Chapter 2

After dinner, we returned to the rooms specifically prepared for us. The moment we stepped inside, the stifling tension in the room finally burst.

Lily was the first to break the silence, her face alight with giddy excitement, twirling around in place.

"I’m going to marry Damian! Did you hear that? Mrs. Sterling herself said so!"

Sarah was mixing colors at her easel, but at Lily's words, she calmly poured cold water on her enthusiasm.

"All four of us want to marry him. But the Sterlings will only choose the most outstanding."

Lily huffed indignantly, puffing out her chest, and marched over to Sarah.

"Damian has feelings for me! He treats me the most specially!"

She pulled a small silver whistle from around her neck, dangling it before us like a precious treasure.

"Last year, for my birthday, Damian took me to the stables, and this was his gift. He said he polished this whistle himself, that it's one-of-a-kind."

Her voice was full of sweet memories.

"He also said that if I ever blow it, no matter where he is, he'll come to me instantly. He even said my smile was like the first flower to bloom in spring."

We all stared at the whistle, glinting with a cheap, deceptive gleam under the lamp.

Damian had said similar things to every one of us.

Those sweet nothings were nothing but his easy manipulation, a low-cost, high-reward hunting tool.

Just last month, he'd told Sarah her paintings held the vastness of stars and oceans, a lonely genius no one else could comprehend.

Then he'd turned around and told Maya her coffee had a calming, almost magical quality that perfectly mirrored her serene nature.

But Lily believed him.

She clung to that whistle as proof of her unique status, convinced she was the most special person in Damian's heart.

Maya scoffed, said nothing, and turned to enter the bathroom, her retreating back radiating disdain.

I looked at Lily's face, utterly lost in her fantasies, and couldn't bring myself to tell her the truth.

Some people just have to learn the hard way. There's no talking sense into them until they get burned.