Chapter 5

My father stared at my ruined, battered body.

For a moment, he seemed lost.

Then he lowered his head and began muttering, as if the words could hold him together.

“No.

“She was born evil. She traded her own sister’s life for that System. She killed her sister. She was cursed from the very beginning.

“When I woke up after the accident, she was right there beside me. How was I supposed to know whether she had caused it on purpose?

“Maybe that was part of another bond mission.”

His voice grew colder, but his hands were trembling.

“I just didn’t want to be manipulated.”

Comments slid across the screen one after another.

[So what if she had a System? Who told you she traded her sister’s life for it? Your daughter was kind. She loved you so much. Couldn’t you see even a little of that?]

[Without her System, you would have died. Where do you think those points came from?]

The moment my father saw those comments, his expression changed.

In his mind, he suddenly remembered the voice he had heard right before he passed out after the accident.

It had been mine.

I had held him the whole time, speaking into his ear again and again.

“Dad, you’re going to be okay.

“Don’t fall asleep. Please don’t fall asleep, Dad.”

He looked at my broken, unrecognizable face.

In that instant, he seemed to age ten years.

He stood there in silence, staring blankly at me.

The footage kept playing.

This time, the camera turned to Connor.

He watched himself in the recording.

He watched me staying up late every night to study.

He watched me work through problem after problem, reviewing until my eyes turned red, until I finally earned a scholarship.

Then he watched me spend every penny of that scholarship on the newest, highest-spec laptop for him.

Back then, he had only glanced at it with contempt before throwing it straight off the upper floor.

“I’m not using anything bought with a cursed girl’s money.”

His voice in the memory was careless and cruel.

“It’ll probably shorten my life.”

At the time, he had been wearing headphones.

He had tossed out those words without even looking back.

He never saw me standing behind him.

Never saw the way my face slowly turned pale.

Never saw how helpless I looked.

Now, watching it happen on screen, Connor froze.

He tried to explain himself to the comments, but even his voice sounded hollow.

“I didn’t know.

“I thought it was just some random item she got from the System. I thought it was a tool to please me, something she was using to trade for points.”

His throat moved.

“I didn’t know she only wanted to give me a birthday surprise.”

As the footage played, my family fell into a heavy silence.

My father clenched his jaw.

“I’ll find out who’s behind this.”

Then he looked at my body and let out a low sigh.

“But right now, the most important thing is to let our daughter rest in peace.”

His voice softened, almost painfully.

“Even if she was cursed, she was still our daughter. She was still your sister.”

“No!”

The moment I heard that familiar voice, my entire spirit shuddered.

Even the image on the screen flickered into static.

The person who stormed in was my fiancé, Ethan Whitmore.

Ethan rushed into the morgue without caring who was watching.

He tore the matching ring from his finger so violently it left a bloody mark, then threw the bloodstained ring beside my corpse.

“I won’t allow it.”

His eyes were red, but not from grief.

“Before she died, she was still sending flirty messages to other men. She never truly loved any of us. Why should we forgive her?”

Then he turned to my parents.

“Mr. and Mrs. Hayes, don’t you think this is strange?

“These videos were obviously recorded long ago. I suspect she isn’t dead at all.”

His voice grew sharp and certain.

“She’s setting a trap for us. She wants to drag all of us into hell with her.”

The screen, which had been filled with static, suddenly cleared.

The camera turned straight toward Ethan.

And when everyone saw what appeared on the screen, the entire room went still.

They stared at him in disbelief.

As if, at last, the ugliest secret had been dragged into the light.