"Ava, stop pretending to sleep. Get up quickly!"

The voice near her ear was incredibly vivid. Ava opened her eyes in a daze, and an elegant face appeared in her sight. Her beautifully furrowed eyebrows hid a touch of dissatisfaction.

Was this... her mother?

Ava blinked, somewhat perplexed.

Hadn't she just been battling a ghost king in the cultivation world? Why did she return here as soon as she opened her eyes?

What was happening?

With a headache splitting her skull open, she instinctively reached to soothe the throbbing part of her forehead, but the stunning woman next to her only became more impatient.

Your forehead has already been bandaged, and there's nothing wrong with you! Get up quickly, follow me next door to apologize to Juju! Juju is your sister. How could you push her down the stairs?

The stunning woman's words brought Ava back to her distant past.

That was in her previous life, a hundred years before she was taken to the cultivation world by the system. She had lived a short but miserable life.

In that past life, she was originally the rich Smith Family's beloved daughter, but ended up being swapped by human traffickers at a young age. After enduring unbearable suffering, she wound up in an orphanage.

Born with the ability to see beyond the veil, Ava possessed a rare gift in Ethereal Eyes. She could perceive the hidden realms where entities lurked, unseen by others. But this blessing became a curse. Malevolent beings tormented her relentlessly, and children shunned her.

After turning eighteen and without funds for schooling, she had to venture into society to work. To pay for rent and living expenses, she did all kinds of jobs from dawn till dusk. There was even a point where she fainted from exhaustion in her dilapidated rental room.

Yet at twenty-two, destiny changed its course; the Smith Family found her and brought her back home.

She went from a poor girl to the affluent heiress again!

Having never experienced familial love before, she cherished her newfound relatives. She was cautious, genuinely anxious, and devoted her heart to pleasing them, hoping to be part of a complete family.

Yet, they didn't seem to care about her, favoring the previously false heiress Julia, instead.

Julia was their beloved darling, who had been well-educated since childhood. Her outstanding charisma and talent captured their hearts.

Whenever Julia showed a bit of displeasure, they would unhesitatingly blame her, even regretting having brought her back home.

Under repeated rebukes and ignorances, she changed her mindset, furiously envying Julia and continually making life difficult for her.

Yet, every time, it only made her more embarrassed and caused the Smith Family to loathe her even more.

Until the same day in her previous life, at a welcome banquet held by the Smith Family, she got into another argument with Julia, and both of them fell down the stairs.

While Julia only got a few scratches, the Smith Family was in a panicked rush to send her to the hospital.

As for her, she lay ignored in her blood, lost consciousness because of severe blood loss, and ended up being teleported to a world of cultivators, where she spent a full hundred years.

But now, as she opens her eyes, she finds herself back in this world, lying in a hospital bed.

Was this a rewind in time?

Fueled by vague memories, Ava recalled, at the moment, she was gradually losing consciousness in her blood pool. It was the eldest son of the Smith Family, Alexander Smith, who discovered her and sent her to the hospital.

All her memories surged back, unsettling her previously calm mood.

"Why should I apologize to her?"

She propped herself up with one hand and sat up, leaning against the hospital bed, staring at the beautiful lady, Josephine Pearl. Her pale lips curled into sardonic contempt.

"Why am I the one who has to apologize when she has merely a scratch, but I fainted because of excessive blood loss?"

"Did nobody see that after the fall, she used me as her cushion? Aren't we related by blood? How can you be so partial?"

"How have we been partial?" Josephine Pearl trembled in anger. "You are my daughter. How could I be biased?"

"Really?" Ava gave a hollow laugh. "While you were hurrying to bring the slightly injured Julia to the hospital, who remembered me, the one she had pinned down, my body covered in blood?"

"This..." Josephine Pearl was speechless and had tears welling in her eyes.

The expressions of the Smith Family members changed slightly. Before they had time to speak, the door of the ward had already been pushed open.

Julia, with her pale face and tear-streaked cheeks, walked in.

"Mom, you all shouldn't blame Avy. It's not her fault. It's me... I blamed myself for not standing firm and instinctively grabbed her hand before I fell."

"It's all my fault. If I had stood firm, no matter how anyone pushed, I wouldn't have fallen. Ava wouldn't have been hurt too... I should be the one apologizing to Ava..."

Julia's face looked gentle and pitiful, making the Smith Family's hearts ache instantly.

Josephine Pearl's heart immediately softened, and she hugged her tenderly. "Juju, don't say that. It's not your fault; you are the victim."

The corners of Julia's mouth curved into a small smirk. In a place unseen by the Smith Family, she shot a triumphant and provocative look at Ava.

"Is Ava okay? Will she blame me?"

Just as Josephine Pearl was about to say no, Ava opened her mouth. "Of course, I blame you."

Josephine Pearl was suddenly upset and angry, and turned her attention to Ava. "Ava, you almost killed Julia! She is so kind-hearted, not blaming you, and even consoling you, on what grounds should you blame her? How can you act like this, child?"

On what grounds should I blame her? Ava stared at Julia expressionlessly.

"She took away my parents, took away my life, took away all that I had. Not only do I blame her, I wish she would die” Once these words were spoken, the entire place was filled with gasps of surprise.

Josephine Pearl was fuming, her face deathly pale. She shielded Julia behind her and glared at Ava angrily. "How could you say such things? Julia is innocent!"

Ava shook her head with a sarcastic laugh, a flash of hurt in her eyes.

"She's innocent? Her mother ruined my life. She unabashedly claimed what was mine. If she's innocent, what about me?"

"While she was enjoying the most luxurious life, a life that should have belonged to me, I was being ostracized in an orphanage, with no one to rely on, to where even getting a full meal was a luxury. Am I not innocent?"

"While my parents and brothers pampered her, I had to work several jobs and collapsed because of exhaustion in my rental room for three full days, with no one aware, no one caring. Am I not innocent?"

"While she was receiving the best education, I couldn't even afford college. I was always hungry and cold. Even survival was a challenge. Am I not innocent?"

"Even when I returned to the Smith Family, and longed for a loving, complete, and happy home, she could effortlessly attract all your attention and preference."

"Am I not innocent?" Ava's series of questions made the room exceptionally quiet.

Josephine Pearl’s eyes started to tear up, the pain apparent in them: “Ava, I know how hard it is for you. I will make it up to you. But all of this is not Julia's fault. She didn't wish for it to be this way…"

"I am not a saint, unable to show such magnanimity."

Ava closed her eyes, tears sliding down from the corners of her eyes. When I was tumbling down the stairs, I was in great pain; the parents who hold blood ties with me, my siblings, everyone only had eyes for her, the injured one. When they were rushing to send her to the hospital with worried faces, I was in great pain.

"It hurts too, when you are lying in a pool of blood, waiting for death. "

Such memories are too despairing.

She was enveloped in darkness, slowly succumbing to suffocation.

"If I had known it would turn out like this, I would rather not have come back. At least that way, I could still have some hope and anticipation for familial love. I could still dream that the parents and siblings who share my blood care deeply for me, love me."

Ava hooks up a smile at the corner of her lips. Her pallor illuminates her vulnerability, invoking pity in others.

Josephine Pearl burst into tears, "Ava, it is not like that…"

"Forget it. I don’t want to pursue this anymore. I need some quiet. I'm feeling dizzy," Ava said. "Could you all please leave?"

The Smith Family members were quiet. After exchanging glances with one another for a moment, they left the room.

The moment the door of the ward closed, Ava's expression instantly returned to calm. No trace of weakness or disappointment could be found.

She tapped the bedside cabinet lightly and said softly, "System, come out."