I touched my empty stomach, trembling uncontrollably, surrounded by the mocking laughter of his friends. "Commander Harrison Brooks, just because Audrey Sinclair said one word, you really aborted the child you had with Evelyn?!" "Haha, look at the princess, all the color drained from her face! What, are you gonna hit someone?!" Harrison merely pulled Audrey into his arms, his tone impossibly gentle. "I told you I would never have a child with her. Do you believe me now?" The ice on Audrey's face finally melted into a sweet smile. I tried to step forward to demand an answer, but I was violently held back by my three older brothers. My eldest brother, State Senator Bennett Vance, frowned in disgust. "Audrey finally smiled. Stop acting like the grim reaper and ruining the mood." My second brother, Oliver, Director of the National Research Institute, spat at my feet. "She suffered so much in the brutal foster system before we found her. Just give Harrison up to her! I'll find you another guy!" My third brother, Miles, Director of the National Arts Company, practically poked his finger into my eye. "They are the ones truly in love! Were you really going to bring a child into a loveless household?! Stop committing a sin!" They dragged me back to the family estate and locked me inside, forbidding me from ruining the happiness of their precious golden girl. It was then that the System, which had been silent for years, finally spoke. "Host, detecting that the strategy mission has been completed! Would you like to return to your original world immediately?" I hung a rope over the exposed ceiling beam. My eyes were completely out of focus, but my heart was screaming with wild ecstasy. I finally didn't have to act anymore! …… Before I was fully dead, the bedroom door was kicked open. Oliver rushed in, and his security details frantically cut me down. Oliver was absolutely furious. "When did you learn to throw these pathetic tantrums?! Crying, screaming, hanging yourself?! Do you have any idea how much trouble you're causing this family?!" But all my attention was focused on the System's voice in my head. "Detecting that the Vance brothers and the male lead's affection levels reached 90%. The mission to conceive a child with the male lead, Harrison Brooks, is complete!" "Once the host's physical body dies, you may return to your original world, receive your cash reward, and cure your cancer!" I suppressed the overwhelming joy bubbling in my chest. I could finally go home! I looked up and met Oliver's eyes. A guard leaned in and whispered something into his ear. The fiery rage in Oliver's eyes instantly vanished, replaced by a soft, gentle warmth like a spring breeze. Unsurprisingly. He only ever looked like that when it came to Audrey. Catching my gaze, he immediately stiffened and cleared his throat. "What? Did you think you could use death to scare Harrison?! How could you be so malicious?!" "Do you have any idea how much Audrey suffered bouncing around the foster system?! She finally found us. What's so wrong with letting her be a little happy?!" I clenched my fists tightly, letting out a self-deprecating laugh. If "suffering" meant having three powerful men orbiting you, ready to pluck the stars from the sky if you asked for them... Then I would gladly suffer too. Perhaps seeing how ghastly pale I looked, Oliver softened his tone slightly. "Just go apologize to Harrison. Stop being so stubborn." He reached out to pull me up, but I lightly dodged his hand. I sneered. "Why should I apologize? What exactly did I do wrong?" Oliver froze. Then, his brows knitted together in renewed anger. "Evelyn Vance! Are you really trying to push your luck?! Do you want to be sent away to a disciplinary facility?!" I closed my eyes. Even if I only did this for a mission, after so many years, I had developed real feelings for them. I had genuinely cried over their coldness before. But now, it was all over. "Once Audrey finishes her performance for the President and gets promoted to Principal Dancer, you will go and apologize to her." I no longer held a single shred of hope for him. I simply communicated with the System in my mind. "As long as this body dies, I can go back, right?" "Yes." I let out a slow sigh of relief. I scanned the room, looking for the fastest way to kill myself. Oliver immediately realized what I was doing and roared. "Evelyn, what twisted scheme are you plotting now?! Can't you understand a word I say?!" I ignored him. Locking my eyes on the heavy mahogany dresser, I steeled my heart, closed my eyes, and sprinted headfirst toward the sharp corner. The wind rushed past my ears. I felt a fleeting sense of lightness. But the next second, a strong arm clamped around my waist. I was hoisted into the air by a pair of large hands. I let out a yelp before I was violently slammed onto the hardwood floor. The security guards immediately surrounded me. Furious, Oliver pushed through them and delivered a vicious kick to my side. "You're crazy! You're completely insane! I say one sentence to you, and you try to kill yourself?! We spoiled you too much!" I let out a muffled groan, feeling nothing but annoyance that I hadn't died. I ignored him completely. Seeing my apathy, Oliver grew even more enraged. "Doing this just to get our attention again, right?! Put away your pathetic little tricks!" Turning a deaf ear to his screaming, I staggered to my feet and dusted