Chapter 2

When my foster parents in the dog cage saw my strange, bloodshot eyes, they panicked instantly.

The two of them, fighting through the agony and breathing weakly, called my name hoarsely, over and over.

"Kathy, no, don't go head-to-head with them..."

"They're your family. We're all right. Please, please don't turn against them for our sake..."

Even after being humiliated and tortured to this point, they were still worried that I'd offend the Harding family and be left with nowhere to go.

Watching them shield me even as they lay barely breathing, my reason nearly burned through.

I forced down the anger surging in my chest and spoke coldly.

"Apologize to my foster parents, get someone to take them to the hospital right now, and I'll let you all off!"

Margery was so scared by my fierce glare that she hid in her mother's arms and buried her head, cowering.

"Mom, I'm scared."

Her mother's face darkened at once.

"Kathleen, have you lost your mind? Two lowly country bumpkins—you think they're worth our whole family apologizing to?"

Brent stepped forward, his face full of contempt.

"Let us off? Kathleen, are you here to be funny?"

"We saw you being fairly obedient and sensible lately, and we felt sorry for you, drifting out there all those years, so we kindly threw you this coming-of-age party. Turns out it was all an act, and you're still this ungrateful!"

That's right. I was pretending.

I kept my foster mother's warning in mind: when I went back to the Harding family, I should keep a low profile, hold my tongue, and get along with them.

So when Margery deliberately smashed her mother's imperial green necklace and pinned it on me, and I was scolded and punished by the whole family, I endured it.

When she framed me for pushing her down the stairs and got me locked up for two days and two nights without even a sip of water, I endured that too.

To avoid clashing with her, I did my best to come home late.

That was how I fell in with a crowd who lived at the bottom of society, and because I had money, I became their boss.

I endured and endured, gave ground step after step, and all I got in return was them pushing further.

It got my foster parents publicly abused and humiliated.

I looked up, swept my gaze over this pack of cold-blooded, biased relatives, and gave them one last, stern warning.

"I'll say it one more time: apologize to my foster parents and take them to the hospital!"

All I got in response was a room full of mockery and jeering.

My father lifted his foot off the top of my head, his eyes cold with disgust.

"A crude nature that'll never change—those two lowly peasants spoiled her rotten!"

Margery put on a gentle, sensible face, her voice full of grievance.

"Sister, you can throw a fit without caring about the Harding family's honor, but I can't. If you think I'm wrong, then I'm wrong. I'll apologize to—"

Before she could finish, Brent raised his hand to stop her.

"Maggie, you did nothing wrong. You don't need to apologize to her. She's the one who doesn't know a good thing when she sees it and insists on making a scene."

I slowly braced myself against the floor and rose, my voice colder than before.

"You can slander me and frame me, but you don't lay a single finger on my foster parents."

"Since you did, you'll pay for it a hundredfold, a thousandfold!"

But I didn't want to finish them off all at once.

"System, I want Margery to lose everything!"

"Ding! Got it."

I turned my head, looked coldly at Margery, and said with a sneer,

"Margery, your beloved Silas is about to dump you."