"Hi Sophie. Alena originally promised she would perform with me at my next competition, but she accidentally injured her foot and asked you to perform for her instead."

Lily deliberately paused mid-sentence.

Sophie was shocked, only just realizing that the person Alena had mentioned was Lily.

However, Sophie couldn't muster a friendly act, nor did she want to waste any time on Lily. "I'm busy."

Seeing Sophie's cold response and noticing that she was about to close the door, Lily quickly stopped her and dropped her goody-two-shoes act.

"You can't back out! You've already promised her!" Lily snapped.

"We don't have the right synergy, so we wouldn't perform well together. More importantly, I'll be busy that day, and I'll have one of my apprentices replace me," Sophie retorted.

Lily sneered, her disdain evident as she asked, "Are you afraid?"

At that moment, William appeared after hearing the commotion.

Lily immediately switched back to her pitiful persona, pursing her lips and clutching the edge of her dress.

"William! Sophie and her dance troupe are trying to go against our agreement and won't dance with me during my performance.

"What am I supposed to do? My competition is just three days away, and I'll definitely lose if I don't have a partner to dance with.

"All of my efforts over the past five years will be wasted! I'd rather die than let that happen…"

Suddenly, Lily began to convulse, her hands clenching together and her pupils dilating.

Panicked, William quickly held Lily in his arms and fumbled for the medicine he always carried to help her. "Lily! Lily! Stay with me!"

Without getting to the bottom of the situation, William stood up and shouted, "Don't you know Lily suffers from severe anxiety? Why won't you perform with her? What's the point of doing all those stretches every day if you're not going to dance?

"You'd better hope Lily's okay, or I promise I'll make sure your dance troupe never performs again!

"I'll crush your dreams because of your selfishness!"

Sophie stood frozen, momentarily dazed as she looked at William's cruel expression.

William knew all too well that the children in her dance troupe came from ordinary families, and that they trained tirelessly—sometimes until their feet bled—just for a chance to perform.

In the past, William had always tended to Sophie's wounds whenever she was injured during training. He would even hold her in his arms and comfort her, saying he would help the children in her troupe.

Now, thanks to Lily's manipulation, he was willing to crush the very dream Sophie had cherished for over 20 years.

He was ready to destroy the lives of more than 30 children in the dance troupe just to make Lily happy!

Lily couldn't suppress a snicker when she saw how pale Sophie had become. She curled up in William's embrace, laughing and sticking her tongue out at Sophie.

As if that weren't enough, Lily even gave Sophie the finger.

After a while, Sophie's vision blurred as tears welled up in her eyes.

With a hoarse voice, she struggled to speak. "Fine, I'll be Lily's dance companion. Just leave my dance troupe alone..."

Sophie and Lily were the only two in the practice room.

Lily was playing the piano so aggressively that it produced an unpleasant buzzing sound. Stomping her foot as she stood up, she hurled a thick chunk of piano sheet music at Sophie.

"Your rhythm's off again! Are you sure you're as good a dancer as they say?"

Sophie hissed in pain and covered her bruised forehead.

She gave Lily a cold stare. "That's it! I've had enough of you!"

Lily wasn't actually complaining about Sophie's rhythm, but about her irregular movements. She would even accuse Sophie of being lazy if the latter needed to drink some water during breaks.

What was worse, Lily would sometimes whip Sophie with a cane on purpose.

One day, Lily deliberately threw away the warm water Sophie had brought in a thermos while Sophie was on her period.

When Lily saw that Sophie was in pain, she fetched a bucket of cold water from the washroom and poured it all over her.

Gleefully, Lily claimed she was only trying to help Sophie stay awake.

Now, Lily didn't seem affected by Sophie's retort. In fact, she seemed to take pride in what she had done, leaning in closer to Sophie.

Blinking her eyes like an innocent girl, she asked, "What's the matter? Are you angry at me?"

Sophie sneered and pushed her away. "You're not actually as good a pianist as they say, are you?"

Sophie had known from the moment she agreed to be Lily's dance partner that things would be difficult. Thus, she had memorized the piano sheet music and its rhythm by heart.

She had also watched many of Lily's performances in past competitions to study her playstyle.

In truth, Lily's rhythm had been far more sluggish and inelegant in recent days compared to her usual performances.

Sophie's rhythm wasn't off—Lily's was.

"Don't you dare blame me when you're the one who's dancing terribly!"

Lily pretended to be calm, but the brief change in her expression betrayed her.

'It's true I had someone else perform for me during my competitions, but I've been very careful. There's no way she knows about that!' Lily thought.

William could sense the tension as soon as he entered the practice room. "What's the matter?"

He seemed concerned when he saw that Lily was in a bad mood and quickly approached her. "Are you okay? You don't look so good."

