What A Mess

After my mother passed away, my father's lover brought her daughter, Winona Sweeney, into our family. From then on, I became the most hated person in the entire family.

To protect myself, I became arrogant, withdrawn, and grew into a thorny rose — beautiful, but no one was allowed to approach me.

I no longer believed in love.

When I was once again subjected to cold violence and isolation at the banquet, Cameron Payne openly declared his love for me to everyone and said that he would break the necks of anyone who slandered me!

He pursued me openly, gave me a grand wedding, and announced his love for me to the whole world. Everyone envied me.

Then, when a fire broke out during my father's birthday party, I almost died inside. No one from my family tried to save me; it was Cameron who saved me.

When I woke up in the hospital, I heard a horrifying truth.

"I know I mistook Hazel for my savior. It's my mistake and I will make it up to Winona. But that doesn't mean you can hurt Hazel!" Cameron was furious.

"But Winona's leukemia can't wait; she needs a transplant immediately..." My father chose to sacrifice me for his illegitimate daughter.

"That doesn't mean you can hurt Hazel! The baby is only seven months old; a premature birth can be fatal!"

Those things I thought were signs of love turned out not to be for me from the very beginning.

In that case, I would help him fulfill his debt to Winona.

To outsiders, I had always been difficult to get along with. I was frigid, arrogant, mean, and unreasonable.

They said I was like a thorny rose—beautiful but no one dared to approach me.

They were not wrong because I had never allowed anyone to get close to me for a long time.

The year my mother passed away, I was three years old. My father took his lover, Gloria Stone, and her daughter, Winona Sweeney, back home.

At first, I tried to please them. I learned to control my temper, to give in, and to bow to them.

However, I soon realized that the more I did this, the more my so-called obedient sister and perfect step-mother would slander and blame me.

My father, who had been protective of me, gradually grew to dislike me.

Thus, I stopped pleasing them. Since they disliked me, I would make them even more uncomfortable. I started becoming sharp and mean. They said I was uncultured, so I overturned the table at family gatherings.

They said I did not understand the rules of the upper class, so I was carefree and caused trouble everywhere.

If I were destined not to receive love, at least I wanted to protect myself. This went on until I met Cameron Payne.

Cameron was the Don of the Payne family. He controlled an underground trading network spanning several countries, with ruthless tactics and never showing mercy. No one dared