They Called Me the Fake Heiress, But My Birthright Was Far Greater

On my ninety-ninth rebirth, I stopped fighting with the real heiress, Lily Hart.

I accepted every false accusation she threw at me and let my relationships with my two childhood friends fall apart.

I told myself it was fine. At least Wayne Fall was still on my side.

That lasted until Lily's birthday gala, when her gown suddenly slipped and nearly left her exposed in front of everyone.

Wayne pulled her into his arms and, for the first time, turned his anger on me.

"Do you even remember who you are? You're not a Hart by blood. What makes you think you can compete with Lily?"

What he didn't know was that every time I tried to expose Lily, everyone I cared about died in horrifying ways.

In the first life, my childhood friend, Adrian Cole, was crushed beneath a freight truck, his skull shattered.

In the second, my cousin, Ryan Hayes, fell from a skyscraper and was torn apart on impact.

In the third, my fiancé, Wayne, was trapped in a blazing fire and burned alive...

Adrian and Ryan threw me into the estate's artificial lake.

I couldn't swim.

Water flooded my lungs until tears streamed down my face, but no matter how desperately I begged for help, neither of them reacted.

By the time my consciousness finally faded away, someone dragged me out of the water.

Then I heard them talking.

"Looks like she's finally learned her lesson. At least you won't have to keep hypnotizing her anymore, Wayne. I was starting to worry all those pills would fry her brain."

"There'll definitely be some cognitive damage... But we didn't have a choice. Lily's the Harts' real daughter. If she refused to give in, she'd end up being pushed out of the family sooner or later."

So, the countless "rebirths" I'd experienced were nothing more than an illusion.

I'd simply been hypnotized.

But I never needed to cling to a place in the Hart family.

I had a family of my own too.

When I woke up, Wayne Fall was sitting beside my bed.

The moment he noticed I was awake, he silently stood, walked to the table, poured a glass of water, and held it out to me.

When I looked up and met his concerned gaze, I almost believed he had become the Wayne who always stood by my side once again.

But the next second, he turned his hand over, revealing the familiar white pill resting in his palm.

My voice tightened with a trace of pleading.

"Can I... not take it?"

Wayne paused briefly, then brought the pill directly to my lips.

"Fiona, be good."

I stayed silent for a moment before finally giving in and tilting my head back to swallow it.

Yet tears slipped from the corners of my eyes, and the bitterness in my mouth seemed to grow even stronger.

Ever since I had desperately tried to expose Lily Hart's schemes, everyone treated me as a jealous lunatic.

Only Wayne insisted that I was merely lacking a certain vitamin and became emotionally tense because of it.

He was a psychiatrist. He personally prepared the pills, gently coaxed me into taking them, and never missed a single day.

There had been countless times when I questioned myself, wondering if everything had been nothing more than jealousy-fueled delusions.

But now I finally knew the truth.

They were never vitamins.

They were medications he prescribed to his patients.

To stop me from becoming the vicious fake heiress, he was willing to destroy my mind, cloud my consciousness, and leave me unable to distinguish reality from illusion.

Perhaps my grief was too obvious.

A flicker of heartache crossed Wayne's eyes. He lifted a hand and gently stroked my head in comfort.

"I promise you, as long as you stop making things difficult for Lily, you won't have to take any more pills. Alright?"

I suddenly found it laughable.

I looked up at him and softly reminded him, "They weren't medicine. Just supplements that helped stabilize my emotions."

Wayne's hand froze.

It was as if he sensed something was wrong.

Before he could think further, noise suddenly came from the doorway.

The moment he saw Adrian Cole and my brother entering with Lily, the warmth of his hand vanished from my head.

With reddened eyes, Lily hurried over to my bedside, looking as though she were on the verge of tears.

"I'm sorry, Sis. They've already investigated everything. The stylist didn't alter my dress properly. It had nothing to do with you.

"Adrian and Ryan were just worried about me. That's why they acted so impulsively...

“You two should apologize to her."

The two men obediently did as they were told, but they still could not help adding, "We're sorry, but honestly, it's only because you've done so many terrible things before. We just reacted instinctively.

"Even if it wasn't you this time, after everything you've done to Lily, being tossed into that lake a hundred times still wouldn't be enough."

"Hey! What's wrong with you two? I told you to apologize properly..."

The three of them started bickering playfully, but a joke I'd once heard in our social circle suddenly came to mind.

People used to say that Wayne was the knight, Ryan Hayes was the ultimate doting brother, and Adrian was the attack dog.

He was Fiona's attack dog.

He bit whoever she pointed at and listened only to her.

But now, the disgust in their eyes whenever they looked at me felt painfully real.

I could no longer tell whether they were putting on an act, or whether a year spent with Lily had truly made them take her side.

If that was the case, then what had all those years of growing up together meant?

I lowered my gaze, hiding my emotions.

Lily suddenly grabbed my hand, her voice bright with anticipation.

"We're having a gathering tonight. Come with us, okay, Sis?

“Wayne, help me convince Fiona. I really want her to come."

Before I could refuse, Wayne had already agreed on my behalf with a smile.

Then he turned and shot me a warning look.

The words of refusal caught in my throat.

Forget it.

I'd treat it as a farewell dinner.

They still didn't know that my real family had already found me.

Soon, I would never have to be the fake heiress they despised ever again.