off my clothes. The guards boxed me in tightly, terrified I would cause more trouble. A heavy, bizarre silence filled the room. I don't know how long passed. But the moment I caught them looking away, I seized the opening and threw myself out the second-story window. "I jumped on my own! Don't take your anger out on anyone else!" I shouted the words as I plummeted. "Evelyn!" Oliver screamed in absolute despair. He and the guards were a second too late. I was filled with hope, welcoming death with open arms. Even though returning to my world meant facing the agony of cancer again, I didn't want to spend another second in this hell. But unexpectedly, I was met with a violent, piercing pain. I thought I was dead, but the agony radiating through my torso told me otherwise. I opened my eyes. I was impaled and caught in the thick branches of an oak tree just outside the window. The commotion drew the attention of all our wealthy neighbors in the gated community. They quickly gathered around. "Isn't that the Vance family's daughter? Why is a girl that young trying to end her life?" "Oh, please. Everyone knows how horribly the Vance family treats her in her own home... Sigh, it's a sin!" I was stuck in the branches, unable to move. I dropped my head in defeat. "You're insane! Evelyn, have you completely lost your mind?!" Oliver’s eyes were bloodshot. He shoved through the crowd, stumbling and falling to his knees beneath the tree. Soon, the estate's security brought a cherry picker and carefully brought me down. Oliver immediately started checking my body. "Does it hurt anywhere?! Talk to me!" My gaze inadvertently fell on Oliver. A man who was usually obsessed with his immaculate appearance was missing a shoe, limping heavily. His right ankle was swollen to the size of a baseball. He must have twisted it rushing out of the house in a panic. If this were the past, my heart would have ached terribly. I would have demanded he go to the hospital immediately. But now, I just apathetically looked away. "What? Do I need your official permission to die, too?" Oliver froze, his face stricken with disbelief. I scoffed, walked around him, and politely thanked the security guards. "I'm sorry for causing you all so much trouble." I also bowed to the gossiping neighbors. "Please don't tell anyone about this. If word gets out, my eldest brother will curse me out again." Oliver dug his fingernails into his palms. The corners of his eyes turned bright red. I frowned slightly, confused by his reaction. "Don't worry," I assured the neighbors. "Everyone in the compound knows each other. You won't spread it. If you need me to, I'll apologize door-to-door so you don't have to bother Bennett or Oliver..." "Evelyn!" He cut me off, unable to bear it anymore. And then, to my utter shock, a flash of genuine grievance appeared on his face. "You are the only daughter of the Vance family! You're the youngest! We three brothers want nothing more than to lift you up! Why are you speaking to us like we're strangers?!" I couldn't help it. I burst out laughing. "Do you even believe the words coming out of your own mouth?" He trembled, as if he had just been slapped awake. Because the one living with the Vance family, the one treated like their daughter now, was Audrey Sinclair! As for me? I had been banished to a dusty storage room at the Arts Company. I was originally supposed to live in the dorms, but because Audrey hated the sight of me, my third brother Miles expelled me from the company entirely. As an act of "charity," he let me sleep in the storage closet. I looked at Oliver with completely dead eyes, but a deep sense of sorrow bled through. Outside of the arts company, I used to love studying biology in my spare time. Oliver was a leading expert in the field. Seeing my talent and passion, he used to love mentoring me. We would discuss scientific problems until the sun came up. But now? Now he only looked at me with cold disgust, ordering me to yield to Audrey in every single aspect of my life. Oliver lowered his head in resignation, his voice as quiet as a mosquito. "Once Audrey finishes her performance and gets promoted to Principal Dancer, you can move back home... Audrey turned your bedroom into a dance studio. This is a critical time for her career. You've always been so understanding. You get it, right?" "Everything that happened before... it was all just a misunderstanding..." I couldn't be bothered to respond. I just sneered and walked away. Before I transmigrated, I was an orphan. I lived meal to meal, starving half the time. To make matters worse, after coughing up blood on the street, a kind stranger took me to the hospital, where I was diagnosed with terminal cancer. I lay in that hospital bed, slipping into a coma from the agonizing pain. When I opened my eyes again, the System had brought me to this world, placing me in the body of a nine-year-old child. That was the first time I heard the System's voice. "Reach an 80% affection level with the three Vance brothers and the male lead, Harrison Brooks, and conceive a child with Harrison. Once complete, you may return to your modern world and your cancer will be cured!" Then, it vanished. I thought the pain had given me hallucinations. But looking down, I was indeed in the unformed body of a nine-year-old. I adjusted quickly. I had no ties in my old world, and having a healthy body here was a blessing. Now, Oliver