The Fake Heiress Told on Her Own System

The voice in my head called itself the Favoritism System.

It said I was the false heiress, that the true daughter would come home and ruin me, and that my only chance was to steal everyone’s affection first.

I was ten.

So naturally, I cried and told my entire family.

Grandpa ordered DNA tests. Mom threatened to tear someone’s mouth off. My brother offered to drive me away in his toy truck.

The test came back positive: I really was fake.

But instead of throwing me out, the Vale family began searching for their lost daughter.

Twelve years later, they found her.

And the woman who came home was not the jealous true heiress the system had promised.

She was far more terrifying.

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When I was ten, a thing called the Favoritism System showed up in my head.

Its voice was flat, cold, and horribly clear.

[Binding complete.]

[Warning: Host is the false heiress of the Vale family. Host's true identity is an ordinary family's daughter, maliciously switched at birth.]

[At twenty-two, the true heiress will return to the Vale family and take back everything. Host will be driven out, humiliated, and left homeless. Host will die under a bridge on the night of her twenty-fifth birthday.]

It probably said more after that. Something about earning affection points, changing fate, fighting for love.

I didn't listen.

I was ten. I had grown up with Grandpa spoiling me, Mom and Dad indulging me, and my little brother following me around with toy trucks. I had never suffered anything worse than Grandpa confiscating my tablet for three days.

So I did the only thing a spoiled ten-year-old could do.

I burst into tears.

Barefoot, I ran out of my second-floor room, stumbled down the stairs, and flung myself into the living room.

Grandpa was reading the newspaper. Mom and Dad were discussing where to take us for summer vacation. My eight-year-old brother, Evan, was on the rug, pushing a yellow dump truck over Dad's slipper.

I rushed to my parents and sobbed so hard I could barely breathe.

"I'm not your daughter! I have to go find my real mom and dad! Goodbye, Mom! Goodbye, Dad! Tonight I sail for distant shores!"

Then I turned to Grandpa. "Goodbye, Grandpa."

Evan reacted first. He raised his toy truck with bright, loyal eyes.

"Clara can ride in my truck!"

My parents, who had never been famous for quick thinking, froze for a full thirty seconds.

Mom recovered first. She grabbed me into her arms, her voice shaking. "Clara, who told you that? Tell Mom. I'll tear their mouth off."

Dad's face went green. He picked up his phone and started checking the security cameras.

Only Grandpa lowered his newspaper and looked at me for a while.

Then he picked up the landline.

"Call Dr. Zhang. Take samples. Expedited DNA tests. The whole family."

After giving the order, he pulled me gently from Mom's arms and wiped my face with his rough thumb.

"Clara," he said, "tell Grandpa why you suddenly said that."

So I told them everything.

The voice in my head. The system. The claim that I was fake. The true daughter who would come back when I was twenty-two. The part where I would be thrown out and die.

With every sentence, Mom and Dad went paler.

Grandpa only nodded.

"Good girl," he said. "Don't cry. We wait for the result."

The report arrived the next afternoon.

I was not my parents' biological daughter.

Mom covered her mouth and cried. Dad let out a long, helpless sigh. Evan clutched the hem of my shirt and whispered, "Do you really have to leave?"

Grandpa put the report down.

"Clara. Come here."

I went to him.

"When you were switched, you were an infant," he said. "You did not choose it. The fault is not yours."

My eyes stung again.

"But the Vale family's real child is out there," he continued. "She may have suffered for years. Everything you have now should have been hers."

I lowered my head.

"So whether you stay or leave cannot be decided by us today. We will find her. When she comes back, she will decide."

Grandpa's voice did not soften, but his hand stayed on my shoulder.

"What the Vale family can promise is this: until you turn eighteen, you will be raised here. Before you leave, you will have the best life and the best education we can give you, so that even if one day you must stand alone, you can live well."

"All the allowance and gifts you receive before leaving will remain yours. The Vale family does not mistreat children."

I nodded hard.

From that day on, I remembered two things.

First, I was the Vale family's false heiress.

Second, when I turned twenty-two, the true heiress would come.