1 When my birth parents found me, they swore they would treat me and the imposter who had taken my place with absolute equality. We wore the same designer clothes, attended the same university, and were even married off to a set of twin brothers. It all fell apart the day the headlines screamed that the imposter’s husband was having an affair with a famous actress. In response, my parents called my husband over. And they arranged a mistress for him—a young, beautiful secretary. This, they said, was a special favor to me. The secretary had a clean background and, crucially, was infertile. She would never threaten my position as the wife of the younger Covington heir. I didn’t lose my temper. I just picked up my phone and called for an entire club’s worth of escorts. I told my family, "Why stop at one? If we're going to do this, let's do it with style. And if that's not enough, I can always call for more." My brother, Tristan, scowled, accusing me of being too extreme. He insisted our parents were only looking out for me. "Scarlett is prettier and more accomplished than you," he sneered. "If even her husband cheated, what makes you think you can hold on to your marriage?" I nodded slowly, looking him straight in the eye. "He's right. I can't. So I'm done." "I don't want the husband. And I don't want any of you, either." … My father’s hands trembled with rage. "You wretched girl! How could you say something so heartless to your own family?" My mother’s eyes welled up as she clutched her chest. "Seraphina, we searched so long for you. How can you throw us away so easily?" Tristan’s voice was a furious hiss. "You're nothing but an ungrateful brat!" Just then, a breaking news alert flashed across the television screen. "Sources report that Ms. Scarlett Blackwood, heiress to the Blackwood Corporation, jumped from the balcony of her marital home at five o'clock this afternoon..." The camera showed Scarlett, pale as a ghost, being loaded into an ambulance. She’d jumped from the fifth floor, but right into the swimming pool below. She didn't even have a scratch on her. But my parents and Tristan were already in a full-blown panic. "Hurry! Get the family hospital cleared out! I want the best team of specialists on standby!" I watched their frantic retreat, then calmly walked to the window. "Scarlett jumped. So I'll jump, too. That's only fair, isn't it?" I made a move to climb onto the sill. Three terrified screams ripped through the air behind me. They scrambled back, yanking me away from the window with frantic strength. My mother clung to me, sobbing hysterically, while Tristan pinned my arms. My father slammed the window shut, locked it, and then, turning back, he slapped me hard across the face. "Seraphina, how dare you use suicide to threaten us?" Tristan and my mother froze. It was the first time any of them had laid a hand on me since they’d rescued me, covered in wounds, from an illegal sweatshop. My mother was the first to react. "What are you doing? You scared her! Apologize to Seraphina right now!" But I just stared at them, my cheek burning, my voice eerily calm. "You slapped me." "So now you have to slap Scarlett. To be fair. Right?" All three of them stared at me as if I were a lunatic. My father’s voice shook with fury. "You've lost your mind!" I smiled. A broken, empty thing. "Isn't this what you've been teaching me all along?" When they first brought me home, they spent a full week brainwashing me. They said they'd raised Scarlett for twenty years and loved her too deeply to send her back to her impoverished biological family. But they made a solemn vow: they would be perfectly, absolutely fair. Neither of us would ever feel neglected. And they kept their word. If Scarlett got a new haute couture gown, an identical one would appear in my closet. The family assets and company shares were divided equally between us, down to the last cent. If Tristan made a sarcastic remark to me, my parents would immediately force him to repeat the exact same words to Scarlett. Their love was perfectly distributed. No need to fight for it, no need to guess. After seeing so many online dramas about real and fake heiresses tearing each other apart, I once thought this arrangement was for the best. But then, everything soured. Scarlett hit her rebellious phase. She got into fights at school and started dating some dropout with bleached hair. My parents were heartbroken. As punishment, they made her kneel in the cold, dusty family chapel—and they dragged me there to kneel beside her. Their reasoning was flawless, in their eyes. "We share the good times and the bad. That's what a real family does. That's what's fair." Later, Scarlett flunked her college entrance exams. While my parents comforted her, they were also tearing up my acceptance letter to a top-tier university. They sent me to the same third-rate arts college abroad that Scarlett was going to. I’d studied sciences my whole life, but they changed my major to Arts Management, the same as hers. "You and Scarlett will both be taking over the family business someday, so it doesn't matter what you study," they'd said. "But we promised to be fair, which means you must receive the exact same