Chapter 6

It all started, not with that speech, but when I was seven years old, and fell into a frozen lake.

The icy water instantly swallowed me, and primal survival instincts made me struggle desperately.

Just as my consciousness faded, a figure jumped in without hesitation.

He wasn't much older, maybe ten or so, with a stern expression, but his eyes were incredibly resolute.

He dragged me back from the brink of death.

Afterward, I blacked out. When I woke up, I only knew that a son from the [Caleb's Last Name] family had saved me.

So, when I first saw Elias at sixteen, I mistook him.

I mistook him for the boy who had pulled me from the icy water.

The boy who had carried me a long way, the one with an old scar on his wrist.

I mistook him for Elias.

At first, my existence didn't register with him.

He was a golden boy, with countless admirers. Even with Victoria, his fiancée, he was cool and distant. Naturally, he paid no attention to me, the unfavored daughter of the [Lena's Last Name] family.

Until he discovered I had "changed my mind."

I don't know when Elias found out.

Perhaps it was the way I looked at Caleb, or perhaps he secretly read my diary.

That day, he called me to a secluded corner, still wearing that gentle smile.

"Lena, you like Caleb?"

"But what can I do? Some things, even if I don't want them, he doesn't get to touch."

"You, too."

In that moment, I felt like I'd fallen into an ice cave.

I suddenly remembered hearing that whenever Caleb was punished by their father, Elias would be the first to plead for him.

But the result was always a harsher punishment.

Elias wasn't helping him.

He was savoring it, enjoying it.

He enjoyed the thrill of having Caleb firmly under his thumb, the pleasure of playing the perfect older brother.

From that day on, his gentle mask completely shattered in front of me.

Elias began to bring up Caleb's name frequently in front of me.

He would "accidentally" mention that Caleb had gotten into another fight with some heir from a rival family and almost had his hand crippled.

He would "worriedly" tell me that Caleb had lost a lot of money street racing, and that Elias had paid off all his debts.

He would "painfully" describe how Caleb defied their elders, refusing to change his ways.

Each time, he played the role of a doting older brother, burdened by his younger sibling's troubles.

I started to worry for Caleb, to be anxious for him.

I used all my savings to anonymously pay off those so-called "gambling debts."

I pulled countless strings to secure him an exchange program opportunity abroad, hoping to get him away from this turbulent place.

But the day he left, Elias smiled and said to me, "Lena, you see? Thanks to my persuasion, he's finally willing to improve himself."

He was like a venomous snake, flicking its tongue, reveling in the pleasure of toying with its prey.

Tormenting me became his greatest joy.

At family dinners, he would gently pick food for me in front of everyone, while discreetly rubbing his foot against my calf under the table.

When Victoria wasn't around, he would corner me in the hallway, his lips close to my ear, describing his desires for me in the most vulgar language.

He said, "The more you like Caleb, the more excited I get."

He said, "Seeing you so worried for him, it makes me want to defile you."

My engagement was the last way out I found for myself.

I thought that if I married, Elias would find it boring and leave me alone.

I was too naive.