After giving birth early, memories from a different life flooded into my mind.

In these memories, the daughter I had worked so hard to bring into the world was switched with hers. After that, I was told that my daughter had a congenital heart condition.

I worked hard to raise her for eighteen years. In the end, I sold off all my assets so that she could have a heart transplant. Meanwhile, I had collapsed from all my efforts to care for her.

Left with no choice, I wanted to tell my “daughter” that I was leaving this world, but I overheard her talking with my best friend.

“That fool still thinks I’m her daughter. I was the one who poisoned her! Mom, once she dies and you get rid of that pretender, we can finally be together again!”

That was when I found out my daughter had been swapped out, and that I had been giving my all to the perpetrator.

When I next opened my eyes, pain radiated from my belly, and a nurse said, “Miss Scott, we’ve just learned that your daughter has a congenital heart condition.”

I had secretly sent someone off to help me carry out a maternity test.

The results proved conclusively that Agnes Beckett was not my daughter.

While acting unmoved, I had someone search for my actual daughter. At the same time, I stopped paying the fees for Agnes’ incubator.

My husband, Hadrian Beckett, arrived before my best friend, Liza Blair.

He held Agnes in his arms as he rushed into my ward. She was having difficulty breathing, and her face was turning blue.

“Are you insane, Rowena? You know that Aggie has heart problems, but you stopped paying her medical fees? Are you trying to kill her?”

I was just about to show him the maternity report and tell him that our baby had been switched. But when I glanced up and took a good look at his face, I was stunned.

Why had I never once suspected that Aggie was not my child in the previous timeline?

It was because she had looked so much like Hadrian.

Everyone said that daughters took after their fathers, and I had thought the same.

Yet, when I looked at the man I had been through so much with, I only felt a cold sensation starting up from my extremities.

I lowered my voice, and it shook as I said, “I talked to the doctor. Her chances of getting better from this condition are tiny. Even if we spend a fortune to treat her, she will always be weak and reliant on medical intervention. Her life will be painful. It would be better to… end things while she’s still young and innocent. She’ll suffer less that way.”

When Hadrian understood what I meant, he immediately yelled shrilly, “How could you be so heartless, Rowena? This is our daughter! The doctor already said that she has a chance as long as we’re willing to pay for it! Besides…”

Hadrian paused before resuming, “Didn’t your father leave you a lot of money? You’re saving your own daughter here. Don’t tell me you can’t bear to spend this money?”

My gaze sharpened. Ah, so this was the reason they had switched the babies.

Hadrian wanted me to spend my money to treat the daughter he had with his lover. He even expected me to expend all my time and effort to care for her.

In the previous timeline, I had been thoroughly fooled. Ignorant of the truth, that was exactly what I had done.

In the end, I had sacrificed all my money, my health, and even my life in exchange for their happy family.

I gave him a rueful smile. “Well, you’re right about that. If you want to treat her condition so badly, then you should spend your money to do it.”

I could not be bothered to look at him any longer. I turned around, intent on lying back in bed.

Just then, Agnes started crying. It was such perfect timing.

Hadrian seemed to find a great way to guilt me. Loudly, he announced, “Listen, the baby’s crying! She’s looking for her mother! You’re her mother, Rowena. How could you abandon her just because she’s a little sick? Are you so heartless?”

The ward door opened again. The nurse stopped at the door in the middle of doing her rounds, her unsure, judging, gaze stopping on me.

Hadrian’s voice became louder, as if he wanted the whole floor to come over and watch.

“Won’t you come and be the judge here? What kind of mother abandons her child because she is sick? I only wish to save the girl’s life, but this woman won’t even part with her money!”

As Hadrian had hoped, several people poked their heads into the ward, and whispers started up.

The gazes shot my way were either curious or disdainful. They were like knives in my back.

Hadrian had brought this fight into the court of opinion.

I had been turned into a cruel and heartless mother who would let my own daughter die. Meanwhile, he was the loving and dedicated father.

I let out an abrupt laugh and reached out toward him.

“You’re right. Give me the baby.”

Hadrian was frozen for a moment. There was a flash of triumph in his eyes.

He thought that I was too soft-hearted and had relented. He quickly passed Agnes to me.

I held Agnes close in my embrace.

She was so small, so light. She had the fragile warmth unique to a newborn.

