I grew up with the Vipera brothers. They have always considered me their younger sister and spoiled me silly.

But after that car accident, my relationship with them changes completely.

The accident leaves me with severe burns on my body, and I'm in constant agony. On top of that, my face is disfigured too.

The moment I'm wheeled out of the ICU, I call the Vipera brothers to let them know that I'm safe.

However, the only response I get from them is an impatient dismissal. "Sofia, Bianca hurt her fingers during the accident. We're taking care of her now. Don't bother us by throwing a tantrum."

Soon, Bianca Rossi uploads a selfie of herself with the Vipera brothers in a luxurious hospital room. She's wearing three wolf fang bracelets on her wrist. I'd given those to the Vipera brothers as a Christmas gift last year.

To get the fangs from the particular species of wolves they liked, I trekked through the jungle alone with a gun and battled feral wolves the entire night.

I completely let go of any remaining feelings toward the famiglia that raised me and decide to leave them for good.

When the Vipera brothers see me again at a grand banquet held by the Ferro famiglia, they are overwhelmed with regret.

The day I was discharged from the hospital, I wore a face mask to conceal the massive scar on my face.

It was then that I received a call from a distant city called Lunebria. The voice on the other end sounded unfamiliar.

"May I ask if you are Ms. Sofia? Did you go missing when you were a child?" a man asked.

I froze for a moment. The memories that had been buried in the back of my mind for years suddenly came surging back.

The man continued, "The hospital reported your DNA information to us. It's been 20 years… We've finally found you!"

His voice trembled with emotion as he spoke. It seemed like he was on the verge of tears.

A tear slid down one corner of my eye, and I couldn't help but smile too. "So you're saying… I have a real famiglia now? Is that right?"

"But will your current famiglia agree to let you return to us?"

I thought of the selfie where my three adoptive brothers stood beside Bianca Rossi, smiling as they kept her company. My nose stung, and more tears slid down my face as sadness overcame me.

I replied softly, "I want to go home. There is no famiglia for me here."

The man fell silent for a moment before saying carefully, "I am the butler of the Ferro famiglia, Matteo Zanetti. I will arrange a private jet next week to bring you back. We will also schedule a skin graft surgery at a private hospital."

My heart began to race, and I bit my lip. It seemed as though the long winter gloom that shrouded me was finally starting to lift.

I took a cab back to pack my belongings. Just as I reached the gates of the castle, a luxurious van pulled up and blocked my way.

The automatic door slid open, and Bianca stepped out as though she were a princess. Three wolf fang bracelets hung from her wrist.

Bianca sneered, "Sofia, you vicious woman! How dare you come back to the Vipera famiglia's castle?"

She rolled her eyes at me. Then, she ripped the bandage on her finger and tossed it onto the ground.

"That car accident almost ruined my hand! I almost couldn't play the piano again. What was more, I nearly got killed in the accident!" she said, seething.

I didn't bother replying and walked straight toward the entrance.

Bianca rushed over and grabbed my shoulder. She ordered, "Hurry up and clear out your room. I'm moving in to recover from my injuries."

"You want my room?" I asked incredulously.

I had lived in that room for 20 years. I never even allowed the maids to enter it freely.

Bianca put on a fragile, pitiful expression. "Giuliano said I was badly shaken by the accident. He wants me to stay here and rest properly so that my hand can heal and I can play the piano for them again."

She then shoved me hard and spat, "You're just a stray who came from nowhere. You should've been kicked out of this household a long time ago!"

Bianca had pressed right on my burns when she shoved me. The pain flared instantaneously, itching and stinging all at once. It felt like ants were gnawing into my flesh.

Suddenly, Bianca collapsed onto the ground and clutched her wrist.

She cried, "I rushed over to see you the moment I was discharged. Why do you hate me so much? Were you planning to cripple my hand?"

Her loud sobbing drew whispers from the maids around us.

Hearing the noise, Giuliano Vipera got out of the car. He was the youngest of the three brothers, and he was a well-known doctor.

