To save the three most important men in my life, I made a deal with the Moon Goddess.

Trade my life for theirs.

If I could make any one of them truly love me within five years, I'd get to live.

But on the final day of the countdown, all three still had negative feelings toward me.

According to the rules, I'd failed. My life was about to be erased.

"Moon Goddess, could I send one last message? One final try?"

Maybe out of pity, she granted me this last attempt.

This message was my final shot.

I hit the voice button in our group chat, fighting to keep my voice steady.

"Could you guys love me just a little? I'm really going to die."

After a moment of silence came their merciless laughter.

"You'll do anything to compete with Lidia for attention, won't you?"

"Cut the lies. This just makes us hate you more."

"If you're so desperate to die, then just do it already."

Mission failed. I gave them exactly what they wanted.

But when I was about to die, they all freaked out.

After Lidia showed up, the three men who'd once meant everything to me started despising me.

But when I was really dying, everyone panicked and rushed me to the hospital.

……

When I opened my eyes again, I was staring at a hospital ceiling.

I blinked slowly, taking five whole seconds to process the fact that I was somehow still alive.

I'd driven that silver dagger straight into my heart. A wave of exhaustion and confusion washed over me.

Why didn't I die? Why was even dying so damn hard?

Then the Moon Goddess's familiar voice echoed in my mind.

“Child, when you tried to take your own life with that silver blade, your brother appeared and saved you. I'm giving you another chance at life.”

My brother... Garrett ... save me?

I felt dazed, my scattered focus slowly sharpening.

I was the true daughter of the Ironwood Pack’s Alpha, lost for fifteen years before being found.

The day they brought me home, I heard the Moon Goddess's call.

She told me the three most important men— my childhood friend，my brother and my further fiance were about to face disaster, and asked if I wanted to save them.

All I had to do was make any one of them truly love me within five years - whether familial love, friendship, or romance.

But it would cost me my life.

I readily agreed without hesitation, and as a result, I gained the ability to gauge the favorability rating those three men range for me.

At the time, I naively thought, "This is not difficult so far?"

Just my childhood friend Damine, who'd come back with me, already had a favorability rating of fifty out of one hundred.

I was so confident.

Reality slapped me hard and shattered me completely.

Not only did their feelings not improve for me, they were worse than when we first met - constantly hovering in single digits or even negative numbers.

I knew it was all because of Lidia.

The adopted daughter of my father who, even after I returned, remained everyone's precious princess. And she had easily brand me as a scheming manipulator.

I used to resent it, but nothing changed.

I hadn't done anything wrong. I just wanted to live. Why wouldn't they give me even the tiniest bit of love or trust?

Until the five-year deadline hit and the Moon Goddess declared my mission a failure.

She said I'd lose my wolf within the month and develop cancer - bone cancer, the most painful kind.

When the bone cancer hit, I'd lost my healing abilities. God, it hurt so bad.

But when I was writhing on the floor, drenched in cold sweat from the pain, not one of those three men was by my side.

In that moment, I suddenly felt like nothing mattered anymore.

Since their eyes and hearts only saw Lidia, since my very existence was a mistake, then forget it.

This unwanted outsider was done playing along.

When I plunged the silver dagger into my own body I actually felt relieved for the first time in years.

Can't believe I didn't even manage to die.

Even if the Goddess of the Moon gave me a second chance at life, I know that the quest for true love has failed, and my life will only last for two more weeks.

Two weeks .

How annoying.

For this suicide attempt, I'd even prepared my affairs.

Especially for those three - I'd prepared a gift for each of them, which were supposed to be found after I died.

Except I didn't die.

My thoughts were interrupted by the faintest sound beside my bed.

I turned my head with difficulty.

It was my first target - my brother, Garrett Ironwood.

I'd never seen him look so wrecked.

His shirt was wrinkled beyond recognition, heavy dark circles under his eyes, stubble covering his jaw. His whole face radiated exhaustion.

