Selena made her way to the hospital alone. When the nurse saw her injuries, she exclaimed, "Why are you so badly injured? Where's your family? Did you come alone?"

Selena nodded lightly in response. She had been afraid of pain since young, yet at that moment, not a single tear was shed.

Her tears had long since run dry.

After her injuries were tended to, Selena walked past a hospital room on her way out. When she heard familiar voices coming from inside, she couldn't help but glance inside.

Lucine was seated on the hospital bed, with Martha, Liam, and Zachary surrounding her.

Martha was busily peeling an apple, while the usually stern-faced Liam had tears in his eyes. As for Zachary, he was tightly gripping Lucine's hand, concern starkly written across his face.

A harmonious atmosphere surrounded them, and the heartwarming sight made Selena feel like an outsider.

Just as she was about to leave, the nurse making her rounds spoke up, catching the attention of the occupants of the room.

"Who are you? Are you here to visit a patient?"

Everyone in the room turned to look in the direction of the door. Upon spotting Selena, Zachary instantly let go of Lucine's hand.

Lucine's brow furrowed in response, a displeased look crossing her face, but it was gone in an instant. When she noticed the wounds on Selena, her eyes gleamed slyly.

"Selena, why didn't you come in since you're already here? Don't worry, I don't blame you."

The moment those words left her lips, not just everyone in the room, but even Selena was frozen to the spot in surprise.

Zachary frowned slightly and asked, "Lucy, what do you mean by that?"

Lucine pretended to shoot Selena a wary glance before hurriedly waving her hands. "I-It's nothing."

Liam immediately said sternly, "I'm here, so you don't need to be scared."

Pursing her lips, Lucine hesitated briefly before answering, "I took a liking to a necklace at the mall today, and Zach gifted it to me, which upset Selena. Soon after that, the mall's roof collapsed. I shoved Zach away and was originally able to escape, but Selena dragged me back…"

She trailed off at the end, but there was no need to continue speaking. The aftermath of that was evident.

Liam slammed his hand down on the table, the sheer force causing water to spill out of the glass on it.

"Selena Yane, is it that impossible for you to accept your younger sister? You're not the only daughter of the Yane family!"

Zachary jumped up from his seat and forcefully yanked Selena into the room.

The harsh movement tugged at Selena's injuries, and she bit her lip tightly at the pain.

"Selena, apologize to Lucy!"

Their gazes locked, and that was when Zachary noticed the utterly repulsed look in her eyes. It was something he had never seen in her before.

His heart skipped a beat, but he still ordered, "You've done something wrong, so it's only right that you apologize!"

Selena jerked her arm out of his grip, saying, "Why should I apologize for what I didn't do?"

Hearing that, Liam stepped forward and slapped Selena on the left cheek. The force of the blow was so powerful that Selena had to support herself with the end of the bed to remain standing.

"It seems I've been too lenient all these years and spoiled you too much that you've become this arrogant! If I had known you would turn out like this, I wouldn't have allowed you to be born back then! Why couldn't it have been you who went missing?"

Selena simply found the way Liam was treating her like his worst enemy utterly laughable.

Wiping the blood trickling from the corner of her lips, she retorted, "I wish I had been the one to go missing."

With that said, Selena left the room without looking back.

It was only then that Zachary noticed the wounds on Selena's body and the blood seeping through the bandages. The bright red was a particularly jarring sight.

He moved to chase after her, but was tugged back by Lucine grabbing his hand.

Her brow was tightly furrowed, and a pained grimace crossed her face as she said, "Zach, my leg hurts."

This one sentence successfully caused Zachary to stop in his tracks. Turning around, he continued to comfort Lucine. "Be good now. The doctor has already seen to your leg, so it'll stop hurting in a bit."

After that, he turned to gaze in the direction Selena had left, an indecipherable look in his eyes.

Selena had only just returned home when she received a message from Zachary.

"I have something to attend to tonight, so I won't be going back."

Not wanting to see such irritating words, Selena deleted the message.

After a brief calculation, she realized she didn't have much time left to get ready.

Getting to work, she placed all her clothes into her luggage. Then, she moved on to cleaning out her drawer. That was when she spotted a love letter, yellowed with age.

Zachary had written it for her years ago, when he was 20.

Selena tossed the love letter into the fire, the flames instantly devouring it until nothing but ashes remained.

Once she was done packing, Selena sent a message to her best friend, Vivian Brown.

She was leaving this place soon and didn't know when she would get to see Vivian next. Hence, she wanted to take some photos to keep as mementos.

The next day, when Selena and Vivian arrived at the studio, they happened to see the Yanes and Zachary.

The four of them were smiling happily as they made various intimate poses under the direction of the photographer.

Seeing Selena staring at them from afar, a studio employee approached her to ask, "Good day, miss. Are you here for a family photo shoot?"

In response, Selena laughed lightly. So, they were taking a family photo shoot, one without her in it.

However, she had long since stopped caring.

Once the day of her wedding arrived and the Chiton family sent someone to fetch her, she would leave this detestable place behind forever. Along with her five billion, of course.

"No, I'm here for a photo shoot with my best friend."

At that moment, Lucine spotted Selena.

"Selena, what a coincidence! It's fine if you don't want to talk to me, but how could you ignore Mom and Dad? Do you still blame me?"

Once again, Lucine's eyes reddened, as though she were about to cry.

Seeing that, Martha was instantly heartbroken. "Selena, you've been against Lucine ever since she returned to us. For the 20 years she was missing, she lacked familial love and warmth. All we want is to make it up to her."

