After I was reunited with my birth family, my "sister," the girl who had taken my place, tearfully offered me her fiancé. "Lily," she said, her voice a model of selfless understanding, "James is yours. I'll step aside." The moment she cried, the whole family turned on me with aching hearts and pointed fingers. I understood then. This family responded to weakness, not strength. So I dropped to my knees with a thud, my sobs louder and more desperate than hers. "Aurora, how can you step aside? If you do, James will blame me, Mom and Dad will blame me, and my brother will blame me! What's the point of me even being alive?" I wailed, grabbing a fruit knife from the nearby table. "If you don't agree to stay with him, I'll die right here!" The entire family froze, their faces a mask of shock. Aurora, the fake heiress, was stunned speechless. A joke. When it came to crying, I was the undisputed queen. 1. In my first week back at the Sterling mansion, I felt like an alien who had crash-landed in someone else's world. And Aurora Sterling, the girl who had lived my life for eighteen years, was the princess of that world. One day, a team of workers arrived, carrying ladders and cans of paint. They were going to repaint the entire villa in Aurora's favorite shade: a soft, buttery cream. My room, originally a tasteful off-white, was on their list. I stopped the workers, my voice soft. "Could you please not paint my room?" Aurora drifted over at the sound of my voice, linking arms with our mother, her eyes already welling up. "Lily, don't you like it? I'm so sorry, I wasn't being thoughtful. I just thought you'd like a warm color, too." Our mother’s brow furrowed as she looked at me. "Lily, Aurora meant well. Why are you being so ungrateful?" Our father put down his newspaper. "It's just a bit of paint. It's best if the whole house has a uniform style." I looked at their entitled faces and understood. In this house, my opinion didn't matter. Only Aurora’s tears did. Fine. My own eyes reddened, and my voice, thick with unshed tears, was even more wounded than Aurora's. "Dad, Mom, I'm not ungrateful." "I just heard... I heard that this was the nursery you prepared for me when I was a baby. This color... this was the color you chose for me with your own hands all those years ago." I lifted my head, my eyes shimmering with tears I stubbornly refused to let fall. "I wanted to keep it... as if... as if I was never lost at all." "I wanted to feel, just for a moment, what it would have been like if I had grown up with you." My voice began to tremble, finally breaking into a choked sob. "I'm sorry. I'm being selfish. I shouldn't have asked. Go ahead and paint it. Just... pretend I never came back." The living room fell into a dead silence. The blame on my parents' faces morphed into shock, then into a tidal wave of guilt. My mother pushed Aurora away and rushed to hug me. "My sweet girl, don't cry, don't cry. It's Mommy's fault. We're so sorry." My father roared at the workers, "Who told you to touch the young miss's room? Nobody touches it! Get your things and get out!" My brother, Julian, who had just come downstairs, saw the scene and hurried to my side, awkwardly patting my back. "Lily, don't cry. No one will dare touch your room." Aurora stood frozen, her gentle expression stiffening on her face. She probably never imagined I would take her little trick and amplify it tenfold. She opened her mouth to speak, but I started crying harder. "Sister, please don't be mad at me. I didn't mean to make Mom and Dad angry, I just... I just can't control myself." With that one sentence, I preemptively blocked any accusation she could possibly make. If she said another word, she would be the one bullying the "victim"—the fragile, sensitive, long-lost daughter. The color drained from Aurora's face, leaving it a sickly, mottled white. It was a beautiful sight. 2. After that day, no one mentioned painting the walls again. My room became the sole exception in this buttercream castle. Aurora lay low for a few days, but she was soon back to her old tricks. On her birthday, Julian gifted her a screaming-red Porsche, the keys nestled in a velvet box. Aurora shrieked with delight, hugging Julian’s arm and jumping for joy. "Thank you, brother! I love you so much!" The whole family watched her with beaming smiles. The atmosphere was warm and harmonious. I stood in the corner, an outsider. Julian’s gaze flickered over to me, a hint of discomfort in his eyes. He pulled another, smaller box from his pocket and handed it to me. "Lily, this is for you." I opened it. It was a bracelet, clearly