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.

When Selena, Lucine, and Zachary reached the camping site, Martha and Liam still hadn't arrived yet.

Selena, not wanting to stay with Lucine and Zachary, headed for the forest alone.

Seeing Selena leave, Lucine shot Zachary a charming smile. "Zach, how about you stay here and set up the tents? I'll go keep Selena company."

Zachary nodded in approval. "You're so considerate, Lucy."

Half an hour later, Martha and Liam arrived. After glancing around, they asked, "Where's Lucine?"

"She entered the forest, saying she would keep Selena company. They should be back soon."

Upon hearing that, Martha couldn't help but shake her head. "Lucine is such a sweet child. Even though Selena is always picking on her, she still treats Selena like her older sister."

At that moment, Selena stepped out of the forest. When Martha saw no one behind her, she hurried forward.

"Why are you alone? Where's Lucine?"

Confused, Selena responded, "How would I know where she is?"

Zachary instantly leaped to his feet and strode toward Selena. "Lucy said she would keep you company on your walk. Didn't you see her?"

Not liking the interrogative tone in his voice, Selena answered coldly, "No."

This answer caused Martha to break down once again.

She seized Selena's shoulder tightly, tears spilling down her cheeks as she cried, "Selena Yane, just what are you doing? You've already lost your sister once, so how could you lose her again? You just can't stand seeing her live well, can you?"

Those words immediately infuriated Selena. "I've already told you, I didn't see her! She's an adult now, so am I still supposed to be responsible if she gets lost?"

She had barely finished speaking when a hard slap landed on her left cheek. It was the first time in her 26 years of life that Martha had struck her.

Martha's mouth dropped open slightly in surprise as she stared at her right hand. "Selena, I… I didn't mean to. I…"

Zachary stepped forward and urged, "Come on, the most important thing right now is to find Lucy. We can talk about the rest later."

He patted Selena's shoulder in a pitiful imitation of consolation, not offering her any true comfort.

Nonetheless, Selena was used to it by now and didn't harbor many expectations for them.

To prove her innocence, Selena followed them into the forest. She wanted to confront Lucine face-to-face.

The forest was dense and thick with vegetation, so Selena was soon separated from the group.

Strangely enough, not even five minutes had passed since Selena lost sight of them when Lucine appeared before her.

Selena frowned, but after a few seconds, she understood.

"You did this on purpose?"

Lucine laughed and answered, "It seems you aren't that stupid after all. But then, what does it matter if you know? Not like you can do anything about it.

"20 years ago, you lost me. 20 years later, you deliberately left me in the woods. What would Mom and Dad think of you, I wonder? Do you think they'd be more inclined to believe me or you?

"I heard about the situation. Since you're going to marry into the Chiton family soon and will no longer have anything to do with the Yane family, I won't hide certain things from you any longer. Think of the truth as your younger sister's wedding gift to you."

With that, Lucine leaned forward to whisper into Selena's ear.

Selena's eyes widened in surprise, disbelief written all over her face. "Is that all true?"

Lucine twirled her hair playfully, her voice amused as she said, "Is there a need for me to lie?"

The forest was silent, with only the whispering of the leaves brushing against each other as a gentle breeze blew past.

Selena tightened her hands into fists, not expecting the truth of Lucine's disappearance 20 years ago to be this inconceivable.