Frowning deeply, Liam said, "Don't bother wasting your breath on her. The older she gets, the less understanding she is."

Zachary shook his head, his disappointment clear as he uttered, "Selena, you already have more than enough, so don't take things too far.

"Today was originally supposed to be a family photoshoot with you four, but I thought it wouldn't be convenient for you since you were injured. That's why I came on your behalf."

Selena was so infuriated that she wanted to laugh. She hadn't said a single word, yet everyone was criticizing her. She snapped, "So, should I be thanking you?"

Zachary's expression instantly darkened. "Selena!"

Not wanting to waste her time on such insignificant matters, Selena took Vivian's hand and headed for the innermost dressing room.

Unexpectedly, Lucine abruptly burst into tears, dashing forward to grab Selena's hand.

"Selena, please don't be mad. I won't take the family photos anymore. I won't ever do so again."

Selena pushed her away, wanting to leave, but the other three came forward to block her way.

"Selena Yane, hurry up and apologize to Lucy! Just how far are you going to push her?"

This was the first time Zachary had addressed her by her full name.

As the atmosphere grew increasingly tense, Lucine wiped away her tears and attempted to smooth things over.

"That's enough. It's all my fault that you guys are scolding Selena. Please stop blaming her. It's only normal that she doesn't like me when someone else is suddenly taking away love and attention from her. How about we all go camping this weekend to get closer to each other?"

Before Selena could respond, the other three had already nodded.

"Ah, Lucine, you're the more sensible one, after all. This settles it."

Nobody bothered asking for Selena's opinion before they happily agreed to go camping.

After that, Lucine turned to Selena with a pitiful look on her face. "Selena, you'll come, right?"

Selena was about to refuse when she suddenly thought of something.

Fishing out her phone, she sent a message. A second later, Liam's phone chimed with an incoming message.

"If you don't want to disappoint her, transfer the five billion to my account right now."

This five billion was originally supposed to be her dowry for when she married Michael, but Selena couldn't wait any longer. With how the situation was progressing, she was worried something unexpected might happen.

When Liam didn't move to take out his phone, Selena thoughtfully reminded, "Dad, your phone rang with a notification. Aren't you going to check it?"

The moment Liam saw the contents of the message, his expression changed.

After a very brief moment of hesitation, he texted back succinctly, "Fine."

Selena knew Liam was the sort of person who kept his word. Upon receiving a reply from him, she smiled at Lucine. "I'll go."

After all the commotion, Selena had lost the mood to go ahead with the photo shoot.

She led Vivian out of the studio, tossing all frustration and annoyances to the back of her mind.

Once Selena got home, she fell into a deep sleep and started dreaming of her memories with Zachary.

The piano piece he played for her during her birthday, waltzing together on the dance floor… All these images slowly dissipated, as if they were blown away by the wind.

Through the haze of sleep, she thought she heard some shuffling sounds and assumed it was her dream.

However, when she opened her eyes, she realized Zachary had returned home at some point.

He was carefully placing a takeout container on the table, his movements slow and gentle.

As their eyes locked, he jerked slightly in surprise, causing scalding hot beef stew to splash onto his hand.

Hastily wiping his hand clean, he shot a smile at Selena. "You're awake? Come eat. I guessed you likely hadn't eaten yet today, so I went to the east side of the city to buy that beef stew you love."

Since Selena was indeed hungry, she didn't refuse him. "Okay."

Halfway through the meal, Zachary spoke up again.

"Earlier at the studio, the air between you and Mr. Yane seemed rather off. Did something happen between you two?"

"No," Selena answered shortly, not saying even one more word than necessary.

Sighing softly, Zachary reached out to wipe Selena's mouth, where a tiny chunk of carrot had stuck to her lip. However, she avoided him.

His hand hung in mid-air as he debated what to do. Several seconds later, he stiffly put his hand down.

"Selena, I know you're still angry at me. But like I said, I'm only doing all this to compensate Lucy on your behalf. That's all. She's going to marry into the Chiton family soon, so all everyone wants to do is make it up to her before that."

Selena interrupted, "So you think Mom and Dad's favoritism toward Lucine is because they're compensating her for having to marry into the Chiton family?"

Stunned by the question, Zachary instinctively replied, "Isn't that it?"

Selena didn't respond, though she scoffed inwardly.

She was suddenly curious about what Zachary's reaction would be when he finally learned that she was marrying into the Chiton family instead, not Lucine.

"Alright, don't stir up any more trouble for the next few days. Once Lucy is married off to the Chiton family, everything will be over."

Selena remained silent, merely staring out the window at the withered leaves drifting to the ground.

He was right. Everything was going to be over soon.

The next day, Zachary woke up early. Previously, he would drive the car over whenever they went out together and stop right in front of the villa's front door. This was because he didn't want Selena to walk any further than she had to.

However, this time, Selena stepped out of the villa, only to see Lucine sitting in the front passenger seat.

Lucine shot her an innocent smile. "Selena, I get carsick easily, so I hope you won't mind me taking the front seat."

"I don't mind."

Selena's response surprised both Zachary and Lucine.

Zachary had thought he would need to spare some effort explaining things to Selena. Unexpectedly, she was quick to agree. His lips quirked into a delighted smile, thinking that his words last night must have gotten through to her.

Meanwhile, Lucine was frowning slightly. She kept shooting glances at Selena through the rearview mirror, assessing the latter with her gaze.