and I sat in the grand living room of the estate. To ease the tension, he started recounting funny stories from before Audrey came to our house. I hadn't felt that kind of warmth in almost ten years. There was a time when Oliver's smile almost made me want to abandon the mission and stay here forever. But after I brought Audrey—a fellow orphan from my school—home out of pity, she stole all of Oliver's favoritism. I went from angry, to acting out, to absolutely hysterical. And all it earned me was his cold reprimand: "Stop throwing a tantrum. Look at how pathetic you're acting." Seeing that I wasn't responding to his stories, Oliver's voice took on a pitiful, pleading tone. "Evelyn, I hurt my foot trying to save you. Can you please get the first-aid kit and help me..." I cut him off, my face blank. "Your security detail is standing right there. If it's serious, call a doctor. Why are you telling me?" Suddenly, heavy, powerful footsteps echoed from the porch. I knew immediately it was Harrison. And the steady, authoritative footsteps beside him belonged to my eldest brother, Bennett. Bennett's voice was dark and threatening. "Audrey has been so worried about you she hasn't eaten or slept. She's lost weight! You better treat her with respect, or don't blame me for what happens next!" Audrey quickly stepped between everyone, playing the perfect peacemaker. "Bennett, Harrison, I'm really fine! It was all a misunderstanding. As long as we talk it out, everything is okay." I sat on the sofa, admiring their sickeningly sweet display of sibling devotion. I rubbed my face, only to realize my cheeks were wet and freezing. I hadn't cried in a very long time. Oliver limped over to me. He was just about to speak when the front doors swung open. Seeing Oliver's condition, Audrey immediately rushed over. "Oliver! How did you get hurt so badly? You..." She didn't get to finish her sentence before my fist connected squarely with her jaw, knocking her to the floor. Audrey panicked, collapsing onto the rug, looking up at me in utter shock. Almost simultaneously, a massive, bruising force clamped down on my shoulders. The pain forced me to my knees. Bennett nodded approvingly at his guards. He shot up from his chair, pointing at me furiously. "Evelyn Vance! We have spoiled you beyond repair! Apologize to Audrey!" I kneeled pathetically on the floor, spitting out a mouthful of blood. "I apologize? What exactly did I do wrong? My husband cheated on me, and I'm not allowed to hit his mistress?!" Bennett grew even more enraged, his voice turning shrill. "What kind of delusional nonsense are you spouting?! Audrey and Harrison are a couple! Have you forgotten?! You and Harrison never signed the marriage papers! You aren't husband and wife!" "How could I have such a shameless, classless sister?! You've humiliated the Vance family!" I looked at him like he had just told the funniest joke in the world. "Shameless? Have you forgotten that Harrison was the one who coaxed me, saying we would sign the papers after I got pregnant?! He treated my love like garbage, and I'm the shameless one?!" Harrison stared at me with eyes like ice. "Thank God I didn't marry you. Thank God I had the foresight. The Brooks family would never accept a wife like you!" Miles, who had just walked in, stormed over and slapped me hard across the face. "Evelyn! Apologize!" I didn't speak. I just slowly, coldly swept my gaze over all of them. Bennett's eyes were indifferent. Miles's face was full of disgust. Harrison looked like he wanted me dead. Oliver frowned, his lips moving slightly, but in the end, he didn't say a single word. Just like three years ago. Audrey had snuck into Oliver's lab and destroyed years of his life's work by messing with the equipment. The government demanded Oliver give them an explanation. Oliver begged me to take the fall, and pleaded with Bennett to cover it up. But Audrey intentionally leaked the scandal to the public. I was publicly disgraced and could no longer stay at the Arts Company. So Miles fired me. And my bedroom was converted into a dance studio, simply because Audrey wanted to "soak up the aura" of the former Principal Dancer. "You have security guards following you everywhere! Audrey is all alone! She lives in the house so she can communicate easily with Miles! Can't you be a little more mature?!" I had screamed at them hysterically back then. And the way they looked at me then was exactly how they were looking at me now. Today, I couldn't be bothered to defend myself. I grabbed the fruit knife resting on the coffee table. Oliver's eyes widened in terror. He tried to lunge forward, but Audrey tightly locked her arms around his waist. "Evelyn, what are you doing?!" I looked at Audrey with a mocking smile. "Didn't you want an apology?" I ignored the panic-stricken men around me. In one swift motion, I dragged the blade across my own throat. Screams erupted in the room. I was crying and laughing at the same time. "I'm paying her back with my life! Is that enough?! Are you happy now?!" Warm, thick blood violently sprayed from my neck. The dizzying wave of blood loss made my legs give out. Amidst the chaotic, indistinguishable roars, my vision went dark. The last thing I saw was the absolute, unadulterated horror on the men's faces. Oliver broke free and caught me against his chest. "Call an ambulance!"

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