The hospital room quickly settled back into its warm atmosphere, as if I had never existed.

Elena sat on the edge of the bed, taking small sips of the antihistamine Julian fed her, her face radiating contentment. She spoke softly:

"A classmate told me last week that the Caribbean has the most beautiful sunshine and beaches in the world."

"When I grow up, I want to go see it. I want to walk on the beach in the prettiest white dress."

Julian ruffled her hair affectionately. "Why wait until you're grown up? It's no big deal-we'll take you this year."

I stood outside the door, blood still dripping from my palm, but my heart felt like it had been packed with ice. I'd begged my brothers countless times to take me to the Caribbean, and they always refused with a frown, saying vampires naturally despised sunlight-it was torture for their skin.

Yet now, just because Elena mentioned it, they agreed without a second thought.

Silas even chuckled. "The timing works out. Julian and I both have time off at the end of the year. We'll be with you the whole trip."

They discussed travel plans as if I didn't exist, booking a private jet in under thirty minutes. Elena squealed and leaped into her brothers' arms.

After a moment, as if suddenly remembering I was still standing in the doorway, she tilted her head and asked me, "Do you want to come too?"

This was probably the best moment to tell Silas and Julian I was leaving.

"I'm not going. In a few days, I need to report to the Progenitor Council's isolation research center-"

Julian cut me off impatiently. "We don't care about your boring academic stuff. You don't need to explain yourself to us."

The words "I'm leaving for a hundred years" lodged in my throat. I forced them back down.

Julian seemed to remember something, his eyes turning cold again.

"Elena's being discharged tomorrow."

"Because of your 'mistake,' she got hurt, and it's inconvenient to care for her elsewhere."

"I'm going to have the housekeeper prepare the guest room-"

Before he could finish, I spoke quietly. "Let her have my master bedroom."

Julian stopped mid-sentence. He stared at me like I'd grown a second head, eyes full of disbelief. "What did you say?"

Silas frowned too. Clearly he thought I was playing some kind of reverse psychology game, and his tone grew even more hostile.

"Cut the passive-aggressive act."

"I know you're petty, but once Elena's healed, she'll move back to her own room."

I looked at them steadily. "Let her move in."

"She's a fragile human. She needs the best environment. In your castle, my room is the only one that gets sunlight."

"Besides, I won't be staying here much longer anyway?"

Bang!

Julian slammed his coffee cup down on the table. The sudden crash cut me off. His face was terrifyingly dark-he probably thought I was performing some pathetic guilt trip.

He didn't acknowledge me again. He turned, lifted Elena onto the bed, and pulled out a storybook to read at her side.

Just like countless times over the past six months, I was once again the unwanted, awkward outsider in this family.

I picked up my bag, my voice rough. "I'm leaving."

No one responded.

I suddenly remembered many years ago, when our parents died in that deliberate explosion. In the raging inferno, Silas and Julian had thrown themselves over me. The blast wave scorched their backs, and the shrapnel nearly tore them apart, but they never let go-not even as they died.

They were saved only because a passing Vampire King turned them in that moment of death.

Back then, Julian had held me as I trembled, his eyes blood-red, his voice impossibly gentle:

"Don't be afraid, little princess. You still have your brothers."

"As long as we're here, you'll always be our most precious treasure."

Liars. My nose stung so badly I nearly burst into tears.

That evening, I rushed back to the academy and went straight to the lab to finalize my data. I had seven days left. Seven days, and then I would undergo the Vampire King's transformation and leave for good.

I worked through the night. The next morning, after a short nap, I returned home to clear out the master bedroom. The family's old servant muttered indignantly as she helped me move my belongings to the guest room:

"What kind of family makes the heir give up her room for an outsider?"

I packed my books and a few simple clothes into a box and answered calmly, "It's fine. I won't be here much longer anyway."

Just then, an ice-cold voice came from behind me:

"Where exactly are you planning to go?"

I turned around.

Silas stood right behind me. As a high-ranking vampire, he had moved without stirring a breath of air. His expression was frozen solid, his eyes locked on my overstuffed suitcase.

Julian leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed, wearing an identical look of contempt.

Elena trailed behind them, her head lowered, but the barely contained excitement practically seeped from between the fingers gripping her skirt.

For one second, I wanted to tell them the truth. But I remembered Julian's emotionless words: "You don't need to explain yourself to us."

All my courage evaporated.

Fine. When I was finally gone, at least I could lie to myself-they simply didn't know I was leaving, rather than simply not caring.

I shoved my hands into my coat pockets, my fingernails digging into the unhealed wound on my palm, using the pain to force myself to stay calm. I shrugged with feigned nonchalance.

"As you can see, since the master bedroom has been given to Elena, I need to move my personal things to the cellar or to school."

Silas's expression froze for a beat. Then he replaced it with something even more vicious.

"Don't pull this running-away stunt on me."

"If you leave, don't ever expect me and Julian to turn you."

I nodded along with his words. "So I'm indeed not planning to accept your transformation anymore."

Silas's pupils contracted sharply-the telltale sign of a vampire's rage. I swear I wasn't trying to provoke him. I just wanted to make my exit as painless for them as possible.

