Declared Dead, Replaced by a Fraud

Along the corridor walls, the only photo of Nora and me disappeared without a trace.

In its place were wedding photos of her and Henry in all kinds of intimate poses.

The decorative paintings I carefully selected were replaced by Henry's childish scribbles.

The antique ornaments left behind by my father, treasures I cherished, were all gone. The rooms were filled with toys that only a five-year-old would like.

Nora followed along behind me, looking at my ashen face.

She said mockingly, "If you listened earlier, all of this would have been easier. You knew that Henry saved my life, yet you still tried to hurt him. You brought it all on yourself!"

I only felt irony listening to her words. All these years, she justified her biased actions toward Henry by claiming she saved her life.

But the truth was far from that.

Henry protected her, but I was the one who saved her life!

And this was how she repaid me?

…

Back then, Henry had won a scholarship. To thank me for my sponsorship, he treated Nora and me to dinner.

Somehow, the restaurant caught on fire, trapping us on the third floor.

The fire rescue team was nowhere to be seen. Between dying or getting burned, we all chose the latter.

When a beam came crashing down on Nora, I was the one who pushed her out of the way in time. The price of that was that I was heavily burned.

Henry merely gave Nora a wet T-shirt so fewer sparks would land on her.

Henry might have been mentally impaired to the level of a five-year-old due to the trauma of the fire, but that did not change the fact that I was the one who saved Nora's life.

Yet, Nora's attitude toward Henry changed completely. She branded him as her life savior.

To me, she only spoke words of concern. But every time she saw my nasty burns, I could feel an indiscernible hint of disgust from her.

I knew that she despised me, but she was forced to marry me out of obligation.

My limbs were tied by the security guards as they dumped me in the underground basement.

Looking at the torn, gruesome wounds from being dragged earlier, Nora couldn't help frowning again.

She stepped on my wound.

"Initially, I felt a little guilty toward you, but what you did to Henry wiped it all away. Henry is like a five-year-old. Who knows if you're going to bully him again from now on! I'm going to give him everything you own! So, even if you revoke your declaration of death, you will forever be under his thumb!"

Then, she took out a property transfer agreement.

"I'm going to make you watch as all the wealth you and the Xander family built all these years becomes Henry's!"

At that moment, I looked at Henry, who was behind her. His eyes were gleaming with desire and greed.

This was definitely not an emotion a normal five-year-old would have!

I wanted to protest, but Nora got the security guard to cover my mouth. All I could do was scream.

Nora swiftly signed her name on the property transfer document.

Then she walked up to me, viciously grinding her foot into my wound, using my blood as ink to press down her handprint.

After finishing all this, she revealed a cruel smile.

"Let him go," she ordered the security guards before saying to me, "John, you know? Your look of despair was just like your mother's before she died. On the day I went to court to declare you dead, I deliberately delivered the good news to your mother. Who would have thought that she'd be so frail? She passed away due to a heart attack."

Nora did not have an ounce of pity on her face, only provocation.

"Well, who asked her to hurt Henry? She brought it all on herself."