Reclaiming My Stolen Life

1: 1

I got bound to a hyper-aggressive abuse-plot System.

So what if you've come back, Deborah Henson? Let me tell you, you're destined to lose to me. One shout from me right now and your name is ruined.

Stand still, don't move. When the System female rival slaps herself, you raise your hand, and everyone will blame you for it.

Ever since I got bound to this hyper-aggressive System, it's been a small punishment every three days and a big torment every five. Step off its script and the penalty comes down.

"Screw the plot. Being reborn as a doormat heroine is bad enough, but I'm supposed to let them torture me a thousand times over while I treat them like a first love? That's genuinely sick."

My hand cracked across her face. Gayle Henson never expected me to hand myself over like that.

"Sis, I know you don't like me, but why would you hit me? Boo hoo hoo!"

"You're the one who stuck your face out at me. I just did you the favor. If I can't kill you with one, I'll beat you to death."

Plot deviation warning. Stop now, or the needle punishment begins.

Needles? What's a few needles compared to getting a kidney cut out at the end?

Whoever makes me unhappy, I make them dieand just like that, my whole body seized and convulsed.

"Aah"

Hundreds of needles driving into the marrow, the pain sweeping through me all at once.

"Sis, I knew you didn't like me. I never thought you hated me this much."

The whole party crowded in to watch the show.

"So she really is the wild bastard back from the sticks. Not a shred of manners, and she has the nerve to bully her own sister."

The System's punishment had left my forehead soaked with sweat, my whole body wrung out. It took everything I had just to get to my feet. But my own father, my own mother, my own brother had eyes only for that dainty little fake heiress with her sugary act. To them I didn't exist at all.

I wiped the sweat from my forehead and, suddenly, I smiled.

"You want to talk to me about manners? The grandmother who took me in died when I was five. I grew up on scraps of charity from the whole village. While you were all living in luxury, I was gnawing on tree bark. Where were you then, Mother dear?"

"When you were throwing her birthday parties and buying her pretty clothes, I had one coarse burlap dress full of patches. Where were you then, Mother?"

"When you were living in your big house, I was in a house that leaked, shaking from the cold. Where were you, Mother?"

Every word an accusation. Cordelia Sawyer went white, backing away, jabbing a finger at me.

"I'm your mother. How dare you speak to me in that tone. You bully your sister and think you're in the right? Get over here and kneel to Gayle. Apologize. Now."

"My mother? And you have the nerve. All you do is protect the fake heiress and bully your own flesh and blood. Making your own daughter kneel and apologize to a fraudis that what a mother does? Everyone here, you be the judge."

Today was Gayle Henson's birthday party, packed with important people. She was doing all this so everyone would see me as some clueless country girl, so no one could ever challenge her spot as the eldest Henson daughter.

"Shut your mouth. This is a Henson family banquet. As the second Henson daughter, how can you have so little sense of the occasion? Look at your sisteraccomplished in music, chess, painting, all of it, a Metropolitan University graduate. And you? I brought you back home, not so you could make a scene."

I rushed right up to him and pointed at the sobbing fake heiress.

"Talk about making a scenewho could top you, Mr. Henson? Ask any father in this room whether he'd let his own daughter suffer like this. You stupid thing."

Someone couldn't hold back a laugh, and it flipped him straight into humiliated rage.

"You are a rebellious daughter. I brought you back, gave you a place to live, clothes to wear, food to eat, and you come home just to spite me?"

"Ha, so you do know you brought me back to enjoy the good life. Then what did you actually do? These clothes she's worn before. This jewelry she didn't want. Even this party was thrown for her. Why haven't you thrown me a homecoming banquet?"

"You don't deserve one!"

A crash rang out.

"I don't deserve one? Then she doesn't get to enjoy her birthday party in peace either."

"This is outrageous. The second daughter has gone mad. Call a doctor to give her a sedative."

Breaking from your character. Prepare for punishment.

The System is telling you one more time: maintain your persona, or next time it's a thousand arrows through the heart.

I sagged against the floor, all strength gone. A moment ago I'd been standing tall, and now I was a snake with the venom drained out of it.

Seeing this, the security guards rushed to wrench my hands behind my back, my whole face pinned against the floor.

"Drag her over here. She's going to apologize to Gayle properly."

My own mother pointed at me like I was her enemy, and my heart sank to the very bottom.

2: 2

"You want an apology? Keep dreaming."

Like hell I'd ever admit fault to her. Vincent Henson tried to rush me, but my own dear father stopped him.

"Someone bring the whip. Family discipline. The Henson name won't be dragged through the mud by this girl. There's no order without rules."

"Oh, please. Setting rules over a fakenow I've seen everything. Even the noble houses of old feared muddling their bloodline, but you? You're happy to raise a counterfeit, and proud of it too."

Host, this is an abuse plot, not a power fantasy. Stay in character.

