Love Cuts Like a Blade

"Lethia, you know Tristan hates it the most when someone enters his study without permission. Shouldn't you better as his wife?" Delilah jeered.

Delilah crossed her arms and leaned against the wall, mocking me with her sarcastic gaze.

I simply glanced at her without refuting. As his wife, I was forbidden from entering his study, yet Delilah could freely do so.

Tristan walked out of the study. He looked ready to say something, but then he noticed I was upset. Instantly, he came to my side and said, "I was harsh earlier. Here, I bought you supper. Come join us."

As I looked at the bag of obvious leftovers, I furrowed my brows and snickered. "I don't want to eat anything that came out of nowhere."

His expression shifted before he inched closer. "Lila queued for a long time just to get you this. Can you be less aggressive?

"Anyway, she sprained her ankle today. It wouldn't be safe for her to be outside alone, so I took her in for the night. Don't be mad, okay?"

I didn't want to say anything else and simply nodded as a response. I rose to my feet and prepared to leave, but he suddenly wore a darkened expression and tugged at my wrist.

With a low voice, he warned, "What kind of tantrum are you throwing right now? She's your sister, no matter what. Even if she'd taken your ex-fiancé from you, you only have yourself to blame. Why pull a long face at her?"

When I heard those words, I was too stunned to react. I knew he didn't love me, but I didn't expect he wanted me to be nice to my stepsister and blamed me for what happened three years ago.

I delivered a harsh slap across his face, intending to leave.

"Where are you going? Lila has something to discuss with you."

Tristan blocked me in my path, his eyes oozing with adoration when he looked at Delilah. His gaze conveyed anger when he turned to me, but he suppressed it because she had a favor to ask.

He had never treated me like this before.

Once, when I needed help from someone, he deliberately sabotaged my collaboration with them because of some past grudge. As a result, I ended up paying a hefty penalty for breaching the contract.

He claimed he couldn't stand that person and told me not to work with them. Now that he felt the same hostility toward me, he was surprisingly willing to tolerate it for Delilah's sake.

"Lethia, you're a game designer, too. Soon, I'll be joining a contest at my new company, and I'll need you to teach me some theoretical knowledge. I appreciate your help in advance," Delilah said.

After she finished speaking, Tristan didn't wait for me to mention that the car accident had caused me to lose my memories of game design and immediately pulled me back into the study.

"Tia, I was wrong earlier. Let me apologize to you. Now, will you please teach Lila everything you know?"

He then flung my hand away and pinched Delilah's cheek. "Go on in. She won't hurt you with me around."

A wave of helplessness washed over me as I took in his worried expression.

After Delilah playfully cast him outside the door, she turned to me and sarcastically said, "I know you can't teach me anything. It must feel awful to have lost your memories, right?"

As she spoke, she skilfully switched on Tristan's laptop, which he never let me touch. "I bet you didn't know you lost your memories because Tristan wanted me to win first place in the competition.

"He removed your memories without batting an eye, just so he could give me your precious designs."

I stood frozen in place upon hearing this, while Delilah looked at me with contempt and scoffed. "Idiot."

I ignored her mockery and followed her wandering figure around the study. The walls were filled with pictures and sketches, all expressions of Tristan's unspoken longing—for Delilah, not me.

At that moment, I felt like an outsider, stumbling into a memory that belonged to their close connection. Delilah picked up a carefully drawn sketch and walked over to me.

I froze. The profile in the drawing was identical to mine, except for a mole at the corner of the eye.

I had seen this drawing before on Tristan's desk. He had gently pulled me into his arms, smiling as he tapped my nose and said, "I drew this specifically for you, Tia. Do you like it?"

Delilah looked at me, her tone filled with mockery. "Did you think he was drawing you? No, silly. He was drawing me while waiting for my dance class to finish.

"Just like your mother, you're a piece of useless garbage. Your mother couldn't keep her man from my mother, and you'll naturally follow her footsteps."

She continued, "I'm feeling generous tonight, so I'll let you on to something—I was the one who caused your public humiliation.

"You were an arrogant heiress, while I had to wear the label of the illegitimate daughter of a homewrecker! Nobody cared about the truth that Mom knew Dad first!

"I should've had everything you had! So, tell me, how did it feel like going from the revered young heiress admired by everyone to a shameless bitch?

"Even your homewrecking mother is dead! And your child—right, even your child is mine now."

As a buzz pierced through my head, I glared at Delilah with my bloodshot eyes and screamed, "Shut up!"

"Considering how miserable you are, I'll let you in on another secret. Go to the summit of Echofall Peak, and a surprise might await you there. After all, you're about to lose everything soon," she said with a smile.