Chapter 2When the True Heir Obeyed, the Whole Family Regretted It

I don’t know how much time had passed.

A blinding white light pierced my eyelids. The rhythmic beeping of a machine and the sharp, sterile scent of disinfectant pulled me back to consciousness. I forced my eyes open to a stark white ceiling.

Looking down, I saw my right leg was in a cast, my left hand wrapped in bandages.

The System’s disappointed voice echoed in my mind.

[Host, you were just minutes away from dying of hemorrhagic shock and leaving this world. But Scarlett Bates carried you all the way to the hospital and even gave you a blood transfusion. Ugh! What is wrong with her? She tells you to die and then saves you?]

Seeing my lack of response, it quickly tried to console me.

[Don’t lose hope, host. You can just die again next time. There will be plenty of opportunities.]

It seemed to realize how that sounded and quickly added:

[What I mean is, since the Bates family all dote on the imposter and despise you, you should make your death count. Frame that Cody kid for it! Let him know what it feels like to be falsely accused!]

I nodded silently. That was a good idea.

From outside the hospital room, Cody’s tearful voice drifted in.

“It’s all my fault. My brother wouldn’t have done this if it weren’t for me. Dad, Mom, maybe I should just leave the Bates family!”

I heard my parents’ anxious replies. “This has nothing to do with you, son. He’s just not well! You’re the son we raised, and no one can ever replace you!”

Scarlett’s voice joined in. “That’s right. You’re my only brother. Evan is probably just having a relapse. We should send him back to the asylum once he’s healed.”

They had no idea that the place they’d sent me wasn’t a real mental hospital. It was an unlicensed, abusive facility run by a man Cody had paid off. The inhuman torture I endured was all his design. If the System hadn’t blocked my pain receptors, I would have been dead long ago.

[Don’t be sad, host. Once you leave this world, I’ll make sure they find out everything that happened in that asylum.]

I let out a soft, humorless laugh. Five years ago, I might have been sad. Now, I didn’t care.

Five years ago, when my adoptive mother was in a car accident, the System found me. It told me I was the real heir in a “switched-at-birth” story from another world, and a cosmic error had landed me here. When it offered to take me to my real family, I begged it to save my adoptive mom. She had raised me for ten years, giving me all the love I’d ever known.

After negotiating with the universe, the System agreed.

[If you return and win over your biological family, making them feel remorse and love for you, you will earn the reward to heal your adoptive mother and wake her from her coma.]

As much as I didn’t want to leave my mom, I agreed.

Before I came here, I had dreamed a thousand times about what my real parents and sister would be like. When they held me, crying, swearing to make up for everything, I was moved. I was grateful that fate had blessed me not only with my mom’s love but now with the love of a real family. We shared the same blood. How could they not love me?

But over five years, Cody’s relentless schemes turned them against me. A year ago, he staged his own kidnapping and framed me for it.

And they believed him.

They wanted to disown me, to throw me out. I knelt and begged, even harmed myself to prove my innocence. But with a single sentence, Cody sent me to hell.

“Mom, Dad, Scarlett… my brother is just sick. We can’t blame him. Let’s just get him the help he needs, okay?”

After being thrown into that asylum, my heart died completely. I saw the truth. They were not my family.

My only real family was my adoptive mother.

Outside the room, Cody was still crying.

BAM!

The door was kicked open, shattering my thoughts.

“Evan, were you trying to ruin Cody’s birthday? Is that what you wanted?!”

Scarlett stormed over to my bedside. Ignoring my injuries, she slapped me hard across the face. Her own face was pale; she had clearly lost a lot of blood for me.

My parents rushed in after her. “Scarlett, be careful! What on earth did you say to him to make him run into a truck?”

She froze, a guilty look flashing in her eyes. “I didn’t say anything! I just told him to get in the car so we wouldn’t be late for his and Cody’s birthday…”

My parents’ concern for me instantly turned to cold anger. “You troublemaker! The moment you’re out, you cause chaos. Look what you’ve done to your sister and brother!”

I wanted to snap back. I didn’t ask her to save me. I didn’t ask any of you to come. If I’m such a monster, why not just let me die?

But the words caught in my throat. I remembered the System’s new rule: absolute obedience.

I forced myself to look up, my eyes filled with manufactured guilt. “I’m sorry, Mom, Dad. It’s my fault. I’ll apologize to them right now.”

With that, I yanked out my IV, grabbed the pair of scissors from the bedside table, and plunged them toward my carotid artery.