Loveless Sacrifice

In this world, there exists a place called the Life Pawnshop.

As long as you possess enough Love Value—the genuine affection held for you by your family or spouse—you can trade it there for any miracle.

My biological brother, Noah, died in a car crash. My parents, my husband—everyone was forcing me to go to the pawnshop and use my Love Value to bring him back.

The pawnshop's laws were absolute and unforgiving: a sacrifice of a life for a life required the pawner to be of the exact same generation as the deceased, bound by deep ties of blood or fate.

That meant in this entire family, only I and the adopted daughter, Chloe, were eligible to make the trade.

But what my family didn't know was that I had already exhausted every last drop of my Love Value for this very family.

If someone with zero Love Value forcibly stepped onto the altar, the pawnshop's punishment mechanism would crush the sacrificer alive, skin and bone.

...

"Elena! How much longer are you going to play dead? Noah is still lying in the morgue, and you, his older sister, have the nerve to dawdle here!"

My mother glared at me, her eyes brimming with undisguised disgust.

"I... I don't have any Love Value left," I choked out. "Mom, I really can't go to the pawnshop. If I force the trade, it'll kill me..."

Five years ago, when she was diagnosed with a terminal illness, I had already gone to the pawnshop.

I exhausted all my Love Value just to buy back her life.

"Shut up!" my father roared. He strode over, grabbed me by the collar, and hauled me violently off the floor.

"Still lying! You married Arthur, and we gave you the title of the Miller family's eldest daughter. How could you possibly have no Love Value? You're just selfish! You just want to watch your brother die!"

I was choking, unable to breathe. The pain in my chest spread wildly like suffocating vines.

Ten years ago, I was brought back as the true, long-lost biological daughter.

At first, my parents had held my hands and said, "Years of raising a child are just as important as bloodlines. From now on, you and Chloe are both our most cherished daughters."

I had been so blissfully naive, thinking I finally had a home. But that fragile balance was effortlessly shredded by Chloe.

When I baked cookies for Noah, Chloe secretly laced them with crushed peanuts.

Watching Noah collapse in anaphylactic shock, she stood off to the side, trembling and crying, hesitantly dropping hints that I had done it on purpose.

"How could we have given birth to something as vicious as you!"

My father slapped me to the ground.

Under the guise of "protecting" Chloe and Noah, my parents punished me by locking me in the pitch-black basement for three days.

From that moment on, no matter what I did, in their eyes, I was always wrong.

Once, when Noah was sick and needed a blood transfusion, Chloe faked a fainting spell to get out of it.

I was the one who let them draw 800ccs of my blood, but in the end, it was Chloe who my parents pulled into a tearful, grateful embrace.

"Let her go, Dad. Maybe Elena really isn't feeling well." A soft, fragile voice drifted in from the hallway.

Chloe turned to look at me, a fleeting, triumphant gleam flashing in her doe eyes. "Elena, I know you don't like Noah. I know you think he stole Mom and Dad's attention away from you. But he's so young... If you really don't want to go, let me do it. Even if my Love Value isn't enough, even if the pawnshop drains my life away, I'm willing to sacrifice myself for this family."

"Nonsense!" My mother immediately pulled Chloe into a fiercely protective embrace, her tears falling instantly. "You have such a weak body, how could you possibly survive that place? If anyone has to die, it should be this heartless, ungrateful wretch!"

My heart violently recoiled. Even though it was already riddled with holes, hearing my own biological mother say, If anyone has to die, it should be her, still suffocated me.

Just then, my husband, Arthur, appeared at the door.

His frigid gaze swept over my pathetic, crumpled form without a single ripple of emotion—as though he were looking at a nauseating piece of trash.

"Arthur..." I trembled, reaching out toward him like he was my last lifeline.

Ten years ago, during a massive highway pileup, I was the one who dragged him out of his burning car. My back is still covered in sprawling burn scars from that day.

We had genuinely, deeply loved each other once.

But everything changed the moment I returned to the Miller family, the moment he met Chloe.

With just a few tears and some hesitant hints of grievance, Chloe effortlessly painted me as a vicious, jealous woman who threw her bloodline around to bully others.

Through her repeated manipulations, his love for me was completely ground down into nothing but defensiveness and disgust.

Arthur swatted my hand away in disgust. He walked straight to Chloe, gently draping a coat over her shoulders.

When he turned to look back at me, his eyes iced over once more. "Elena, drop this pathetic victim act. Do you think this will get you out of your responsibility? Noah is your own brother. Even if it costs you your life, it's the least you can do."

I stared at Arthur—the man I had loved for ten years—and felt like a ball of cotton was lodged in my throat. I couldn't utter a single word.

A tear fell, shattering against the back of my hand.

"Fine," I heard my own voice say. "I'll do it. I'll go to the Life Pawnshop."

Hearing my concession, my mother let out a cold snort. "At least you still have a shred of conscience."

My father finally released his grip, and I collapsed onto the floor like a broken ragdoll.

Arthur kept his arm around Chloe's shoulders, turning on his heel without a backward glance.

Right as they rounded the corner, Chloe peeked over her shoulder, a victorious smirk sweeping across her lips.

I closed my eyes, but my fingers curled into tight fists.

A desperate, pathetic sliver of hope sparked in my chest: If I can just find a way to make them—my parents, or even Arthur—feel a single ounce of genuine love for me before we step foot in that pawnshop... maybe I won't have to die.