Chapter 3 Breaking Free from Them

Thinking back to the final days before my death, days that had felt worse than hell itself, I shut my eyes in pain. Only for a moment.

Then I steadied myself again.

Whatever feelings I had once held for my family had already been worn down to nothing by their repeated betrayals in my previous life. Everything Caspian had schemed so hard to take from me had long since become worthless in my eyes.

Since fate had given me a second chance, I would live a brilliant life that truly belonged to me.

…

My parents and Caspian did not return until dawn. When they came back and saw me sleeping comfortably on the sofa, they were furious and dragged me out from under the blanket.

My dad glared at me. Gritting his teeth, he growled, "You made Caspian so upset he had an episode in the middle of the night, and here you are sleeping as if nothing happened? Do you even have a heart?"

My mom stood off to the side, shaking her head with a sigh, her disappointment in me plain to see.

The parents who had once been gentle and easygoing seemed to have changed completely after adopting Caspian, as if they had been put under some spell. Their entire world revolved around him now, and everything about me annoyed them. No doubt, when I was not around, Caspian had been feeding them plenty of lies about me.

Clutching his chest, Caspian tugged lightly at my dad's sleeve, his voice weak and careful. "Dad, don't scold Eli. It's all my fault…"

"You child, how could this be your fault?"

"Oh, if only Elias were half as considerate as you."

They gathered around him, wiping away his tears with tender concern.

"Don't cry anymore," my mom coaxed. "I bought you new clothes. We'll go take photos and handle your school transfer together!"

Then my dad turned and shot me a sharp look. "You're not coming. Don't ruin things for him!"

With that, the three of them left hand in hand to take care of the transfer procedures, and did not return until the evening.

From social media, I saw that they had taken Caspian to an amusement park and then to the most expensive restaurant in the city. They posted countless happy photos together. In the comments, my dad replied to everyone the same way—'This is my son, Caspian Holt. Thanks for liking our family photo!'

Meanwhile, I sat alone in the pitch-dark living room, staring at a cold, empty kitchen. They did not even call to check on me. They did not ask whether I had eaten.

If I were still that child from my previous life, I might have cried from grievance and refused to eat out of spite. But now, I did not care about their blatant favoritism anymore. If no one would treat me well, I would treat myself well.

Using the pocket money I had saved up, I ordered a lavish takeout meal and started thinking seriously about my future. In this life, I wanted to hold on to my dream of sprinting. Of course, I wouldn't neglect my studies either.

My changes shocked all my teachers and classmates. I had once simply been a good student. Now, I had become something of a prodigy.

Elementary school coursework was far too easy for me. I did not even need to look at the textbooks to answer the teachers' questions. Before long, all my teachers quietly allowed me to study middle and high school material during class.

After just a week of review, I approached my homeroom teacher and asked to skip a grade.

Since our school combined elementary, middle, and high school levels, she casually pulled a test paper from the middle school section and handed it to me.

She had intended to show me that middle school material was vastly different from elementary school. She wanted me to understand the difficulty and back down. Instead, I finished an eighth-grade math exam in under twenty minutes. Her jaw nearly dropped.

Soon, curious teachers gathered around me, throwing all kinds of questions my way to test me.

To their surprise, not only could I handle middle school problems with ease, I even had clear approaches to some high school math and physics questions. Even my foreign language pronunciation was better than that of some senior students.

The teachers were ecstatic. They surrounded me and practically marched me into the principal's office, declaring that our school had finally produced a genius.

The news spread quickly, and I became an overnight sensation. During every break, students from different grades and classes would gather outside our classroom, sneaking glances at the so-called prodigy, Elias Holt.

My sudden brilliance was so overwhelming that the transfer student, Caspian Holt, was completely overshadowed. Unable to stay quietly in my shadow, Caspian began stirring up trouble in class every day.

One afternoon during break, Caroline led a group of classmates straight to my desk and shouted, "Elias, why are you bullying Caspian?"

I frowned, catching sight of Caspian hiding behind her, sticking his tongue out at me.

He really was pathetic. At home, he hid behind my parents. At school, he hid behind a girl. Did he have no pride at all?

Seeing that I did not respond, Caroline pressed on, unwilling to let it go. "Caspian told us everything. You look down on him for being adopted and bully him behind his back. How could you?"

"Bully him?" I let out a short laugh. "Right. I gave him my room, my desk, and all my toys. That's how I bully people."

Caroline choked on her words, then snapped angrily, "He's already so pitiful. Isn't it only natural that you give in to him? You're so selfish. I don't want a fiance like you!"

I rolled my eyes and cut her off without hesitation before she could continue her self-righteous speech. "Let's call off the engagement then. Since you care about him so much, you can look after him yourself. And stop trying to guilt-trip me."

In my previous life, she had been just like my parents, completely fooled by Caspian. Her prejudice against me grew little by little until it eventually turned into outright hatred.

On my 16th birthday, she had shown up at my party arm in arm with him and publicly called off our engagement. Right there and then, my parents arranged a new engagement between their families.

With that, my birthday party turned into their engagement party, and I had gone from the star of the night to a complete joke.

Since they were so perfectly suited to each other, I might as well step aside early and let them have what they wanted.

News of the class beauty having her engagement called off spread quickly through the grade. Greatly embarrassed, Caroline later stopped trying to get my attention and even started blaming Caspian, loudly declaring she wanted to cut ties with him.

Just as I thought—there were no true saints in this world. Most people were only generous when it cost them nothing.