When I woke up again, it was the next day.

Looking at the familiar layout above my head, I felt dazed.

After one last look around, I started calculating how much money he'd spent on me over the years.

I had to admit, he'd truly done what an uncle should do, and even more.

Every year on my birthday, there were expensive gifts and a substantial sum of money. Every month without fail, he transferred me two hundred thousand for spending money.

All these bits and pieces added up to about eighty million.

I quietly listed all the bags and jewelry Kieran had given me on secondhand markets.

Selling those would take time, so I had to accept rock-bottom prices.

These quickly brought in several hundred thousand.

But I was still over ten million short of eighty million.

After thinking it over, I contacted an old classmate to get an invitation to a maritime auction house.

My mother had specialized in oil painting before her death, and one of her works had once sold for ten million.

Perhaps I'd inherited her artistic talent - I'd been gifted since childhood.

If I could sell a few pieces on the ship, I'd have enough money.

The auction house readily agreed once they understood my intentions.

I was looking down, checking the list of items I'd be auctioning, when a sweet voice suddenly rang out beside me.

"Aria? It really is you. I thought it was just someone with the same name on the guest list."

I looked up to see Scarlett walking over with her arm linked through Kieran's.

Seeing me, she smiled helplessly.

"Your uncle specifically chose a honeymoon route to avoid you. How did you still manage to track us down to international waters?"

"I..."

My throat tightened, forcing me to clear it.

"I'm here to deliver auction items."

Scarlett burst into laughter, her copper-painted nails tapping the auction catalog.

"Oh come on, why be embarrassed with us? You've been following Kieran around like a little tail since childhood. Even if you really did follow us here, I'd understand."

"Scarlett."

Kieran suddenly interrupted her, but his gaze remained fixed on my face.

"What auction items?"

Before I could answer, Scarlett suddenly gasped and pulled out the last page of the catalog.

"My God, you're selling 'Embers'? Isn't that the painting you worked on for three years?"

She suddenly covered her mouth, glancing sideways at Kieran.

This was the centerpiece of my flame series, created with his quitting smoking as inspiration.

Every scorch mark on the canvas was secretly burned in while I watched him extinguish cigarettes in his study.

"So desperate for money you're selling your life's work?"

Kieran's voice betrayed no emotion, but his knuckles pressed white creases into the auction catalog.

"Or has the pack not provided well enough for you?"

The sound of ocean waves came muffled through the porthole.

I lowered my eyelids.

"I'm just clearing out some inappropriate old things."

Scarlett glanced at me and laughed lightly.

"You silly girl, how can you just throw everything into auction houses? In the end, won't Kieran still have to help you..."

"Miss Scarlett,"

My voice turned cold.

"I am talking with my uncle. Who are you to have the right to butt in?"

The air suddenly froze.

Kieran's eyes darkened, and he suddenly released Scarlett's hand.

Before I could react, he actually dropped to one knee.

A velvet ring box opened in his palm, a ten-carat blue diamond burning with fierce fire under the lights.

"I was planning to wait until the evening banquet."

His voice carried through the microphone across the entire venue.

"But I suddenly think it would be better to have everyone here witness this."

I watched helplessly as that diamond slipped onto Scarlett's ring finger, hearing Kieran ask in the gentlest tone I'd never heard him use.

"Scarlett, will you marry me?"

Amid the tsunami of cheers, I stepped back and caught my heel on my dress hem.

Indescribable suffocation overwhelmed me.

I barely managed to squeeze out a few syllables.

"Congratulations, Uncle... Aunt."

I fled to the corridor.

The starry sky outside the porthole was beautiful, exactly like that night many years ago when he took me to see the meteor shower.

Only now, the person who used to be beside me was beside another she-wolf.

By the time I'd composed myself and returned to the auction, bidding had already begun.

I'd thought that with my skill level, a few paintings together might fetch a few hundred thousand if I was lucky.

I sat in a corner of the back row, my heartbeat rising and falling with the hammer strikes.

Because my paintings were presented on the platform one after another, prices climbing at a breathtaking pace.

Far beyond my expectations.

Until "Embers" was wheeled onto the stage.

On the deep black canvas, only the burned marks intertwined with dark red paint, consuming all my unspeakable yearning.

The moment the auctioneer announced the starting price, the lights in Kieran's private box lit up.

Immediately after, the light panel in a VIP box diagonally across that had remained silent suddenly blazed to life.

A silent tug-of-war began.

Prices leaped upward at staggering increments. The entire venue's attention shifted between these two boxes, whispers rising like a tide.

I saw Kieran's expression growing darker, his fingertips tapping lightly on the armrest.

Whenever he was agitated, he'd unconsciously make this gesture.

Each time he raised his bid, the intervals grew longer, as if weighing his options or suppressing his anger.

Scarlett nestled against him, softly persuading him about something.

But he seemed not to hear, staring intently at the painting with deeply furrowed brows.

Scarlett's gaze swept toward me several times.

Finally, she seemed unable to resist leaning closer. I barely made out her words from her lip movements.

"Kieran, forget it. Aria treasures this painting most. Usually no one else can even touch it. How could she really bear to sell it? She's probably just being childish again, trying to get your attention."

Kieran's expression softened slightly, but he gave her a warning glance.

"It's not your business. Don't interfere."

Scarlett immediately fell silent, a flash of embarrassment and jealous hatred crossing her beautiful face.

Finally, when the price climbed to an unbelievable astronomical figure, Kieran fell silent for a moment and stopped bidding.

Three hammer strikes. Sold.

