My insanely wealthy parents always tell me that they came from a poor background. As their children, my siblings and I mustn't waste our lives away on fun and games.

They set up a trial for me by requesting that I submit an application in advance for all expenses that are over 50 cents.

On the day I'm supposed to take my SATs, it's raining heavily outside. Since my exam venue is located 18 miles away from home, I decide to submit an application for a 100-dollar Uber fee.

But my dad slaps me in return.

"We used to scale over mountains just to get to school back in the day! Don't think you get to enjoy the perks of transportation just because we have money!"

After that, he empties my pockets before kicking me out of the house. I end up all sprawled on the muddy ground while feeling raindrops pelting on me relentlessly.

When I finally reach the exam venue on foot, I notice the news being played on the huge screen across the street.

It turns out that my parents and William Gentry, my older brother, have spent ten million dollars on a popular band to celebrate my adopted sister, Selene Gentry, earning a passing grade on her math test.

Apparently, passing her math test is her trial.

When the bell signaling the start of the exam rang, I turned and walked away from the examination hall. After tearing up my admission ticket, I found a sheltered spot out of the wind and called my homeroom teacher, Lori Decker.

"Ms. Decker, I've decided to accept the overseas study opportunity the school has arranged for me."

On the other end, Ms. Decker couldn't be more thrilled. "That's wonderful, Aster! You've finally come to realize that your own future is what matters the most. I know your background and understand how hard it must be to leave your family behind.

"Don't worry. I'll do everything I can to help you apply for opportunities to return home for visits."

I shook my head and let out a bitter laugh. "That won't be necessary. They'll do just fine without me."

Before that day, I had always clung to the fantasy that my family loved me.

When I was five years old, I was kidnapped by Dad's rival and abandoned in a remote mountain village. For ten years, I endured abuse and hunger.

But when I finally made it back home, relying only on fading memories, there was no tearful reunion as I had imagined, nor the joy of a long-awaited return.

Dad smoked a cigarette while looking at the paternity test report, while Mom eyed me with a look of pity that couldn't quite hide the disdain behind it.

My brother, William Gentry, on the other hand, didn't even glance at me. Instead, he was busy chatting and laughing with another pretty young woman around my age.

Dad told me that after I went missing, Mom fell into severe depression. And that was why they adopted another girl, whom they named Selene Gentry.

In that moment, guilt washed over me completely. I had always believed that my disappearance was what cast a shadow over the entire family.

In the three years after returning home, I constantly tried to give everything I could, just to make up for the time and affection we had lost between us.

But Mom, Dad, and William remained distant toward me, even resentful. Mom and Dad refused to acknowledge me publicly as their long-lost daughter. Instead, they told others I was a relative's child.

They strictly controlled every expense of mine, and any purchase over 50 cents had to be approved in advance.

Mom and Dad explained this by saying that true character was forged in hardship, and that everything they were putting me through was a test.

I believed them wholeheartedly, so I studied relentlessly and eventually earned the only nationwide scholarship for studying abroad.

That time, Mom and Dad held me in their arms and cried for the first time. They said that I was their long-lost precious daughter, so they couldn't bear to let me go.

They also told me that if I was willing to stay in the country, they would throw me a grand 18th birthday party and formally introduce me to everyone as their biological daughter.

My longing for familial love made me give up the chance to study abroad without hesitation, and I turned my focus to preparing for the SATs.

To give Mom and Dad a result they could be proud of, I slept only three or four hours a day, pushing myself again and again to improve my exam scores.

Then came the day of the SATs. Seeing the dark, overcast sky, I remembered that the villa was 18 miles from the exam venue. Thus, I decided to ask Mom and Dad for 100 dollars to cover the Uber fare.

I naively believed that they, who had always wanted me to succeed, would agree without a second thought.

I never imagined that Mom would wipe her tears and call me wasteful, while Dad took out his belt and beat me until I was covered in bruises. He even yelled that I was nothing but a parasite leeching off them.

After that, William grabbed me by the collar and shoved me straight out the door. As I tumbled down the villa's steps and landed in the muddy, filthy water on the ground, Selene walked over, surrounded by a protective circle of maids.

She pretended to help me up but leaned close to my ear and whispered a cruel truth, "Do you know why they won't let you study abroad? It was because I told them I was under so much stress from how outstanding you were that I broke out in acne.

"They felt sorry for me, so they insisted on keeping you tied down here."

At that moment, I finally understood the reality I should have stopped wishing for long ago.

Mom and Dad never loved me, and William had long become someone else's brother. Moreover, Selene never had to go through any of the so-called tests Mom and Dad kept talking about.

During the two days of the SATs, I completed all the procedures for studying abroad with Ms. Decker's help. Once everything was settled, there were still 15 days left before departure.

Ms. Decker said she had organized a trip to the amusement park for the whole class to relax. Having never been to an amusement park before, I excitedly accepte the invitation.

Just as I arrived at the park entrance, I received a call from William.

"Aster, come home quickly. Mom's headaches are acting up again."

Thinking this would be my last chance to fulfill my duty as a daughter in this life, I reluctantly turned down Ms. Decker and rushed home in a panic.

What greeted me, though, was a cream cake smashed right into my face. The hard cake topper sliced through my skin. Blood mixed with icing, completely blurring my vision and making me instinctively hop and rub my eyes, desperate to clear my sight.