education." I knew something was deeply wrong. But after a childhood of being passed around and treated like dirt, I was desperate for a family. I couldn't bear to let go of this fragile, imitation warmth. At least, I told myself, they were trying to be good to me. That delusion lasted until Scarlett became obsessed with Damien Covington, the eldest son of the Covington dynasty. And Damien, conveniently, had a twin brother, Daniel. My parents gave me no choice. They arranged my engagement to Daniel. Our weddings were set for the same day. Scarlett and I wore identical gowns and carried identical bouquets. The venue, the ceremony, even the seating charts for the guests were perfect mirror images of each other. When the priest read the vows, I saw Scarlett beaming with pure joy. But all I felt was a wave of nausea. Today, when they so casually tried to arrange a mistress for my husband, I finally understood the source of that feeling. Their idea of fairness wasn't about treating me as an equal. It was about turning me into Scarlett's living duplicate. But there was one thing they didn't know. I had a way out. I'm not from this world. 2 I was transmigrated here. The System that brought me gave me one mission: to collect affection points from the three members of the Blackwood family. I was close to maxing them out. When I told the System I was giving up, it tried to reason with me. "Host, the affection points don't lie. They truly care about you." Before I could argue, my parents and Tristan had dragged me into the car and were speeding toward the hospital. "Are we going so I can be admitted alongside Scarlett?" I asked dryly. "We wouldn't want her to feel an imbalance, after all." The atmosphere in the car turned to ice. All three of them looked horrified, but they didn't dare scold me again. My mother took my hand. "Seraphina, we're bringing you because we're a family. Scarlett will need your support." Her voice softened. "We were wrong before. We hurt you, and it will never happen again." Just as she finished speaking, Tristan's phone rang. It was the hospital. Scarlett was pregnant, but the shock of her "jump" had put the pregnancy at risk. The doctors said she couldn't handle any more stress. My father slammed on the brakes. "Seraphina, you never liked the smell of hospitals, did you? Why don't you go do some shopping? Clear your head." My mother pressed a black card into my hand. "Buy whatever you want. Take your time." Tristan opened my door and practically pulled me out of the car. "Don't you dare go near Scarlett and cause a scene," he warned. "She can't take it right now." The car sped away, leaving me on the curb. I held the card and asked the System, "Did their affection points go up?" There was a long, strange silence. "...They went up a little." I laughed, a humorless sound. "It seems your sensors aren't very accurate. It's confusing guilt for affection." "Now," I said, my voice hardening. "Initiate my exit protocol." This time, the System didn't hesitate. "Exit protocol confirmed. Initiating..." I walked into the nearest luxury department store and, for the first time, chose an outfit based on my own taste. I had just changed when Tristan called. His voice was urgent. "Get to the hospital. Now. You need to tell Scarlett that you're pregnant, too." "If you can convince her not to terminate her pregnancy, I'll make Mom and Dad officially add your name to the family trust! I swear!" I was about to refuse, but he cut me off, his voice exploding with rage. "Seraphina Blackwood! I knew it! You've always been jealous of her!" "She's fragile! If she goes through with an abortion, it could destroy her health!" "It's just a little lie! It's not like it'll cost you anything!" No, it wouldn't cost me a piece of my flesh. But it would cost me my freedom. They would lock me in the house to "gestate" alongside Scarlett. We would wear the same maternity clothes, eat the same nutritional meals. They'd probably even want our weight gain to be identical. Then, after ten months, they would find some random baby and hand it to me. But none of that mattered anymore. I was leaving. I looked up at the hospital looming in the distance. "What I mean is," I said into the phone, my voice calm, "I don't need my name on your family trust." Tristan was silent for a second, then his voice dropped to a menacing growl. "You better not pull any stunts." Inside the VIP hospital suite, my parents were fussing over Scarlett, who was propped up in bed. When they saw me walk in, their faces filled with worry and apprehension. Before I could say a word, Scarlett snatched a fruit knife from the bedside table and lunged, aiming for my stomach. "I don't want this baby," she shrieked, "and I won't let you have one either!" 