The Rejected Female Child was Born to Rule Them

“Get up, Maya! Why haven't you arranged my backpack yet?”

My eyes snapped open, stinging from the sudden jolt. I stared up at the polished hardwood ceiling and the crystal chandelier suspended above me. The faint, expensive scent of fresh lavender filled the room, accompanied by the gentle hum of the central air conditioning. Under my fingers, the high-thread-count Egyptian cotton sheets felt impossibly smooth.

“This room... this house…” I murmured beneath my breath as it was caught in my throat. The last thing I remembered was the suffocating smell of burning sulfur, the sky turning the color of rotting blood, and the icy claw of a beast tearing through my chest while I lay starving in the dirt, yet here I was, alive!

“Didn’t you hear me, or are you deaf as well as useless?” Martin roaring voice came again.

I slowly turned my head. Standing over my bed was Martin, his face flushed red with teenage entitlement. He was wearing the freshly pressed, dark-blue blazer of the Royal Heritage Engineering Academy, his leather shoes gleaming under the room lights. His hands were planted firmly on his hips, his mouth twisted into that familiar, arrogant sneer.

My mind raced. “Did I come back?”

had returned to the exact day my life was thrown away, a few years before the sky broke open and the apocalypse erased human civilization.

“Martin…” I called , my voice was dry and scratchy as I pushed myself up against the headboard.

“The house has five full-time maids. Packing your school bag is literally what they are paid to do” I swallowed before muttering but a loud thunderstorm sound landed on my left cheek. It was a slap!

The second strike landed squarely on my right cheek, burning hotter than the first.

Martin leaned down, his eyes widening with vicious glee, “I don't care about the maids! I want you to pack and I want you to carry it down the stairs and stand by the main gates to see me off! Do you have any idea what today is, Maya? It's my first official day at the Academy. I'm taking the first step toward taking over Father's construction empire. You should be honored to even carry my bag!” he roared with his voice echoing throughout the room.

In my former life, those words and those strikes would have reduced me to tears. I would have scrambled off the bed, bowing my head, sobbing out endless apologies while wondering what I had done wrong to deserve such hatred from my own brother. I had spent twenty years trying to prove my worth to a family that saw me as nothing more than an inconvenient mistake simply because I was born a girl.

My father, James Anderson had wanted a male heir to carry the family name and run the multibillion-dollar enterprise. When Martin was born four years after me, I became invisible, a ghost in my own home, tolerated only as long as I served a purpose but I wasn't that scared, desperate girl anymore. I had survived three grueling years in the wasteland. I had watched cities melt into slag and men kill each other over a single drop of clean water. A spoiled teenager's physical abuse was nothing more than an annoying gnat buzzing in my ear.

I looked Martin dead in the eye. Then, slowly, a quiet smile spread across my face.

Martin flinched, taking a half-step back, clearly unsettled by the lack of fear in my eyes.

“W-What are you looking at? What's so funny?” He bombarded me with questions

“Nothing” I said softly, swinging my legs over the side of the bed.

"You're right. Today is a very big day for you, let me get your bag ready” I added, with calmness he wasn't expecting in my tone.

“Good!” he muttered, trying to regain his posture, though his brows remained furrowed in confusion as he watched me smoothly hoist his leather satchel from the desk.

"Make sure the tablet is in the front pocket and the blue folders are aligned. If there's a single crease on my notebooks, I'll make you rewrite every page” he uttered

"Of course, I wouldn't want anything to ruin your bright future” I replied, my voice perfectly neutral as I zipped the bag shut.

I carried the bag down the grand spiral staircase, Martin trailing right behind me like a peacock strutting its feathers.

We got to the dining hall. The long glass table was set with silver platters of poached eggs, smoked salmon, and fresh fruit. At the head of the table sat my father, immaculately dressed in a bespoke brown suit, reading the financial news on his tablet while sipping black coffee while my mother sat to his right, carefully dabbing a linen napkin against her lips.

“Dad! Mom!” Martin called out the second his feet hit the marble floor, his voice instantly morphing into a whine

“Look at her” just because i asked Maya to help me prepare my things for my first day at the Academy, she threw a total fit and sat in bed talking back to me” he instantly lied

Father didn't even lower his tablet. He took a measured sip of his coffee, his voice cold and heavy with irritation, “Maya, must you start trouble on your brother's big morning? You know how important today is for the family enterprise”

"I didn't throw a fit. I simply reminded him that we have domestic staffs that can handle his wants” I said calmly, standing near the edge of the dining carpet.

Mother set her coffee cup down with a sharp clink, "Don't talk back to your father, Maya. Your brother is embarking on a rigorous and noble path. He's going to be managing thousands of workers and billion-dollar contracts one day. The least you can do as his older sister is support him and make his mornings easy. Why must you always harbor such bitter jealousy?”

“Jealousy?” I repeated

“Yes, jealousy!” Martin piped up, grabbing his satchel from my hands with a sharp tug.

