1 I am a Spirit Caller. I can summon the souls of those who died unjustly within 24 hours, granting them seven more days of life. In my past life, I returned joyfully to the Ashworth family as their long-lost son. But tragedy struck: my sister-in-law Elara died in childbirth, and my brother Julian, heartbroken, jumped from the hospital roof. He survived, barely. To save him, I offered to summon Elara’s spirit. But Aiden, the impostor son raised in my place, accused me of causing the death. My parents believed him. They destroyed my altar, broke my hands, and locked me in a scorching sauna where I died. Then I woke up—back at the start, the day I arrived at the Ashworth estate. An old man asked me to summon the soul again. This time, I refused: “You’re mistaken. I’m just from the mountains. How could I be a Spirit Caller? The dead don’t return. We shouldn’t believe such superstition.” Old Mr. Hemlock wasn’t fooled. A sharp glint shone in his cloudy eyes. “I could never be mistaken! Three years ago, when my wife passed, I was so consumed by grief I wanted to follow her. It was you who summoned her spirit for me, giving me seven more days with her.” His voice was thick with memory. “For those seven days, she was just as she’d always been. We did everything we never got the chance to do. She held my hand and promised she’d wait for me at the gates, that we’d be husband and wife in the next life, too. That’s the only reason I’ve held on this long.” He looked at me with profound gratitude. “I’ve been trying to find you ever since to thank you, but you vanished without a trace. I never imagined you were the Ashworths’ lost son!” He spoke with such conviction that the guests murmured amongst themselves. Everyone in the city knew the story of how he’d nearly died of a broken heart. But before I could deny it again, voices of doubt rose from the crowd. “Is old Hemlock going senile? There’s no way a Spirit Caller could be that young.” “Right? He’s a dirt-kicker from the boonies. I’d believe he was a carnival psychic before a Spirit Caller.” “I heard they found him running a fortune-telling stall under a bridge. He probably just used some cheap trick to fool Mr. Hemlock.” “He’s just a poor kid from the sticks. We all know the type—they’ll do anything for money.” All eyes turned to me, filled with contempt. Aiden shot a satisfied glance at his cronies before turning to me, his face a mask of fury. “Leo!” he boomed, his voice dripping with indignation. “Mr. Hemlock is a respected elder in this city! He helped the Ashworth family in our darkest hour. How dare you, an Ashworth by blood, prey on him with your scams? Get on your knees and apologize to him right now!” After his tirade, Aiden turned to Mr. Hemlock with a look of deep empathy. “Mr. Hemlock, whatever amount of money Leo swindled from you, the Ashworth family will repay it in full.” He sighed dramatically. “As you all know, I’ve never had a head for business. But with my brother in a coma and my father hospitalized with a heart attack, I have no choice but to hold this family together. I don’t want to make enemies with anyone. I hope I can count on the guidance of all you seniors in the future.” His speech was a masterful performance of grace and humility, earning him nods of approval from the older guests. I was the only one laughing on the inside. Just like in my last life, my welcome party had been turned into a funeral. My sister-in-law, dead from a hemorrhage. My brother, jumping from a building in despair. The best doctors and the most advanced technology had kept his body alive, but the hospital had already issued several critical condition notices. They said his will to live was gone. He needed a reason to fight. In my previous life, starved for the family I never had and moved by their tragic love story, I had offered my gift. I had revealed myself as a Spirit Caller to summon Elara's soul. But the moment her spirit began to manifest, Aiden had shattered my altar, screaming that I was a fraud. The ritual was broken, her soul was damaged, and she became a vengeful spirit. In Julian’s dreams, she whispered that I was the one who had destroyed her. I tried to explain, but my parents had grabbed me and broken my hands on the spot. “A Spirit Caller? You’ve destroyed your sister-in-law’s soul! If we had known you were such a curse, we would have never brought you back!” When my brother eventually woke up, he subjected me to endless torture. “My wife told me it’s cold where she is,” he’d whispered. “Go keep her company.” My thoughts were shattered by a sharp force against my