At my coming-of-age ceremony, I confessed my feelings to Uncle Daniel, who wasn't blood-related to me. Yet, he sent me overseas to study.

Later on, I was diagnosed with brain cancer. The headaches were brutal. Left without a choice, I turned to him for help.

Yet, his first love accused me of being wasted abroad. Said I got into stuff. Claimed my pain were just withdrawals.

He believed her and dragged me back home. He locked me up in the family's abandoned villa atop the mountains, guards watching me around the clock.

With treatment delayed, my headaches grew worse. It was a complete nightmare.

One night, I couldn't take it anymore. I quietly slipped out of the window and jumped.

One year after my death, he finally remembers me.

Daniel Stewart came to pick me up, but the huge villa was completely empty. He kicked over a divider in the hall. "Helen Stewart! I don't have time for hide-and-seek. Come out right now!"

The divider crashed onto the floor, sending up a cloud of dust. Only his echo answered him.

Covering his nose, he backed toward the door. After a moment, he continued, "You're a woman. Can't you have some self-respect? Think about how disgusting you looked when you came back last year.

"Even I couldn't stand seeing you. You're filthy and sickening! If Jennifer hadn't talked me out of it, I wouldn't have bothered. You'd be long rotten!"

At that moment, my soul stood right before him, weeping silently.

"I'm warning you right now, Helen. If you screw up again this time, I don't mind locking you up for another decade. Maybe that'll make you learn your lesson!"

He was done yelling, but there were still no signs of me. He waved impatiently at the housekeepers, urging them to search my room.

A few minutes later, they bolted downstairs, screaming as if they had seen a ghost. His assistant leaned in, trembling as she whispered, "Mr. Stewart, that phone call the other day should be true. Ms. Helen is already dead."

With a scowl, Daniel roared, "All of you shut up! How would she dare? She's just fishing for my attention by harming herself. She's been pulling that trick for ages!"

He rushed to the second floor, only to see streaks of blood all over the hallway walls. Frowning, he kicked open the guest room doors one by one.

"What kind of sick game are you playing now, Helen? Do you think I've spoiled you so much that you'll get away with this?"

I followed him upstairs, watching as he stopped before a locked door. There was a huge pool of dried blood under the doorframe.

…

Back then, Daniel had me locked up in this villa to quit my "addiction". Afraid that I would run away, he only allowed me to bring a few pairs of underwear and pajamas.

At first, I could still roam the villa. When the headaches hit, I would pace around the hallway. If the pain was too much for me to handle, I would bang my head against the wall to try to alleviate it.

Yet, the people keeping an eye on me grew irritated with my wails. Daniel never visited or even called, like he had forgotten I existed. Hence, they locked me inside the guest room on the second floor. They even added a sturdy lock outside to prevent me from escaping.

From then on, my life was confined to that small room.

Each time the pain kicked in, I would writhe on the small bed, rolling back and forth. When it got worse, I would slump by the door and slam my head against it. I would do it over and over again until blood ran everywhere.

Yet, I never dared to make a sound, no matter how much pain I was in. If I did, they would beat me up and punish me.

When the pain got too much, I would clutch the bedsheets with all my strength. I tore off strips of cloth and stuffed them into my mouth, biting down hard.

I had begged the person watching over me to call Daniel. Yet, he kicked me to the ground in disdain. He claimed that Daniel was busy with his engagement to Jennifer Easton. Also, he said that Daniel didn't have time for a despicable and filthy woman like me.

Refusing to believe Daniel could be so heartless, I kept begging him to make the call. Annoyed, he finally gave in and dialed the familiar number in front of me.

The moment the call connected, I burst into tears. I told Daniel about my brain cancer and how the pain was killing me. I begged him to save me. I even told him that the diagnosis was in my suitcase, and all he had to do was open it.

But he cut me off, saying, "Jennifer's right, Helen. You're still full of lies. You haven't changed at all. You should be thinking about your mistakes. Even now, you're still trying to fool me with some sickness! If you really had the guts to die, I might actually respect you for once."

The call ended. After getting beaten up, I was locked in the room again.

…

Now, Daniel's gaze landed on the lock. He ordered the others to open it as he stood at the door, looking icy. "How long are you planning to keep this up, Helen? You've been nothing but mean to Jennifer after I started seeing her.

"You've said so many awful things about her, but she never held it against you. If it weren't for her noticing your addiction in time, you'd be rotting overseas by now. You know I'm impatient—get out and come home with me!"

He waited only a few seconds before angrily kicking the door open.

"You never change, do you? Jennifer asked me to come here and bring you back. I shouldn't have listened!"

