Chapter 1

I swallowed all the warnings I wanted to give her. Including but not limited to: your father is skilled at burying people, your mother likes making dolls, and that mute housekeeper... Never mind, let her explore and discover for herself.

Later, I agreed to help her by locking her in a room to do homework, slapping her once for each wrong answer.

She endured the slaps and thanked me from the bottom of her heart.

When I was six, a nanny joked:

"Lily really doesn't look anything like her parents. She must be adopted, haha!"

The next day, that nanny disappeared.

I was digging in the garden with my little shovel, tending to my roses. When I dug down, blood seeped out of the soil.

Mom picked me up and gently wiped my face:

"Stop playing, you're filthy. Don't be like your dad."

Mom brought me to the dining table. I stared at the fancy china plate holding a bloody steak, hugging my teddy bear silently.

Dad's smile was even gentler than Mom's:

"Why isn't Lily eating?"

"Daddy found you a new nanny. She definitely won't say anything to upset you."

Because she couldn't speak at all.

"It's okay, even if you're not our biological child, you're still Mommy and Daddy's precious daughter."

My hand shook a little as I cut the steak.

I accidentally knocked a piece off the plate. It flew across the table, leaving a trail of blood.

The mute nanny quickly pulled out a napkin and wiped the blood off the table and my hands.

Just as efficiently as she had cleaned up the previous nanny's blood in the kitchen.

Before she arrived, we went through nannies quite frequently.

But she ended up staying with our family for ten years.

From that moment on, I knew there wasn't a single normal person around me.