I enjoyed looking at the stars, so he built a small observatory just for me.

If I wanted ice cream, he would run across ten streets to buy it for me.

At the Conrad house, and when I was with Draco, I could almost say that I had anything I asked for.

Even if I wanted the moon in the sky, he would still find a way to bring it down for me.

Back then, we were both young and believed that love could survive every test of time.

We never thought that life could change without warning.

Just one Ravena was enough to completely break apart our relationship.

Ravena was the daughter of the house helper, Aunt Wendy.

During vacations, she came to the Conrad house to help with chores.

She would on purpose damage my belongings and pretend to accidentally burn my clothes.

When I became angry, she would run to Draco in tears, talking about how difficult her life was.

The child who cried would get sweets.

A woman who cried gained sympathy.

In wave after wave of tears, Draco’s heart slowly shifted toward her.

What truly made me break down was the night before our engagement.

That day, Draco told me he wanted to get something ready for me as a surprise.

Feeling curious, I quietly went back to the house, only to see Ravena stepping out of Draco’s bedroom, her clothes messy.

When she noticed me, she not only gave no explanation at all, but she instead harshly threw the keepsake my mother had left me onto the floor.

“Savannah, stop acting like some proper young miss in front of me. Everyone knows you’re just someone living off the Conrad family.”

“Who will end up as the future woman of the Conrad household is still not decided!”

I was angry and yelled at her to leave, but instead, she ran to Draco, crying.

She claimed that I had always bullied her and Aunt Wendy in every way possible.

And that now, because I was about to marry Draco, I was trying to push their whole family into a corner with no way out.

That Draco, who once promised he would always agree with me and stand by my side, just like that, chose to believe everything she said.

He stood in front of Ravena, stared at me with anger, and said, “Savannah, what are you causing trouble about this time?”

“Ravena already has it hard enough, can’t you show her a little kindness?”

“Don’t forget, you are not the woman of the Conrad family yet.”

“You have no right to use the Conrad family’s name to act wild and push people around!”

We had a big fight and threw many hurtful words at each other.

I couldn’t win against him, and in a rush of anger, I said we should break up.

Draco also spoke coldly, telling me that once I left, I was never allowed to return.

I threw away every gift Draco had ever given me.

I moved by myself to stay in a villa on the edge of my hometown.

Draco blocked my phone number and refused to say even one more word to me.

At that time, we were both young and quick-tempered, and neither of us wanted to lower our head first.

So we stayed stuck like that for a very long time.

In truth, I never really wanted to leave Draco.

I only wanted him to come comfort me, to come say sorry to me.

Draco was a person who spoke straight out, often talking without thinking first.

He didn’t intend to hurt my heart, yet I truly couldn’t swallow this anger inside me.

Deep inside, I quietly made a promise.

As long as he was willing to come and say sorry to me, as long as he was willing to admit his fault to me, I would set aside all old pain, forgive everything, and calmly get ready for the wedding with him.

But I waited again and again, hoped again and again.

I didn’t wait for Draco; instead, I waited for a serial murderer.

He didn’t want money, didn’t want sex; he only wanted my life.

I begged bitterly, struggled desperately, cried, and asked him why.

He coldly laughed a few times and smashed my head hard against the floor.

“Why?”

“Because you deserve it, because you must die!”

“You ruined another family, so I will make you pay the price as well!”

From his broken words, I slowly put together the reason behind everything.

It was Ravena who spread lies online, saying that I used influence to bully people and used my position to gain benefits for myself.

She said she broke her leg after falling while walking home from work, and claimed it happened because I was in a bad mood and purposely pushed her down the stairs.

She got involved in improper relationships with men and was confronted by a lawful wife, and insisted it was because I was jealous of her looks and deliberately found someone to shame her.

On top of that, she also wrote, “The man of that house looked at me one extra time, and she thought I was trying to seduce him on purpose.”

“She not only threatened to kill me, but also said she would destroy my purity before I died.”

“I’m truly scared, but I don’t know what I can do.”

“Do people with no power deserve to be stepped on so freely?”

Her words were full of holes, and at first, not many people believed her.

But sadly, Draco stepped forward and stood up for her.

Draco said that I had been stubborn and hard to control since I was a child, and that after growing up, it only became worse.

Leaning on the Conrad family’s influence and Draco’s care, I had done many wrong things.

He even brought out many so-called proofs and showed them in a way that looked very believable.

