Chapter 1

"Margaret..."

Lost in passion, Robert Howard called out her sister Margaret Windsor's name while holding Sophia Windsor.

Humiliation washed over Sophia like icy waves, but moments later, she held him even tighter, responding to him with near-desperate abandon.

Three years ago, Margaret jumped into the sea to commit suicide. Her last phone call before dying had been to Sophia, but she'd been in the lab and missed it. Robert, who had loved Margaret deeply, blamed everything on Sophia.

He forced her to drop out of school, made her dress like Margaret, and turned her into his secret lover hidden in the shadows. Sophia didn't cry or make a fuss. She endured all his rage, because she too regretted not answering that call.

When the passion ended, Robert rose coldly and tossed birth control pills onto Sophia's body. Propping up her exhausted frame, she struggled to swallow the pills, nearly gagging. Her stomach had been bothering her lately. It was always like this.

After she'd delayed for ten minutes or so, the Howard Family's butler came to hurry her along. Robert never allowed Sophia to stay overnight at his place. No matter how late, no matter how exhausted she was, she had to leave. He treated her as a substitute to mourn his unforgettable love, a shadow to be summoned and dismissed at will.

Sophia quickened her pace getting ready.

Walking out the Howard Family's front door, she habitually glanced back, only to see a tall figure standing at the second-floor window. Sophia rubbed her stinging eyes and found the window empty.

She pulled a self-mocking bitter smile. Of course it was a hallucination. Robert hated her—why would he watch her leave?

An hour later, Sophia returned to the Windsor Family home. She'd barely stepped into the living room when a ceramic cup came flying at her face, smashing into her temple. Warm blood immediately streamed down, blurring her vision.

Her mother, Bianca Johnson, showed no sympathy whatsoever, loudly accusing her, "Useless thing! Can't even hold onto a man. Why weren't you the one who died back then?"

Sophia's heart clenched in pain. Margaret's death had not only turned the once high-spirited Robert paranoid and gloomy, but also made her own biological parents volatile and irritable. She simply accepted it all as the guilty party deserving punishment.

Bianca threw a newspaper at Sophia, and the large headline caught her attention.

[Howard Family and Brown Family Announce Marriage Alliance, Business Empires Unite]

In that moment, Sophia forgot how to breathe. Robert was getting married to someone else? The man who'd sworn to torment her for life, to make her atone with her entire existence—he was going to marry someone else now?

Did this mean he was finally willing to let go of his hatred and release her? In an instant, relief, confusion, and a trace of unwillingness she couldn't even recognize in herself intertwined in complex layers.

While Sophia stood frozen, Bianca lost her patience and slapped her across the face. "I'm talking to you! What are you playing dumb for? Margaret couldn't count on you to save her when she was alive, and now you can't even keep Robert for her? What good are you?"

The mother who'd lost her beloved daughter had long since lost control of her emotions. Crying and screaming, she drove Sophia out of the house, ordering her to beg Robert to change his mind.

"If you can't do it, don't bother coming back!"

Cast out, Sophia gazed helplessly at the moonlight overhead. The wound on her temple still throbbed dully, but it was nothing compared to the pain in her heart. When would this atonement ever end?

Sophia couldn't get through to Robert on the phone. That was how things were between them—only he could initiate contact. She had no way to reach him. Finally, she could only leave a message with Robert's assistant.

Half an hour later, her best friend Echo Jones picked Sophia up and took her home. She carefully treated Sophia's wound, and finally couldn't hold back her anger.

"This is too much! Margaret's been gone for years, and they still treat you like this. She committed suicide—that was a tragedy, not your fault! Why do they put all the blame on you alone?"

Sophia grasped Echo's hand and shook her head. Thinking of that sister who'd seemed perpetually sunny and cheerful on the surface but had secretly suffered from severe depression made her feel like an inadequate sister who hadn't noticed sooner. That missed phone call was her burden too. She was willing to carry that responsibility.

Unable to convince Sophia, Echo let out a heavy sigh. After a moment's thought, she firmly grasped Sophia's wrist and said boldly, "Forget it, don't think about this now! Tonight, I'm taking you out to have some fun!"

Without giving her a choice, Echo dragged Sophia to Emerald City's biggest bar. She even called over a few young, handsome servers, hoping to help her relax. Sophia felt extremely uncomfortable with all this. After sitting for only a short while, she excused herself to the restroom.

While fixing her appearance in front of the mirror, Robert actually called.

"You looking for me?" His voice was as cold and hard as ever, devoid of any emotion.

Sophia unconsciously straightened her back. "I wanted to ask—are you really getting married to Victoria?"

After a moment of silence on the other end, Robert's mocking, contemptuous laugh came through. "Why ask about that?"

Why? Sophia felt somewhat confused. Should she, as Bianca had said, beg him shamelessly without any dignity not to get married? She couldn't do that.

In the end, Sophia only asked with a trembling voice, "If you're getting married, can we... can we end this?"

What should have been a matter of course seemed like the biggest joke to Robert.

"End it? Sophia, what are you dreaming about?"

Sophia froze. What did Robert mean? He was getting married but still wouldn't end things with her—did he want her to be his mistress? She'd thought she'd already endured his most extreme humiliation, but no, he always had new ways to trample her dignity.

"What exactly... what will it take for you to let me go?"

Robert laughed coldly. "Unless you bring Margaret back to life!"

After hanging up, Sophia stared at her haggard reflection in the mirror, despairing. In that moment, she had thoughts of suicide again.

Just then, a very familiar voice suddenly rang out from outside.

"Don't even mention it. I just wanted to play a little joke on him back then—who knew he'd take it seriously? If I don't go back now, Robert's going to marry some other woman! Wouldn't that be a complete disaster? I can't believe my sister turned out to be so useless—I gave her three years and she still couldn't hold onto the man's heart!"

"My parents already know. They'll help me explain. As for Robert, he loves me so much—I'll just sweet-talk him a bit! Okay, I must be going. I need to use the restroom."

Sophia felt like she'd plunged into an icy abyss, her body trembling uncontrollably.

Margaret—she was actually alive?!