The Hawke family.


    Dorian stood by the window and lit a cigarette, his face shadowed and


    unreadable.


    Inside the room, Arabe''s banging on the door and her angry cries created a chaotic background noise.


    It took a while, but eventually, Arabe''s voice faded into silence. Orion walked over to join him.


    "We''ve put her in time-out. Lysander''s trying to calm her down."


    Despite his choice of words, Orion''s tone was anything but soothing.


    Two years ago, when Miranda was still with the Hawke family, simr words had been tossed around.


    Back then, it wasn''t Arabe being punished - it was Miranda. And Lysander''s "calming down" was more about getting Arabe to shut up than offering any realfort.


    "I just talked to Nora and Theo," Orion said, his eyes also fixed coldly on the view outside. “Turns out, she''s been ying us all along. She bullied Miranda at school and spread lies about her with the help of her biological parents. As for the stuff at home, much of it was probably her fabrications."


    The four of them had always doted on Arabe since young, treating her like their own sister, partly because she pretended to be so sweet and kind-hearted when she was with them.


    But now, they''d realized that Arabe was not what she seemed. She had been deceiving them, doing things that made their skin crawl.


    Their affection for Arabe had already started to wane because of Miranda, and now with those affairs emerging, whatever feelings they might have still harbored were all but gone.


    Dorian took a long drag on his cigarette, muttering, "We were wrong from the start."


    Regret was etched in Orion''s eyes too. Thinking about how they''d treated their own sister made him want to p himself. But even if he did, it wouldn''t earn her forgiveness.


    He knew Lysander had been hoping for her forgiveness for a while now, even if he hadn''t said it out loud, keeping it a secret from even his twin brother. He wanted this sister.


    "But just like she said, we''ve been tied to her since what happened two years ago. If she goes out there and starts talking."


    Dorian''s gaze turned steely, eyes downcast, his thought inscrutable.


    At the moment, both men found themselves thinking back to Miranda''s days with the Hawke family, remembering how they''d treated her.


    They''d believed Arabe when she imed Miranda stole her clothes, and had locked Miranda in the small, dark room as punishment. They forbade the staff from bringing her food, leaving her hungry for days.


    “I didn''t do it, I didn''t." she''d cry softly. "I didn''t do anything."


    It was all she could say, only able to cry, not even trying to argue back.


    Her timid, frail appearance, paired with her shabby air and gaunt, almost


    unhealthy look, made her even more detestable in their eyes.


    Orion had said, "If you didn''t do anything, then who did, Be? Be wouldn''t lie, so it has to be you!"


    Lysander''d added, "Don''t think I don''t


    know what you''re up to. You think being the real deal means you can kick Be out and take everything for yourself? You want payback for Be taking what''s yours, don''t you? Dream on. You can''t take anything from Be!"


    Dorian had coldly remarked, "Your refusal to admit it is just disgusting, just like your adoptive parents."


    Incidents like these weremon


    after Miranda returned to the Hawke


    family. To them, Miranda was filthy, unworthy of being recognized,


    cloaked in an aura of repulsion They thought she should be like her adoptive parents - rotten and foul.


    Raised in the muck, she was expected to be just as dirty. She was supposed to be


    bad, malicious, scheming to bring down Arabe.


    Of course, Arabe had subtly fueled these beliefs with her words and actions.


    Faced with a stranger who just


    showed up iming to be their


    sister, they naturally chose to believe who had grown up with


    them always sweet and charming when she was together with them, and shared their upbringing.


    "Looking back now, she couldn''t defend herself or say anything nice because she must''ve suffered so much with the Zade family. She''d learned to stay quiet."


    Dorian took another deep drag, the smoke swirling thicker around his fingers.


    They weren''t entirely unaware of what Miranda had endured with the Zade family. Yet, back then, they hadn''t seen Miranda as a victim. They''d even been relieved that Arabe hadn''t grown up in such a family.


    They had overlooked the fact that Miranda, the real victim, was their true sister, who had suffered greatly with the Zades.


    Bias clouded judgment. When they were biased towards Arabe, they saw their actions to protect her as justified. But with that bias now stripped away, the truth of their past actions wasing into stark relief.