Chapter 5

After that night, the house was quiet for several days.

There were no cases, and I was happy to have the free time to organize my tools and materials in my storage room.

I just didn't understand why my parents seemed so on edge. They saw me like mice seeing a cat, taking detours to avoid me.

Cameron even took several days off, not daring to go to the hospital. He locked himself in his room all day.

This eerie atmosphere continued until my birthday, when it finally improved a bit.

My father Maxwell saw that I'd been well-behaved for these past days and hadn't actually "processed" them, so he finally relaxed a little.

He decided to throw me a grand birthday party to publicly announce my identity as the real daughter and introduce me to his business partners.

He assigned the task of preparing the dress to Violet.

But because of what happened that night, Violet both feared and hated me. A huge shadow had already taken root in her heart.

Plus, she wanted to humiliate me in front of everyone, so she didn't tell me about this at all.

On the day of the birthday party, I'd just returned from the lab.

I hadn't even had time to change out of my work clothes before the servants rushed me to the banquet hall.

My clothes gave off a smell of corpses that outsiders found unbearable.

I dealt with corpses every day and was long used to it, so I didn't pay attention.

When I pushed open the banquet hall doors, it instantly fell silent.

All eyes focused on me simultaneously.

Several ladies near me even instinctively stepped back and dramatically fanned their noses with their hands.

Whispers arose. "This is the daughter the Harper family just found? Why did she come dressed like that? She looks so shabby."

"More than shabby---can you smell that? What a strange odor. Just looking at her is bad luck."

Violet ran over to me with fake concern. "Raven, why did you come dressed like this? Didn't Dad ask you to dress up?"

She pretended to be anxious. "Oh no, did I forget to tell you where the dressing room was? I have lots of new dresses in my closet. Why didn't you tell me?"

Just then, a mocking voice rang out.

It was my father's rival, President Quincy from Quincy Corporation.

He walked over with a wine glass, pot-bellied, pointing at me with utter contempt. "Well, well, Maxwell, where did you dig up this daughter of yours? From some graveyard? Just looking at her gives me the creeps!"

My father Maxwell's face turned iron blue.

I raised my head and looked coldly at that foul-mouthed President Quincy.

[This guy---I think his name is Quincy Sterling?]

[The higher-ups told me to keep an eye on him. I haven't even gone looking for him yet, and he's delivered himself to my door.]

[I doubt he'll be jumping around much longer. Still so arrogant when death is at his doorstep. I don't mind working overtime to send him off early.]

The moment my thoughts fell.

"Ahhh---!" President Quincy suddenly clutched his head and let out a piercing scream.

His eyes bulged. His whole body fell straight backward.

"Thud!" His corpulent body crashed to the floor. Blood began flowing uncontrollably from his nose and mouth.

The entire venue fell deathly silent.

Everyone looked at me in terror, as if looking at a witch.

My father Maxwell pointed at me with a trembling hand, his lips quivering, unable to utter a single word. "...It was you... you did this?"

I looked at President Quincy twitching on the ground and curved my lips into a cold smile. [Work's here. This old bastard was so arrogant, and now he's fallen into my hands anyway.]