"I'll cut to the chase. I'm the villainess in this story."

Everyone in this wealthy, elite family adored my poor, fragile adopted sister.

My older brother Damien would snap, "Don't scare Bella. Her weak heart can't take it."

My other brother, Magnus, would add, "Lend Bella your nightgown, all right? It's wasted on you."

Even my fiancé said, "This is nothing more than a marriage of convenience. My true love has always been Bella."

In my last life, I humbled myself endlessly to please them. What did I receive in return? They sent me to a mental asylum and I died in agony.

Then I came back to life on the day of my engagement party.

A voice echoed in my mind and made its announcement.

[The Madness Reward System has chosen you, Marceline Blanc. Any unhinged behavior will earn rewards worth hundreds of millions of dollars.]

I grinned and sent the pompous, ten-tier cake crashing to the floor. "I'm done with this shitty family. Goodbye, you miserable bastards."

The banquet hall erupted as a bespoke ten-layer cake smashed onto the floor, cream and fillings bursting outward and splattering every unfortunate soul within reach.

Then the hall fell deathly silent.

Damien was the first to recover. He stormed toward me and lifted his hand. "What the hell?! Have you lost your mind?! You could have scared Bella to death. You know she can't handle shocks like this!"

In my last life, I would have collapsed to my knees, sobbing and begging him not to hit me. I would have sworn I never meant any harm.

But now, a sweet, almost angelic computerized voice chimed inside my head. [3-Star Madness. Reward: 15,000,000 dollars.]

My phone vibrated. I glanced at the screen. Oh, sweet Lord.

I caught Damien's wrist, yanked it aside with all my strength, and followed through with a sharp slap across his face, the hardest I had ever delivered.

The crowd gasped.

Damien stared at me in disbelief. "Did you just… hit me?"

"Already lost a few brain cells from the impact?" I sneered and shook my hand to chase away the numbness. "Let this remind you who I am, dumbass. I'm the true heiress of the Blanc family. I wasn't adopted like Bella, so why the hell is she wearing my engagement dress?!"

[4-Star Madness. Reward: 30,000,000 dollars.]

Cha-ching. The rush was intoxicating, and so was the sudden jump in my bank balance.

Magnus hurried over, brushing past Gabriel Black along the way. He spared the would-be groom no attention and draped his coat around Bella Summers, as if she had just survived a major trauma.

"That was completely uncalled for, Marceline!" he shouted. "The only thing Bella did wrong was admire your dress. What's so terrible about sharing with your little sister? You don't even wear styles like this. Why waste it on you? Just let her have it!"

Please. How could it not be my style when I was the one who flew all the way to the fashion capital of Perez to have it custom-made? The process had taken three months and cost 1,000,000 dollars.

And just before the party began, it vanished.

Where else could it have gone?

I marched up to Bella and fixed her with a hard stare. "Did you just call it a waste on me?"

She shifted uneasily in Magnus' arms, eyes rimmed red. "I'm sorry, Marcy. I didn't know you'd be this upset. I just thought… I thought it was the prettiest dress I've ever seen, a-and I only wanted to try it on. I'll take it off right now…"

She reached for the zipper, as if she meant to undress on the spot.

If she actually did it, the resulting scandal would be something the Blanc family could never recover from.

Just as I expected, Gabriel held her hand and glared at me.

"When are you going to stop these hysterics, Marceline? Why are you acting like a madwoman over something as trivial as a dress?" he growled. "Look at her. Don't tell me you still haven't realized it. The dress looks better on her than it ever could on you."

Damien finally regained his composure and sneered, "He's right. Unlike you, Bella actually knows how to behave like an heiress from an elite family."

I laughed. Then I laughed harder, until tears streamed down my cheeks.

So this was my family. This was my husband. I had died like a dog in my last life for this den of douchebags.

I grabbed a bottle of red wine. "You love this dress so much, bitch? Then take it."

I slammed the neck of the bottle against the edge of the table and shattered it. Wine cascaded over Bella, soaking the dress and ruining her makeup.

She shrieked, "My eyes! It hurts!"

Magnus and Gabriel rushed to her side to clean her up.

Meanwhile, Damien raised his fist as if he were asserting dominance.

"You're asking for it!" he shouted.

I stepped back and tipped over the champagne tower beside me. The crisp, jaunty crash of expensive glasses shattering across the floor sounded like music.

Damien froze and retreated from the spreading carpet of glass shards, along with several others.

I stood amid the wreckage and pointed at these so-called heroes.

"This is nothing more than a marriage of convenience to you, isn't it, Gabriel? Fine. Have each other as much as you want. Unlike you all, I don't mistake trash for gourmet food. There's no better match than a dog and his bitch."

