In my past life, I had cried with excitement when I got picked, only to turn and saw Vanessa's face pale as a corpse. Her gaze was fixed on her adopted younger brother, didn't spared me even a glance.

Now that I had been reborn, I wasn't going to debase myself by ran up to her again.

On stage, for some reason she flared up, grabbed Declan and said loudly, "We're going on a date," before stormed off.

With the main characters gone, the remaining ninety-eight men naturally scattered like birds.

I was about to head back and pack my things, but Jane dragged me into a corner.

Before I could react, a slap landed on my cheek. She yelled, "You little bastard! Didn't I fix it so Vanessa would pick you? Why did she get a blank?"

Another slap followed right after while she mocked me, "You're just like your damned father, don't know what's good for you! I'm also your mother, not some stranger! When I tell you to listen, do you shove it into a dog's mouth?"

My cheeks burned red and swollen, but that pain was nothing compared to what I felt inside. I said coldly, "The day you brought Declan, your love child, into the Shelby Family, you stopped being my mother."

Jane's gaze shifted, then turned vicious while said, "If Declan gets hurt because of your actions, you'll be the first to die."

It wasn't until I was nailed alive inside a coffin in my past life that I realized the blind box result had been fixed from the start.

Of course Jane wanted Declan to marry into wealth. But she also had to keep one huge secret about him hidden.

As for me, I had been the sacrificial pawn to protect that secret.

Now, I just wanted to watch them tear each other apart. Their secrets had nothing to do with me.

I rubbed my face and said flatly, "If I'm going to marry someone else, it'll be Megan Sterling. Think of it as payback for all the money you spent keeping my dad alive these years."

Jane's eyes flickered.

Megan was a well-known figure in Los Angeles's elite. Rumor had it she was infertile, eccentric and bisexual. People said she'd played to death at least eight hundred lovers, if not a thousand.

She just happened to be looking for a husband lately, wanted to return to family life.

If I didn't remarry, Jane would never let me go.

To stop her from pair me with some random women, picked Megan in advance wasn't a bad idea.

Because I already knew, Megan was not a simple woman.

She smiled and said, "Alright, be a good son. Then just wait peacefully for your wedding." Jane swayed her hips as she walked away.

I sighed. My room was at the far west end of the Shelby Mansion and I had to pass the garden on the way. At that moment, the garden was in chaos.

Declan covered his nose and sneezed softly, "Vanessa, who planted all this lavender? Doesn't that person know I'm allergic?"

Vanessa gently pressed her own handkerchief to his nose. Then she turned to the gardener and ordered, "Grind up all the lavender in this patch. Destroy it. Also, remove that swing and all the nests in the way."

That patch of lavender was something my father had picked by the roadside during a rare moment of clarity. He said, even if he's gone, the flowers would stay.

I stared wide-eyed as the gardener raised his shovel. I shouted in panic, "Wait a second!"

Everyone froze, secretly watched Vanessa's reaction.

Her expression was unreadable when she said, "You think this is your home? You plant whatever you want? Or are you just trying to trigger Declan's allergies?"

When I was five and my dad was critically ill, I ran away to the Shelby Mansion, begged Jane to save him. She wanted to kick me out but was stopped by Mr. Bob Shelby.

He said took in a few kids like me was no big deal, just charity. So I lived in the Shelby Mansion for twenty years.

Vanessa once pulled the lonely, withdrawn me to play with the servants and said the Shelby Mansion would always be mine too.

Next to that lavender patch stood a tiny wooden sign, written by Vanessa herself as a child: [A place just for Allen and me, our forever home.

I lowered my eyes, ignored the rotting wooden sign and bowed deeply and said, "Vanessa, Declan, I'm sorry. I didn't understand the rules, but please don't destroy my flowers. I'll clean everything up ..."

Vanessa looked uneasy because of my bow.

Declan suddenly began to trembled and said, "Vanessa, I feel so dizzy..." His trembling voice snapped Vanessa out of it.

She waved her hand and commanded the gardener, "What are you all standing around for? Do it!"

The lush lavender got sucked into the shredder, turning into a swirl of purple juice.

"No!" I lunged forward like my life depended on it, I grabbed anything I could.

Startled, Vanessa let go of Declan, who slammed into a tree trunk.

"Do you wanna die?" Her eyes were red as she yanked me back, only to suddenly notice a lavender flower in my palm and that rotten wooden sign. She puzzled, "You ..."

My tears burst out, "You said you couldn't sleep well ... That's why I planted the lavender my dad gave me, to help you rest."

The wooden sign crumbled as it unfolded. I said sadly, "Vanessa, I don't have a home anymore."

She froze, she reached out as if she wanted to fall into my arms. But just then, Declan let out a scream.

From the birdhouse I had made with my own hands, a bunch of caterpillars fell onto him. Vanessa's eyes turned sharp. She quickly rushed over and pulled Declan away.

Those insects were mildly poisonous. Even so, she used her bare hands to pick them off his collar.

Then she turned back to me, her face full of disgust when she said, "Almost had me fooled with your little act. You like bugs, huh? Fine. You three, shove those bugs into his clothes!"

