Chapter 1: Blood Is Thicker Than Love

Elodie had long grown used to the smell of disinfectant.

The hospital corridors were bright, cold, and endless, just like her life.

She sat quietly on the chair outside the ward, sleeves rolled up, pale arm exposed. The nurse skillfully inserted the needle, and dark red blood slowly flowed into the bag. Elodie didn’t make a sound. She never did.

“Relax,” the nurse said casually. “You donate blood quite often, don’t you?”

Elodie smiled faintly but didn’t answer.

Of course she did.

Because she didn’t have a choice.

Inside the ward, her elder sister, Eliana, lay weakly on the hospital bed. Her face was pale, lips dry, but she still looked delicate and pitiful. Their parents stood anxiously at her bedside, eyes filled with worry.

“My poor daughter,” her mother murmured. “How could your health be so bad?”

Her father frowned deeply. “Doctor, will this transfusion be enough?”

“Yes,” the doctor replied. “Fortunately, her sister’s blood type is a perfect match.”

At those words, relief washed over their faces.

No one asked how Elodie was feeling.

No one wondered whether she was dizzy, weak, or in pain.

In their eyes, Elodie had always been healthy. Healthy people didn’t need care.

The blood bag slowly filled. Elodie’s vision blurred slightly, and she clenched her fingers tightly, forcing herself to stay awake.

She remembered the first time she donated blood.

Back then, she had still believed that family meant warmth.

But after the second time… the fifth… the tenth…

She finally understood.

She was nothing more than a living blood bank.

When the nurse removed the needle, Elodie stood up carefully, her legs weak. She steadied herself against the wall, breathing shallowly.

Just then, footsteps echoed down the corridor.

A tall man approached—her fiancé, Julian.

But his gaze passed right through Elodie, landing instead on the ward behind her.

“How’s Eliana?” he asked immediately.

“She’s stable now,” Elodie replied softly.

Julian finally looked at her, but only for a moment. “Good. You did well.”

Did well.

As if donating blood were a task, and she was merely fulfilling her duty.

“I’ll stay with her tonight,” Julian continued. “You should go home and rest.”

Elodie nodded obediently.

She watched as he turned away, pushing open the ward door, his expression instantly softening as he looked at another woman—her sister.

The door closed.

Elodie stood alone in the corridor.

She didn’t cry.

She had learned long ago that tears were useless.

At home, the lights were off.

No one had bothered to come back with her.

Elodie went to her room and slowly sat on the bed. Her phone buzzed softly in her hand.

She opened it.

A notification popped up.

[Island Purchase Successful]

The screen glowed faintly in the dark room.

Elodie stared at it for a long time.

That island was far away, isolated from everything. No family. No blood donations. No obligations.

She had saved money quietly for years, enduring everything in silence, just for this moment.

Tomorrow.

Tomorrow, she would leave.

She lay down, exhaustion washing over her like a tide. Her heartbeat felt slower than usual, her body heavy.

Still, she smiled.

Just one more night.

---

The next morning, Elodie packed lightly.

She didn’t plan to tell anyone.

As she stepped out of the house, the sky was overcast, clouds hanging low as if pressing down on the city.

Her phone rang.

It was her mother.

“Elodie, come to the hospital,” her mother said impatiently. “Your sister doesn’t feel well again.”

Elodie closed her eyes.

“I donated blood yesterday,” she said quietly. “The doctor said it was enough.”

“So what?” her mother snapped. “You’re young. Don’t be so selfish.”

Selfish.

That word stabbed deeper than any needle.

“I’ll come,” Elodie said.

She hung up and stood by the roadside, waiting for a car.

She never noticed the vehicle approaching too fast.

She never saw her sister behind the wheel, panic written all over her face.

By the time Elodie turned her head, it was already too late.

Bright headlights.

A sharp sound.

Then—nothing.

---

When Elodie woke up, the world was silent.

She couldn’t move.

She couldn’t speak.

She couldn’t even open her eyes properly.

She was trapped in darkness.

Her body lay in a hospital bed, connected to machines, completely still.

She had fallen into a coma.

Days passed.

Then weeks.

Her parents came at first, standing stiffly by her bed.

“When will she wake up?” her father asked the doctor.

“It’s hard to say.”

Her mother frowned. “What about Eliana’s condition?”

The doctor hesitated. “Without her sister’s blood—”

Her mother’s face darkened.

They stopped coming as often.

Julian came once.

He stood at the foot of the bed, silent for a long time.

“If you wake up,” he said coldly, “don’t be so willful anymore.”

Then he left.

Only one person kept coming.

Her big brother, Adrian.

He sat beside her every night, holding her cold hand, his eyes red.

“You idiot,” he whispered hoarsely. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

He remembered every time she had looked pale.

Every time she had smiled and said she was fine.

It was only now—when she could no longer respond—that he realized how much she had endured.

“I’m sorry,” he said again and again. “Big brother failed you.”

But Elodie couldn’t hear him.

Because her soul was already drifting away.

Far, far away—

Toward another world.

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