Elena put on her most innocent face. "You should stay-this is your home, after all. I'll be the one to move out."

I looked at her without a flicker of emotion. "No need. Once I'm gone, I'm never coming back."

Elena's lips twitched in a smile she couldn't suppress fast enough. She quickly ducked her head and went back to playing helpless.

Julian lunged forward a step. "Who are you threatening? You think you'd survive three months in the vampire world without this family? You really want to live out your life as an ordinary human?"

Silas sneered. "If you want to leave, then leave. You think anyone would spare you a second glance without us?"

I said nothing more. I picked up my heavy suitcase and headed for the door. Fifteen years in this castle, and there wasn't much I wanted to take. Apart from a few necessities and our parents' belongings, nothing in this house was mine anymore.

I dragged two black suitcases toward the foyer. Julian's savage voice erupted behind me:

"Go ahead-and don't you dare die out there!"

I hauled the cases down the marble steps.

Silas's taunt drifted down from the terrace, dripping with casual cruelty: "Don't come crying at our door when you're starving and digging through garbage!"

I wanted to grab the black umbrella by the entrance. But his words hit me like a sledgehammer to the chest, leaving me gasping. I shoved the door open and plunged headfirst into the midnight downpour.

The freezing rain soaked through my shirt in an instant, and the cold cut straight to my bones. I dragged my suitcases through the courtyard, rain blurring my vision.

Julian's voice was still rising behind me:

"From this moment on, anyone who dares open the door for this traitor can leave with her!"

My eyes stung so badly I couldn't keep them open. I couldn't tell if it was the rain or the tears I couldn't hold back. My soaked sleeves began to seep dark red-the ceramic wound on my palm had torn open again from the strain.

Years ago, during that explosion, while Silas and Julian were being turned, I'd shielded them from interference and suffered severe burns across my back. My health had never fully recovered since.

But I couldn't feel the pain anymore. My body just felt like lead.

I wasn't sure if anyone would still be at the Council offices at this hour. The truth was, I had no idea where else to go.

Then Elena ran out into the rain, her voice pitched with theatrical urgency: "Wait! I'm sorry, this is all my fault! If you hate me, I'll be the one to leave!"

Julian's furious voice chased after her: "Elena! Are you insane? You're human-the rain in vampire territory will burn your skin! Get back inside!"

I managed a bitter, self-mocking smile. I was human too. I was half-dead from the rain, and he couldn't have cared less. But a few drops on Elena, and he acted like the sky was falling.

The world began to dim around me. Just as my body was about to collapse into the mud, a strong hand caught me firmly by the waist. The pounding rain above my head vanished instantly.

I forced my eyes up.

The man before me wore a pure black commander's cloak, a ruby medal of supreme authority pinned to his chest. This was Caspian-the First Enforcer under the Vampire King.

He had long been searching for a way to make vampires completely immune to holy water and crucifixes. He'd noticed my talent in blood pharmacology and had extended multiple invitations on the King's behalf-to join a century-long isolation project. Once you entered, you were cut off from the world entirely.

I'd always refused because I couldn't bear to leave my brothers. But now, there was nothing left here worth staying for.

His black Rolls-Royce idled in the rain. Several vampire attendants in black suits stepped out in perfect unison and took my luggage.

Silas and Julian went white the moment they saw the scene. As vampire nobility, they recognized exactly whose people these were. Almost reflexively, they straightened their spines and bowed in a formal gesture of submission to Caspian.

Silas's voice trembled. "Sir? what brings you here? If my sister has offended you in some way-"

A flash of worry crossed his eyes. Obviously, he assumed I'd gotten myself into trouble. In their minds, being singled out by Caspian meant one of two things: being taken as a lowly blood slave, or being dragged away to die.

Just as Caspian gestured for me to get in the car, Silas and Julian moved in unison. Even facing the overwhelming pressure of a superior, they gritted their teeth and threw themselves in front of the car door.

"Sir! If Alice has offended you, we'll take her punishment!" Julian's hoarse shout made something clench in my chest. That reckless protective instinct-I hadn't seen it in so long.

But Caspian merely gave a cold snort. He didn't even raise a hand. The sheer force of his bloodline authority radiated outward like a hammer blow, sending both of them hurtling backward into the estate's thick stone wall.

Two heavy thuds. Cracks spiderwebbed through the masonry as they slid to the ground, coughing up dark blood.

I instinctively started toward them, worry flashing in my eyes. Then I looked down at my own blood-soaked palm and remembered the serum they'd taken from me.

I stopped dead in my tracks, said nothing, and got into the car.

Caspian swept a cold glance over the two crumpled figures. "I'm taking Alice."

He opened the car door for me himself, as gently as if escorting royalty, and shielded me from the rain overhead.

Silas and Julian stared, stunned.

Julian wiped blood from his lip, and the worry in his eyes instantly turned to the wild fury of someone who'd been deceived. He braced himself against the wall and stood, his voice sharp with scorn:

"So that's why you suddenly grew a spine-even daring to leave home!"

