Chapter 1

On my birthday, my vampire fiancé Lucien brought his childhood sweetheart and her daughter along.

We had agreed to drive to the seaside manor to celebrate.

Suddenly there were two extra people, and the car was short one seat.

Lucien told me to get out and give up my seat for them.

“Evelyn has a child with her. Let them go first. I’ll come back for you later.”

My brothers also urged me to get out.

I didn’t argue like I used to. I simply got out calmly and watched them leave.

Two hours later, they arrived at the birthday party venue.

My birthday party began without me.

When friends asked Lucien why he still hadn’t gone back to pick me up, he was feeding cake to Evelyn’s daughter.

It was my birthday cake.

He didn’t even look up:

“We can’t let the child go hungry. It’s fine if we pick Camilla up a little later. She won’t really be mad.”

“When I go back I’ll just coax her a little and give her some random gift, and that’ll be the end of it.”

Anger only works on people who care about you.

My parents and brothers had never cared about my feelings.

Now even my partner took my waiting and yielding for granted.

Unfortunately, this time I no longer intended to wait.

By the time everyone finally remembered me, I was already gone from their world.

Chapter 1

The moment Lucien appeared with Evelyn and her daughter Lily, I knew my birthday party was ruined.

Evelyn wore a beautiful purple dress and walked toward us holding Lily’s hand.

“Camilla, Lucien told me you personally invited me to this birthday party. Thank you so much!”

Evelyn smiled gently, but her eyes clearly carried a challenge.

She knew perfectly well I would never have invited her.

Lucien loaded the luggage into the trunk, then opened the back door.

My two brothers, Jack and Xavier, were already sitting in the available seats.

“What’s going on?” they asked.

“Uncle Jack! Uncle Xavier!” Lily heard their voices and rushed into the car.

“Lily! It’s you!”

Evelyn followed and stood outside the car, greeting them warmly: “Long time no see.”

They fell into lively conversation, completely ignoring me standing to the side.

Evelyn was their adopted sister.

I was their blood sister.

Yet I had never been able to fit into their circle.

“Evelyn, I thought you’d gone ahead,” Jack said, holding Lily.

Xavier patted the empty seat beside him: “Let Lily sit next to me. Evelyn, you take the front passenger seat…”

They looked toward the front passenger seat and only then realized I was sitting there.

“Looks like there’s no empty seat.”

Evelyn lowered her head slightly.

“In that case, Lily and I won’t go,” she said, eyes slightly red, looking at me. “Camilla, happy birthday.”

She picked Lily up and started to walk away, but after a few steps she turned back to look at Lucien, Jack, and Xavier.

“Lucien, Lily has never been to the seaside. I heard there’s a special birthday cake and fireworks tonight. Since we can’t go, could you send her some photos and videos of the fireworks later?”

Lucien hesitated.

Xavier frowned and suddenly said to me, “Camilla, why haven’t you gotten out yet?”

I froze.

“This is my seat.”

“I know,” Xavier said impatiently. “But Evelyn has a child with her. What are they supposed to do?”

Jack joined in.

“Evelyn rarely brings Lily out to have fun. What’s the big deal if you give way a little?”

I looked at them, almost thinking I had misheard.

Today was my birthday.

This birthday party was something I had prepared. The seaside manor was a place I had looked forward to for a long time.

Yet now my two blood brothers were casually demanding that I give up my seat for someone else.

I instinctively looked at my fiancé Lucien.

The hesitation in his eyes was gone.

He looked at the hopeful expression in Lily’s eyes and seemed to have made up his mind.

He walked over to my side of the car, opened the door, and pulled me out.

“Camilla, there aren’t enough seats. Evelyn has her daughter with her. Let them go first. I’ll come back for you later, okay?”

I stared at him wide-eyed.

I couldn’t believe he and my brothers were really going to leave me by the roadside.

Today was my birthday. I was clearly the star of the birthday party.

He turned away, avoiding my gaze, and said firmly, “There’s no time to find another car. Be good and wait here for a bit. I’ll be back soon.”

I looked straight into Lucien’s eyes, hoping to see even a trace of hesitation.

But his gaze was calm and cold, as if leaving me behind truly didn’t matter.

I lowered my head to hide the ache inside and quietly picked up my bag.

