Back then, he had held me tightly after almost losing me, swearing he would protect me for the rest of my life, never letting me suffer again.

I tried to use that guilt to awaken what was left of his conscience.

He only lowered his head, avoiding my gaze, and repeated quietly, "Iris, even if you give birth to this child, no one will love it. Its existence is unnecessary."

In that moment, I had to grip the doorframe just to keep myself from collapsing.

It wasn’t just his judgment of the child. It was the way he tore open the deepest wound in my heart without hesitation.

From the moment I was born, I had always been the unnecessary child in this family. No one loved me except my grandmother.

My parents and everyone around me favored the lively, cheerful Selena.

Until I met him.

Thirteen years.

Thirteen years to heal me.

He was the one who said I was never unnecessary and that I was the most precious treasure in the world.

After a lifetime of being ignored, scolded, and discarded, I had finally begun to make peace with myself, to forget the pain.

Yet I had forgotten that even the person closest to you can stab you the deepest.

He knew.

He had promised to protect me.

And yet he still stood with them, carving into my heart piece by piece, reopening every scar I had tried to bury, leaving me shattered, in unbearable pain.

Just as I was sinking into despair, Selena stepped in, blocking the others and appearing to defend me.

However, where they couldn’t see, she smirked and whispered, "Iris, so what if you’re pregnant? No one will love you. You didn’t know, did you? Every time Lucian said he was busy, he was with me.

"You and that whelp inside your belly are both unnecessary. See? With just a flick of my finger, I can make them abandon you and choose me."

Meeting my desperate gaze, she enunciated each word clearly. "I’m not sick at all. I just don’t want you to have a good life."

She slammed her elbow into my stomach.

I shoved her away in panic. A heavy pain dragged through my abdomen as a wave of indescribable fear swept over me.

It hurt.

It hurt so much.

My baby. My baby—

Mom rushed over and slapped me again.

"You’re a monster! Your sister is still sick, and you’re hitting her? How did I give birth to something like you?!"

My face burned, cold sweat drenched my body, and the pain in my abdomen nearly made me pass out. I bit down hard on my tongue to stay conscious, grabbing Lucian’s arm.

"Save the baby… please, save the baby… Lucian, I’m begging you…"

Selena suddenly started bleeding, letting out a terrified scream.

Lucian shook off my hand and rebuked me, "If the baby’s gone, that’s your own fault. If you hadn’t been so vicious and pushed Selena, would this have happened?"

I could barely stand, yet it felt like a dull blade was carving my heart open, blood pouring endlessly.

"No… Lucian, please… save the baby. I’m begging you. Save our child. Just call a doctor—"

"No way." He didn’t even look at me. He threw out the words coldly, then scooped Selena into his arms and ran off to find a doctor.

My parents followed immediately, their worried eyes fixed entirely on her.

As if her suffering alone mattered.

As if the sky itself would collapse if something happened to her.

Now that I was a mother, I understood that kind of love. Their concern for her was instinct.

But wasn’t I their child too?

Abandoned by my husband and my parents, I curled up on the floor. It took over ten minutes for a hospital orderly to find me.

By some miracle, the baby was saved.

Lying alone in the hospital bed, I watched the young couple in the next bed laugh and chat happily, discussing what they would name their child. The hope and sweetness in their eyes pierced me, yet stirred something tender inside me as well.

I placed my hand over my stomach and whispered silently, "Even if you weren’t wanted by others, I will love you with everything I have."

Lucian, who had disappeared for an entire day, finally came to my room.

I thought that even if nothing else, he would at least ask how I was. Instead, he frowned the moment he saw me.

"Stop pretending to be sick, Iris. Selena is bleeding again. Can you really stand by and watch your sister die? Or watch your parents bury their own child?"

"Just be good and terminate the pregnancy. Go save her, okay?"

In that moment, I felt like I could no longer see through the man I had shared a bed with for thirteen years.

My voice trembled as I asked, "What if… I told you Selena isn’t sick at all? What if she’s faking it?"

Lucian looked at me with disappointment. "Iris, Selena isn’t you. She wouldn’t lie. You’ve always been jealous of her. She never held it against you. Can’t you learn from her kindness and save her this once?"

"You… believe her, but not me?"

A dull ache spread through my chest. I pulled up my sleeve, revealing the dense web of old scars. My voice shook uncontrollably.

"Do you know who caused these? Lucian, you know, don’t you?"

My parents burst into the room.

Mom slapped me immediately. "You little witch! You did this to yourself just to frame Selena, and you still have the nerve to lie to Lucian and ruin her reputation? How can you be so vicious!"

As always, Dad chose silence.

Lucian simply looked at me quietly, as if to say, "Iris, your lies end here."

They were like demons, dragging at my limbs, trying to pull me into the abyss to save Selena. Just like all those times before, when she led her clique to bully and warn me not to try to take what belonged to her.

Some people really don’t have to do anything, yet they win everyone’s love.

In my despair, I thought I heard someone calling me.

"Mom."

That’s right.

I still had my child.

Summoning every ounce of strength, I broke free, grabbed the fruit knife from the bedside table, and waved it wildly.