expensive, but compared to a Porsche, it was a pittance. A handout for a beggar. Aurora glanced at it, her words dripping with false generosity. "Wow, brother, you're playing favorites. Lily's gift is so beautiful too." But the smug satisfaction in her eyes was unmistakable. I stared at the bracelet and didn't take it. A tear escaped, then another. Not a loud sob, but a silent, steady stream. The laughter in the room died. All eyes were on me. I choked back a sob, my voice as light as a feather. "Brother, thank you. But... I can't accept this." Julian was stunned. "Why not?" I lifted my tear-filled eyes, my gaze a carefully crafted mix of inferiority, envy, and desolate sadness. "A girl like me, who grew up in the dirt... how could I ever be worthy of something so precious?" "My sister is a star in the sky. She deserves the best of everything. The sports car, the designer labels... it should all be hers." "And me?" I let out a self-deprecating laugh, the tears flowing faster. "I'm just happy to have enough to eat and not cause you any trouble. I appreciate the thought, brother, but I'm truly not worthy of this gift." I turned, covering my mouth to stifle my cries, and ran upstairs. My retreating figure was the loneliest, most tragic sight imaginable. Behind me, I heard Julian's panicked voice. "Lily! That's not it! Let me explain!" And my parents' furious scolding. "Julian! What were you thinking? How could you treat them so differently?" Aurora's hand, still holding the car keys, was frozen in mid-air. The smile on her face was uglier than a grimace. That night, Julian knocked on my door. His eyes were red, filled with guilt. "Lily, I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking." I sat by the window, hugging my knees, my eyes swollen like walnuts, and said nothing. He pushed a black card toward me. "There's three million on this. It's from me, to make it up to you. You can buy any car you want. Something even better than your sister's." I didn't look at the card. I just stared out the window. "Brother, I don't want things. I just... I just feel that in your hearts, I'll never be as important as she is." "It's okay," I whispered. "I accept it. After all, she was the one who was with you for eighteen years." Julian looked like his heart was about to break. "No! You're my real sister! From now on, I'll give you the best of everything!" He practically forced the card into my hand before fleeing my room. I looked at the card, wiping away the last of my crocodile tears. You want to play games with me? Aurora, darling, you're an amateur. 3. The family's fiancé was named James Nordling. He was the heir to the Nordling Corporation and was originally engaged to Aurora. After I was found, the engagement became… awkward. More than once, Aurora performed her "kindness and generosity" for my parents. "Dad, Mom, the engagement was with the Sterling family. Now that my sister is back, she should be the one to inherit it. I'm willing to step aside and wish James and my sister all the best." Every time she said it, my parents' hearts ached for her, and they would look at me as if I were a thief. The first time James came over for dinner, the atmosphere was thick with tension. He sat across from me, his gaze polite but distant. He spent most of his time talking to Aurora. They talked about mutual friends, high-society parties, and topics I couldn't even begin to understand. I just ate my food quietly, a ghost at the table. During the meal, Aurora put some food on my plate, her gesture as intimate as if we were real sisters. "Lily, eat more. You're too thin." Then, her hand "slipped." A piece of greasy braised pork fell directly onto my faded, worn-out t-shirt. A large grease stain bloomed across the fabric. "Oh!" she gasped, her face a mask of apology. "I'm so sorry, Lily, I didn't do it on purpose! Your clothes..." All eyes focused on the stain on my chest. The t-shirt was one I'd brought from the countryside, a ten-dollar bargain bin find. In a room full of couture and luxury brands, it was already out of place. Now, it was a joke. If I got angry, I'd be making a scene. If I swallowed it, I'd be admitting I was inferior. I looked at the stain. I didn't get angry. Instead, I smiled. A smile that was sadder than tears. Then I looked up, my eyes swimming with moisture I refused to let fall. "It's okay, sister," I said, my voice hoarse. "It's just an old shirt. If it's dirty, I'll just throw it away." "It's the only kind of clothes I have, anyway. Not like you, sister. You wear designer brands I can't even recognize." "I'm the one embarrassing this family. I