Let them abuse me? On what grounds? My life, my call. I'm going to die either way, so face ityou rotten System, you're the two-faced snake's little undercover agent, aren't you? Trying to sabotage me. Well, I refuse to give you the satisfaction.

I shifted. The paralysis drug was almost worn off. Even a punishment came with a time limit. I stared at the whip in my father's hand, hungry for blood.

"Unfilial girl, today I'll teach you properly what it means to honor your brother and respect your parents."

"Dear Father, you'd better beat me to death. Otherwise all of you are dying with me."

"Dad, don't hit her. Hit me instead. I'm the one who took everything from her. She's right to blame me, right to hate me. I'll just leave."

Gayle spun around and crumpled to the floor in a faint, and the whole family swarmed to her. I stood there like an outsider who didn't belong.

"This is all your fault. You had to keep pushing Gayle. She's innocent and kind, and your ugly, vicious countryside face isn't worth a single finger of hers."

My fists clenched so hard the skin on my palms split, my fingertips slick with blood.

"I came back for exactly thisto disgust you and this fake."

Gayle looked ready to cough up blood, listening to me call her a fake with every breath. All around us, people were starting to look at her differently.

"I think I really should go, Mom."

"No. You're my precious darling. You can't leave."

But they didn't dare tell me to go either, because they'd brought me back for a reason. Otherwise they never would have looked for me at all.

I shifted again, strength finally seeping back into my body.

"Everything was fine before you came back. The moment you showed up, Gayle's either sick or drowning or getting threatened. You're a jinx."

I looked at this brother of mine. Supposedly we were fraternal twins, and we did look alike, but his heart was nothing like mine.

I tore free of the men holding me and went straight at him with a kick.

"Are you my twin or hers? Calling me a jinxlike you're any better?"

"You, youyou're just throwing a tantrum!"

Vincent couldn't get a single sentence out, glaring at me red-faced, stuck on you, you, you and me, me, me.

"Sister, don't pick on him. If you have a problem, take it out on me. Let him go, I'm begging you."

"Then you can take it in his place."

"Stop it, you unfilial girl."

Just as my hand swung down at her, my dear father's whip came lashing at me.

"Thwack!"

"Dad, don't hit her. Hit me. I'll take her punishment for her."

"Look at your sister. Everything she does is for you. And youheart like a viper, too blind to know good from bad."

3: 3

I wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth and laughed, loud.

I staggered to the middle of the stage, smashed the whole mountain of glasses, and pulled out a bottle full of gasoline.

"She's insane, this eldest Henson daughter is a lunatic. Let's go, I'm not dying in here."

"Don't leave, don't leave, everyone get back here."

Her nice little birthday party, wrecked by me. Gayle Henson looked like she wanted me dead.

"Sister, why are you doing this to me? You want me dead? Fine, I'll die for you to see."

"Then go ahead and die for me to see. Or we all die together. Not one of us gets to live. We'll all check in at the gates of hell nice and neat."

My mother backed away, too scared to move, but the filth kept pouring out of her mouth.

"You worthless curse. Poor Gayle, you've suffered because of her."

"I'm not suffering, Mom. But seeing my sister like this, I feel so guilty, it breaks my heart."

"None of this is your fault, Gayle. It's all her fault. She's a demon. You'll always be my only sister."

Vincent Henson had made his position clear. It stung, a small sharp pain in my chest, and at that same instant he suddenly clutched at his own heart, shot me a glance, then looked away fast. I knew what that was. The twin thing.

I laughed. So this was what family love looked like.

"You have to give all that love to your sister. Only then will she let go of her hatred and live with us. All of us together, that's what's good."

"That's my good girl, Gayle. Look how your sister thinks only of you, with her whole heart. And you? Your brother's right. You're a curse."

I lit the strip of cloth right there. Their faces went white.

"Stop it, stop it, have you lost your mind?"

"Yes, I've lost my mind. You drove me to it. In another life I was a firstborn legitimate daughter too, and a fake is living off everything that was mine, and still acting like she's the one doing me a favor."

My fingers were about to let go.

"Stop. Stop right now. Just tell me what you want. Anything I can do, I'll do it."

"Sign everything in her name back over to me. Right now. Or we all die."

The sky had fallen in on Gayle Henson. Fainting wouldn't save her this time.

"It all belongs to Gayle. Why should it go to you?"

"Why should a fake sit on what's mine? Stop wasting my time. Are you giving it back or not?"

"Once you're dead you'll have nothing. Want to bet on whether you run faster than the fire spreads?"

I raised my hand higher. They didn't dare gamble. I stared at the loving little family, all of them. I was the one true eldest daughter of the Hensons, and I had to claw back what was mine like this. Almost funny.

In the end they just couldn't out-crazy me. I didn't stop until every transfer went through.

"Lunatic. Don't worry, Gayle, everything I have is yours from now on. Don't you fret."

The grief on her face flipped back to life in a heartbeat.