“You all go ahead. It’s fine.”

I walked to the side.

Before they drove away, Evelyn held Lily and waved at me triumphantly.

Through the window I saw Lucien’s profile.

He didn’t even glance back at me once.

As if the person being left behind was just some insignificant stranger.

During the two-hour drive to the seaside manor, Evelyn posted ten updates on her social media—scenery along the way, and Lucien’s handsome side profile while driving.

Someone in the comments asked: “Evelyn, is that your boyfriend? He’s so handsome!”

Evelyn didn’t reply. She only posted a shy emoji.

Along the way, Lucien called me.

He told me to stay where I was and wait for him to come back.

But it was sunset, and residual sunlight remained.

My skin began to burn.

Vampires cannot stay exposed to sunlight for long. Soon I would dehydrate and become exhausted.

But I said nothing. I even agreed.

After all, today was my birthday.

And I still wanted to see whether Lucien would keep his promise.

Chapter 2

Gradually, night fell.

I had already waited by the roadside for a full three hours.

My skin no longer stung, but wearing only a thin dress, I began to feel cold.

Just then I received a social media post from Evelyn.

In the video, Evelyn stood intimately beside Lucien.

Lucien cut the birthday cake I had carefully prepared and fed it to Lily bite by bite with a smile.

The three of them looked like a family.

Laughter could be heard in the background. Then someone spoke up on my behalf:

“The birthday girl Camilla isn’t here yet. Why did you cut her birthday cake?”

“Lucien, aren’t you going to pick Camilla up? If she misses her own birthday, that would be too pitiful!”

Lucien’s hand froze. His movements stopped abruptly.

The cake in Lily’s hand slipped and fell to the ground.

Behind them, brilliant fireworks had already begun to bloom.

He looked conflicted.

After a long silence, he cut another piece of cake and finally murmured:

“The fireworks have already started. Lily and Evelyn like fireworks. It’s not too late to go back after watching them.”

“Camilla is very understanding. She won’t get angry.”

I closed the video before it finished playing.

Because I knew he was not coming back for me.

The seaside manor was only a two-hour drive from home, but six hours had passed and he still had not appeared.

I slowly stood up, took off my engagement ring, and threw it into the roadside trash can.

Lucien had changed.

He was no longer the man who used to care whether I was sad or whether I had been wronged.

It was almost midnight. The birthday party I had looked forward to had probably already ended.

And I, the birthday girl, had not even seen my own birthday cake.

The guests began packing up, preparing to stay overnight at the manor.

Evelyn and Lily had just stepped into the bedroom originally prepared for me when my friends stopped them.

“Get out! This room is prepared for Camilla. She hasn’t come back yet. What right do you have to stay in it?”

Evelyn had not brought a change of clothes and had not arranged lodging in advance.

Lucien tried to help her find an empty room, but by then all the guest rooms in the manor were full.

Evelyn looked at Lucien, tears welling up.

“Camilla must be angry.”

“It’s all my fault. If I hadn’t agreed to come to the party in the first place, if Lily hadn’t been so eager to see the fireworks, you wouldn’t have delayed so long because of us.”

She lowered her head, her voice growing softer.

“We shouldn’t have come here at all. Lily and I should just leave.”

Lucien’s breathing quickened.

But it was not because Evelyn said she wanted to leave.

It was because he suddenly remembered that after watching the fireworks, he had forgotten to go back and pick me up.

At that moment he truly wanted to drive back immediately.

But the manor was far from the city, and at this hour there was no suitable place nearby for them to stay. He could not just let them leave with a child.

Jack and Xavier naturally disagreed even more.

Lucien’s heart softened.

He grabbed Evelyn’s wrist.

“Enough. This has nothing to do with you. If Camilla is angry, she’s angry at me.”

“I’m driving back to find her right now.”

Lucien told Jack and Xavier to take good care of Evelyn and Lily, then turned to leave.

His steps were clearly much faster than usual.

But Evelyn quickly called him back.

“Let me go with you. If Camilla is unhappy, I can help explain.”

Lucien hesitated for a moment, then agreed.

Jack and Xavier also wanted to go find me.

Lucien knew my temper and was certain I would still be waiting for him to come back and pick me up.

Leaving me alone by the roadside this time, I would not forgive him easily.

In his view, women communicated more easily with each other.

