It was the year the golden boy heir and his one true love were at their most idyllic. Even after marrying me, he remained celibate, saving himself for her. On our third wedding anniversary, he brought a child home from an orphanage. Before I could speak, a stream of live comments flickered across my vision. “OMG I’m crying, the male lead actually brought home the son he had with the female lead.” “Yep, now the villainess will raise the kid, and the main couple can fake their deaths and escape to live their perfect life together.” “The villainess will definitely raise the boy as her own, give him the best education, and when he’s old enough to inherit the company, the main couple can return for their happy family reunion. It's perfect!” Just as the comments predicted, the news of the heir’s “death” broke the very next day. I didn’t cry. I didn’t throw a fit. I simply rested a hand on my seven-week-pregnant belly and quietly returned the child to the orphanage. I have my own child to think about. Why would I raise someone else’s? 1 "Sienna, I've adopted this boy from the orphanage. He'll take my last name, Rothschild. His name is Michael. You can call him Michael." Peter Rothschild finished speaking and nudged the small, two-year-old boy toward me. "Michael, say hello to your aunt." The boy, Michael, bowed obediently, his voice soft and high. "Hello, Auntie!" I was about to respond when the world shimmered, and lines of text began scrolling through the air in front of me. 【OMG I’m crying, the male lead actually brought home the son he had with the female lead.】 【Yep, now the villainess will raise the kid, and the main couple can fake their deaths and escape to live their perfect life together.】 【The villainess will definitely raise the boy as her own, give him the best education, and when he’s old enough to inherit the company, the main couple can return for their happy family reunion. It's perfect!】 And just like that, I understood. I was nothing more than a side character—the villainess—in a trashy romance novel. Peter and his one true love were the main characters. And their son, this little boy Peter claimed to have adopted, was the story's young hero. The live feed also told me that tomorrow, Peter would fake his death to run off with his beloved, leaving their son in my care. Well, we’d just have to see about that. The next morning, I was jolted awake by my phone ringing. The moment I answered, Peter’s mother, Eleanor, was on the line, her voice choked with hysterical sobs. "Sienna! Peter is dead!" The comments exploded again. 【Here we go! The main couple is finally together!】 【What are we waiting for? Show us the bed scene!】 【Don't you dare censor it! I'm a premium member, there's nothing I can't see.】 So, it was all true. A small, humorless smile touched my lips. I hung up the phone. It didn't take long for the comments to confirm that Peter and his sweetheart were already tangled in the sheets, wasting no time at all. Fine. Let them have their fun. I knocked on Michael's door. "Michael, sweetie, wake up and get dressed. Auntie is taking you somewhere wonderful." 2 To make it look authentic, Peter had actually gone through the official adoption process with the orphanage. It was easy for me to find the right one. The director looked troubled. "This is..." It was obvious Michael had never lived here before. The place was completely foreign to him. I pushed him gently toward the director. "Peter Rothschild is dead. The adoption is void. I'm bringing him back." The director hesitated. I pressed, my voice intentionally sharp. "Ma'am, is this not the boy from your records? The paperwork is all in order. Or... should I perhaps take this child to the police instead?" That did the trick. The director scooped Michael into her arms. I patted Michael's head. "You be a good boy and have fun here, okay?" Michael, who knew neither me nor the director, suddenly burst into tears. "Mommy! I want my mommy!" he wailed. The director quickly signaled for a staff member to take him away, then turned back to me. "Is Mr. Rothschild really... gone?" "He is. An accident. I'm on my way to arrange his funeral now. You should come, Director." Her face went pale. Before leaving, I handed her a thick envelope of cash. It wasn't for Michael. It was to ensure she stopped asking questions about whether Peter Rothschild was really dead. On the drive back, my phone was ringing off the hook. Everyone was telling me to come and take charge. Peter's parents, Eleanor and Richard, had both been hospitalized from the shock. The doctors said his father had nearly had a stroke. It was clear they knew nothing about Peter's plan. To deceive his own parents just to be with the woman he loved... I wasn't sure if I should applaud his epic romance or pity his parents for raising such a son. At the hospital, I took Eleanor's hand. "Mom, I don't know what to say to ease your pain, but I want you to know you still have me. I'll take care of you and Dad." "And," I added, gently placing a hand on my stomach, "I'm pregnant. Seven weeks." The news was a powerful balm, easing the sharpest edges of their grief. They wanted to check out immediately, but I insisted they stay. "The baby in your belly is the only heir to the Rothschild family," they said, their voices firm. "We have to protect you, make sure the baby is born safe and sound." Naturally, they wouldn't let me handle the funeral arrangements alone. And naturally, I wasn't going to tell them that the child in my belly wasn't Peter's. In our three years of marriage, Peter had been so devoted to his one true love that we slept in separate rooms. He never laid a finger on me. Choosing another man wasn't about revenge; it was about fairness. He had his woman, so I would have my man. More importantly, I desperately needed an heir. In truth, I had been planning to ask Peter for a divorce right before this whole charade began. Our marriage was a corporate merger of families, devoid of affection. I had endured it for three years to satisfy my parents. Divorcing after three years was for me, for my future. I just never imagined Peter would fake his own death, abandoning not only his parents but also his son to my care. What did he take me for? A free nanny and a living ATM? If that was how he wanted to play, then he couldn't blame me for using my new status as the grieving Rothschild widow to take everything that was once his. He drew first blood. I was more than ready to finish the war. 3 After the funeral, Richard and Eleanor immediately transferred a significant portion of the company's shares to me, along with a handsome sum in cash. It wasn't so much a reward as it was a way to tie me to them. For some wealthy families, a child is the ultimate bargaining chip. "And when the baby is born," they promised, "boy or girl, there will be another billion waiting for you." "Next Monday, Sienna, you will officially take over as CEO. Prepare yourself." I accepted it all with a gracious smile. The live comments went wild. 