Chapter 1

I was the hero’s first love, the one who died too young.

Fifteen years after my death, a system resurrected me and told me to save the boy on the rooftop.

“He is your flesh and blood. If you don’t help him, he’ll have nothing left.”

But I’ve always been spoiled and hot-tempered. I’m the one who gets waited on, not the other way around.

So I strode over in my heels, grabbed him by the collar, and snapped, “Stop with the theatrics. You’re just as pathetic as your father.”

“Speaking of him, where is he? Doesn’t he know I’m back? Why isn’t he here to pick me up?”

1

The boy stared at me, a flicker of confusion in his eyes before his expression smoothed over into a placid, unnerving calm. He tilted his head slightly, his thoughts a mystery.

I clicked my tongue in annoyance. “Call David,” I ordered.

He took a moment before pulling out his phone and dialing. The phone rang for a full thirty seconds before the automated message kicked in: The person you are calling is unavailable.

My eyes narrowed. “David dares to ignore my call? He’s gotten bold.”

The boy, whose name I now remembered was Nathan, seemed used to it. He was about to put the phone away.

I snatched it from him and redialed, again and again. Three, four times.

Finally, a crisp female voice answered. “I’m sorry, Mr. Klein is in a meeting. Please do not disturb him.”

She hung up before I could get a word in.

I was about to smash the phone but remembered it wasn’t mine. I lowered my hand, gritting my teeth. “Fine. Just you wait, David.”

Nathan tugged on my sleeve. I looked at him, confused. His glassy eyes met mine, and he uttered a single word.

“Home.”

2

On the way back, I cornered the system. “Are you sure this clam is my son?”

I’d complained that the taxi was uncomfortable. He’d grunted in response.

I’d said the driver’s breathing was off-rhythm and annoying. Another grunt.

I’d told him his clothes were hideous and bringing down my whole aesthetic. Still just a grunt.

When I finally lost my temper and demanded to know where that bastard David had run off to, he finally looked at me. His eyelashes fluttered as he whispered one word.

“Business.”

I almost exploded. Getting a word out of him was like pulling teeth. He was nothing like the son I remembered. At two years old, he could keep David up all night with his chattering. He was a carbon copy of me, not this sullen, silent shadow.

【Host, please try to be patient with him. He suffers from severe psychological trauma. The speech impediment is just one symptom.】

My lips thinned. I looked at Nathan’s gaunt frame and dull eyes, and a sharp pain lanced through my chest.

What the hell had that bastard David done to my child in the fifteen years I was gone?

3

The first thing I did when we got home was inspect my old room.

Good. It was exactly as I’d left it fifteen years ago. Not a single thing was out of place.

Except for a pair of light green women’s slippers in the shoe cabinet by the door.

I glanced at them. They were my style, so I didn’t think much of it.

It was only after my inspection that I realized Nathan had vanished. His bedroom door was locked.

I frowned, found the spare key, and opened it.

The room was pitch-black. The lights were off, the curtains drawn tight, blocking out every sliver of light. The glow from the living room spilled in as I opened the door, illuminating a lonely figure sitting by the window.

I stomped over, flicked on the lights with a sharp click, and sat down in front of him, my arms crossed.

Nathan just sat there, his eyes fixed on some distant point, unblinking. His gaze was hollow, devoid of light.

I stared at him and announced, “I’m hungry.”

He finally seemed to register my presence. He looked down and ordered takeout on his phone.

“I don’t eat takeout!” I snapped. “Is this how David feeds you every day?”

Nathan put his phone down and lowered his head, ignoring me again.

I ran a frustrated hand through my hair and stormed out, muttering to the system, “This is a mess. I would’ve been better off staying dead.”

Behind me, Nathan’s head lifted, his eyelashes trembling.

4

I summoned the system and demanded to know everything that had happened to Nathan over the past fifteen years.

It told me that after my death, David had spiraled. He neglected his work, let alone his son. Once, he drank himself into a stupor and slept for two days straight. Nathan, alone in the house, hadn’t eaten a single bite. He’d cried until he passed out from hunger and was rushed to the hospital, barely clinging to life.

After that incident, David hired a nanny and threw himself into his work. The nanny, seeing how little David cared for the boy, treated Nathan horribly. She often neglected to feed him and would sometimes hit him. It wasn’t until Nathan staged a hunger strike and collapsed that David, rushing home, finally discovered the abuse.

By then, Nathan was already very sick. He couldn’t even go to school.

David fired the nanny but struggled to find a replacement. That’s when his assistant, a woman named Sienna, offered to take on the role.

“Sienna?” I remembered the woman who had answered the phone. It had to be her.

【Nathan despises her. They had a major falling out because of her.】

【Three years ago, David, trying to balance his work and family life, planned to marry Sienna. Nathan refused. He held a knife to his own wrist and forced David to swear he would never marry her, or he would kill himself.】

“David wanted to marry someone else?” I asked, incredulous.