I knew he was upset with me because we had broken up.

I knew he did not truly want me to die.

But it was exactly this so-called proof that ended my life.

This murderer called himself a person of justice and believed it was his duty to stand up for Ravena.

He held my neck and said with hate, “I never hurt good people, but you… You have done terrible things!”

“Today, I will let you feel what it is like to be shamed and stepped on!”

He didn’t hurry to kill me. Instead, he used every method he could to make me hurt.

He used a hammer to smash both of my legs.

He used pliers to pull out my teeth one by one.

He said he wanted me to feel the worst pain before dying, so that even after death, I would keep feeling regret in hell.

The blood slowly ran into the quiet night.

Inside the empty villa, no one could hear my calls for help.

In truth, I once had one chance to live because that day was my twentieth birthday.

Draco had once promised, “I know that on your birthday, it’s the day you miss home the most.”

“So you won’t feel sad, every year on your birthday, I will stay with you.”

“Savannah, I will never leave you alone.”

So, when the clock reached twelve, Draco came carrying a cake and knocked on my door.

Inside that cake was a gift he had carefully prepared, and hidden inside it was the ring he planned to use to ask me to marry him.

He wanted to use it to say sorry to me and make up with me.

But by that time, almost every bone in my body had already been broken.

I couldn’t open the door for him.

And I couldn‘t accept his love that came too late either.

Through the door viewer, the murderer saw Draco and showed a strange smile.

“You rich people, not one of you is good.”

“If it were not for this man always letting things slide, you would not have grown this proud.”

“As long as he dares to walk through this door, I will kill him and bury you both together!”

He lifted an axe and hid beside the door, ready at any second to strike Draco with a deadly hit.

If at that moment I had called out to him for help, I believe he would have rushed in right away to save me.

But I didn’t dare to take that risk.

He was still young.

He still had a bright future waiting for him.

He had already given me the happiest twenty years of my life.

He had already given up so much for me.

I couldn’t be so selfish as to let him die for me, too.

So, between living and dying…

I chose Draco.

Using the final bit of power still in me, I yelled toward him, “Draco, don’t come searching for me again.”

“I have already… started loving someone new.”

Beyond the door, everything went quiet for three seconds.

Then the knocking grew louder and rougher than before.

“I don’t accept that, I don’t believe that!”

“You’re still upset with me about that thing, right?”

“Savannah, unlock the door and hear me out.”

“I was only upset that day; I never meant to end things with you.”

“I am sorry, unlock the door, unlock the door, and let me enter, please?”

The door camera lit up Draco’s face.

The tip of his nose had turned red from the cold, and the tears on his lashes had already frozen stiff.

Still, he stayed stubborn, standing outside my door.

In minus twenty-degree weather, the night wind felt painful.

The winter night in Oakland city.

It could freeze a living body to death.

It could also freeze a burning heart.

Yet he kept standing there, stubborn as ever.

Not one step taken, refusing to walk away.

Until morning arrived, soft snow turned his hair white.

Until Ravena showed up and pulled him close against her chest.

She pressed a kiss to Draco’s tear-marked face, warming his already cold heart.

She held Draco’s hands and spoke again and again.

“It’s fine, Draco, it’s fine, you still have me.”

“Truthfully, I already knew about Savannah’s relationship. I was only scared you would be hurt and never dared to mention it.”

“Let’s return home. Let’s go home, alright?”

“I will stay beside you, stay beside you while you step away from the past, stay beside you while you release Savannah.”

Held in Ravena’s gentle embrace, Draco slowly lifted his head.

He gave one final glance toward where I was.

Then he angrily threw the cake in his hands onto the ground outside my door.

He swore that in this life he would never meet me again.

He wished that I would live forever with regret and hurt.

I stared at the screen before me.

Watching him and Ravena lean into each other, moving toward the early light.

Watching him leave me forever on that freezing night.

Not long afterward, Draco and Ravena had a wedding.

Those two slowly met, grew close, and cared for each other, staying side by side for their whole lives.

They turned into a well-known loving pair inside their social group.

Meanwhile, I was cut apart by the murderer and thrown away in open fields.

I turned into a lonely wandering soul in the far hills.

Those thoughts stopped, plus just when I planned to breathe out softly.

Without warning, I caught a run of rushed yelling from behind me.

“Captain Conrad, we located the remains!”

“Every detail fully fits what the message described; they were already passed to the medical examiner. Should we quickly detain the person who posted the message?”