Hearing my response, Marco visibly relaxed.
"Elaina, the doctor said you still need to stay in the hospital for observation. There's no rush to be discharged."
For some reason, there was a trace of unease in his eyes as he spoke.
The next morning, I woke up to find that both Marco and Colson, who had been by my bedside last night, were nowhere to be seen.
Left alone, I struggled onto my wheelchair and made my way home to grab a few things.
But the moment I pushed open the gate, I was met with a shocking sight.
The lavender I had carefully nurtured for years had been completely uprooted—every last stalk was gone.
In its place were vast stretches of brilliant peonies.
And standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows were faces I knew all too well...
Marco stood there, pushing an enormous ten-tiered cake while Colson held a diamond-studded crown.
Surrounding them were classmates, teachers, and even a large number of employees from our company.
Everyone was there—except me.
And then I saw it.
The bright red banner hanging on the wall, each word stabbing deep into my heart.
[Congratulations to Valerie for securing her graduate school admission!]
I was still reeling from the shock when she appeared.
Dressed in an exquisite designer gown, the beloved princess of the hour, Valerie, noticed me immediately.
With an exaggerated show of concern, she walked up to me.
"Sis, I heard you were badly injured. I was just thinking of visiting you."
She hesitated, then covered her mouth as if struggling with what to say. "It's just that... Marco told me that you're incontinent now, and he was afraid I'd be scared if I saw you."
"So... is it true? Have you really become that filthy?"
The moment the words left her lips, murmurs spread through the crowd. She openly voiced the harsh truths I couldn't bring myself to say, stirring up a whirlwind of discussion around me.
Shame surged through me as I felt their disgusted stares piercing into me.
At the back, Marco, who had been cutting the cake, hurried over.
When he saw me, a flicker of embarrassment flashed across his face.
"Ela... Elaina, why are you here? Didn’t the doctor say you needed to rest in the hospital?"
I ignored the disdainful whispers around me and forced my voice to remain steady.
"I missed Max, so I came back to see him."
Max was my dog. I had raised him for ten years, and Marco knew how much he meant to me.
He immediately pushed my wheelchair forward and said, "He’s in your room."
But before we could move, Valerie stepped in our way, her voice dripping with self-righteousness.
"Sis, today is my celebration banquet. You know how hard I’ve worked for this all these years..."
At her words, the people around us shifted their focus to me, their gazes accusing me.
They whispered that I had used my lack of morals to achieve high grades, nearly robbing a truly hardworking student of her rightful place.
And yet—who would acknowledge the countless nights I had stayed up studying, burning the midnight oil, pushing myself to the brink?
However, there was no point arguing.
I merely nodded and said flatly, "Congratulations."
Only then did Valerie step aside, satisfied.
As soon as I opened my bedroom door, Marco hastily left.
I scanned my room and realized it had been ransacked, and everything was in disarray.
And beneath my bed—Max lay there, barely breathing.
At that instant, the tears I had been holding back finally broke free.
I understood now.
The seaside home Marco had built for me after our father remarried—it no longer belonged to me.
Since that was the case, I didn’t want it anymore.
I would only take Max with me.
Just as I steeled myself to leave, Valerie pushed the door open and stepped inside.
She held a piece of cake in her hand, but her eyes were filled with pure hatred.
"Elaina, look at yourself now. You’re no different from this worthless mutt!" She sneered, her voice full of venom.
"I told you before—anything that belongs to you, I will take it away. One by one. Your father, your brother, your younger brother... They all belong to me now!"
Her lips curled into a cruel smile as she added, "Oh, right. Do you want to know how your mother died?"
She leaned closer, lowering her voice. "I deliberately made sure she saw a video of your father sleeping with my mother. She already had postpartum depression, so the moment she saw it, she snapped and—boom—jumped straight off the balcony."
My eyes burned red with fury, and I wanted nothing more than to strangle her. But before I could move, I slipped from the wheelchair and hit the ground.