"You climbed into the Enforcer's bed. Alice, you'll really do anything to get back at us, won't you?"

Silas hauled himself upright too, his smile sharp and hollow. "All this just to secure your next meal ticket. You even staged that whole martyr act. Get lost-and don't you ever call yourself one of ours again."

The window rose slowly, cutting off their venomous curses.

Caspian looked at my bloodied hand, his expression dark. "This is how they treat you? I truly don't understand why you insisted on going back for more."

I watched the streetscape blur past the window. A long time passed before I murmured, "Because they used to be? really good to me."

Caspian said nothing. He didn't believe me.

Tears finally mingled with the rain and slid down my face.

"Really. My brothers used to love me so much."

I leaned back in my seat, exhausted, but my mind wouldn't stop dragging me back to childhood.

I was three when our parents died in that lab explosion. They had been commissioned by a vampire clan to develop an affordable drug that would protect vampires from holy silver and crucifix burns. It threatened the profits of the old pharmaceutical giants, and a rival had detonated the laboratory before dawn.

When the explosion hit, Silas and Julian threw themselves over me. They were left on the brink of death-saved only because a passing Vampire King turned them just in time. I survived too, but with permanent damage. My lungs were scarred, and I'd been physically frail ever since.

Those first years after being brought to the vampire castle were the most terrifying of my life. I was at the age when human blood smells sweetest. As newly turned, bottom-tier vampires, my brothers walked me into a predatory world filled with hungry stares. Powerful old-blood vampires wanted to snatch me away as a premium blood source.

My brothers were still weak then, but every single time, they hid me inside a battered coffin and fought those monsters tooth and nail-literally.

Silas once had half his shoulder torn off. Julian nearly had his heart ripped out. But they always smiled and told me: "Don't be afraid. We'll get stronger. No one's ever going to touch you."

I was just a three-year-old human child, terrified of the darkness and the bats in the castle. So Silas and Julian slept beside me every night. These two ice-cold fledgling vampires would suppress their thirst for blood and patiently pat my back, murmuring old bedtime stories until I drifted off.

To ensure my transformation at eighteen would go smoothly, they trained with me from the time I was small.

"Come on, little princess, one more lap," Julian would say with a grin, wiping the sweat from my forehead. "Once you're stronger, the First Embrace won't hurt as much."

They'd even spent every last coin they had, scouring half of Europe, to find that legendary calming serum.

Vampire territory had no sunlight. As a child, I didn't understand vampire taboos. I saw the Caribbean on television and begged to go. I was so desperate for the sunlight of the human world, but vampires simply couldn't survive under that kind of light.

I remembered Silas's deep frown. But in the end, he just sighed: "If that's what you want, we'll find a way."

To make my dream come true, they began training obsessively to resist ultraviolet light, enduring the agony of their skin being slowly scorched away.

Now they'd finally grown strong enough to walk freely in the sun. But the person they were taking wasn't me anymore-it was Elena.

The "orphan" left behind by the human hero who had tried to save our parents in the explosion before being killed.

It took Silas and Julian fifteen years to find her in a rundown orphanage. But fate had a cruel sense of humor.

Six months after Elena was brought to the castle, I ran into the orphanage director at an off-campus restaurant-dead drunk. She grabbed my hand, sobbing and confessing: the real hero's child had died of heart disease at the age of three. The current "Elena" was just a replacement-another girl who couldn't afford heart surgery. The director had swapped her identity so my brothers would foot the bill, and maybe even grant her immortality through the transformation.

I'd stormed back to the castle in a frenzy and caught Elena rummaging through my room.

The crash was deafening. Our last family photo-the only picture with all five of us-shattered on the floor. As always, Elena had deliberately cut herself on the glass and was sitting there looking pitiful, waiting for Julian to come to her rescue.

I lost it. I grabbed her arm and screamed, "Take your lies and get out!"

That was the first time Julian ever turned on me. Even Silas, normally so reserved, looked at me with disappointment. "Alice, you're too selfish. Rein in that princess attitude."

I told them the truth. I saw the panic flash across Elena's face. She was healed now-she had no right to steal my home, to destroy my memories.

But Julian's response hit like a wrecking ball:

"Enough, Alice! Why do you have to pick on an orphan?"

"Her father was blown to pieces trying to save Mom and Dad-she's all that's left of him! You'd make up such a vicious lie just to get rid of her? Don't you feel even a little guilty?"

After that, the house went cold. A month ago, Elena struck again-she smashed the necklace I always wore, the one that held my mother's ashes. I chased her to the top of the stairs and slapped her in a blind rage. She let herself fall.

I lunged to catch her, but my weakened body betrayed me-I tumbled down the stairs after her. My arm was torn open against the hard stone steps. I was still struggling to get up and explain when-

Slap.

Julian hit me. The first time in his life.

Silas, usually the calm one, stood over me with ice in his eyes and revulsion in his voice:

"Alice, if you can't get along with Elena, get out of this house."

They carried the uninjured Elena to the hospital and left me bleeding on the cold hallway floor.

That was when I finally understood. The brother who once promised to take me to the sea, who swore to protect me forever-he was already dead.