Mom screamed and collapsed to the ground, wailing, "Oh God, what did we do to deserve this? Our daughter is trying to kill us! What kind of karma did we bring upon ourselves to give birth to such a monster?!"

A crowd began to gather at the door.

I knew they were pointing at me, whispering behind my back.

Nevertheless, I only had one thought: protect my child.

I pressed the knife against my own neck and spoke firmly, "I will not donate bone marrow to someone who’s faking illness. And I will not abort this child. If you keep pushing me, I will die right here!"

Mom scrambled to her feet, pointing at me viciously. "Even if you die, you still have to donate that bone marrow!"

Her twisted face and her bottomless favoritism had followed me my entire life. Her voice echoed in my memory, over and over.

"What can you do besides eat?"

"Get out of my sight! Why did you make Selena cry?"

"No dinner for you tonight. Go back to your room!"

"Liar! If you didn’t bully Selena, why would she cry?"

"You bullied her again? Go kneel! Don’t get up unless I say so!"

"Why did I ever give birth to something so useless!"

…

In the past, my explanations had only brought harsher punishment. So I learned to stay silent.

But not anymore.

I raised my voice with all the strength I had left.

"Fine! If word gets out that you forced your pregnant daughter to death for your younger daughter, none of you, including Selena, will get away with it!"

Murmurs spread through the crowd.

The husband from the neighboring bed, Owen Hayes, stepped forward. "I’ve already called the doctors, nurses, and security. If you don’t leave now, don’t blame me for what happens."

Mom was trembling with rage, ready to lunge at me. Fortunately, my father and Lucian stopped her, and they finally left unwillingly.

Before he left, Lucian let out a sigh. "Iris, I’m doing this for your own good. Think about it carefully."

"Get out!"

I was on the verge of collapse.

The pregnant woman beside me, Clara Hayes, tried to comfort me. I could barely breathe, gasping for air as tears soaked into the sheets.

I placed my hand on my stomach again and again.

"Baby, don’t be afraid. I will protect you."

The way I once tried to protect myself with everything I had.

But in the end…

There were always people who refused to let me go.

I wasn’t a good mother. In the end, I still couldn’t protect my child.

Selena died.

She left behind a suicide note and threw herself into the sea.

Every word in that note seemed to defend me, saying I was pregnant and that she didn’t want the family to be torn apart because of her.

In truth, though, it only made her seem virtuous while painting me as vile.

Every sentence was an accusation. Every line condemned me.

My parents and Lucian were all blinded by that letter. They forced me to abort my child. They dragged me to Selena’s funeral hall and made me kneel.

Even when I passed out from pain, they would throw cold water on me, shouting, "You killed Selena and still have the nerve to sleep? I don’t think you’re even truly remorseful!"

Mom threw herself at me, beating me relentlessly, screaming over and over, "Why wasn’t it you who died?"

Dad just watched me being beaten and sighed. "Why didn’t I just strangle you when you were born?"

In the end, Lucian bandaged my wounds and told me to admit my mistake. He said that if I knelt sincerely in the chapel for Selena for seven days, we could pretend none of this had ever happened and continue our lives together.

A wave of indescribable exhaustion and disgust surged through me.

From the moment he abandoned me again and again, stood against me, handed them the knife to stab me, and killed my child with his own hands, there was nothing left between us.

I looked at him and said firmly, "No more, Lucian. In this lifetime, I will never be entangled with you again. Let’s separate."

Lucian froze.

After a long moment, he suddenly grabbed my wrist tightly. "Iris, you loved me so much that you would give up your life for me. How could you leave me?

"Or… have you really fallen for someone else? No, you’re just trying to force me to let you go, aren’t you? Iris, you really are full of schemes.

"Since you refuse to admit your mistake, you’ll experience what Selena went through until you do."

The day I was tied to the sea stack, with seawater swallowing half my body, my parents’ applause carried across the distance to my ears.

They said Lucian did the right thing. They claimed that I deserved to learn my lesson and to experience Selena’s suffering.

Even now, after hearing Damon speak up for me, they rushed over, cursing me without restraint.

"If that heartless Iris hadn’t refused to save her, my Selena wouldn’t have died! We raised her for nothing. She’s nothing but an animal!"

"She used to bully Selena all the time when she first came home. I thought years of teaching would change her, but she only got worse! You treated her so well, and she still betrayed you. She’s completely ungrateful!"

"Exactly, Lucian, you can’t let that woman off so easily!"

Lucian’s expression darkened as he replied, "Don’t worry. I won’t let her off that easily."

Their ability to twist black into white was almost impressive. They said I had wronged them.

It was laughable.

Just as they wished, I had already paid with my life.

I wondered, almost with amusement, whether they would pop champagne to celebrate once they found out.

Lucian’s phone buzzed. He opened the message.

On the surface of the sea where I had been, a large bloom of blood spread across the water. Pieces of my clothing floated among it.

Damon’s call came through immediately. "Sir, something seems to have happened to Madam."

"Don’t hang up. I’m coming right now!" Lucian’s voice trembled. His face turned pale as he grabbed his coat and rushed toward the door.

At that moment, his assistant, Nolan Pierce, stepped in with a smile as he blocked Lucian's path.

"Sir, there’s news about Miss Selena."