"Auntie, I'm scared, I'm really scared..."

I thought, "So, am I to bear the blame for all of this?

Don't I feel fear too?"

I didn't want to argue anymore and closed my eyes, saying, "Get out!"

Afterwards, I became lost and numb.

No matter how I explained, they refused to believe me.

"Claire, have you no sense of decency? You've already caused the death of my son, and now you want to slander my daughter?"

"Claire, I will hate you for the rest of my life. Even if you were dead, you'd still owe the Danes family a life!"

"Claire, you've ended our family line. I should have beaten you to death back then!"

"Claire..."

The constant repetition of these words, along with the suffocating atmosphere, slowly twisted my mind.

Sometimes, I would blankly wonder if I truly caused all of this.

In the end, they successfully manipulated me, turning me into a puppet, following their every command.

I earned money only to hand it over to them. When they fell ill, it was my duty to care for them.

Because I caused the death of their only son, I was now obligated to care for them for the rest of my life.

In my youth, I had escaped from here with all the courage, enduring all hardships to break free from the shackles of this family. Now, it seemed like nothing but a dream, ultimately just a joke.

Since then, I ignored Lizzy. As I became the target of mistreatment, her life improved significantly.

I worked tirelessly outside, trying to fill the bottomless pit called the Danes family.

One day, a phone call from Tomas disrupted the fragile peace I had managed to maintain.

"Hey, Claire! Lizzy is at the bank of Ringchonk River, threatening to jump!

"She's shouting apologies to you, wanting to see you one last time to apologize! She says if she can't see you, she'll jump!"

He was surrounded by deafening noise, but I could still hear the venom in Tomas' voice.

"Claire, you've already killed my son, do you want to drive my daughter to her death too?"

I stared at the now disconnected screen, chuckling bitterly.

I thought, "She's jumping? But isn't it because Amanda forced her to marry a widower at nineteen?

Aren't they the ones who drove her to this?

But Lizzy, you do owe me an apology."

The chilling wind blew, the river water relentlessly hitting the walls.

This was the infamous treacherous river in the village, deep and surrounded by walls, with hidden currents and whirlpools.