Dottie
I had always been obedient.
Whatever people told me to do, I did.
On the day the king and queen brought me back to the palace, my adopted brother leaned close and sneered, "How did it feel to spend three months as a gutter rat? If you have any sense, roll even farther away this time."
I nodded, turned, and ran straight toward the edge of a towering cliff.
My father and mother were terrified. They barely managed to drag me back, their faces drained of color.
When my elder sister saw it, she grabbed my collar and said coldly, "Attention-seeking trash. If being crown prince embarrasses you this much, you might as well die."
I said nothing. I grabbed a vial of poison and poured it down my throat. Blood burst from my mouth and nose.
My sister froze on the spot, then scrambled out to call the physicians, looking at me like I was a monster.
Not long after that, my adopted brother pretended to fall ill, and my sister held a knife to my throat, forcing me to donate blood for him.
Before she could finish speaking, I followed the force of her blade and cut my own throat.
The moment my parents pushed open the door, blood sprayed across their faces.
The room went silent for one stunned instant before screams exploded everywhere.
Amid the chaos, I weakly raised my head and looked at the transparent panel floating in the air.
The number on it flickered again and again before stopping at 99.
They did not know that as long as I obeyed one final time, I could complete the entire storyline for a cannon fodder character in a tragic novel.
Then I could leave this world forever and return to my real home.