"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."