The maids obeyed and started picking up the caterpillars. Meanwhile, the gardener pinned me down tightly.

I tried to break free and shouted, "I didn't do it! Why would I?"

Vanessa sneered and said nothing. Of course. She no longer believed me.

Otherwise, in the last life, she wouldn't have accused me of rigged the blind draw without even ask.

I used to hold on to the Shelby Family's kindness for taking me in and I even wanted to warn her that Declan was hiding a secret.

But now I regretted it. I wanted to see her go insane when she found out the truth.

So I gave up resist, I let the caterpillars crawled all over me. Wherever they touched, my skin swelled, itched unbearably.

Declan calmed down and tugged Vanessa's sleeve and said, "Isn't this too much, Vanessa? I'm fine now."

"Declan, you're too kind. That's why people bully you. Come, I'll take you to see a doctor." She walked past me while held Declan's hand.

Freed from the gardener's grip, I collapsed onto the ground.

I forced myself to endure it, my fingers had dug deep into the soil, covered in black mud and blood. Because of Vanessa, no one would help me.

So I had to swallow the nausea and pain and pick off the caterpillars myself, then staggered off to find the family doctor.

Just as I stepped inside, I saw Vanessa behind the curtain applied ointment to Declan. It was clearly just medicine, yet I could hear her gasp and moan.

When she pulled back the curtain, Declan was panting heavily behind her and her face was flushed. Her fingers were stained with ointment.

Vanessa glanced at the red, inflamed skin on my neck, then tossed the medicine at me.

I was a second too slow. The glass bottle shattered on the floor and the ointment spilled everywhere.

She sneered, "You're not allowed to see the doctor. Trash like you only deserves dirty things."

In the Shelby Family and all of Los Angeles's elite, she was like a goddess. If she said I couldn't see a doctor, no doctor would look my way.

Half-knelt on the floor, I used a hand smeared with black mud to apply the remained ointment. When I looked up, I saw Vanessa tenderly disinfected Declan's hands.

I said, "Vanessa, I'm leaving the Shelby Family."

When she was nine, Vanessa said she would give me a home. But now, that home was gone and it was time to say goodbye.

She dried Declan's hands and kissed his fingertips, her expression barely changing. She said, "Say that again."

I took a deep breath and repeated, "I said, you and Declan are getting married and I'm just an outsider. I should leave, like the other ninety-eight candidates. Vanessa, this isn't a request, it's a notice."

"Notice?" Vanessa didn't even realize how her tone shifted.

"Allen, is that vegetative father of yours planning to stop treatment?" She spoke with a near-threatening tone.

My body stiffened, memories from my previous life made me tremble. She had once fallen into my arms, only to later pushed me into a coffin with cold hands.

Too bad for her, no matter how domineering she was, she didn't expect that I'd be getting married soon.

In the past, when we were on good terms, I used to threaten her with leaving the Shelby Family whenever we argued, to make her back down.

But now, I didn't need her to back down. This time, I truly was leaving.

Vanessa stayed silent for a long time, then sneered, "If you're scared, then stay here obediently. Declan needs a personal servant. Especially on our wedding night, you can warm the bed for us."

Declan blushed and quickly hugged Vanessa while said, "Vanessa, that's too much ..."

She grabbed his hand and stood up, "Don't be shy. Come, I will take you somewhere fun."

His leather shoe kicked me aside and I landed in shattered glass. I use medical tweezers, I picked the fragments out of my leg and applied ointment casually.

I returned to the room where I had lived for twenty years. Tried to pack like those novel protagonists I'd read about. But I realized, there was nothing that truly belonged to me.

Vanessa used to take photos with me. At some point, the people in our photos froze in time, ten years ago.

Declan had been abroad for ten years and she missed him for ten years.

The darkroom in her bridal suite was filled wall-to-wall with candid photos of Declan, taken by private investigators.

I stuffed my ID into my pocket and sat blankly on the bed.

My phone buzzed. A message from the nurse at the hospital: [Mr. Patterson, your father just regained a little consciousness. He's calling your name!]

I limped my way to the hospital. There, I heard my father, lay on the bed, weakly whispered my name. This never happened in the previous life.

Last time, around this point, the power went out in the ward and my dad died within a minute without the ventilator.

For someone in a vegetative state, any improvement was a miracle. Maybe, in this life, I could live to see my father open his eyes again. The nurse thoughtfully left us alone.

I sat by the bed and held his hand, I said, "I'm leaving the Shelby Family. Those people have nothing to do with me anymore."

"I'm sorry. I didn't manage to protect the lavender you gave me. Dad ... can you wake up and tell me ... where you found those seeds ..." I bowed my head and let my tears fall.

"Tsk tsk tsk, I've been looking all over, turns out you're in here mourning." Declan strolled in, his arms crossed and his steps swaggered. He glanced at me and smirked.

I wiped away my tears and asked, "What do you want?"

He lifted his leg and kicked the hospital bed. The machines hooked up to the wires started beeping.

He tilted his chin arrogantly and said, "I heard from my mom that you're marrying that psycho woman?"

I stayed silent, watched him warily.

He asked again, "Technically, I shouldn't care if you marry a beggar. But I heard ... you know my secret?"