“Now, seeing how affectionate you two are as a married couple, holding a wedding every year—what does it matter whether the one who married into the Lancaster family was Evelyn or not?”

Adrian Lancaster nodded, his eyes brimming with devotion.

Master Gregory suddenly understood. “No wonder I couldn’t summon the soul.”

“Now, all we need to do is follow Evelyn Moore’s spirit, find the place where her resentment has gathered, and break the curse.”

The group walked deeper into the ship’s cabin—only to freeze in place.

Master Gregory stared at the scattered piles of bones on the floor, his voice hoarse.

“This… this is a sign of a hundred ghosts locked in slaughter! There must be a formation here designed to refine a vengeful spirit!”

“So that’s it… that’s it. Evelyn Moore has become a vengeful spirit nourished by a hundred ghosts. When she fully forms into human shape at dawn today, she will kill the primary culprit—Miss Isabella Moore!”

At his words, my parents’ expressions darkened.

My sister’s lower body suddenly tore apart, expelling a string of blood bubbles.

Looking closely, each bubble bore human-like facial features.

“Ah—Evelyn, little sister, please let me go! If I give birth to ninety-nine children, I won’t survive! I was wrong, I was wrong…”

She trembled with hysteria, her eyes darting wildly.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Don’t haunt me. Since you’re dead, let go of this world—I’ll take care of our parents and Adrian, you can rest in peace.”

Hovering in midair, I felt nothing but bitter irony.

After hearing the prophecy, my parents decided my sister was the blessed daughter who would protect the family, pampering her like a princess.

To them, I was the drought demon who would ruin the Moores—a curse they despised to their core.

They pored over dictionaries to give my sister the perfect name, Isabella Moore.

Mine, Evelyn Moore, was meant to erase and conceal all traces—“to go away.”

No one in the Moore family ever wanted me to exist.

While my sister rode in luxury cars to elite private schools, I was locked in a cramped storage space under the stairs, never seeing the light of day.

I wasn’t even allowed the chance to learn to read.

From childhood, whenever business took a downturn, my parents would beat me until I vomited blood.

To show their devotion to “eliminating the curse,” I was never given medical treatment.

My right wrist was left permanently crippled.

I never thought I’d live to twenty, much less that the Lancaster family would specifically request me to treat Adrian Lancaster’s illness.

It was only after meeting Adrian that I learned life could be different.

He taught me to write, to use a smartphone, and even promised to take me traveling around the world.

I still remember—the day Adrian stood up on his own was the same day I found out I was pregnant.

Overjoyed, he proposed to me.

“Evelyn, having you in this life is a blessing I earned over three lifetimes. Give me a chance to defy fate for you.”

He went directly to my parents to propose, swiftly moving my household registration out of the Moore family.

He said he wanted to build a small home just for the two of us.

I believed him completely.

Until, ten years later, when we met again—he and my sister were celebrating yet another annual wedding, honoring their “true love.”

Even if Adrian had once loved me to the bone, even if he had risked his life for me three times,

ten years was enough to wash away any love.

He gave my sister a child,

and forgot the two unborn children from ten years ago.

By the time I returned to my senses, the others had already cleared away the debris.

The bones lay cold, falling to the floor in a heap like a mountain.

Seeing the scene, everyone’s pupils shrank sharply.

“What is this? How could it be so sinister?”

The bones on the ground were arranged in a bizarre pattern,

as if a hundred ghosts were hunting a single victim.

At the very center, a formation was painted in pitch-black blood.

At the sight of it, my parents panicked.

“We personally inspected the cruise ship and saw no such formation! And these bones…”

Master Gregory drew in a sharp breath and hurried to leave.

“Today, everyone will be sacrificed to the formation,” Master Gregory declared.

“And the first will be Isabella Moore! The rest of you had better pray for yourselves. The resentment here is too strong—I can’t help you!”

As his words fell, Isabella let out a rasping, choking sound.

A thin red line appeared around her neck, tightening with each passing moment.

Thinking of her three friends who’d been beheaded, she scrambled forward on her hands and knees, throwing herself at Master Gregory’s feet.

“Master, please save me!”

“I can’t breathe—next, she’s going to strangle me to death!”

My parents tried to remain calm. “As long as you’re willing to save her, we can give you half the Moore family’s assets for free!”

Master Gregory sighed. “Forget it. We’re in international waters now, and I can’t leave. The only solution is to lure Evelyn Moore out and set a trap. But who has the courage to do that?”

“I do.”

Adrian Lancaster, having arranged for a doctor to treat my sister, stepped forward.

His tall figure radiated a sense of security.

“No matter whether you are Evelyn or Isabella, you are the woman I, Adrian Lancaster, have loved with my life! If someone wants to harm you, I’ll make sure she never returns!”

“The vengeful spirit Evelyn Moore only bears resentment because she was jealous of my marrying my sister. So before dawn today, I’ll guard Isabella—she’s bound to show up for revenge!”

My parents exchanged a glance and finally relaxed.

My sister, as if already saved, kissed him in gratitude.

“Adrian, I’m so glad I still have you. You must protect me for the rest of my life.”

His fingers brushed over the bruises on her neck, his gaze full of pity.

“Don’t be afraid. You’ve suffered enough. From here on, you have me.”

