Chapter 2

"Grace! You actually held Lily's hand in boiling water over a piece of candy — she saved your life! How do I have such an ungrateful, vicious sister?!"

The familiar voice rang in my ears. I slowly opened my eyes and stared at the scene in front of me.

This was five years ago. The day I burned Lily's hand.

I really had been reborn.

The Ethan standing before me had no blood at the corner of his mouth. No bullet holes in his body.

My nose stung. I forced down the flood of emotions rising in my chest and spoke in a hoarse voice:

"I'm sorry, Ethan. I shouldn't have burned Lily's hand."

Ethan froze.

I looked at him and let out a bitter smile.

That piece of candy — it was the one he'd pressed into my palm the day our parents died in the car accident. His eyes had been red, and he'd been trying so hard to comfort me.

"Grace, don't cry. I'm here. I'll take care of you for the rest of my life."

Ethan had only been a teenager back then. The weight of the whole family had crashed down on him without warning — and he still had little me to look after.

It made sense that he'd forgotten. I shouldn't have held onto it.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and turned to bow deeply toward Lily, who lay in the hospital bed:

"I'm sorry. I won't try to take your brother away from you anymore."

Lily blinked, and her eyes slowly turned red. She looked like she was about to cry again:

"Grace, I didn't mean to step on that candy. Please don't—"

Without a word, I turned, picked up the kettle of just-boiled water on the bedside table, and poured it over my own right arm without hesitation.

Searing pain exploded across my skin. Cold sweat instantly soaked through my shirt. I was shaking so hard I could barely breathe.

"Is that enough?"

The two of them were completely stunned by my sudden shift in behavior. It was Ethan who snapped out of it first. He lunged forward and grabbed my arm, shouting:

"Grace, are you out of your mind?!"

Before I could answer, he was already barking at the assistant standing by the door:

"What are you standing there for? Get a doctor!"

Something warm flickered through me. I watched the scene with quiet relief.

Right now, Ethan still cared about me.

The eyes he turned on me weren't just cold and full of disgust.

That was enough.

Even if this love was never truly mine to keep.

I still clung to the warmth of it.

But before I could say another word, Lily grabbed the hem of Ethan's shirt and sobbed:

"Ethan, I know Grace wants all your attention for herself — but she shouldn't be hurting herself on purpose."

Then she turned to me, crying and pleading:

"Grace, you and Ethan are real siblings. I'm the outsider here. Please stop hurting yourself, okay?"

Ethan's expression grew noticeably cooler at her words.

Seeing that, I quietly closed the mouth I'd been about to open.

A second later, just as I expected, Ethan's voice turned cold:

"I actually let myself hope you'd changed. What a fool I was. You never change, do you? Are you really my sister? What kind of person even does this?"

Those cruel words were nothing compared to what he'd said in my past life. I lowered my head in submission:

"Fine. Whatever you say."

"You—!"

Ethan's jaw tightened. He raised his hand and pointed at me, unable to speak for a long moment. Then he turned to the assistant:

"Take her to get her arm bandaged. And keep her away from Lily. She's exhausting."

I nodded and quietly stepped out.

But I didn't go get bandaged.

From the moment I'd come back, a familiar sharp pain had been radiating from my kidneys, spreading to every nerve ending in my body.

The pain was so bad I could barely stay on my feet.

Because this was the day. In my past life, this was the day the kidney disease had been discovered.

Without a transplant, I had two weeks to live.