“I am not jealous of you!” I snapped back almost immediately.

“She's just mad because Dad gave me the corner office line on the organizational chart and she doesn't even get an internship but that's how it is, Maya! You're just a girl and I'm the one to keep up with the family legacy” he suddenly yelled

“Martin, sit down and eat your breakfast” Father commanded, finally setting his tablet on the table.

Then, he turned his stern, unyielding gaze toward me, “Your brother speaks the truth about the reality of our world, Maya, even if his delivery is harsh. The business world is brutal. It requires strength, legacy, and leadership and their things that belong on Martin's shoulders, not yours”

“I understand” I mumbled, which shut everyone up and breakfast was had in silence, but not with my mother, Lizzy continously asking Martin if he was okay with the breakfast

***

Ten minutes later, the family chauffeur stepped into the foyer to announce that the limousine was ready.

“Make us proud today, son” Father said, clapping Martin firmly on the shoulder.

“I will, Dad and I promise to top every class” Martin boasted, throwing me one last smug glance before walking out the front door.

“Bye, Maya. Try not to break anything while I'm gone” he smirked

As the heavy oak doors shut behind him, the grand foyer fell into a heavy silence. Father adjusted his cufflinks and picked up his leather briefcases, preparing to leave for headquarters.

“Father” I called out, stepping into his path

James paused, brow furrowing as if an unexpected insect had landed on his suit.

“What is it, Maya? I have a board meeting in thirty minutes”

“Now that Martin is officially at the Engineering Academy, preparing to take over the company…What is your plan for my future?” I asked, looking him straight in the eyes, keeping my voice entirely devoid of emotion

Father stared at me for a long moment, then let out a short, scoffing chuckle.

“My plan for you?” He shook his head, as if amused by the sheer absurdity of the question

“Maya, why do you waste your time worrying about plans and futures? You don't need an engineering degree or a corporate plan. Learn a thing or two from the maids around this house. Learn how to manage a kitchen, how to clean properly, how to keep a home running smooth” was his response

He procedded in leaning in slightly, his tone dropping into that familiar, dismissive condescension I had heard my entire childhood, “Because no matter what a woman tries to achieve, no matter what silly ambitions you put in your head, you will always end up in the kitchen cooking for your husband and family. That is your ultimate purpose in life. Don't strain yourself trying to be something you're not”

Mother walked over, placing a hand on Father's arm while looking at me with a mixture of pity and annoyance, “You know, James... nw that you mention it, perhaps it's time we send her away for a while. She's nineteen and spends all day cooped up here doing nothing useful”

“Send her where? Do you have any suggestions?” Father asked Mom

“To her grandmother's estate in the rural village. Grandma still cooks everything on traditional wood stoves and manages the old garden. Sending Maya there for a few months will break her bad attitude and teach her proper native dishes from the roots up. It will make her much more marketable when we begin looking for a suitable family to arrange her marriage with” Mother suggested, a small smile touching her lips

The words echoed inside my mind, striking like a bolt of lightning. In my past life, when they suggested sending me to Grandmother's dilapidated estate in the countryside, I had begged and wept on my knees. I had pleaded with them not to banish me to an isolated rural backwater while my brother lived in luxury. They had forced me onto a train anyway, leaving me stranded in that remote valley and when the sky cracked open few months later, I was caught completely unprepared, weak, isolated, and powerless as monstrosities rained down from the heavens.

They thought sending me to the village was a punishment, like they were banishing me to become a dutiful house-wife but they had no idea that deep beneath Grandmother’s estate, hidden inside an ancient, sealed subterranean cavern, lay the Vault of the Primordial Core and an earthly relic that contained the supreme power source of the ancient world.

In my past life, three years after the collapse, a wandering mercenary stumbled upon that hidden vault by complete accident, absorbing its power and rising to become one of the undisputed Overlords of the apocalypse.

They want to send me directly to the greatest power source in existence. I quickly lowered my head, hiding the sharp, lethal spark that flared in my eyes. I forced my shoulders to slump slightly, letting my voice sound small, defeated and submissive.

“If... if that is what you think is best, Father... Mother…, I'll go go Grandma's house in the village” I murmured, squeezing my hands together as if fighting back tears

Mother looked satisfied, patting Father's arm, “See? I told you a little discipline would work. I'll have the driver prepare a trunk for her by this afternoon”

“Good and don't come back until you have learned how to be useful” Father said, barely giving me another glance as he walked past me toward the exit

I stood alone in the grand marble hall as the front door clicked shut. Slowly, I raised my head, letting the timid, broken mask drop entirely. A cold, dark laughter bubbled up in my chest.

“Enjoy your concrete towers and your precious construction empire while you can, Father and enjoy your pristine academics , Martin. Because in few months, concrete will crumble, money will be useless and the world will belong only to the strong” I thought, turning toward the stairs to pack my things.