Last life, a wealthy benefactor sponsored me, giving me a bracelet.
His daughter, however, used that very bracelet to drain my luck and vitality.
When I uncovered the truth, his entire family pushed me down the stairs, leaving me to die on the spot.
Reborn, I returned to the day I received that bracelet…
The scent of antiseptic stung my nose.
The activity room of the orphanage had peeling paint on its white walls.
I stood in line, my nails digging into my palms.
In front of me was Mr. Donovan Sterling, impeccably dressed in a suit, with his elegantly adorned wife beside him.
Behind them, a camera pointed directly at us.
“Today is a wonderful day,” Mrs. Charlotte Sterling said, her voice sickly sweet.
“We will be sponsoring ten children, from elementary school all the way through college.”
The camera panned across the faces of us orphans.
My name is Skylar.
In my previous life, today was *that* day.
I and nine other girls, chosen for being the most presentable and well-behaved, were selected.
Mrs. Sterling gave each of us a silver bracelet. It was ice-cold, engraved with an ugly flower.
“This is a gift for you,” she said.
“When you see it, think of us.”
Back then, my eyes were filled only with gratitude.
I believed good days were finally coming.
I was so incredibly naive it hurt.
“Next.”
It was my turn.
Mrs. Sterling picked up a bracelet, ready to slip it onto my wrist.
I sharply stepped back.
Everyone froze.
The camera hesitated, then focused on me.
Mr. Sterling frowned. “Child, what’s wrong?”
I lowered my head, my voice trembling, feigning fear.
“My… my mom always told me not to take things from strangers.”
It was a lie.
I had no mom.
But the orphanage teachers had taught me: feigned weakness always drew sympathy.
Mrs. Sterling’s smile stiffened for a second, then quickly melted back into place.
“Auntie isn’t a bad person, dear. This is for your own good.”
“But…” I looked up, forcing a few tears into my eyes. “I’m afraid I’ll lose it. It looks too valuable.”
Some children around me snickered.
They probably thought I was foolish, turning down a good life.
Mr. Sterling grew impatient and waved his hand. “Forget it. Next.”
I let out a sigh of relief, my back drenched in sweat.
The bracelet hadn’t been put on.
This life, step one, was a success.
After the event, the selected girls surrounded Mrs. Sterling, chattering excitedly.
The silver bracelets on their wrists shimmered coldly under the lights.
I hid in a corner, watching them.
In my previous life, they were just like me.
Believing they had grasped a lifeline.
And what happened later?
Later, our grades plummeted.
No matter how hard we studied, the textbooks made no sense.
Our health deteriorated, constant minor illnesses plagued us, and our faces were sickly pale.
Our looks deteriorated beyond words, becoming plain, even unattractive.
The kids at the orphanage who hadn’t been chosen started to mock us.
“Are they brain-damaged by money?”
“Serves them right for dreaming big.”
The cyberbullying against us was even worse.
“Typical orphans, no upbringing, just got money and fell apart.”
“Growing uglier and meaner, definitely ungrateful.”
I was the target of the most vicious online attacks because I used to be the most outstanding.
Eventually, I dropped out and became a cleaner.
It was while working as a cleaner for the Sterlings that I discovered the truth.
That bracelet wasn’t a symbol of sponsorship at all.
It was a dark conduit, a tool to steal luck and good fortune.
Our intelligence, beauty, and health were all sucked away by that cursed bracelet and transferred to the Sterlings’ frail, dim-witted, and plain-looking daughter—Chloe Sterling.
Chloe grew healthier, excelled in school, and became a socialite.
And we? We became her sustenance.
I tried to expose them, but Mr. Sterling pushed me down the stairs.
Before I died, the sound of my bones shattering was clearer than his cold, mocking laughter.
“An orphan? Who would believe you?”
The injustice.
The sheer, burning injustice.
I stared intently at the girls wearing the bracelets.
Their faces showed innocent longing.
Exactly like me, in my past life.
“Skylar, are you crazy?!”
A short-haired girl ran over. It was Maya, who hadn’t been chosen.
“That’s Mr. Sterling! So many people want to be chosen! How could you run away?”
I forced a smile but said nothing.
Maya pouted, then ran off to watch the chosen girls, her eyes full of envy.
I watched her.
In my previous life, Maya, out of jealousy, often bullied us “lucky ones.”
But she lived a perfectly normal life, healthy, graduated high school smoothly, and married an ordinary man.
Much better than us.
The activity room gradually emptied.
I saw Mrs. Sterling pull a staff member aside and discreetly slip them an envelope.
“That child, Skylar, keep an eye on her.”
She lowered her voice.
“Don’t let her ruin our plans.”
The staff member nodded obsequiously. “Don’t worry, Mrs. Sterling, I understand.”
I turned and quickly left.
They noticed me.
Because I wasn’t wearing the bracelet.
This was just the beginning.
Sterlings, your good days are numbered.
The next day, the orphanage breakfast was watery porridge and pickled vegetables.
But the chosen girls had an extra egg in their bowls.
“Mr. Sterling specifically arranged it,” the teacher said with a smile.
They looked at each other, triumphantly peeling their eggs.
I silently ate my porridge.
It was the same in my previous life.
From that day on, our meals were better than others.
Now, I realized it wasn’t a privilege.
It was to “fatten us up,” so they could drain us more thoroughly.
I saw a girl named Ashley, eating her egg and touching her bracelet, a satisfied smile on her face.
In my last life, she was the first to collapse, diagnosed with kidney disease in her second year of high school and forced to drop out.
I lowered my head and finished every last drop of my porridge.
To take revenge, I had to survive first.
And I had to live well.
Math class was in the morning.
I sat in the back row.
The teacher wrote equations on the blackboard.
In my previous life, not long after receiving the sponsorship, I couldn’t understand anything.
Simple problems would stare back at me blankly for ages.
But now, those numbers and symbols were perfectly clear.
I picked up my pen and quickly solved the problems.
My deskmate, a chubby boy, leaned over when he saw how fast I was writing. “Skylar, you’re so good?”
I smiled. “Just guessing.”
He grunted and went back to staring at his own paper.
When the bell rang, the teacher collected our homework.
Seeing my notebook, he paused. “Skylar, did you do all these yourself?”
“Yes.”
“Good job,” he nodded.
“Keep it up.”
I noticed that Ashley and the others’ notebooks were mostly empty.
They frowned, looking distressed.
It was only the first day.
Was that bracelet taking effect so quickly?
A chill ran down my spine.
At noon, Maya came to find me again.
“Hey, Skylar, Mrs. Sterling sent some stuff.”
She pointed to several large boxes by the activity room door.
“For those ten girls, new clothes and school bags.”
Maya pouted.
“So unfair.”
I walked over.
Several of the chosen girls were already gathered around the boxes, excitedly rummaging through them.
The person Mrs. Sterling sent was a man in a black suit, taking pictures with a camera.
“Come on, smile,” he said.
“Let Mrs. Sterling see how happy you are.”
The girls immediately flashed bright smiles.
Only Ashley, while smiling, suddenly clutched her stomach, her face turning pale.
“What’s wrong?” another girl next to her asked.
“Nothing,” Ashley shook her head.
“Just a little pain.”
The man frowned, not paying much attention, and continued taking photos.
I looked at the silver bracelet on Ashley’s wrist. In the sunlight, the engraved flower seemed to come alive.
It was truly sickening.
↓ ↓ Download the Novel Master app, Search 【 298302 】reads the whole book. ↓ ↓
NovelShort