The whole house erupted in roaring laughter, with Selene laughing the loudest of all.

"Mom, Dad, William, look at Aster! Doesn't she look just like a stray dog?"

If it were before, I would've definitely swallowed my pride and barked a few times like a dog, just to earn the tiniest scrap of parental affection. But this time, I truly no longer wanted to please anyone.

I silently wiped the mess from my face with my sleeve and turned to leave without saying a single word.

A second later, Selene began sobbing softly. "Aster, don't you like the surprise I prepared for you?"

Immediately after, a loud slap sent me tumbling to the ground. My mouth filled with the metallic taste of blood.

Dad pointed at me angrily and shouted, "Aster, get on your knees and apologize to Selene! Do you have any idea how much effort she put into planning this surprise party for after your SATs?"

William, his face full of pain, held Selene protectively in his arms. "Exactly! Do you know how much extra tip Selene paid the delivery person just to get this cake in such terrible weather?

"If you can't appreciate it, fine—but why do you have to come back and make the whole family suffer your bad mood?"

Mom, whom William had described as suffering from a splitting headache, spoke with full energy and volume.

"It's all my fault for letting her come back, all for the sake of so-called blood ties. If I had known that she'd turn out to be such an ingrate, I would've just left her to rot in those mountain hovels."

Mom's words cut me deep.

I wiped the blood from my face and stood, my gaze sweeping past each of them without a trace of emotion.

This was the family I had once tried so hard to make things right with.

Even though I hadn't said a single word, I had become a villainess beyond redemption, all because I didn't play long with their beloved Selene's humiliation act.

Fine. Maybe it was better this way. At least now, I wouldn't have to feel guilty about leaving.

"I'm sorry, Selene. I really did like the cake," I said sincerely and earnestly. "William said Mom's headache was acting up, so I was a little anxious." I paused, then turned to Mom. "Mom, is your head still hurting?"

Hearing this, Mom, Dad, and William all looked a little uncomfortable, each in their own way. Even Selene, who had been pretending to be pitiful, froze for a moment.

They were probably wondering why, after all her provocation on the day of the SATs, I still wasn't causing a scene or making a fuss.

I just said calmly, "Mom, Dad, William, I just got back and am a little tired. May I go to my room now?"

Dad cleared his throat and said, "Go ahead."

I turned and started walking upstairs. But I'd only taken a few steps when Selene, unwilling to let it go, called out, "Aster, wait! Mom, Dad, William—look! Aster's new dress is so pretty!

"It's strange, though. Aster, shouldn't you be broke? So, where did this dress come from?"

After seeing how soaked I was, Ms. Decker bought me this dress to change into on the day of the SATs. It was just a plain, simple white maxi dress.

But with the way Selene asked, it sounded as if my dress had come from some shady source or I had done something disgraceful to get it.

Hearing this, Dad, who was always so stern, narrowed his eyes.

"Aster, be honest with us. Where did you get that dress? Have you done anything to bring shame to our family?"

Mom clutched her chest in agony. "What sin have I committed to raise a daughter who doesn't even know how to respect herself?"

Seeing her tactics work, Selene continued in a deliberately innocent tone, "Dad, Mom, how can you talk about Aster like that? She really does respect herself. In school, many guys are always circling around her, but she only accepts their gifts and money.

"She never actually gets into a relationship with any of them, so don't worry. It's just a dress, and plenty of guys are willing to pay for her things anyway."

If this had happened in the past, I would've desperately explained myself and tried everything to prove my innocence, just to salvage my image in my parents' eyes.

But now, I just stared blankly at Selene's smug, gloating face.

In the years since my return, she had come up with many schemes just to push me completely out of the family—from accusing me of poisoning her food to stealing the birthday gift I worked so hard to make for Mom and claiming it as her own.

She also led the bullying against me at school and spread vile rumors about me everywhere.

And yet, clinging to that faint hope of family affection, I even tried to please her. In fact, I never dared to say a single word against her to Mom and Dad.

Looking back now, the whole thing was really laughable.

Seeing that I still hadn't said a single word in my own defense, William took my silence as an admission of guilt.

After striding toward me, he grabbed my collar and snarled, "You shameless good-for-nothing! How dare you wear something so filthy and unclean!"

Then, without any regard for propriety or the fact that the maids were present, he began tearing at my dress.

The back zipper split open, and I was on the verge of being exposed. In a moment of desperation, I slapped him across the face.

Instantly, the entire room fell silent.

Clutching his cheek, William asked me in disbelief, "Aster, are you out of your mind?"

With reddened eyes, I stared at the man who wanted to strip me bare in front of everyone.

I knew then without a doubt that he was no longer the boy from my childhood who carried me on his shoulders and promised that I'd always be his little princess.

Trembling, I clutched the front of my dress tightly to keep it from slipping down.

An overwhelming sense of humiliation nearly choked me. I bit my lip as hard as I could to keep myself from crying out loud.

"So, you do know it's impossible to live without a single cent to your name. But you're wrong. Even though I grew up in the mountains, I'm not as shameless as you think. I just don't understand why you always assume the worst of me."

Mom and Dad didn't bother giving me an explanation. Instead, they just shoved me into the detention room on the third floor.