Chapter 1

"Margaret..."

When the affection ran deep, Robert Howard still called out the name of her sister, Margaret Windsor, to Sophia Windsor.

The humiliation washed over Sophia like icy water, but a moment later, she held him even tighter, responding to him with almost desperate abandon.

Three years ago, Margaret jumped into the sea to commit suicide. Her last phone call before dying was to Sophia, but she was in the lab and didn't answer.

Robert, who deeply loved Margaret, blamed everything on Sophia.

He forced Sophia to drop out of school, made her dress up as Margaret, and turned her into Robert's 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!

After the passion ended, Robert got up coldly and tossed birth control pills onto Sophia.

She struggled with her exhausted body to swallow the pills, nearly throwing them back up from nausea.

Her stomach had been bothering her lately. It was always like this.

After a delay of about ten minutes, 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 tired 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 of getting ready.

Walking out the Howard Family's gate, she habitually looked back and saw a tall figure at the second-floor window.

Sophia rubbed her stinging eyes and found the window empty.

She forced out a self-mocking bitter smile.

It was just a hallucination after all. Robert hated her so much, how could he watch her leave?

An hour later, Sophia returned to the Windsor Family.

She had just walked into the living room when a ceramic cup flew at her, hitting her temple.

Warm blood immediately flowed down, blurring her vision.

Her mother, Bianca Johnson, showed no sign of concern and shouted accusingly, "You useless thing, you can't even hold onto a man. Why wasn't it you who died back then?"

Sophia's heart ached.

Margaret's death not only turned the once high-spirited Robert into someone obsessive and gloomy, but also made her own parents irritable and angry.

She silently endured all of this as the one to blame.

Bianca threw a newspaper at Sophia. The headline caught her attention.

[The Howard Family and the Brown Family Announce Marriage Alliance, Business Empires Join Forces]

At that moment, Sophia lost the strength to breathe.

Was Robert getting married to someone else?

The man who swore to torture her for life and make her atone forever was now marrying someone else?

Did this mean he was finally willing to let go of his hatred and let her go?

In an instant, relief, confusion, and a trace of unwillingness she couldn't even detect herself all tangled together in a complex mix.

While Sophia was in a daze, Bianca lost her patience and slapped her across the face.

"I'm talking to you. Why are you playing dumb? You couldn't save Margaret when she was alive, and now you can't even keep Robert for her? What's the point of you being alive?"

The mother who had lost her beloved daughter had long since lost control of her emotions.

She cried and screamed, throwing Sophia out of the house, ordering her to beg Robert to change his mind.

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

Kicked out, Sophia looked helplessly at the moonlight above. The wound on her temple still throbbed faintly, 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's how it was between her and Robert—only he could initiate contact with her. She had no way to reach him.

In the end, 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 has been gone for so many years, and they still treat you like this. She committed suicide—that was a tragedy, not your fault! Why put all the blame on you alone?"

Sophia held Echo's hand and shook her head.

Thinking about her sister, who always seemed sunny and cheerful on the surface but secretly suffered from severe depression, she felt she had failed as a younger sister for not noticing sooner.

That missed phone call was also her burden to bear. She was willing to take that responsibility.

Unable to convince Sophia, Echo let out a heavy sigh.

After thinking for a moment, she grabbed Sophia's wrist and said boldly, "Forget it, don't think about this now! Tonight, I'm taking you out for some fun!"

Echo dragged Sophia to Emerald City's biggest bar without taking no for an answer. She even called over some young, handsome servers, wanting her to relax.

Sophia was very uncomfortable with this and excused herself to the restroom after sitting for only a short while.

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

"You were looking for me?" His voice was as cold and hard as always, without any emotion.

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

After a moment of silence on the other end, Robert's mocking, contemptuous laugh came through. "Why are you asking about this?"

Why?

Sophia felt somewhat lost.

Should she beg him not to get married, throwing away all dignity and self-respect as Bianca had said?

She couldn't do it.

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

This should have been a matter of course, but Robert acted as if he'd heard the biggest joke.

"End this? 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 thought she had already endured his most extreme humiliation, but it turned out he always had new ways to trample on her dignity.

"What exactly do I have to do for you to let me go?"

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

After hanging up, Sophia stared desperately at her haggard reflection in the mirror.

At 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 another woman! Wouldn't that completely ruin everything? I can't believe my sister turned out to be so useless—I gave her three years, and she still couldn't win his heart!"

"My parents have known all along. They'll help me explain. As for Robert, he loves me so much—I'll just sweet-talk him a bit!"

"Okay, I won't talk anymore. I need to use the restroom."

Sophia felt like she'd fallen into an icy pit, her body trembling uncontrollably.

Margaret—she wasn't dead?!