Our eyes met.

My heart skipped a beat.

Today was Lidia's birthday. They'd already reserved a private room at the hotel to celebrate.

Had he come back... for me?

Was my brother... actually worried about me?

I found myself drifting in these thoughts when the words slipped out of my mouth before I could stop them.

Garrett froze for a second, then a mocking smirk twisted his lips.

"Worried about you? Nia, you are really vicious. Since it's Lidia's birthday and everyone's celebrating her, you just had to choose this moment to fake a suicide attempt for attention?"

A bitter ache spread through my chest.

Today was my birthday too.

But they'd all forgotten.

"If it's such a special day for her, why are you still wasting your time on a nuisance like me?"

"As if I have a choice," Garrett scoffed.

"Lidia was worried you might be home alone and scared, so she specifically sent me back to check on you. I didn't want to deal with you, but when Lidia heard about your suicide attempt, she passed out cold. When she came to, the first thing she did was beg me to look after you. If it weren't for her kindness, you think you'd deserve even a second of my attention?"

At the mention of Lidia, the ice in his eyes seemed to melt away, replaced by a tenderness I'd never seen before.

I should have been used to his favoritism, but my heart still ached painfully.

When I first came back, my brother hadn't liked me.

I clung to him relentlessly, following him around like a lost puppy.

No matter how much he pushed me away, I kept coming back.

After three months, I finally broke through his walls.

He'd make sure the kitchen prepared my favorite meals. When I was sick, he'd personally bring me hot water, his brow furrowed with concern.

Watching his favorability rating climb toward fifty, I couldn't help but puff out my chest in pride.

See? This mission wasn't as hard as it seemed.

But I didn't notice the hatred growing in Lidia's eyes whenever she looked at me.

On an ordinary afternoon, I came home as usual. Instead of my brother's warm smile, I was met with a cold rebuke.

Garrett's voice was like ice as he accused me of bullying Lidia at school.

My mind went completely blank.

I wanted to explain, to say I hadn't done anything, but I was terrible with words and couldn't find the right ones.

As Lidia wept pitifully, I could only watch helplessly as his favorability rating dropped again and again, never to recover.

My eyes burned, my voice muffled.

"And if I had cancer... would you maybe..."

Garrett let out a harsh laugh.

"Don't think you can fake an illness like Lidia. You are not an Omega like Lidia, how can you have cancer easily. It seems Lucas was right all along—you're nothing but a liar."

Lucas, my fiancé and my second target of this mission.

So this was how they saw me.

I closed my eyes, unable to look at him any longer.

"You're right. I have been lying to you both. As you can see, I'm fine now. You can go back and celebrate her birthday."

Garrett's brow furrowed, about to speak, when a timid voice came from the doorway.

"Brother, please don't speak to Nia like that..."

Lidia stood in the entrance, wearing an elegant white party dress, her eyes red-rimmed.

"Nia, is it because both Garrett and Lucas are celebrating with me that you're mad? But no matter how angry you are, you can't hurt yourself to get their attention, please."

Garrett's voice immediately turned cold.

"Nia, how unreasonable you are! Lidia is still thinking of you, and what about you?!"

Following her inside was my fiancé Lucas, his face dark with fury.

Without giving me a chance to defend myself, he strode forward and slapped me hard across the face.

"Nia, listen to me!"

Lucas pointed his finger at me, his eyes filled with disgust.

"Even if you tried to kill yourself a hundred times, the woman I'm going to marry will always be Lidia. Do you understand that?"

He gave a cold, humorless laugh.

"If you're so desperate to die, then why don't you do it properly? Who are you trying to impress with this fake suicide act? Stop playing the victim!"

Listening this cold sentence, I clutched my cheek in the meanwhile my eyes met Lidia's triumphant gaze.

She mouthed the words silently, a triumphant smirk on her face.

"Nia, why aren't you dead yet?"

A low, self-mocking laugh escaped my lips.

