Chapter 2

Against the polished wealth of Grayson Manor, I looked like someone from an entirely different social class.

Maybe some part of the original Micah still resented having everything that should have been his taken away and wondered why his own family could not love him.

A sudden, inexplicable sadness rose inside my chest.

I forced it down, ignored Tristan's triumphant little smile, and shook my head.

"I'm not planning to compete with Tristan for anything.

"If you don't believe me, I can leave right now. Just give me the address of the wellness residence, please."

The mood in the room curdled as they searched my face for signs that I was performing or secretly furious.

They were going to be disappointed.

I simply lowered my head and waited silently for them to finish venting so I could leave.

Because I genuinely loved their arrangement.

Apparently my total compliance made me as dull as a corpse.

Before long, I was sitting in the family's cheapest car on my way to Sagewater Wellness Residence, a quiet private campus outside Cedarhaven, Marroway.

Just before the door closed, Ivy Sinclair, the fiancee who had barely spoken all evening, blocked it and warned me with a frown.

"Micah, don't think acting innocent will make me forget what you did to Tristan. Give up. I will never marry you. Tristan is the only person I love."

I stared at her in confusion, nudged her hand away, and shut the door.

The engagement belonged to the original Micah, not me.

Why would I care?

Still, good manners were free, so I rolled down the window and added something helpful.

"Don't worry. I don't like you, and I won't bother you."

Ignoring Ivy's stunned and suspicious stare, I rolled the window back up without hesitation.

Three hours earlier, I had been scraping by at the bottom of society in another world.

I had lived in a cramped, windowless room in a neglected neighborhood and worked constantly just to eat.

Compared with that, being housed for free at a landscaped private wellness retreat felt luxurious.

Back in my original world, I had no relatives and no real friends.

I had only myself, struggling alone in a glittering city that never noticed whether I lived or died.

I worked myself to death, then opened my eyes to people offering me ten thousand dollars a month plus room and board.

To me, it felt like the universe had handed me a second life.

I wanted to survive in this world.

With that thought, I tried calling out to the System inside my mind and asked it to explain the original Micah's situation.

The System went quiet for a moment before answering,

"This is one of those stories where the whole cast adores the adopted heir. Your role is to help the despised biological heir reverse his fate. Several previous challengers failed, so the mission was eventually abandoned."

It sent the host's memories with the explanation, and only then did I understand what kind of life Micah had endured.

The original Micah was the Grayson family's biological son, switched with another newborn shortly after birth.

After eighteen years of surviving alone and struggling for every meal, he finally discovered his biological parents by accident.

But some things could not be repaired simply because the truth had been found.

Micah's poverty clung to him, visible in every nervous habit and every reflexive apology.

Tristan, meanwhile, had grown up inside Grayson Manor, surrounded by affection that technically belonged to someone else.

He never needed to beg for one approving look. Attention and love came to him naturally.

The biological son became the only outsider in his own family.

Worse, Tristan protected his position by repeatedly accusing Micah of hurting him.

Once everyone decided Micah was cruel and selfish, they treated him worse than the family dog.

"You could still try to win them over and become the favorite instead."

I swallowed the strange ache of recognizing too much in Micah's loneliness and rejected the suggestion.

"No. If everyone before me failed to change how much they hate him, why would I waste my life trying?

"If nobody loves me, then nobody loves me. I just want to stay alive."

The System did not argue. The mission was already abandoned, so it had no reason to force me to complete it.

After settling into my room, I began sorting through what my new life actually looked like.