【Rest assured, Host. He did not marry her in the end. They remain employer and employee to this day.】

【However, Sienna has held a grudge against Nathan ever since. Her attitude towards him worsened considerably.】

My brow furrowed. “What did she do?”

【After the nanny incident, she didn't dare do anything overt. But she would tell Nathan every day, Your mother is never coming back. You need to be a good boy and stop making things difficult for your father. David needs a wife who can stand by his side and be his partner, not a dead ghost from the past.】

A cold smile touched my lips. “His partner, you say? How lovely.”

【Host, what do you plan to do?】

“David’s clearly lost his mind. I’ll just have to knock some sense back into him, won’t I?” A playful smirk crossed my face. “And as for that Sienna… using my son like that? She’s going to regret it.”

5

I didn’t expect to confront Sienna so soon.

The next morning, I was sound asleep when a loud clattering noise jolted me awake. I pulled the covers over my head, trying to go back to sleep, but then I heard arguing outside my door.

A woman’s voice, sharp with accusation. “Nathan, how could you bring a stranger home? A woman of questionable character, no less?”

“I know you can’t stand me being by Mr. Klein’s side, but you can’t use this kind of behavior to lash out at him. What does that make him? And what does that make you?”

But no matter what Sienna said, Nathan had one response.

You’re not going in.

Sienna’s voice rose. “Nathan, your defiance is so disappointing.”

“Do you want me to tell your father that you brought home some tramp and let her sleep in your mother’s room?”

I don’t know what Nathan said, but Sienna’s tone shifted, becoming severe. “In that case, I have no choice but to let Mr. Klein deal with you himself.”

I was playing with my nails. Hearing that, I let out a soft laugh and opened the door.

Nathan saw me and frowned slightly. “Woke you?”

“It’s fine. Time to get up anyway.”

Sienna looked me up and down. “You are pretty. No wonder you were able to wrap Nathan around your little finger.”

“But as long as I am by Mr. Klein’s side, I will never allow someone like you to set foot in this house. Nathan is naive, he doesn't have much contact with the outside world, and you’ve clearly taken advantage of that to manipulate him…”

SLAP!

The crisp sound echoed in the hallway.

Sienna clutched the red handprint on her cheek, her eyes wide with disbelief. “You… you hit me?”

I smiled. “Yes. I did.”

Sienna took a deep breath and spoke into her phone. “Mr. Klein, did you hear that? Nathan’s behavior has gone too far this time. He’s letting this woman run wild in your house…”

“Wait.”

David’s voice came through the phone, tinged with a barely perceptible excitement and an irrepressible joy.

“Turn on the video. I want to see her face.”

Sienna hesitated but did as he said, lifting the phone to point the camera at me.

“Out.”

A cool voice cut through the tension.

Nathan stepped in front of me, blocking the camera with his hand, shielding me from David’s view. Before anyone could react, he pulled me back into the room and locked the door.

Sienna pounded on the door, her voice shrill. “Nathan, why are you being so rebellious? Defying your own father for a woman… you’ll disappoint him so much…”

Nathan’s voice was flat, devoid of emotion. “None of your business.”

Sienna tried everything—cajoling, threatening, even tattling to David—but nothing worked. Nathan ignored it all. After an hour, she finally gave up and left.

Inside the room, I studied Nathan thoughtfully. “Why don’t you want David to see me?”

His behavior was strange, more than just a childish tantrum. He might seem withdrawn, but he was sensitive and intelligent. He had to have a reason.

Nathan looked up at me. He suddenly reached out and grabbed my wrist, his voice trembling slightly. “Don’t… leave.”

A warmth spread through my chest. I gently pulled him into an embrace, stroking his hair. “Don’t be afraid,” I whispered. “I’m not going anywhere.”

He buried his face in my shoulder for a few seconds before pulling away and showing me a file on his phone.

The more I read, the deeper my frown became. “What is David thinking? Did he actually agree to this?”

The file detailed the top ten students David had sponsored over the years. According to the document, he planned to choose one of them to adopt as his heir.

I was so furious I wanted to call him and scream. “Has he lost his mind? Is his brain shrinking with age? That idiot.”

Nathan tugged on my hand. “It was… my cousin. He arranged it.”

“Don’t… trust him.”

I paused. Nathan’s cousin was my cousin, Julian. We’d grown up together. We were close. When I’d insisted on marrying David, my grandfather had been against it. It was Julian who had helped convince him.

I calmed down and looked at Nathan. “What else do you know?”

He shook his head.

“It’s okay. I’ll handle it.”

I called my grandfather’s assistant, briefly explained the situation, and asked him to investigate Julian and David’s current activities.

“Of course. I’ll have someone look into it immediately. You’ll have a report in three hours.”

“Wait, one more thing.”

“…Miss, does the old master know you’re back?”

“I haven’t told him yet. Let’s not rush it.”

“By the way, how is he?”

“He’s in good health, miss. He just… misses you a great deal. He talks about you often.”

I blinked, a lump forming in my throat. “I miss him too.”