Daniel kicked the door open and froze. Standing behind him, I followed his gaze.

The room was exactly as I had left it. The small window was ajar, swaying back and forth in the breeze. Having been battered by the weather, it creaked every time it moved.

Daniel had always hated noise. However, at this moment, his face showed no sign of irritation. There was only shock.

From where he stood, it was indeed shocking. A dark pool of blood spread beneath his feet. The door and walls were stained with blood. The bedsheets had been torn into strips. Even the pillow hadn't been spared.

The curtains, on the other hand, had long been taken down. The person keeping an eye on me was afraid I might hang myself and drag him down with me.

…

I had died the morning after I finally spoke to Daniel.

Maybe it was because I had been in pain all night, but the morning breeze felt oddly sweet. In that instant, I recalled the day when I was seven. After losing my parents, Daniel brought me back to Stewart Manor. From then on, he became the only one I ever relied on.

I squeezed through the only window that hadn't been sealed shut. Even if it meant that I had to break one of my arms.

The people outside heard the noise and rushed in. As they stared in panic, I jumped off the mountain without hesitation.

Terrified, they immediately informed Daniel. It was the day of his engagement party with Jennifer. He ended the call as soon as they finished speaking.

He had been busy entertaining guests and had no patience to listen. Perhaps he did, and he also thought that I was pulling another stunt to get his attention.

All he had said was, "From now on, I don't want to hear anything about her again!"

…

Daniel walked over to the window and looked down. A bottomless abyss stretched out beneath him.

Daniel snorted coldly. "She's a coward who's afraid of pain. There's no way she'd jump off a mountain like this. Jennifer was right—she's a sly one.

"With a personality like that, she needs to learn things the hard way more often. Who's the one in charge here? Bring him over. I want to have a word with him."

Soon, his assistant returned and said, "Mr. Stewart, he quit after Ms. Helen Stewart's suicide. How about we send people down the mountain to search for her body?"

He gave an icy chuckle. "Search? For what? If she did jump, someone would've found the body by now. The police would've contacted us too. She's always been full of lies, thinking she could fool everyone. But I know her too well to fall for it."

He ordered his assistant to stay behind with a search team.

"Turn this place inside out and search every corner. Find her and bring her to me by tonight. She shares a rare blood type with Jennifer and has donated blood to her. Now that Jennifer's giving birth soon, Helen needs to be here, just in case!"

I stood behind him, my entire soul trembling all over.

He had left me here and ignored me since. He only returned now because of his precious lover.

I used to believe I had a place in his heart. After all, he hadn't always been this way. From the time I was seven to 17, he had treated me like I was the most precious thing in the world. I couldn't help but fall for this man who was my uncle in name, but nothing more by blood.

Yet, everything changed the moment his first love, Jennifer, showed up. She was the one who was full of lies. Yet, he only believed her and not me.

At 18, I finally gathered the courage to confess my feelings at my coming-of-age ceremony. Yet, Daniel simply lectured me, reminding me that he was my uncle. He said that it was wrong of me to feel that way toward him.

The next day, he sent me overseas. I didn't have to guess to know that Jennifer had said something to him again, causing him to make that decision.

To avoid any future threats I might cause her, she even spread rumors that I had contracted something filthy. As a result, he locked me in here.

Now, Jennifer was afraid that something might happen during childbirth. She had Daniel bring me back to serve as her blood bank.

However, if my blood were truly dirty, how would she dare use it? The logic was straightforward, yet he never gave much thought to it.

His assistant gazed at him, looking uneasy. "Mr. Stewart, those men claimed that they saw Ms. Helen jump with their own eyes. There's nearly zero chance of survival.

"I know it's hard to believe it, but they sounded very convincing. If we report it to the police and have them search the mountain, we'll certainly know the truth."

Daniel scoffed, saying, "Fooling all of you like that? She's got some skills. I bet she's just hiding somewhere to avoid donating blood to Jennifer. She's probably enjoying life out there right now. Cancel all of her cards. She'll come crawling back on her own once she's out of money!"

With that, he stormed off furiously, rushing back to stay by Jennifer's side as she prepared for labor. Unable to control myself, my soul followed him.

…

As soon as Daniel stepped inside, a heavily pregnant woman rushed over and threw herself into his arms.

"Slow down. Be careful with the baby." He lovingly stroked Jennifer's head as he spoke gently.

He used to treat me that way, too. Yet, ever since she appeared, all of his affection went to her instead. She told him that he had already raised me to adulthood. Hence, it was more proper of him to keep his distance, even if we weren't related by blood.