication.

Summer had asthma. Her medicine had gone missing during one of her attacks, and we couldn't find it no matter where we searched. In the end, I found the medicine when I was rummaging through the storeroom.

I had no idea how the asthma medicine had ended up there, but I didn't think too much of it at the time and hastily gave it to Summer so she could take it. When her breathing had calmed, she pointed at me, wearing a look of disbelief.

"Winter, why did you hide my medicine?"

Upon hearing her words, Andy rounded on me and slapped me hard across the face. The blow was so powerful that it sent me crashing to the ground. He even aimed a powerful kick at me.

His face had been steely when he yelled, "Winter, you're such a heartless person!

"I always thought that you were just stubborn, so I kept giving you chances, but you've gotten more and more evil. If you didn't bring out the medicine today, Summer would have died!

"Did you think that your life would get better if she was gone? Did you think that Dad and Mom would love you more? Do you really think that you're more important than Summer?"

Frank had been standing to the side at the time, and he fanned the flames of Andy's ire, making it burn hotter.

"Her hands have been tainted since she was a child. She has the habit of holding grudges, too. It's all my fault for not teaching her well. She ended up becoming such a selfish and horrible person because of me."

Frank's words solidified the image the Lewises had of me being a thief. It also convinced Andy that I was nothing more than an ungrateful person.

From that day forth, the only person who had ever cared about me disappeared from my life. Andy had taken Summer's side, just like everyone else.

"Say something!" Andy bellowed after realizing I had fallen silent.

My eyes reddened as tears welled up. "Andy, would you believe me if I said I was dying? Would you trust my words?" I murmured.

Andy was stunned momentarily, a hint of hesitation flickering in his eyes.

I hadn't eaten anything yet today, and my stomach was beginning to scream in protest. I was once again assaulted by a wave of excruciating pain. I curled into myself as I usually did and pressed a hand to my stomach.

The pain was much more pronounced than before. Cold sweat beaded all over my skin. I even lost the strength to continue speaking.

Andy was confused by my behavior before a look of realization crossed his face when he loosened his grip on my arm.

"You're pretending again. Winter, you need to stop acting like you're sick. I won't fall for your schemes or feel bad for you."

A wobbly smile stretched across my lips as I finally let the tears fall from my eyes and drip to the floor. The pain made me dry heave.

Andy frowned as he looked at me. He reached out for me but let his hand stay suspended in the air for a few moments before ultimately retracting it. He wore a conflicted expression as he stared at me.

"Andy, I don't blame Winter. Maybe she just liked that bracelet a little too much. Let's just drop the subject."

Upon seeing how Andy had become mute, she played the role of the good person and spoke in his stead. Since Summer was letting me off the hook, Andy sighed long and deep.

"Look how sensible Summer is, Winter. You need to clean up your act, too, and stop causing trouble. Dad and Mom will send you back to the village if you keep disobeying them.

"I won't pursue this incident any longer. After you go home, trim every inch of the grass in the garden. That will be your punishment."

After he was done speaking, he whirled around with a hint of hesitation, pulled Summer with him, and left the bar.

"Let's go, Summer. I'll buy a new bracelet for you," he said, looking at her with adoration.

Summer nodded happily in response.

Before they turned the corner, Summer turned her head to look at me. Glee and arrogance shone in her eyes. I had seen her haughty gaze, but how was I, a person who already had one foot through death's door, supposed to fight back against someone who was loved and treasured?

I wiped the tears from my eyes and forced myself to get back up on my feet despite the pain. My condition was getting worse, and I had a feeling I would die in the next few days.

I powered through the pain, reminding myself that I needed to at least complete my shift for the day. With the money in hand, I would be able to purchase painkillers that were more effective.

I wanted to die, but I didn't want to die in too much pain.

Winter had arrived in the city. I was going to die in the freezing winter, but I wanted to cling on to the last embers of warmth before the cold days fully settled in.