Bringing Evelyn along might help calm me down.

But Lily was still a child. Without toys and a blanket, she could not endure a two-hour car ride.

Those things had to be brought.

By the time Evelyn finished packing everything, another hour had passed.

Lucien was usually impatient and hated waiting most of all.

Yet this time he actually sat in the car and patiently waited for Evelyn for a full hour.

Along the way, Evelyn worried he would get hungry while driving and personally fed him cookies.

She filmed the scene and posted it on her social media.

I saw it all clearly.

I downloaded every video.

Then I opened the chat window with Lucien and sent him a message.

“I’ve already gone home. Don’t come back looking for me.”

Then I booked myself a flight leaving in six hours.

I was not without a place to go.

In my email inbox lay a job offer.

It was just on another continent, a fifteen-hour flight away.

In the past I had been reluctant to leave my family, and even more reluctant to leave my fiancé.

But they had never stood by my side.

I accepted the offer.

Chapter 3

Lucien drove back to the place where he had left me the day before.

The sun was about to rise, and the mist had not yet fully dissipated.

There was not a single figure on the empty road.

In that moment he felt a wave of panic.

He felt as if he had lost something extremely important.

When he read the message I had sent him, that feeling grew even stronger.

Back at the villa, I began packing my luggage.

Even though my heart ached, I still decided to end this relationship.

Lucien called, but I did not answer.

I only stared at the screen, watching it light up and then go dark again.

The man who had once promised to share eternity with me had chosen Evelyn over me at the birthday party I had looked forward to most.

My brothers were the same.

It seemed no one had ever firmly stood behind me.

When I was little I got lost and wandered for several years. Not until I was ten did my family find me.

By then the family already had a girl about my age.

I stood in the living room, filthy all over—the traces left by years of living on the streets.

I looked up at Evelyn. She wore a pretty dress and stood on the second floor, with tall Xavier and Jack behind her.

In her eyes I saw contempt and disgust, as if I were a dirty vagrant rummaging for food in a garbage heap.

She offered to teach me manners, yet repeatedly humiliated me in front of the maids.

She refused to let me eat with her and tore up the pretty dresses and exquisite dolls my parents had given me.

Afterwards she would tell my parents that I had wandered for too long, that I was withdrawn, selfish, and a habitual liar.

To fit into this family I tried hard to be obedient and friendly. Even when Evelyn bullied me, I stayed silent.

All I received was more bullying.

My family’s attitude toward me grew colder day by day.

They said Evelyn was an elegant young lady, while I was an uncultured wild girl.

They said I had picked up the base habits of a street rat, that I was vulgar and worthless.

They even said I was worse than the maid’s daughter.

Only then did I realize that the girl my family treated as their own was actually the maid’s child.

In those dark days when my entire family despised me, only Lucien wanted to be my friend.

Now even he was going to leave me behind.

I did not answer his calls, so Lucien brought Evelyn, her daughter, and my two brothers straight to my house.

Ever since Evelyn had dissolved her blood bond with her partner, she had returned more and more frequently.

This villa felt more like Evelyn’s home than mine.

Whether she was present or not, her room was always kept tidy.

It had the best natural light in the entire house.

Even though she rarely returned, the room was cleaned every day and no one was allowed to enter.

When I came downstairs, Lucien rushed toward me and pulled me into his arms.

“Camilla, I know you’re angry. You haven’t been answering my calls. I came to apologize. Can you forgive me?”

The moment I saw Lucien, tears I could not hold back streamed down my face.

Seeing me cry, he panicked. He clumsily tried to wipe the tears from my face while softly comforting me.

Evelyn angrily slapped the half-eaten cookie out of Lily’s hand.

The next moment she turned to me, her expression flustered and uneasy, her voice trembling with emotion.

“Camilla, I’m sorry. I really thought you invited me. The only reason I brought Lily to the birthday party was because of that. It’s all my fault. Please don’t be angry at Lucien, okay?”

“He was already very tired yesterday, but he still drove all the way back to find you. I was really worried something might happen to him on the road.”

She was about to say more when Lucien interrupted her. He looked at me, his eyes full of deep remorse.

“Camilla, this has nothing to do with anyone else. It’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have forgotten to come back for you. Evelyn didn’t know anything. She’s innocent.”