Through that more mature, handsome face, I could still faintly see the young man from ten years ago—

When floodwaters raged, he used every ounce of strength to lift me above the waves, leaving himself with a chronic cough.

When enemies came for revenge, he shielded me from a fatal blow, his left hand never able to hold a pen again.

When flames roared, he covered me with his back, leaving a terrible scar.

But ten years had passed. He no longer belonged to me.

He wouldn’t even step around my bones without disgust—he would rather see me destroyed completely.

Master Gregory drew formation lines in every guest room.

Adrian never left my sister’s side.

When she was too afraid to sleep, he gently patted her and the babies in her belly, singing her a lullaby.

In the past, I had begged him to sing to me a few times, but he had always dodged the request.

I once thought he was just shy—now I knew he simply never wanted to sing for me.

At four in the morning, with dawn approaching, my sister finally drifted off to sleep.

Only then did he quietly tuck her in.

“Don’t worry, Evelyn—I’ll protect you forever.”

“I’ll help you change your fate.”

Everyone said Adrian was certain to succeed this time.

Once he got rid of me, he would hold the eleventh, twelfth, and more weddings with my sister, declaring their love to the world.

But they didn’t know—

Adrian had been waiting for this day for ten years.

At dawn, the blood-red light blazed.

Everyone was on high alert, ready to capture the vengeful spirit.

All the bones had been moved outside, bathed in the crimson sunlight, exuding an ominous aura.

Suddenly, a scream unlike any human voice came from the most luxurious room.

My parents, panicked, rushed inside, but the sight made them instinctively take several steps back.

“Mr. Lancaster, what are you doing? What have you done?!”

The stench of blood filled the air.

The expensive hardwood floor was soaked with dark, filthy blood, strewn with chunks of flesh.

My sister’s limbs, covered in knife wounds, were bound, and she hung suspended outside the window.

This was the deep sea—sharks, drawn by the scent of blood, had been circling for some time.

They were only waiting for the moment to tear her down to bare bone.

My parents, who had always cherished my sister like the apple of their eye, finally exploded.

“Are you insane, Adrian Lancaster? Isabella is your wife—she has your ninety-nine children in her belly!”

Adrian’s gaze was cold as he wiped the blood from his blade.

Then he slashed the tip of the knife straight toward the rope.

“Tell me! Where is Evelyn’s body?”

“Where did you hide her? For ten years I’ve searched every inch of the Atlantic seabed, yet I still can’t find her…”

My father froze, then sneered.

“So it’s all been an act?”

“Isabella looks exactly like her—how did you find out?”

A flash of pain crossed Adrian’s eyes.

As he spoke, my mind was pulled back to ten years ago.

On our wedding night, I, along with more than a hundred crew members, sank to the ocean floor.

But my resentment was too deep; I refused to reincarnate.

Lingering in the human world, I used the last of my strength to find Adrian’s bridal chamber.

And there I saw my sister, blushing, sitting on the bed I had chosen,

trying on the lingerie I had picked out.

When Adrian saw her, his breath quickened instantly.

But when he loosened her robe and revealed pale skin, his hands suddenly stilled.

He simply pressed down on her shoulders and said gently,

“You’re too tired today. Let’s rest. I have an urgent meeting at the company—don’t wait up.”

That first night, they never consummated the marriage.

But on the tenth night, my sister brought a powerful aphrodisiac.

Adrian called my name as he pressed close to her, his breath hot.

That was the moment I gave up completely.

My obsession turned to ashes, and I was forever trapped aboard the cruise ship, reliving the moments before my death.

And now, Adrian said with open disgust, “From the wedding night, I knew the bride wasn’t her.”

“You are Evelyn’s parents, yet you never cared enough to know there’s a red birthmark on her chest.”

“After realizing you’d swapped them, I planned to search for Evelyn in secret. But what I found was news of her death. From that day, my heart and my body were no longer alive.”

“I swore that if I ever found her, I would die with her. But all these years, no matter what I tried, I couldn’t even obtain her DNA!”

At first, Adrian thought Isabella had married in her sister’s place for the Lancaster family’s wealth and power.

But later, when he salvaged the wreckage of the Princess Mary from the Atlantic,

he discovered something—

The official secret report at the time claimed 108 deaths in the sinking,

but the wreck contained only 107 skeletons.

It was as if someone had deliberately erased every trace of my existence and death,

determined to scatter my soul so I could never rest.

My father had regained his composure and snorted.

“I guessed from the start that the sudden recovery of the Princess Mary meant trouble. Today, we played along and lured you out.”

“Adrian Lancaster, you’re still too young. No matter how rich the Lancaster family is, if you’ve killed, you can’t escape the law. You won’t get away today!”

Adrian’s lips curved into a bloodthirsty smile.

“If the Lancaster family’s power isn’t enough, how about the United States underworld?”

“Mr. Moore, you must have forgotten—this is international waters. Kill you here, and there’s no sound, no trace. With my skill, no one will ever know.”

At his words, hidden mercenaries stepped out, blocking every exit.

“Today, you all die here—to be buried with her.”

The man, clad in a white suit soaked with blood, lounged against the window.

“From now on, the longer you stay silent, the longer Isabella stays in the sea.”

The rope snapped.

The seawater turned red in an instant,

sharks rolling and thrashing as they tore into Isabella Moore’s flesh.

As her screams grew weaker and weaker,

my parents collapsed to the floor, their strength drained.