"Embers" went to the mysterious guest in that box.

I sat frozen in place, overwhelmed by shock.

Not until my phone buzzed and the bank notification showed a clear number did I hazily realize I'd actually sold a painting for an astronomical price.

Just then, a waiter silently approached and handed me a folded note.

"From the gentleman who just bought your artwork."

He spoke quietly then turned and left.

I took it in confusion and unfolded it. There was only one line of sharp, unfamiliar handwriting.

[Too beautiful to burn. I'll keep it safe for you.]

I felt strange and instinctively looked up.

I couldn't find the mysterious person, but met Kieran's deep, dark eyes instead.

His expression was terrible as he strode toward me.

He didn't even give me a chance to speak before his ice-cold rebuke crashed down.

"Aria, what do you think this place is? Is the auction hall your stage for games and jealous tantrums? Having someone plant fake bids to drive up prices - you'd actually stoop to such underhanded tactics!"

My whole body trembled as I looked up at him in disbelief.

His eyes were full of disgust and distrust toward me.

Scarlett immediately stepped forward, gently grasping Kieran's arm.

"Kieran, don't be angry. Aria's young, maybe she just want you to notice her more."

Every word she spoke implied I'd use any means necessary to get his attention.

Staff members and guests who hadn't yet left cast searching looks, whispers drilling into my ears.

"No wonder. I thought that painting was just so-so."

"So it was a planted bidder. I wondered how it got that price."

"The pack's reputation is going to be ruined."

Those stares and whispers were like countless fine needles, pricking me densely all over.

I opened my mouth, but my throat felt strangled, unable to make any sound.

Overwhelming grievance seized me, tears surging uncontrollably to my eyes.

I fought desperately to hold them back, but he still became blurred in my vision.

Once, just because someone had made a crude joke about me behind my back, he could bankrupt their pack business overnight, protecting me completely.

Now, he personally placed the hat of fraud on my head in front of everyone - a label that could destroy all my professional prospects - letting others trample my dignity with the most malicious speculation.

"No, Uncle, I didn't."

My voice carried a choking tremor as I tried to explain.

Just then, the cruise ship suddenly lurched violently.

Unsteady on my feet, I cried out as my whole body pitched forward uncontrollably.

Almost at the same instant, Kieran's arm shot out.

But he precisely caught Scarlett, who was farther from him and had only stumbled slightly, holding her steadily in his arms.

No one remembered to catch me.

My side crashed hard into the silver candelabra on the table behind me. The silver instantly cut through my skin, leaving wounds that wouldn't heal, explosive pain that made my vision go black and nearly suffocated me.

Tears finally burst forth, mixing heartbreak with physical agony, flooding down.

I lay awkwardly against the cold table edge, watching him hold someone else tightly in his arms, not sparing me even a glance.

I didn't get a chance to explain.

The sudden violent storm made the entire ship rock and sway.

The captain announced that all passengers should return to their rooms.

Watching Kieran disappear farther and farther away with the crowd, I closed my mouth weakly and smiled bitterly.

Forget it.

Back in my room, I curled up in the corner, listening to the chaos of the world outside, but feeling only deathly silence within.

My phone screen lit up abruptly in the darkness with a chime - a picture message from Scarlett.

My ice-cold fingertips tapped it open, and a new photo popped up.

The background seemed to be the luxury suite on the ship's top deck. Kieran was wearing a bathrobe, his figure lazily leaning against the floor-to-ceiling window, while she smiled sweetly at the camera.

I bit my lip hard, the taste of blood spreading in my mouth.

My chest felt like it had been struck by a blunt weapon, aching dully.

Like a masochistic fool, my fingers scrolled upward uncontrollably, the screen's light illuminating my pale face.

One after another, photo after photo - from the day they confirmed their relationship, these pictures hinting at their intimacy had never stopped coming.

Looking at the occasional gentle expressions on his face that I'd never seen before, tears still rolled down pathetically.

With trembling fingers, I typed out that question I'd asked countless times but never received an answer to.

"Why?"

We used to be so close. I told her all my girlish secrets. Why did she turn around and betray me?

This time, she replied lightning fast, with a tone of triumphant satisfaction.

"Why? Aria, do you still not understand? Because I'm jealous of you! I've been jealous of you since we were kids! Why do you get to take for granted all his attention and affection? Such a wonderful man - why should his eyes only see you, his thoughtless niece? Do you know how disgusting you look every time you throw tantrums relying on his indulgence? Coveting your own uncle - you're shameless beyond belief!"

"I'm clearly the one more suited to stand beside him! But his gaze always followed you! Even in the deepest drawer of his study, he keeps your baby fangs from when you first shifted and your childish cub drawings! What gives you the right?"

"But now it's good - he personally told me he finds you suffocating, that your feelings disgust him! He's mine now, completely and utterly mine! Aria, I'm warning you - give up that hopeless dream and stay away from my fiancé! Stop using that pitiful expression to get his attention - he'll only find it more annoying!"

Each word fell on me like snowflakes, light and airy, but piling up until they caused an avalanche, completely destroying my rationality.

Rage mixed with long-suppressed resentment, I furiously typed on my phone.

"No matter how shameless I am, I can't compare to you! Stealing the person your best friend has secretly loved for so long - Scarlett, you're the most shameless and disgusting one!"

After viciously hitting send, I blocked and deleted all her contact information.

The world was finally quiet. I collapsed into the sofa, completely drained.

A sleepless night. Just as I drowsily closed my eyes at dawn, violent knocking exploded like thunder.