shouldn't have worn something like this to the dinner table." I put down my chopsticks, stood up, and bowed deeply to everyone. "I'm sorry, Dad, Mom, Mr. Nordling. Please excuse me." I turned and walked away, my back ramrod straight. Every step I took felt like it was landing on their hearts. I could feel James's gaze shift from Aurora to me for the first time, a look of curiosity and pity in his eyes. Behind me, I heard my mother's suppressed fury. "Aurora Sterling! Look what you've done!" Aurora was speechless. "Mom, I really didn't mean to..." "Enough! I think you did it on purpose!" A carefully planned family dinner, ruined by a single, unshed tear. That night, I received a text from James. [Are you free tomorrow? I'll take you to buy some clothes.] I looked at the message and smiled. The fish was on the hook. 4. I didn't turn James down. The next day, I showed up at the designated mall, wearing the same grease-stained t-shirt. When James saw me, his handsome brows knitted together. "Why are you still wearing this?" I looked down. "This... this is the only decent shirt I have to wear out." His expression grew even more complicated. He said nothing, simply took my wrist and pulled me into the most exclusive luxury boutique in the mall. The sales assistants' eyes were full of contempt when they saw my outfit. But after they saw James's black card, their faces instantly lit up with the warmest smiles. James pointed to a rack of the latest dresses. "Anything that suits her, wrap it up." Then he looked at me, his voice softening slightly. "Go try them on." I acted like a startled rabbit, waving my hands frantically. "No, no, it's too expensive, I can't accept." "It's not for you," he said flatly. "It's for the Sterling family's reputation. When you go out in cheap clothes, you embarrass all of us." The words were harsh, but I knew it was his clumsy way of being kind. I was "forced" to change into a white dress. The girl in the mirror was slender, pale, with a timid look in her eyes—a complete stranger to my usual self. When I walked out, James's gaze faltered for a moment. He quickly recovered, handing his card to the assistant. "Wrap them all up." When we left the store, he was carrying more than a dozen bags. I trailed behind him, head down. "Mr. Nordling, thank you. But I still can't..." "Call me James," he interrupted. I paused. He stopped and turned to look at me, his eyes deep. "Lily Sterling, you don't have to live so cautiously. You are the rightful heiress of the Sterling family." In the sunlight, his features were sharp, his eyes holding an emotion I couldn't decipher. I sneered internally, but my words were soft. "But in their hearts, my sister is the real one. I'm just an outsider." The tears started to well up again. "I don't want to take anything that belongs to my sister," I looked him in the eye. "Including you." "E-James," I stammered, "you and my sister look so good together. I wish you both the best." "And I wish... that I can get used to being alone soon." With that, I grabbed the shopping bags and ran, leaving James standing alone, his brow furrowed and his face dark. He started avoiding Aurora. When she called him, he was always in a meeting or on a business trip. When she went to his office, his secretary would say he wasn't there. Aurora was going mad. She came to confront me. "Lily Sterling, what did you say to James?" I looked at her with wide, innocent eyes. A mist began to form. "Sister, what are you talking about? Why would I say anything to Mr. Nordling?" "I only told him that I wish you both the best and that he should treat you well." "Sister, don't you believe me?" I clutched my chest, my face a mask of hurt. "How could you think of me like that? Am I really the kind of person who would ruin your relationship?" "I..." Aurora was speechless. I pressed my advantage, my tears flowing freely. "I know, it's all my fault! I shouldn't have come back, I shouldn't have appeared in your lives! I'll leave now, I'll leave the Sterling family and never bother you again!" I made a show of rushing for the door. My parents, who were just coming downstairs, saw the scene and were horrified. "Aurora! What are you doing to your sister again!" my father roared. "Your sister is fragile, and you're still provoking her! What are your intentions!" my mother added. Aurora stood there, trembling, watching me cower in our mother's arms. Her eyes were filled with venom. She knew she had lost again. Utterly and completely.
? Continue the story here ?? ? Download the "MotoNovel" app ? search for "393859", and watch the full series ✨! #MotoNovel