With shuddering hands, Nicole Yang struggles to take out a pill from her bag. Her trauma had acted up and she struggled to breathe. It was as if something was blocking her chest.

Her condition had become a bit stable when she finally managed to swallow the pill. But she cannot rely on these pills forever. The doctor had told her that taking too much of them will be harmful to her life!

She sat all alone on a couch in her apartment. She curled as small as she could while hugging her legs. Her body was tense and cold as ice.

She turned her head to the left and saw herself in the mirror. But very soon, it was replaced by her father who smiled at her. Was this a hallucination again?!

"Why are you smiling? Am I that pathetic? Even you mock me now?!" She yelled at her hallucination.

"This is all your fault! You marry the devil in disguise and left me alone with her. Do you even know how I was treated all those years?"

"I don't even know whether I'm a human or a monster now! People called me a villainess while I'm just a slave of the real villainess!"

While she let out all her rage at her hallucination, the father still smiled at her which made her angrier!

"I said stop smiling!" She shrieked and grabbed a small box next to her and threw at her hallucination. But her father vanished and the box landed hardly on the mirror which crumbled into pieces!

A young man who was about to enter her apartment rushed in as soon as he heard the noise. When he saw the broken pieces of mirror and the fragile woman on the couch, he immediately ran to her.

"Are you okay, ma'am?" Jerome Min anxiously asked her. He was Nicole Yang's secret right-hand man. Even Garcia Han was not aware of his presence until today.

Nicole Yang slowly lifted her head and when she saw the man, the words of Garcia Han came to her mind. "Are you alright? Did the devil's men catch you?" She immediately asked him.

Jerome Min shook his head. "No. They saw me but I was able to run away. I apologize."

When he looked at Nicole Yang, he didn't fail to notice the slight blood in her neck which was caused by the devil nails. "What did she do to you?"

"It's nothing. You don't have to care about it." Nicole Yang muttered as she blankly stared at the floor.

"I will treat your wound. What if it leaves a scar?" Jerome Min suggested and turned around to take the first aid kit, but Nicole Yang stopped him.

"I will do by myself later. I want to be alone now." She said in a low voice.

"But -"

"Please, Jerome. I know you are worried about me; but...I don't want anyone to see me like this." She pointed out her current pathetic condition.

"I'm sorry. If I didn't get noticed, you wouldn't have to suffer like this." The man apologized with his head lowered. "You have done so much for me, but I'm so useless that it suffocates me."

"Don't be. You're my only ally. That's enough for me. She might send some men to hunt you, so be careful for a while. Call me if anything happens." She calmly said to him.

"I understand." Jerome Min bowed and leave the apartment through a secret passage that only the two of them knows.

Garcia Han's men monitored her every move even in her house. They always report to the devil about who came to visit her. So, they create a secret passage that could lead them from her door straight to the backside of the apartment building.

Nicole Yang thought about the event for tomorrow's night. It will be the 50th anniversary of the K Group. They were good friends and allies of Garcia Han.

Does it mean she needs to put up an act again? She must be all smiles in front of the media and the people there. She must act like she had a good relationship with her stepmother. Above all, she needs to act like she loves her fiancé, Leon Jung.

He was the only son of another famous politician, Peter Jung. He was also the man whom she despised!

Nicole Yang hated the man to the core! But what could she possibly do? She has no say in her life! Besides, the man was a good for nothing man. All he did was creating troubles around, but his powerful father always makes sure that his son actions wouldn't reach the people ears.

Even though they were engaged for a year, they don't care about each other's existence. They don't interfere in the other's life and live a life of their own. They only used to meet up on this type of special occasions.

She was tired of living her life like this.

She was tired of faking a smile!

She was tired of being called a villainess!

She was tired of being controlled and manipulated!

Nicole Yang wondered why she was still living in hell. Why won't she just die and end the excruciating pain?

It's not that she never tried to take her own life. She attempted to do that many times; but whenever she thought of her late parents, she cannot afford to do such crazy things!

How will she face her parents in the afterlife if she ends the life that they gave her? That's why she barely live on.

Sometimes she even cursed the gods! How could they allow her whole life to be destroyed because of the greed and sins of one woman?

All her happiness and even her own life were taken away from her!

She was not a master of her life, instead, she was a mere puppet who was under the complete authority of the string-puller!

Because she was locked up all alone in the dark room many times, she even developed nyctophobia, a fear of darkness! She couldn't even have a single sleep in the dark!

She depends on pills and medications because she was severely traumatized! She cannot even sleep without the help of sleeping pills. She relies on alcohol for countless times!

The worst part was that no one knows about her struggles and sufferings. She had no one to rely on. There was no one to comfort her.

And she was just a fragile and coward woman who always shivered and become powerless in front of the devil.....