All Chapters of The Capybara Heiress: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

I was a capybara who'd escaped from a marine park.Ten minutes ago, I'd been sprawled across a rock by the ocean, sound asleep. Then a girl in a white dress fell off a cliff and landed squarely on my head.My brain buzzed from the impact, like I'd just been hit by a giant orange.The girl's name was Daphne Bradford. I'd seen her before when I lived at the marine park, but now she was covered in blood and barely alive.She weakly grabbed my paw and made a special pact with me. "Help me get revenge. Once it's done, you can have my body."I thought about it for a full three minutes.The ocean had been pretty boring lately. Going ashore to lie in the sun didn't sound too bad.Besides, when a brat at the aquarium once stole my orange, she'd gotten it back for me.So I agreed.Before I could ask who she wanted revenge on, she died. And just like that, I became Daphne Bradford.When I opened my eyes again, I was lying on the beach, salty seawater washing into my nostrils.This body

In the end, Grayson didn't let me sleep on the living room rug.With a look of disgust, he grabbed me by the collar and dragged me like a soggy sack to the storage room at the end of the second floor."This is your room. Don't start any more trouble. Scarlett isn't well right now. She can't handle being frightened, so you'd better behave yourself."I looked around the tiny room filled with old newspapers and dust and felt strangely at ease.The corners seemed perfect for building a nest. A little seaweed would make it even better.I slowly crawled onto the narrow bed and found an abandoned stuffed animal beside the pillow. I balanced it on top of my head, enjoying the feeling of keeping my center of gravity steady, then peacefully fell asleep.Early the next morning, a shrill cry woke me.Scarlett stood in the dining room with the shattered remains of a blue-and-white porcelain vase at her feet. It was Victor's favorite antique and was supposedly worth as much as a house."Daph

I looked at the fake concern written all over her face and gave her a standard capybara smile."I went somewhere very quiet. The water was salty, but I had lots of friends there. There was no favoritism and no arguing. Everyone just blew bubbles."Adeline froze, and her eyes actually reddened. She seemed to want to say something, but in the end, she merely sighed and left.Clearly, she wasn't the killer.I looked at the expensive bowl of chicken broth and thought it resembled a certain kind of waste I'd seen in the ocean, so I poured it into the flowerpot on the balcony.The succulent looked very happy.Then Scarlett sent someone to tell me there was a socialite gathering that evening and that I absolutely had to attend.I knew what she was planning. She wanted to publicly humiliate the "brain-damaged" true heiress in front of everyone, but I didn't care.As long as there was free lettuce and fruit, what difference did it make where I sat around doing nothing?That evening, I

I didn't see anything wrong with what I'd said. I was only offering a sincere suggestion.As a capybara, I'd always believed that while avoidance might be embarrassing, it was genuinely useful."Daphne, how can you make Dad so angry?" Scarlett started performing again, her voice choked with emotion. "You even scared Asher tonight. He's going to be your husband."I turned and stared silently at Scarlett. Her mascara had smudged a little. It looked like two black caterpillars crawling across her eyelids."He wasn't scared. I hit a nerve. He's probably busy trying to recover from it." I finished speaking slowly, then continued toward the stairs, my slides going slap, slap with every step."Stop!" Grayson rushed over and blocked my path. "Asher just called. He's picking you up tomorrow to have dinner at his family's estate. He said he wants to help you recover your old memories."I looked into Grayson's warning eyes, but all I could think about was whether the Fox family had lettuce.

When I saw there was no food on the table, I sat there staring into space.Mr. and Mrs. Fox looked grim and told Asher to take me home.In the car, he suddenly grabbed my hand. "Daphne, I didn't like what you said back there. I don't like greedy women. I liked the old you, when all you cared about was me."He squeezed my knuckles hard, the pain sharp and unmistakable.I didn't struggle. I simply turned my head and looked at him quietly. "Mr. Fox, do you know why capybaras get along so well with every other animal?"Asher frowned. "Why?""Because to a capybara, whether it's a lion or a rabbit, eventually it'll become nutrients for the earth. So I don't care whether you're happy or not, because as far as I'm concerned, you're already well on your way to becoming fertilizer."Asher's expression instantly turned ugly. He slammed on the brakes.The car skidded to a stop at the side of the road, leaving a long black mark behind it."Daphne, you have a death wish!" He grabbed me by t