【Are these two old fools blind?! The male lead never touched her! She’s carrying some bastard’s child! BASTARD!】 【This villainess is pure evil. A viper. I can't watch her deceive these poor old people anymore.】 【AAGH, I’m so pissed!】 【The one I feel worst for is Michael! That evil bitch just dumped a two-year-old back in an orphanage!】 【I hope her baby miscarries!】 【Can anyone warn the main couple?!】 I paid them no mind. I turned to Richard and Eleanor. "I'm not yet three months along. Let's keep the pregnancy quiet for now." They were even more cautious about this baby than I was, terrified of losing the sole heir to the Rothschild dynasty. Of course, that was assuming Richard didn't have a secret love child tucked away somewhere, something Eleanor would never, ever allow. Once my belly began to show, I disappeared from public life. I didn't even go to the office, choosing instead to spend my pregnancy at a private, high-security wellness retreat. During that time, the live comments were obsessed with the main couple's budding romance. While Peter and his true love were living out their sweet, romantic fantasy, I gave birth to a son. Richard and Eleanor were overjoyed and made good on their promise immediately. To secure my hold on the entire Rothschild legacy, I temporarily gave my son their last name. We called him Noah. To this day, Richard and Eleanor believe Noah is their only grandchild. Along with my own parents, the four of them have smothered him with a grandparent's affection, spoiling him to the point of absurdity. That’s why, once Noah turned three, I began to step back from work to oversee his education personally. A comment drifted by: 【That kid hit the jackpot. Doting grandparents, and a strict mother paving his entire future for him. Meanwhile, Michael has turned into a total brat.】 【I’m just now realizing something serious... I think the villainess is the real main character of this story!】 【Honestly, I’ve been thinking this for a while. Are the main couple idiots? Forgetting their parents is one thing, but abandoning their own child to the villainess?】 【If they don’t come back soon, Michael’s life is completely ruined.】 【That’s on them. If you don’t want to raise a kid, don’t have one.】 【They probably didn’t want the kid, just the process of making him.】 【They’ve been erased from official records, their fortune has been stolen from under their noses, and they’re still off playing house somewhere.】 Reading these comments, I felt a sense of relief. I truly hoped the so-called main characters would stay lost in their bubble of sweet, sweet love forever. 4 The year Noah turned eighteen, he officially took over the Rothschild empire. By that point, he had already earned every academic degree he could possibly acquire. I’ll admit, it wasn't just my upbringing. Noah is a genius in his own right. It was also due to the quality of the genetic material I selected—the absolute best of the best. The live comments had become less frequent over the years, but the same people who once cursed me as a villainess were now firmly on my side. Whenever I faced a major decision or someone plotted against me, they would give me a heads-up. Over time, they realized I could see them. Now, we’re more like friends. After eighteen years, the readers have grown tired of the whole "protagonist halo" trope. If the main characters only want to focus on romance, if they won't work hard or raise their own child, then losing everything is the only logical conclusion. A comment popped up: 【The main couple is coming back.】 【What main couple? They’re nobodies.】 【Peter and Sophie are coming back to reap the rewards. It's disgusting.】 【Forget the rewards. They should go check on their precious son. He’s a full-blown delinquent.】 I only knew about Michael from the comments. He dropped out of middle school to "make it big" down south, but he found real work too tiring. He bounced between dead-end jobs, never making any money, but he picked up every vice: drinking, gambling, and whoring around. He reveled in the shallow pleasures of his own decay. The Michael of today was nothing but a low-life hoodlum. A few comments still condemned me. 【I still think the villainess went too far. Even if she didn’t want to raise Michael, she should have taken him to his grandparents. He turned out this way because of her. She’s fully responsible.】 I didn’t have to say a word. Others immediately jumped to my defense. 【Shouldn’t his parents be the ones responsible for him?】 【If Peter had taken Michael to his parents in the first place, I’d have nothing to say. But he wanted the villainess to raise his heir for him, then waltz back in and reclaim him? He was just using her!】 I ignored the debate and called for Noah. He sat down in front of me. "Mom, what is it?" I hesitated. "Noah, I need to tell you..." That your last name isn't Rothschild. That your grandparents have no blood relation to you. My own parents knew, of course. For eighteen years, the three of us have carried this secret. I know how much Noah loves his grandparents, and I didn't know how to tell him the truth. Noah moved from his chair to sit beside me on the sofa. "Mom, what's wrong?" I couldn't find the words. Facing him, I knew I couldn't just state with conviction that I had done nothing wrong. I... Eleanor swept into the room. "Can't you two talk later? We need to go." Noah looked at me, concerned. "Mom..." I let out a long breath. "Let's go." Tonight was the grand gala celebrating Noah's official takeover of the Rothschild corporation. I could tell him after the party. But shortly after the evening began, just as Richard and Eleanor finished their announcement, Peter and Sophie appeared.
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