Part 1Ashes of Regret: The Day My Brothers Realized I Was His Real Sister

At the wedding reception, the woman who had stolen my life drifted over to me, a smug, provocative smile playing on her lips.

Under the guise of a toast, she leaned in close.

"Happy wedding day. Just wanted you to know, I took your billionaire husband and your bridal bed for a test drive last night. He’s incredible."

I couldn't help myself. I slapped her hard across the face.

The very next second, my fiancé, Liam Sterling, grabbed me and furiously slapped me six times in front of everyone.

"Chloe Vance doesn't have a greedy bone in her body! She’s given you everything, and yet you still can’t stand her existence!"

"I would rather marry a dog than a classless, pathetic woman like you!"

With one command, Liam had me thrown into the deep, lawless backwoods, tossed into a snake pit filled with venomous serpents to "reflect on my actions."

After seven days of torture, my three biological brothers finally came to settle the score.

Caleb Vance, the oldest and CEO of the family empire, brutally kicked me, breaking my leg bone.

"Chloe Vance cried all night. I’ve already authorized the legal transfer of every asset in your name to her."

Elias Vance, the second oldest and Hollywood movie star, twisted my arm until it snapped.

"The family tree will only ever list Chloe Vance's name. You, on the other hand, are dead to this family."

Gideon Vance, the youngest and a renowned medical prodigy, was the cruellest. He drove a knife straight into my abdomen.

"Chloe Vance has had kidney issues since she was a child. To make it up to her, you must give her one of your healthy kidneys!"

Before I could utter a single word in my defense, my organs were brutally ripped out of me while I was still alive.

Amidst the bone-deep, maddening pain that should have broken my mind, the cold, mechanical voice of the System suddenly pinged in my mind.

[Congratulations, Host. You have successfully completed all torturous plotlines assigned to the 'cannon fodder' villainess!]

[Upon the confirmation of this physical body's death, you will be transported back to your original world to enjoy a grand prize of $100 Billion USD!]

* * *

Hearing those words, I suddenly stopped screaming.

The despair and agony inside me were instantly replaced by the absolute relief of imminent liberation.

My older brothers, Caleb and Elias, had already left with my kidney. Inside the frigid snake pit, only I and my third brother, Gideon Vance, remained.

Blood was still gushing from the incision. Gideon frowned in dissatisfaction as he started stitching the wound closed.

"If you had just cooperated and donated the kidney earlier, we wouldn't have had to operate under such primitive conditions."

"You’ve wasted so much of my time. You’re such a pain."

Just last week, Chloe Vance was processing some files when she got a tiny paper cut, so small it was barely visible.

Gideon Vance acted like the sky was falling. He called in the nation's top medical team to assist him in performing emergency bandaging on Chloe Vance, and then personally checked the wound’s healing progress every three hours.

But now, facing me, whose entire kidney had been alive excavated, he was actually complaining that basic suturing was too much trouble.

Perhaps seeing that I hadn't moved or made a sound for a while, he leaned over, slapped my face lightly, and injected me with a shot of antibiotics.

"Stop acting. I know you’re healthy as a horse. A little scratch like this is nothing to you."

"Aren't you just trying to act pitiable to make me feel guilty, so you can steal my affection away from Chloe Vance? You are too dark and petty. Since you’ve entered the Vance family, you better learn to suppress your pathetic little schemes!"

If this were the past, facing my own flesh and blood's misunderstanding, I would have cried, my eyes red, pleading that I wasn't that kind of person.

But now, I felt only a numb calm.

I closed my eyes and whispered, my voice raw, "You should leave too. I can wait here and die alone."

To me, the fastest way to liberation was to die immediately.

But when those words fell into Gideon Vance’s ears, they clearly meant something else.

"Elara Vance, what is that supposed to mean? Intentionally saying negative things just to disgust me, right?!"

He deliberately pulled the suture violently. The fragile skin and flesh around the edge instantly constricted, dark blood gushing out, bringing with it a剧剧normal person would find absolutely unbearable.

Seeing me gasp for air from the pain, my head covered in a cold sweat, a flicker of reluctance flashed in his eyes, and his tone softened slightly.

"You are my biological sister. You can’t even imagine how much money and effort we three brothers spent over the years to find you. How could we possibly let you just die like this?"

"Ultimately, if you weren't so petty, unable to stand Chloe Vance, and even slapped her, why would you be suffering like this?"

While complaining, he gave me a shot of anesthesia directly into the wound.

"Just promise me that when you get back, you will stop making things difficult for Chloe Vance and give her a proper apology."

"I can take you back to the hospital, get you the best treatment, and you won't have to suffer here anymore."

Listening to his condescending tone, as if he were bestowing a magnificent favor upon me, I felt only a cold, sarcastic chill.

Even though I was a transmigrator, I had transmigrated into the body of Elara Vance when I was only six years old.

Three years ago, after I had suffered countless hardships, the three Vance brothers found me, tears in their eyes, saying I was their long-lost biological sister, and brought me back to the Vance estate.

But after going back, I discovered that the Vance family already had a princess: Chloe Vance, who they had adopted years ago.

The first moment I saw her, I recognized her.

Years ago, back in the orphanage, it was her who locked me in a small, pitch-black utility closet and impersonated me to go out and meet the Vance family, which is why she was adopted by them.

For twenty years, Chloe Vance enjoyed all the Vance family's care and affection in my place, while I endured all the suffering and misfortune in hers.

But whenever she just pretended to be wronged and wrinkled her brow, my three biological brothers would unconditionally stand by her side and accuse me of being petty.

Even my fiancé, Liam Sterling, with whom I had an arranged marriage, would only ever have a smile for her, while treating me with nothing but cold, furious glares.

I was exhausted by this constant entanglement and pain. I didn't want to waste another ounce of energy arguing. I simply lifted my hand and violently tore open the incision that had just been stitched shut.

When the blood and intestines poured out together, Gideon Vance’s scream was utterly unhinged.

"Elara Vance, you’re insane! You’re going to die!"

Looking at the tears of panic on his face, I just curled my lips.

"Die? That would be wonderful."

"Every second I have to spend alive in this world... makes me feel utterly disgusted!"

After finishing that sentence, I could no longer control my sinking eyelids.

Then, my head lolled to the side, and I lost consciousness.