Lily's heart raced. She was terrified that Sophie would expose her actions, and her hands were shaking uncontrollably.

Suppressing her anxiety, she noticed how worried William seemed and forced out some tears to appear pitiful.

"I'm okay. Sophie accused me of not being a good pianist because she can't keep up with the rhythm. I threw my piano sheet at her because I was so angry…" she replied. "You don't think it's my fault, do you?"

As expected, William noticed the bruise on Sophie's head and seemed sorry for her.

As he reached out to caress the bruise, he suddenly recalled Sophie's accusation and slowly retracted his hand.

Seeing this, Lily covered her face and made herself appear even more miserable.

Through sobs, she said, "I couldn't stand her accusing me of something so outrageous… Do you have any idea how much I had to suffer, learning to play the piano properly over the past five years away from home?

"I know Sophie dislikes me, but being a pianist is all I've got. I can't let her take that away from me."

William frowned and began to scold Sophie. "You shouldn't have said that to her, Sophie. I know Lily can be straightforward, but there's no way she would pretend to be a good pianist."

Lily froze for a moment upon hearing this but awkwardly laughed it off.

Meanwhile, Sophie sneered, wondering if William would still defend Lily if he knew her piano skills were nowhere near as impressive as they had been during her competition performances.

She looked at Lily with a smirk. "Is that so?"

Sensing the threat in Sophie's tone, Lily clenched her fists and shot her a dangerous glare.

Yet William remained oblivious to the change in Lily's expression.

'I've spent so many years reaching this point to gain Father and Mother's approval. I won't let Sophie ruin it all! I won't!'

At that moment, an idea sparked in Lily's mind.

Sophie did not want to expose Lily's antics, nor did she want to deal with William's nonsense. All she wanted was to leave that place and never see William again.

When she arrived home, Sophie took out her phone and looked at her marked calendar.

"Only four more days left… That's also the day Lily will be performing."

William had just brought in a glass of warm milk when he noticed Sophie's phone. He grabbed it and stared at the mark Sophie had made on her calendar in a momentary daze.

Then, he seized Sophie's hand and demanded, "What's this?!"

Calmly, Sophie retrieved her phone and replied, "I'm marking the day Lily's going to perform."

William wasn't convinced. "Why would you mark the days leading up to it?"

Sophie appeared calm on the outside, but inside, she was seething with frustration.

A thought suddenly struck her, and she said, "It's going to be our anniversary soon. Have you forgotten already?"

William's face softened when he realized that Sophie still loved him, that she remembered their anniversary and was preparing a gift for him.

Regret and remorse filled his heart, and he pulled Sophie into an embrace.

"I'm sorry for everything you've had to endure these past few days," he said, his voice softening.

"Lily's like a little sister to me. We grew up together, and I know how important this competition is to her. Let's get married after this is all over."

Still looking worried, William placed Sophie's hand over his chest and gazed at her with tenderness.

"Listen to me, Sophie… I've always loved you. After your competition is over in four days, let's stay together forever. I want you to trust me."

Unfortunately, Sophie felt nothing but revulsion at the feel of William's powerful heartbeat beneath her palm.

She gave a slight, noncommittal nod, and William smiled in response. "In any case, you can't leave me, Sophie."

-

Four days passed, and the day of the competition arrived.

Lily's piano skills had suddenly improved dramatically, allowing her to play in perfect harmony with Sophie.

When the performance finally ended, Lily felt a heavy weight lift from her shoulders as she smiled at the crowd.

Meanwhile, Sophie exhaled deeply after completing her performance.

She glanced at a shadow lingering behind the scenes.

'He would probably live a much different life if he realized how talented he is and stopped living in Lily's shadow as her pianist,' she thought.

-

After Lily received her champion's medal and the guests had left, Sophie returned backstage.

When she tried to open the door, though, she found it had been locked behind her.

Her heart dropped.

Panicked, she tossed her dance clothes aside and ran to the door, desperately trying to open it.

No matter how hard she tried, the door wouldn't budge.

On the other side, Lily discarded the key and hummed a song as she turned on a gas tank.

She had deliberately arranged for someone to place the gas tank by the backstage ventilation duct a day before the competition.

To ensure no one would notice, she had even blocked the surveillance cameras.

'She won't last long in that small dressing room,' Lily thought with a cold smile. 'Thankfully, no one's around.'

Lily glanced at her shiny medal, her smile turning darker.

'This is all her fault. She's the one who uncovered my secret. I won't let her destroy my life as a pianist, not after my family has finally acknowledged me.

'And I won’t let her ruin my chances with William!'

Lily let out an eerie laugh and was about to leave when she suddenly saw William standing nearby.