I turned to my brothers. "As for you two simps, why don't you make Bella your sister and your heiress instead? Then you can lick her heels to your heart's content."

I faced the stunned crowd.

"From this moment on, I am cutting all ties with the Blanc family," I declared. "Fuck this. Fuck this family."

I kicked away what remained of the cake and strode toward the front door as if the place belonged to me.

The crowd stared in stunned silence.

Then my father's voice echoed. "Stand right there, Marceline! If you walk out that door, I swear to God you won't get a single cent from this family. I'll cancel every goddamn card you have. Let's see how long you last living like a peasant."

I halted and turned back, flashing him my brightest smile. "Yes, yes, yes. Freedom from your filthy money? Thank God."

Why would I need their money anyway when I had the Madness Reward System? I could make millions in the blink of an eye, bitches.

[Throwing a fit against the Blancs and severing your ties with them. 5-Star Madness. Reward: 150,000,000 dollars.]

[Your first quest has been completed. Rewards for completing the Newbie Challenge: An ultra-luxury apartment in the heart of the city and a luxury car parked outside the hotel.]

My heels echoed through the silent banquet hall as I walked toward my freedom without sparing anyone a glance.

…

A blazing red sports car waited outside. I reached into my purse and found the keys already inside.

I slid into the driver's seat and slammed my foot down on the pedal. The roar of the exhaust cut through the air and rattled the windows of the doormen's station.

My phone vibrated nonstop. I did not need to check it to know every message came from the den of douchebags I used to call my family. I powered the phone off and tossed it onto the passenger seat.

The MRS had already set the coordinates to my new home. I followed the directions and drove straight toward Paradiso Castle.

Paradiso Castle was the most expensive property in the entire city. Having enough money did not guarantee the right to buy it, which only proved how absurdly generous the MRS truly was.

I stood behind a 600–square-yard, floor-to-ceiling window, gazing at the city's nightscape while red wine sloshed gently in my glass. I had never felt more at peace.

In my last life, I must have been genuinely brain-dead to believe they would love me simply because I obeyed every command. Oh, I was so "loved."

I turned my phone over and braced myself for the flood of messages and missed calls.

"Where the hell are you?!" My dear mother, Lucy, shrieked in a voice message, her voice sharp enough to pierce stone. "Get your ass back here and apologize to Bella, now! Do you have any idea how much shame you brought on us today?! Poor Bella hasn't stopped crying!"

Damien's text followed soon after.

Damien: [Running out of money already now that Dad terminated your cards? Once you finally get tired of starving yourself, you can come back on your knees and beg for forgiveness. We might consider mercy if you show enough sincerity.]

And finally, Gabriel.

Gabriel: [Enough with your theatrics, Marceline. You embarrassed me today, but I am willing to be magnanimous. Come to my office tomorrow, and I may consider not canceling our marriage.]

I stared at the screen and laughed. "Look at all these clowns. They truly believe I am homeless and penniless just because I left the Blancs."

I sent a photo to Damien, showing a small glimpse of my bank balance: 10,000,000 dollars, give or take.

I added a caption: [Call me Mommy, and maybe I'll buy you a wife.]

Then I blocked his number.

Next was Gabriel. I sent him a voice message. "I've always been curious about something. Are you actually impotent? One would think Bella would have stopped being a virgin by now, given how often you two are together. Instead, she looks like she's wilting."

Satisfied, I blocked him as well.

Finally, Lucy's turn arrived.

[Stop screaming into the void. Just pretend I died and move on with your life. After all, the only one you ever needed was Bella, right? I was just an accessory. May you all live like royalty during the Revolution, with lives as long as the space newspapers reserve for obituaries.]

I blocked the last number. Silence reclaimed the world.

[Delivering emotional damage to family. 3-Star madness. Reward: 7,000,000 dollars.]

I collapsed onto my Yeetalia genuine leather couch and sighed in contentment. Making money really was not that hard.

Still, it was not enough. The pain and suffering they had inflicted on me in my last life ran too deep. I wanted them to see who their precious, innocent Bella Summers truly was.

After that, I wanted them to stare up at me in despair, forced to acknowledge my dominance and the height I had reached. I now stood at an apex they would never touch.

…

The next morning, the doorbell dragged me out of sleep.

I peered through the peephole and saw Magnus. How the hell did he find out I lived here?

Of course. He was a hacker. Tracking my phone would have been effortless for him.

There was no reason to rush. I brushed my teeth and washed my face at my own unhurried pace, then opened the door.

He looked livid.

"How the hell did you get in here? Where did you get all this money? What is this place, a rental?" His eyes narrowed with suspicion. "Don't tell me you debased yourself and sold your body just to get a pathetic edge over us, Marceline. How else could you afford this place after Dad terminated your cards?"