I stared at him blankly. It felt as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over me; my whole body turned ice-cold.

From the day before, I had been grieving over what Lucien had done. The moment I saw him I especially wanted to ask why he suddenly no longer loved me, but I never had the chance to say it.

All I saw was him defending someone else.

He was afraid I would take my anger out on Evelyn, afraid I would blame her. So he took all the blame onto himself.

Chapter 4

Out of everyone else’s line of sight, Evelyn suddenly pinched Lily hard.

Lily began to wail.

My mother Eliza rushed out of the room, worriedly took Lily into her arms, and glared at me angrily:

“Camilla, is this enough? They’ve already apologized. What more do you want? Evelyn knows you don’t like her, so she moved out. Even after dissolving her blood bond, she still doesn’t dare come back to live here. Isn’t that enough?”

She yanked Lucien away from me, glared at me fiercely, then turned to him.

“Ignore her. You’ve spoiled her. She’s always throwing tantrums!”

Evelyn looked at Eliza, tears filling her eyes.

“Mom, it’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have come back. I know Camilla doesn’t like me.”

Just then my brother Jack rushed over. He shoved me aside and shielded Evelyn behind him.

“Camilla, you bully Evelyn only because Mom and Dad feel guilty toward you. Fine, I’ll tell you—Evelyn is the only sister I acknowledge!”

I stumbled back two steps, my shoulder hitting the wall.

Before I could steady myself, Xavier also walked over.

He first checked Evelyn carefully to make sure she was unhurt, then turned to look at me.

“Camilla, have you made enough of a scene?”

His tone was even colder than Jack’s. He glared at me viciously, then put an arm around Evelyn’s shoulders and gently comforted her.

“Don’t cry. With us here, no one can bully you.”

Not a single person in this family liked me.

I had always known. My parents and brothers spoiled Evelyn like a princess.

They thought I was selfish, that I abused Evelyn, that I lacked grace and maturity.

My two brothers and I should have been the closest of siblings. Instead we had become enemies.

I pressed a hand to the pain in my chest and gave a bitter smile.

They didn’t like me. Was that something I had only just learned?

Why, then, did hearing them defend Evelyn still hurt so much?

I lowered my head. Tears slid silently down my cheeks.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to blame Evelyn. This is her home too. Let her move back.”

Jack paused, a flicker of suspicion in his eyes.

“Don’t tell me you’re plotting some scheme again. Are you planning to bully Evelyn? I’m warning you—stop!”

“Enough! Shut up!”

Eliza scolded Jack and Xavier, then turned to me with a gentle smile.

“Camilla has finally grown up. She’s learned not to be jealous of Evelyn’s excellence. That’s more like it. Evelyn will forgive you, because she’s so kind and generous.”

“Yes, Mom.”

I answered obediently, forcing down the bitterness in my chest.

This would be the last time I yielded.

Today I would leave this house forever.

The plane was about to take off.

I picked up my bag, which held only a few changes of clothes I had just packed. I took nothing my family or Lucien had given me.

“Camilla, where are you going?”

I had just stepped out the door when Eliza called after me.

For some reason a flash of worry crossed her eyes.

I smiled at them and said:

“I’m going to buy something for Evelyn. A little gift to celebrate her return.”

This was the first time I had lied, yet I felt not the slightest guilt—only a faint sense of relief.

Eliza relaxed.

“Don’t take too long. Don’t keep everyone waiting. That’s the way. Treat Evelyn well. We’re all family.”

“Camilla, wait! I’ll drive you.”

Lucien had just finished comforting Lily. When he saw me leaving he panicked, grabbed the car keys, and chased after me.

The moment he turned, Evelyn pinched Lily’s arm hard again.

Lily’s cries immediately pulled everyone’s attention back inside.

Worry appeared on Eliza’s face once more.

“Lucien, don’t worry about Camilla. Our villa isn’t far from the city—only a twenty-minute drive. Lily needs you. Stay and comfort her.”

Lucien hesitated. His steps paused, then he slowly stepped back. He looked at me with guilt in his eyes.

“Camilla, Lily is still little. She needs someone with her. I’ll stay with her for now.”

I said nothing.

I walked out the door without looking back, leaving everything behind.

Six hours later I still had not returned.

They finally realized something was wrong.