Chapter 4

I could never quite shake off being labeled as the "baggage". Even in my new family, I was the jinx.

But… I was happy for a time. Even though Mikael's family didn't like me, he was different. No matter what Mom said or how she scolded me, he always protected me and treated me even better than he treated Cindy.

During that time, Mom started being more civil toward me because of him. I could have my own birthday cake, just like Cindy. If Mom were in a good mood, I'd even receive a little teddy bear as a gift.

But there always seemed to be some obscure motive behind Mikael's kindness toward me. As a child, I couldn't tell what that was.

It wasn't until later when the drunken Mikael pinned me to the bed and tore off my underwear that I finally figured it out. When I screamed hysterically until I almost lost my voice, I finally understood what lay beneath his so-called kindness.

It was carnal, lascivious lust.

I was terrified out of my mind. In my desperation, I grabbed a vase and smashed it over his head. The next moment, there was bright red blood everywhere I looked.

Before I could find my bearings, Mom rushed in screaming shrilly. She slapped me hard across the face.

That was when I learned that right after I was born, my birth father had abandoned Mom and ran away with a mistress. Later, I had grown up to be strikingly beautiful—so much so that Mom always suspected I might actually be that mistress' child and not hers.

She hated the woman who had taken my father away, and she hated me even more.

When she saw and gathered what had happened between Mikael and me, she had it in her mind that I was the one who seduced him. She thought I was just like that mistress from over a decade ago who tried to destroy her marriage.

She cursed me for being a shameless seductress. She used the harshest, most vicious words imaginable. She screamed at me, asking why I wasn't dead yet.

That night, dragging my bruised and battered body that was overwhelmed with guilt and pain, I jumped into the most turbulent river in the village.

As fate would have it, I was saved by a kind villager. So, I didn't die.

When Mom saw that I had been rescued, she looked very disappointed.

I knew it then. Deep down, she wished that I had died the night I was born. Every single day and night, she regretted not strangling me to death after I came to this world. My existence had ruined every possibility of happiness in her life.

I thought maybe I really did deserve to die. That way, Mom wouldn't need to feel so much hatred and pain whenever she thought of me.

As I snapped out of my reverie, I saw Mom and Cindy surrounded by a crowd of reporters with their cameras already poised as soon as they stepped out of the hospital.

Startled, Cindy let out a frightful yelp and hid behind Mom.

The reporters surrounded them with frenzied eyes hungry for the latest news.

"Ms. Saddler, what do you have to say regarding the major accident your daughter suffered at the gymnastics competition three days ago, which ultimately led to her death in the hospital?"

Agitated, Mom shoved the microphones away impatiently. "Don't speak nonsense! My daughter is right here. She only sprained her ankle. How can you blatantly jinx her when she's right here?"

The reporter paused and took out a phone to check something.

"Ms. Saddler, I think you've misunderstood. The one who died from the accident at the venue was your elder daughter, Ms. Flora Saddler, not the one beside you now."

Mom's expression turned grim and displeased instantly.

The reporter continued pressing, "As her spotter, you failed to notice the danger she was in in time. Regarding this, is there anything you'd like to say to the public?"

I stared closely at Mom's expression. I had only seen that same furious look on her face once before this. It was on the night Mikael tried to assault me, and she slapped me hard without holding back.

Now, she grabbed the reporter by the collar and demanded coldly, "Who did you say has died? Is Flora dead?"

Everyone was too frightened to move.

But I caught a faint hint of a tremor in her voice. It was as if she couldn't believe it.