3 I didn't dodge. I even grabbed her hand, guiding the blade, and pushed it deeper into myself. The System had warned me that a self-initiated exit would result in punishment. But there was a loophole: if I died as a direct result of the abuse from the Blackwood family, I would not only be freed but also receive compensation. I watched as my parents and Tristan rushed toward me, their faces contorted in horror. They were screaming for doctors, their hands fumbling to press against the bleeding wound. For the first time, Tristan's face was a mask of pure, helpless confusion. A small smile touched my lips. Looks like I wasn't going to die. Not yet. When I woke up, all three of them were by my bedside. They looked haggard, with dark circles under their eyes. Seeing me awake, Tristan spoke first. "Dad already slapped Scarlett." I gave a faint "mm." That small sound was like a spark to a powder keg. Tristan shot to his feet, his voice a low roar. "She cried all night because of that slap! The stress almost made her miscarry! And that's all you have to say? What more do you want?" "I don't want anything," I said quietly. My father sighed heavily. "Seraphina, I'll transfer a portion of Scarlett's assets to you as compensation. You won't be at a disadvantage in this, I promise." My mother dabbed at her eyes. "Scarlett didn't mean it, darling. She was just... overwrought..." I ignored them, my voice distant as if recalling a dream. "When I first came here, I got a kitten." "Scarlett was playing with it, and it scratched her face." "You said that to be fair, you had to do the same to me. You held the cat down and scratched my face with its claws." "Then you had the cat put down." The room fell into a dead silence. They were frozen, speechless. Finally, Tristan broke the silence, veins bulging in his neck as he yelled, "That's not the same thing!" "Dad already promised you compensation! And besides, you're fine, aren't you?" Just then, the doctor walked in. "The patient had to have a hysterectomy. The family needs to be vigilant about preventing post-operative infections." I slowly turned my head to look at the three statues standing by my bed. I smiled. "So, how are you going to make this fair?" My mother stammered, "S-Scarlett's child will know you as their godmother... when you're old, they'll take care of you..." A laugh, sharp and self-mocking, escaped my lips. "So the assets you're giving me as 'compensation' will ultimately go to her child anyway." They opened their mouths, desperate to explain, but I cut them off, closing my eyes. "I was just kidding." "I trust you. I trust that you will always be perfectly fair to both me and Scarlett." 4 Tears welled in my parents' eyes. They moved to embrace me, but I pushed them away. "I only have one request now." "I want my own birthday." "For the last ten years, I've had to share my birthday with Scarlett." "I just want to eat a cake that's all mine." "I just want to hear you say 'Happy Birthday' to me, and only me." They agreed without a moment's hesitation. Racked with guilt, they planned a party of extravagant proportions. Every detail was dripping with luxury. And it was all kept a secret from Scarlett. The System's voice echoed in my mind. "Are you... starting to feel reluctant to leave them?" I shook my head. Before the System chose me, I was an orphan with no one in the world. But it had shown me the original Seraphina's memories from before she was lost—a life filled with warmth and genuine love from her family. That's why I had agreed to come here. I believed they truly loved their daughter. For ten years, I waited, hoping to see a flicker of that love from the memories return. But I was done waiting. On the day of the party, just as I expected, Scarlett showed up. Her face was a mask of pure malice. "Do you really think Mom and Dad love you?" she hissed. "They found you years ago. But I was having a hard time, throwing tantrums, hurting myself. They were worried about me, so they decided not to bring you home. It was the same week your foster father almost..." She let the word hang in the air. "They only came for you later, when you were about to be beaten to death in that sweatshop, because they had no choice." "But they promised me. They promised they'd use 'fairness' as an excuse to make sure you were always one step beneath me." I looked at her, my expression unreadable. "Are you finished?" Scarlett's face contorted with rage. "You just wait. In a minute, I'm going to 'accidentally' fall down the stairs and tell everyone you pushed me. Let's see how calm you are when Mom and Dad throw you out!" I grabbed her wrist. "No need to pretend," I said. "I'll make it real for you." And with all my strength, I shoved her down the grand staircase. My parents and Tristan, drawn by the noise, arrived just in time to see Scarlett tumble. My father lunged at me, his foot connecting brutally with the fresh stitches on my abdomen. The force sent me flying over the second-floor railing. I landed in the living room, crashing directly onto the five-tiered birthday cake. Cream and strawberry filling flooded my mouth. It was sweet. Just like the happiness I had always imagined. In the ensuing chaos, Tristan still remembered to have the guards drag me to the basement. "We'll deal with you when we get back!" he roared. The basement was dark and cold. No one remembered me. Three days later, they finally returned, muttering about how they were going to punish me. But when they opened the basement door, all that greeted them was the thick, cloying stench of decay. From the cake. And from me.
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