"Bianca, your hand hasn't healed yet. Did you hurt it again? Do you want me to take a look?" he asked worriedly.

The second Vipera brother, Bruno Vipera, glared at me. "You've gone too far, Sofia. Bianca saved you! Apologize to her right now!"

Mario Vipera, who was the eldest, stepped forward and thrust his thick arm at me. His fist stopped inches from my face.

He growled, "Sofia, enough of this nonsense! If you even think about hurting Bianca's hand again, I'll teach you a lesson with my fist."

The three of them surrounded Bianca and fussed over her. Beneath my mask, the scar on my face burned like it was on fire.

I recalled everything Bianca had done so far. She had wanted me gone from the Vipera household for a very long time.

My face was ruined. I was in so much pain that I lost the courage to speak.

Bianca sat on the floor and sobbed miserably, "Sofia, if my nimble fingers make you jealous, then I promise I won't show up in front of you again. I won't trouble our brothers to take care of me anymore. You'll forgive me, won't you?"

Behind her back, she squeezed the nearly healed wound on her fingers until it bled again.

She said weakly, "All I ask is that you let me rest in the castle so that my hand can heal faster. Then, I can play the piano for our dear brothers again."

My brothers helped her up and walked past me irritably.

As Bianca brushed by my shoulder, she forced out a single tear. My brothers looked at her with aching concern. Then, they turned their annoyed gazes on me.

I wanted to explain, but cold sweat broke out across my back. A feeling of despair enveloped me, and the stabbing pain from my burns overwhelmed me again.

I clenched my teeth tightly, unable to say a word. They didn't want to hear anything anyway.

And so, Bianca took over my room. I moved into the maids' storage room, which was damp and freezing. It hadn't been cleaned in years.

The pain from my wounds kept me awake all night.

At dawn, I swallowed a sleeping pill. I had barely fallen asleep when the constant and noisy footsteps outside the door woke me up again.

Giuliano had hired the best medical aesthetic specialists in the country to treat Bianca. They were going to do facial care and hand therapy for her.

Across the corridor, I lay miserably in a room without any heating, wrapped in a moldy old blanket. The skin on my body and face throbbed painfully, as if it were about to split apart.

I noticed some soothing ointment on the doctor's cart.

I put on my mask and walked over to ask the doctor's assistant, "Could I have just a little of that?"

Someone snapped, "What are you doing here, Sofia? Because of your reckless driving, Bianca nearly ended up scarred from the accident. Be grateful that she only scraped her fingers. You're the reason why she's hurt. How can you still have the nerve to cause trouble?"

Giuliano shoved me back into the storage room roughly.

I had no choice but to hide beneath that unfamiliar, cold blanket and escape the painful reality for the time being. I swallowed a few more sleeping pills and forced myself to fall asleep as quickly as possible.

In my dream, I returned to the day I first arrived at the castle.

When I was six years old, I had gone out with my butler and accidentally gotten into a stranger's car. By the time I got out, I was at the Vipera famiglia's castle.

I didn't know how to tell them where my home was. Terrified out of my wits, I fell seriously ill and ran a high fever. Then, I lost consciousness.

When I woke up, Mario, Bruno, and Giuliano decided that they would take me in. That was how I became the Vipera famiglia's adopted daughter.

In the days that followed, we played and stirred up trouble together in the castle.

The Don of the Vipera famiglia and the father of my brothers, Antonio Vipera, lived in another castle. So, this place was a private paradise for my brothers and me.

I thought we were the closest famiglia and that nothing could ever tear us apart.

But my life began to fall apart without warning when Bianca moved into the guard's wooden cabin outside the castle last year.

She claimed she was Antonio's illegitimate daughter and my brothers' half-sister by blood. She often played Antonio's favorite piano pieces in the cabin outside the castle. Whenever my brothers heard those melodies, they thought of Antonio and became convinced that Bianca was truly their sister.

I took the initiative to invite Bianca to move into the castle. I believed that she would be happier living with her real famiglia.

