Part 3I Forgot Them All

From my seventeenth year to my twenty-third.

I spent six years learning one lesson—the more you try to grasp something, the harder it is to hold onto.

I became a complete failure. Family, love, career—I had nothing.

All I had was my parents' irritation and impatience, Julian's indifference, and Preston's hatred.

I held my head high, like the princesses in the fairy tales Preston used to tell me when I was young. A princess never bows her head.

My voice struggled to remain steady: "I'm done."

I looked down at the group at the bottom of the stairs—people I once thought would be my lifelong support, my family.

The corners of my mouth lifted in a mocking smile: "You're all one family now. What more do I have to make a fuss about?"

Julian looked at me, his fingers suddenly twitching. He knew me best, after all. Julian was my biological brother. From the time he was five years old and watched me being born, he had watched me grow up.

For some reason, Julian's heart seized, and he felt an inexplicable panic.

But the next second, my mother's words prevented him from grasping that moment of alarm.

"Aurora, I don't care what tricks you're planning now. I'm telling you, tomorrow is Fiona's engagement party, and you must attend."

Tomorrow was Fiona and Preston's engagement party.

It took me a full month to painfully accept this fact.

Actually, I had no choice but to accept it.

I tilted my head slightly. My arm was still throbbing with dull pain.

My mother must have forgotten that when I was seven, Preston had picked roses from his mother's garden, clumsily removed the thorns, and then found me.

Preston looked at me and asked quietly: "Aurora, when you grow up, will you marry me?"

When Preston asked me this, my parents, Preston's parents, and Julian were all present. Everyone laughed at the sight of us, just tiny children.

Only Preston didn't laugh. His face turned red as he stood awkwardly before me.

My mother asked with a smile: "Preston, do you know what marriage means?"

Preston answered seriously: "It means protecting Aurora for the rest of her life."

"Ma'am, Aurora is so delicate. What if someone else can't take good care of her?"

My father snorted lightly: "Wait until you're grown up, then we'll talk about this."

So every year on that day, Preston would ask everyone: "Am I big enough yet? Can I marry Aurora now?"

It wasn't until we entered middle school that Preston realized how silly his past behavior had been. But still, on that day each year, he would gently take my hand: "Aurora, when we grow up, I'll definitely marry you."

Preston, who promised to protect me forever, now stood in front of Fiona, looking at me with hatred, as if I were about to hurt Fiona at any moment.

I suddenly felt tired.

I had once vowed to win back everyone's love, and so my entire life became trapped in this mansion, obsessively calculating whether they treated me better or worse than Fiona.

A little more, and I would be happy.

A little less, and I would be depressed.

Round and round, until I seemed to lose myself entirely.

And I still ended up with the image of a vicious woman.

Everyone downstairs was my closest family in this world. They didn't love me. Did I even deserve to be loved by anyone else?

But what else could I do?

I had already tried my best, and they still didn't love me.

Maybe I had been too happy before, so that after seventeen, every day since has been paying back that debt.

I nodded: "I understand. I'll go."

I didn't have the energy to look at the surprised or relieved expressions on their faces below. I returned to my room.