"It's all right, Mom. As long as we're still together, that's all that matters."

And she looked at me, smug, while she said it.

The four of them moved to another place to keep celebrating Gayle Henson's birthday, and me, the curse, they left behind like trash.

My whole body gave out and I slid to the floor. Nothing left of the fire from a moment ago.

"Miss, let me get you back to your room. You're too foolish. Doing this does you no good at all."

I gave a cold little laugh.

"But if I don't do it, I get nothing either."

"If they throw you out, all of this just falls to the eldest Miss for free."

I patted her head. The only servant who was ever kind to me.

They'd brought me back because Dennis Sullivan, the young heir of the Sullivan family, had both legs ruined in a car accident, and they couldn't bear to marry Gayle Henson off to him, so they came and dug me up instead.

The Sullivans stood at the head of the four great families. Without the betrothal, the Hensons wouldn't have come close to them. But now that Dennis Sullivan was stuck in a wheelchair for the rest of his days, unable to perform in that way too, marrying him meant a life of widowhood on top of it.

There was no way Gayle Henson would live like that. So this was the trick she came up with.

The four of them looked closer than ever, a happy family, as if they were putting on a show just to spite me. I only gave a cold little smile. This kind of family feeling meant nothing to me.

Sister, the Sullivans' elder heir is coming over today to discuss the marriage. I'll have to trouble you to receive him. I don't want you getting the wrong idea, so I'll marry myself off as quickly as I can.

Gayle, no. There's no need to make yourself suffer like this. Mama won't allow you to sacrifice yourself.

How sweet it all sounded. If I remembered right, she'd already messaged Dennis long ago, saying I'd driven her out and stolen the marriage from her.

Mama, it's no hardship for me. The Sullivans' younger heir and I truly love each other. What matters most is that Sister is happy.

The moment they heard "the Sullivans' younger heir," they lit up, praising her for being so sensible.

With Dennis crippled, the Sullivan company would basically pass into the younger heir's hands. She had this all worked out down to the last cent.

So it really was you who snatched Gayle's marriage. A country woman like you, thinking you could marry into the Sullivan family? Pure delusion.

Funny thing is, I don't want to marry you either. Wasn't it your precious dream goddess who climbed into your brother's bed? So they sent me in as the sacrificial pawn. Ngh!"

Pain shot through my body.

He is the child of fortune. Your job is to make him hate you, not to make him hate the female lead

You unnatural girl. Spouting nonsense again just to frame Gayle. That poor child has such a bitter fate.

I'm warning you, don't you dare slander Gayle. She has a kind heart. She only did this so the Hensons wouldn't be put in a hard spot.

Lying to yourself. All three of your legs are useless, so who would marry you now? She's off in your brother's bed, enjoying his affection. Pfft!

A mouthful of fresh blood came pouring out.

Deviation from the plot. Backlash incurred

My mother shouted.

The second daughter has lost her mind. Lock her up at once. Yes, lock her in the psychiatric hospital.

Ha, so now you're humiliated and furious? Let me tell you, she's slept with more men than you've got fingers on both hands. What is it you love about her? That she's fast, or just that shameless?

Gayle isn't that kind of person. Stop slandering her here. She broke up with me for your sake.

Dennis, if I were you, I'd go and die right now. A useless thing wastes air while it's alive and hogs land once it's dead.

Shut your mouth. Pfft!

Dennis dropped straight to the floor, and the men he'd brought rushed to crowd around him.

Sir, I'll get you to the hospital.

Thousand-arrows torment on standby

Aah

The savage look on my face startled all of them.

Your brother can make her happy. Can you? You useless thing. If I were Gayle Henson, I wouldn't want you either. You're not even fit for a village girl like me. Spineless waste.

The child of fortune is about to be enraged to death. You undercover System, let's see how you force me to do your tasks now

Doubled

Pfft!

They were all frightened. None of them had laid a finger on him, so how had he coughed up blood?

Gayle isn't that kind of person.

Ha, don't believe me? Go to the hospital and check how many reconstructive surgeries she's had. Oh, and the abortions too. You have no idea how many men have had her, you fool.

Cover her mouth. No, no, I'm going to kill this unnatural girl. Nonsense, slander, framing people. I should have strangled you to death.

She couldn't let me ruin Gayle Henson, the girl she'd raised with her own hands. Still shouting, she reached for me.

The tenfold punishment left me with no strength to fight back, and I could only let her clamp her hands around my throat.

Dennis was frozen where he sat, in no state to bother with me, and the other two Henson men wanted to devour me alive. There was no chance they'd save me.

I'll kill you. What did the Hensons ever do to you, that you'd harm us like this?

My face had already turned purple, and I struggled to draw breath.

Host, be a good spineless female lead and I'll spare your life

In your dreams. Let me tell you, I won't die, because my backing, your nemesis, is on his way

At the very last moment, the doors were pushed open.

I'm here. No one lays a hand on Deborah Henson.