But after that, my brothers stopped paying attention to me. Bianca became the one who was constantly by their side instead of me.

She grew bolder by the day. She would snatch my clothes and take my shoes without asking.

Then, she would tell the brothers, "I'm closer to you than Sofia will ever be. After all, we're bound by blood."

I was barely conscious as I lay on the bed. Shivering beneath the blanket, I could feel a fever coming on.

Bruno pounded hard on the old wooden door. Mario rushed in after him, clutching a piece of paper in his hand.

He exclaimed, "I can't believe I didn't realize sooner that you'd deliberately try to harm Bianca!"

His voice thundered in my ears, but I couldn't summon the strength to speak.

Mario's expression became increasingly grim, and his words came out in an incensed roar. "So you're the one who threatened her to deliberately crash into the rocks by the roadside! Bianca is my sister—if anything happens to her, I'll skin you alive!"

Mario and Bruno took turns hurling accusations at me. Their merciless reproach rained on me like a torrent of rocks.

From the room across the corridor, Bianca's voice drifted over. "Mario? Bruno? Where are you? I need you with me."

They hurried back to her side right away, leaving me to suffer alone in the dank, suffocating room.

Mario had left behind the investigation report on the accident. With trembling hands, I picked it up.

It stated clearly that I had argued with Bianca inside the car and that I had deliberately swerved the steering wheel to threaten her. According to it, my reckless act was what caused the accident.

Summoning all my strength, I forced myself out of bed. I wanted to find my brothers and explain everything.

Bianca had just finished her skin treatment. Mario gently tucked a blanket behind her lower back and carefully adjusted it around her waist. Bruno was massaging her wrist, while Giuliano was busy pulling the curtains and fine-tuning the lighting to what he thought was the most comfortable.

My heart shattered in that instant. I turned to leave, but my foot accidentally struck the door as I spun around.

Mario noticed me, and a flash of irritation crossed his eyes.

He barked, "What are you doing here? Was the car accident not enough? Are you trying to hurt Bianca again?"

Bianca clutched Mario's sleeve and glanced at me with a pitiful expression. "Sofia, I promise I won't get on your nerves anymore. Please spare me. I still need to play the piano for our brothers."

Silently, I went up to the attic where we used to play together. There, I found the four small figurines that Mario, Bruno, Giuliano, and I had sculpted together on my birthday.

I threw them into the trash. They shattered into fragments, just like what remained of our relationship now.

…

After resting for a while and regaining some strength, I went to the storage room to pack my belongings.

My bookshelf had been filled with poetry collections Mario had bought for me. He used to say that he would invite poets to write exclusively for me if that was what I wanted.

Giuliano had given me countless bottles of perfume, saying he wanted me to experience the most beautiful scents in the world. As for Bruno, he had brought back limited-edition jewelry from all over the country. They were all souvenirs he picked up during his competitions abroad.

They had once wanted my entire life to revolve around them. But now, all of it felt like a burden.

I asked the maid to take everything out and throw them away.

As I cleared the last poetry book from the shelf, Mario stood at the door and stared at the empty space blankly. He looked like a wounded little boy.

"Why did you throw away the poetry books I gave you? Didn't you say you would treasure them for life?" he asked.

Bruno came to take a look after him.

His nose reddened as he questioned, "Didn't you love the necklace that I bought you from overseas the most?"

Giuliano rushed out and chased after the maid to ask where she had thrown my things. He even said he was willing to pay to buy them back.

I kept my head down and didn't bother explaining anything.

The next moment, I noticed the diamond earrings Bruno was holding.

"Are those for me?" I asked quietly.

Bruno's gaze wavered as he looked at Mario.

Clearly, they were not for me.

Mario cleared his throat and explained, "Bianca almost ended up disfigured. So, we're giving her some jewelry and taking photos with her to cheer her up."

Bruno hurriedly added, "I'll buy you something the next time I go for a competition. Don't be so self-centered now."