After I Learned To Obey Why Did My Family Start To Regret It? Chapter 01
After my family discovered that I had faked my death, I stopped fighting back.
Tiffany laughed at me for failing to stay dead. She said I would have to spend the rest of my life watching everyone love her, then asked why I had not cried myself blind with jealousy.
So I snapped a branch from the tree beside me and drove it into my left eye.
My family screamed and rushed to restrain me. They barely managed to save the other eye.
They had only just left to fetch medicine when my second brother, Sean, stormed into my room.
“You’ve been back for less than a day, and you’ve already made Tiffany cry.” His mouth twisted with disgust. “I wish both your legs were broken. Then maybe you’d stay in this room where you belong.”
I climbed onto the windowsill and let go.
The impact shattered my leg. A jagged piece of bone tore through the skin, and blood spread beneath me.
Sean went white.
That night, at dinner, Tiffany was still upset.
She secretly poisoned her own food, then collapsed at the feet of my eldest brother, Gerald, the cold-blooded Alpha.
Gerald flew into a rage. He grabbed a knife and came for me, as if killing me would rid the family of its curse.
I did not wait for him.
I lowered my head and ate Tiffany’s food.
It did not take long before blood ran from the corner of my mouth.
My family broke down.
They forced me to spit out the poisoned food, then pulled me into their arms. By the time they asked what had happened to me, their voices were already hoarse.
I looked at them, confused.
Hadn’t they all said I was petty?
Hadn’t they accused me of being jealous of Tiffany?
Now I was being obedient. I did whatever they told me to do.
So what were they still unhappy about?
…
Tears streamed down Anne’s cheeks. My mother raised a shaking hand and smoothed the stray hair at my temple.
“Harriet, I know I was wrong. I won’t hit you again. I won’t scold you like I used to. Can’t you go back to the way you were?”
There was a faint hope in her expression.
I felt nothing.
“Is it because I’m blind now? Because I’m not as pretty as I used to be?”
Her lips parted, but no words came out.
Sean leaned against the door and gave a short, bitter laugh.
“Enough. You’ve done all this, and now you think hurting yourself will make it go away?”
I lowered my gaze and pretended not to hear him.
Tiffany had always known how to hide what she was. Even after I had been driven to fake my death and disappear for two years, they still believed everything had been my fault.
But the truth no longer mattered to me.
Gerald’s fingers clamped around my arm. He dragged me across the room and threw me in front of Tiffany.
“Apologize to her.”
The knife was still in his hand.
If I refused, he looked ready to use it.
I sat quietly on the floor as if I did not see the blade at all.
Tiffany covered her eyes and shrank into Sean’s arms. She looked terrified, but the corner of her mouth lifted.
The knife was about to come down when Anne threw herself in front of me.
The blade cut deep into her arm. Blood poured out at once.
“Why?” Anne looked at me as if I were tearing her apart. “We’re trying to be fair. If you want something, say it. Does Tiffany have to die before you’ll be satisfied?”
I stared at her for a moment, then shook my head.
“Tiffany won’t die.”
The fire from two years ago rose in my memory.
I remembered my skin burning. I remembered the air thinning in my lungs, every breath turning sharp and useless.
Gerald and Sean had passed in front of me again and again.
Neither of them looked at me.
They searched for Tiffany in a panic. The moment the family found her, they carried her out without hesitation.
They could not bear to lose Tiffany.
But they could abandon me, their biological daughter.
So if someone had to die, it would always be me.
Their beloved Tiffany would never die.
With them protecting her, she might never even be hurt.
Anne’s hands slipped from my shoulders. All her strength seemed to leave her at once.
The room went silent.
Then Tiffany began to cry.
She looked at me with that same helpless, wounded expression she had always used so well.
“Sean already gave me the antidote. I’m fine now. Harriet was only joking with me, right?”
I had just lifted my head when she took Elton’s arm and leaned against him like a child begging for a treat.
“Harriet didn’t mean it. We’re getting along much better now. She still can’t shift, but she’s the Alpha’s sister. She should come to the academy with me. Please let her.”
Before my first shift, Tiffany had poisoned me with silver.
I failed to shift and fell seriously ill.
Elton was bitterly disappointed. After that, he cared even more for Tiffany, who had shifted successfully, and refused to let me attend the academy. He said I would only embarrass the family.
I had begged him countless times.
It had never mattered.
Now my father looked at me closely, as if afraid to miss even the smallest change in my expression. When I stayed calm, his voice softened in a way that almost sounded careful.
“Harriet, do you want to go?”
Before I could answer, Gerald spoke.
“She’s back, and she’s learned to behave. Starting tomorrow, she’ll go with Tiffany. Even if she can’t shift, at least no one can laugh at her for knowing nothing.”
He looked at Anne, who was still shielding me, then put the knife away and left.
I closed my mouth.
There was nothing more to say.