legs. A sickening crunch echoed as my knees slammed into the marble floor. Pain, white-hot and blinding, shot through me. Aiden loomed over me, his hand clamped on the back of my neck, forcing my head down toward Mr. Hemlock. “You charlatan! If you want to be part of the Ashworth family, you’ll kneel and beg Mr. Hemlock for forgiveness!” Two hulking bodyguards pinned my shoulders, making it impossible to move. Mr. Hemlock waved his hand, trying to protest and help me up, but Aiden cut him off. “Mr. Hemlock, the Ashworth family is facing a crisis from within and without, and now we discover this… this con artist in our midst! It’s a disgrace!” he declared righteously. “As the only man left to manage things, I have to teach Leo a lesson. I have to purge him of this corruption!” He sounded so noble. Anyone who didn’t know better would think he was a saint. I knew his true nature. I had already died by his selfish, cruel hands once before. This time, I wanted no part in their drama. Let them tear each other apart. Whether the Ashworth family lived or died had nothing to do with me. Before the guards could shove me down again, I pushed myself to my feet and spoke, my voice calm and clear. “There’s no need to teach me anything.” My words hung in the air. “The adoption ceremony hasn't officially happened yet, has it? I’m not an Ashworth now, and I have no intention of ever stepping foot in this house again.” I spoke with a finality that left no room for doubt, no trace of longing. Aiden’s face flickered from confusion to a flash of pure, unadulterated joy. He quickly masked it with a wounded expression. “Leo, I just scolded you a little, and now you’re disowning the family? If word of this gets out, people will think I, the adopted son, bullied you into leaving.” He took it a step further. “You’re reminding me that I’m the one who should go, not you.” Aiden was really getting into character, his eyes welling up with tears. “Aiden is the child I raised for over twenty years! I’d like to see anyone try to make him leave!” The family matriarch, Mrs. Ashworth, finally emerged from a side room where she had been resting. Leaning on a cane, she looked at me. For a second, I saw a flicker of shock in her eyes at my resemblance to her husband, but her attention was quickly drawn back to Aiden. “Mother, Leo is your real son. Now that he’s back, there’s no place for me here anymore,” Aiden sobbed. “Father is in the hospital, my brother is on his deathbed… I shouldn't abandon the family at a time like this, but some people just won’t have me.” He added, for good measure, “Don’t blame him. I stole his place as the true son for two decades. He has every right to hate me.” He was a better actor than any actress I’d ever seen, his performance dripping with false nobility. The guests, all longtime friends of the family, started murmuring in his defense. “It’s not Aiden’s fault he was switched at birth. He’s a victim in this, too.” “He just got here and he’s already throwing his weight around. Mark my words, if he ever gets his hands on the Ashworth fortune, he’ll run it into the ground.” “Exactly! When did these great families start caring only about bloodlines? It’s about capability! Aiden was raised for twenty years to be an elite. What does some kid from the wilderness have to compete with that?” Mrs. Ashworth’s expression hardened. “Leo, apologize to Aiden immediately,” she commanded. “Out of respect for the fact that you are my biological son, if you behave yourself and don’t cause any more trouble, I will guarantee you a life of ease and comfort.” Aiden’s lips twitched into a triumphant smirk, which he quickly suppressed. I had to laugh. A life of ease and comfort? Given the raw hatred simmering in Aiden’s eyes, I knew the moment he secured his position, he’d have me killed. I had yearned for a family, but I could live without one. As for their money, I had more than enough of my own. Before he could continue his pathetic act, I cut through the chatter. “You’re all right. The Ashworth family is far too grand for someone like me. I’ll see myself out.” Just then, a servant rushed in, his voice tight with panic. “Ma’am, Mr. Aiden, the hospital just called! The young master’s vital signs are plummeting! If we don’t do something now, he’s not going to make it!” The world seemed to tilt for Mrs. Ashworth. She swayed, her face ashen, and collapsed backward. “My son! My poor boy! Someone, please, do something to save him!” she shrieked, clutching at Aiden’s lapels. Her grief quickly turned to desperate, cold calculation. “Your father’s will! He