"Matt is so pitiful, Damian," Mom said. "How could you bear to let him go back and be tormented by Aunt Heather?"

I was stunned at how Mom had the audacity to bring up my background and ask me to sympathize with Matt. I stared at her as she spoke with an air that was utterly and impossibly calm.

I couldn't help but wonder why I had been so foolish in my past life. I completely failed to see the malice behind her mask, and for the sake of that hollow concept she called family, I gave her my entire life.

Hadn't Grandpa's years of raising me been more than enough to define family?

Yet I still chased after the birth mother who abandoned me, simply because we were related by blood.

I was the product of an affair. Mom had me during a sordid affair with a repairman, all while her husband, Nathan Trent, was working far from home.

Nathan was habitually unfaithful, using his work travel as an excuse to sleep around, leaving Mom alone to tend an empty house.

Mom had originally agreed to the marriage solely for the sake of Nathan's money and property. There was no real affection between the couple, but she was lonely, and human desires, repressed for years, finally broke her resolve.

She also reasoned that if men could cheat, then she could do it too. There were plenty of similar families in the village, and it was an unspoken rule that spouses were often unfaithful, after all. Thus, she concluded that a minor indiscretion on her part was acceptable.

It was nothing more than a passing affair with my biological father, as he already had a family of his own.

Their intention was clearly to have a casual, meaningless fling. So why did they allow me to be born if that was the case? Why did they refuse to take precautions if they wanted to have their fun?

Having discovered Mom's pregnancy, my biological father immediately disappeared without a trace. He was merely a transient worker who survived on sporadic work; even his identity was fake.

He fled with astonishing speed when accountability finally called. He couldn't even provide for his legitimate family, so there was no way he could possibly care about an illegitimate child.

Yet, despite all this, Mom stubbornly refused an abortion and insisted on bringing me into the world.

Uncle Jared had a gambling debt he dared not confess to my aunt, Heather Reed, so he had no choice but to extort money from Mom.

Mom devised what she believed was a perfect plan—that was to shift the paternity onto Nathan and use the pregnancy to get money from him.

Nathan, however, wasn't a fool. He was perpetually absent and unaware of the truth, but the neighbors living nearby were keen observers. They had clearly witnessed the unknown man entering and leaving the house of a married woman, who lived alone, a couple of times.

Nathan might have ignored Mom's affairs, but he drew the line at allowing an illegitimate child to muddy his family's lineage. He adamantly refused to raise another man's son.

Mom was heavily pregnant when she realized that her scheme had failed. She had no choice but to carry me to term at that point. She gave birth in the hospital, was discharged that same day, and proceeded to simply abandon me wherever she could.

I was abandoned right outside the entrance of Grandpa's store. He was the one who found me and raised me as his own. If I hadn't been lucky enough to meet such a kind person, I probably would have died long ago on that snowy night.

Having disposed of me, her bastard child, Mom successfully returned to a peaceful and harmonious life with Nathan. She even had a son with him.

Their marriage looked flawless from the outside, as if the couple had never once had any disagreement. They had managed to deceive everyone before, and it was clear they would continue to coast along on that pretense.

In the end, they still managed to achieve their perfect, harmonious family life. I was simply discarded, rendered invisible, as though I had never existed in Mom's life at all.

I would have kept my peace if she had just stayed away permanently. Instead, after abandoning me when I was a baby, she waited until Grandpa had finished the hard work of raising me to reappear and demand the spoils.

It all started when I was vulnerable at Grandpa's funeral. I inherently looked for the good in every person since Grandpa had raised me to be kind.

Mom and Uncle Jared, wearing genuinely remorseful expressions, paid their respects to Grandpa and cried as they apologized to me.

Mom and Uncle Jared claimed that it was due to a mistake and out of necessity that they handed me over to Grandpa to raise back then. They hoped that I would give them a chance to make amends in the future.

I was already so vulnerable, having just lost my only relative, and was consequently taken in by their performance. Not only did I accept their reconciliation, but I also started helping Mom financially whenever she constantly feigned poverty and helplessness.

I could honestly say that my younger half-brother was brought up entirely on the money I earned. It was also because of this that Nathan had no objection to her coming to see me. After all, no one would ever reject a windfall delivered straight into their hands.

I was so foolish, believing I had found a home. I never expected that Mom and Uncle Jared merely viewed me as an unlimited cash dispenser. They shifted every single one of their burdens onto my shoulders, including Uncle Jared's illegitimate son, Matt—my "dear" cousin.

Mom ruthlessly deployed the concept of "shared trauma" to ensure I raised Matt for more than ten years, enduring all burdens without question.

I paid for his every need, including the best education. I became so focused on him that I neglected my own life entirely, remaining single into my later years.

In the end, all I received was pure deceit and malice from my family for my sacrifices. Mom and Uncle Jared covered for Matt after my death. I had been dismembered by Mom and thrown into the sewer. Mom and Uncle Jared even sold Grandpa's house and claimed the proceeds for themselves.

In the end, they all lived a peaceful, contented life as a harmonious family!

It was quite pitiful how I had to die once to finally see their true colors. I couldn't care less about the so-called empathy they were preaching.

I wasn't the one who made the choice to be born and subsequently be abandoned by Mom. I also didn't compel Uncle Jared to father his illegitimate son.

How could they possibly justify transferring their parental duties onto me?

I wanted all of them to get out of my life!

Mom misinterpreted my silence as a sign that I was beginning to yield.

She was still wondering about the note when she left the police station. She figured it might have simply been blown away by the wind since all of us claimed that we hadn't seen it. She believed that if I had known the baby's identity, I would never have reported it to the authorities.

Their fundamental error was believing I hadn't changed. They still saw me as the easy mark, the sucker who longed for affection.

That delusion was why she felt utterly justified in leaving the police station and immediately ambushing me with the baby.

It was quite unfortunate for Mom, though, because the moment I was reborn, all my past foolishness vanished. I now knew exactly what needed to be done.

Mom flashed a completely fake smile as she moved toward me with the baby, attempting to make me feel sorry for him because of his adorable face.

Yet, the instant my eyes fell upon Matt, I was overwhelmed by the memory of him plunging a knife into me in my past life. I recalled looking into his bloodshot eyes, the loathing in his voice, and the piercing coldness of his cruelty.

Why should I pity him? Who would pity me, then?

I was a single man who put all my energy into providing for him. I was technically his cousin, but I functioned as his parent. I never needed him to thank me or repay the favor later. I only hoped that he would grow up to be an honest, good man, following the example Grandpa had set for me.

Matt carried a hidden resentment toward me, incited by Mom and Uncle Jared's lies. He never paused to consider the obvious truth—had they possessed genuine affection for him, they wouldn't have forced me to raise him.

If I ever wanted a child who would obey me, I could have simply fathered one myself. Who was Matt to think so highly of himself?

I reflected on my past life and realized that my entire life's work had been utterly pointless. To expend more time and money on it was an exercise in utter futility.

I resolved that in this life, not a single penny of mine would be wasted on those heartless people.

I deliberately averted my gaze, choosing not to look at Mom and Matt.

Mom, skeptical of my cold indifference, secretly pinched the baby, and he wailed loudly.

She then exclaimed, "Oh dear, how pitiful! Does he want his cousin to hold him? You should go ahead and hold Matt, Damian. He seems to like you very much."