In the stunned silence of the room, I suddenly snatched the silver dagger from the nightstand and drove it deep into my own heart.

The blade didn't manage to hurt me.

Just as it was about to touch me, a strong hand shot out and wrapped around my wrist.

A sharp clatter echoed through the room as the knife slipped from my grasp, clattering against the far wall before falling to the floor.

Lucas was breathing heavily, his chest rising and falling rapidly.

"Nia! How dare you do that before all of us! If you really wanted to die, you've had plenty of chances to do it quietly. Why do it now, when we're here? Who are you trying to fool?!"

He roughly yanked his hand away as though I'd contaminated him.

"Knowing what kind of person you really are, I should've let you die in that accident. Would've saved us all from having to watch your pathetic performance!"

My breath caught, and the pain of bone cancer is tormenting me, with his words pierced my heart deeply also.

After Garrett had given up on me, I had pinned all my hopes on Lucas.

Back then, he only saw Lidia as a sister who needed protection. Toward me, his sudden fiancée, he was distant but still kind.

I approached him cautiously, and sometimes he would respond.

During that time, I could feel us growing closer. It was the only ray of light I'd seen in five years of darkness.

I thought I might actually grab onto that chance to complete the mission of the moon goddess.

Until that rogue wolf attack.

Lucas was severely injured, with a ruptured kidney and his life hanging by a thread.

To save him, I begged the healer to secretly transplant one of my kidneys to him.

After the surgery, I was in a coma for seven days.

But when I woke up, the warmth was gone from his eyes, replaced by pure disgust.

Later, I learned it was because of Lidia.

While I was unconscious, she had cried as she told him that the rogue wolf attack—I deliberately set up a car accident—was a plot to kill her, who'd stolen her family's love and concern.

By accident, those rogue wolves hurt Lucas, who had thrown himself in her way to protect Lidia.

And Lucas's mother had been killed years ago by his father's mistress, utilizing those rogue wolves.

This was a line he could never cross.

All my explanations sounded like empty, malicious excuses.

From that moment on, his favorability rating toward me plummeted to rock bottom and never recovered.

I lifted my head, my expression hollow as I forced a smile.

"If you wanted me dead so badly, why did you stop me?"

A flicker of panic crossed Lucas's face before it was quickly replaced by disdain.

"Are you kidding me? Because I can't stand to watch your little drama unfold anymore. You'll do anything to gain sympathy—anything at all."

Perhaps my deathly pale face finally got through to Garrett, who had been watching coldly from the side. His brow furrowed.

"Enough, Lucas. Why are we really here?"

Lucas seemed to remember his original purpose.

He took a deep breath, and when his gaze fell on Lidia, standing timidly nearby, it instantly softened with concern.

He spoke to me as though I were nothing more than an object.

"Lidia's health has taken a turn. Her kidneys are failing, and yours would be a match. Get ready to donate one to her."

I could barely believe my ears.

Even Garrett, who had been relatively calm, was stunned.

"Lucas! Have you lost your mind?! You can't just—"

His words died when he met Lidia's gaze.

Her big, doe-like eyes were filled with a desperate longing for life, pleading silently to him.

All of Garrett's protests caught in his throat.

When he looked back at me, his voice was dry as dust.

"Nia, it's just one kidney. It won't kill you."

"And I'll take care of you forever."

Take care of me?

My hollow gaze drifted past him to the ceiling above.

The air grew thick with silence.

Just as he was about to speak again, I finally opened my mouth.

"Then... will you share just a little bit of your love with me?"

Garrett froze, clearly confused.

He frowned slightly but gave me a quick answer.

"Fine. As long as you behave, I'll be good to you."

I glanced at the still-10 favorability rating above his head and let out a low, trembling laugh that soon turned into sobs.

So even now, he wouldn't give me even a sliver of pity.

Liar.

In his horrified gaze, I coughed up a mouthful of blood.