stipulated that only a direct blood heir can inherit the Ashworth estate! Otherwise, everything—everything—goes to charity!” Her voice dropped to a frantic whisper. “Aiden, if your brother dies, and your father is too incapacitated to change the will… we’ll be left with nothing!” A stunned silence fell over the room. Someone, less tactful than the rest, spoke up. “But the Ashworths just found their other son, Leo, right? He’s Mr. Ashworth’s biological child. The fortune is safe; it won’t go to charity.” Aiden’s face showed no trace of relief. His eyes, fixed on me, were dark and venomous. Mrs. Ashworth, too, sized me up with open disapproval, her expression a mask of tragic despair, as if to say, Heaven truly wants to destroy my family. I couldn't help it. I laughed. Seeing me smile, Aiden snapped. “Leo, wipe that smirk off your face! This was your doing, wasn’t it? With your voodoo and fortune-telling, you cursed this family so you could take everything for yourself!” he roared. “How else do you explain it? My sister-in-law suddenly hemorrhages, my brother tries to kill himself, and my father has a stroke, all at the same time! You planned it all, you despicable bastard!” A wave of understanding—or what passed for it—rippled through the crowd. Their expressions shifted from pity to outrage as they turned their furious gazes on me. “Of course! That’s why he suddenly gave up his claim to the family! It was all part of his scheme!” “How terrifying! Those street-corner mystics are the most sinister kind. He should be flayed alive!” “We have to break the curse! Mr. Hemlock, you managed to overcome your grief. Who was the master who helped you? Tell us, so we can save the Ashworths!” Mr. Hemlock, nearly ninety and white-haired, thought for a long, serious moment. Then, he pointed a frail, determined finger right at me. “I am not mistaken. The one who performed the rite at my home was Leo.” Suddenly, his eyes widened as they fell on the small, ornate bell hanging from my waist. “That… That’s a Soul Bell! The sacred tool of a Spirit Caller!” he exclaimed. “And look! There are nine coins hanging from the handle! Nine! Leo is a Master Spirit Caller, one of the most powerful there is!” Every eye in the room swiveled to my waist, a mixture of fear and awe dawning on their faces. Aiden lunged forward and ripped the Soul Bell from my belt. After a quick glance, he slapped me hard across the face. “Not only do you impersonate a Spirit Caller, Leo, but you dare to forge a nine-coin Soul Bell!” he spat. “Don’t you know that the Spirit Callers of the Appalachian mountains do not tolerate blasphemy or impersonation? You’re going to bring a cataclysm down on this family!” “When they find out, not only will they refuse to help us, but the spirits of our ancestors will never know peace! You’ll damn every Ashworth, living and dead!” With that, he threw my Soul Bell to the ground, stomped on it viciously, and kicked it into a decorative fire pit. “No!” I cried out, lunging to retrieve it from the flames, but Aiden grabbed my hands and held me back. The fire bit into my skin. The smell of burning flesh filled the air as my skin blistered and peeled away, revealing the charred bone beneath. Mrs. Ashworth, her face a mask of horror, raised her cane and began beating me with it, over and over. “You ungrateful whelp! Parading around as a Spirit Caller, bringing this curse upon us! You want to take the entire family down with you!” Aiden held her steady, his eyes burning with malice as he looked at me. “I may not be an Ashworth by blood, but I will not let you destroy this family! According to tradition, tie him to the front gate and bleed him!” he commanded the guards. “Then call a press conference. We will beg the true Spirit Callers for their forgiveness. When they see our sincerity, surely they will agree to help us!” My voice was a raw rasp. “The Spirit Callers live in seclusion. They rarely meddle in mortal affairs, and they are compassionate. What you’re doing is a deliberate, cruel act of revenge!” Aiden’s hand cracked across my face again. This time, he was holding something sharp. A thin line of fire traced across my cheek, and warm blood began to drip down my chin. “Bullshit! First you murder my sister-in-law with your black magic, then you endanger this entire family by impersonating a Spirit Caller. Am I supposed to just stand by and watch you destroy us all?” He gave a sharp nod, and several guards pinned me down, covering my mouth as a sharp blade plunged deep into each of my limbs.
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