In the depths of my heart, the protective instincts of a mother shone through.

But then, in the next second, I was filled with another wave of memories.

I once sat vigil with a sick Agnes all night, not daring to close my eyes for a moment of rest. When she awoke, she had sent messages to Liza, complaining about how annoying and clumsy I was.

I sold off all my assets and jewelry to pay for her heart surgery. Yet, afterward, she had helped Hadrian transfer away all the rest of my funds.

When I was admitted to the hospital for sheer exhaustion, she had drugged my milk and directly caused my death.

I forcefully pushed back against the bit of motherly love I felt.

I would retain my love for my real daughter.

As for those who had caused our separation, I would make them pay.

The hospital sent me the paternity test between Agnes and Hadrian, proving that they were father and daughter.

The person I sent also found my daughter at Liza’s parents’ house.

When I switched her back with Agnes and once again held my baby in my arms, I finally felt that empty part of myself fill up again.

I acted like nothing at all had happened and continued to recuperate after giving birth.

A month later, Liza kept showing up in my house frequently again.

However, it differed from my memories of the previous timeline in one way. This time, she brought Agnes with her.

In this timeline, Agnes had practically become an orphan considering how she was treated.

Liza put her daughter carelessly aside and picked mine up as if it was the most natural thing in the world to do.

“This is Agnes, right? She’s so pretty. You can tell at first glance that she’ll be a lucky girl!”

I sat there and languidly ate my soup. I did not even look up.

“I would never name my daughter such an old-fashioned name. Her name is Serena.”

Liza stiffened imperceptibly.

After a second, she forced out a laugh.

“Serena… Serena’s a nice name. You have such a way with names.”

After that, Liza visited even more often.

Hadrian suddenly became much more concerned about being home. He stopped finding excuses to stay at the office working overtime. He came home on time every evening.

As I watched him make a show of playing with Serena, the whole situation felt even more absurd.

When Agnes got hungry and bawled, Liza ignored her completely. She gently picked up Serena and rocked her.

I leaned against the doorjamb and watched them calmly.

“If I remember correctly, your daughter also has a congenital heart problem, right? Are you sure she’ll be okay if you let her keep crying like that?”

Liza did not even turn around. She shot back impatiently, “Well, she was born unlucky. No one asked her to have such an expensive medical condition! She’s not like Serena here. She was born with a silver spoon. She has all the money in the world to treat every single little sniffle.”

Liza paused and glared at Agnes, who was nearly panting at that point. Her tone was ice cold as she said, “It would be better if she died. It would save me money feeding her.”

As she spoke, Liza looked at Serena and put on a baby voice. She said, “Better to save that money and buy Serena more pretty dresses. Wouldn’t that be nice?”

Hadrian was sitting to one side, looking at Liza and Serena with a smile on his face. It was as if he was truly enjoying the loving sight.

I scoffed to myself.

They were such a beautiful, happy family.

I was eager to see how they would react when they found out that Agnes was their real daughter.

When Serena turned ten, her heart condition was very stable because of the care I had taken in caring for her. Her face was rosy, and she was like any other child.

Meanwhile, Agnes had suffered Liza’s poor treatment and neglect all these years. Her face was wan and jaundiced. She would start panting after only a few steps of walking. Worse, she had to do countless chores and cleaning up every day.

She was so timid and looked nothing like the pampered princess from the previous timeline.

Today, Serena had brought home yet another certificate of excellence from school.

Liza moved even faster than I did. She grabbed the certificate and praised her. “What a smart girl you are, Serena! You’re like a little angel, and you’re so brilliant, too! I’m so proud of you as your godmother!”

She tried to hug Serena, but Serena unconsciously shrunk into me.

The smile on Liza’s face froze for a second. When she saw Agnes standing sheepishly by the door, her expression changed. Agnes was too shy to even step through the door.

“What are you doing there just lolling around? Do you need me to invite you in with a red carpet? Look at you! Your grades must be at the bottom of the barrel again, am I right?”

Agnes shook from fright. Her head ducked even lower. She mumbled, “I’m the second last in my class…”

“Second last?”

Liza flicked Agnes’ forehead cruelly.

“I can’t believe you would even dare to say it out loud! You’re useless! You were born stupid and unlucky, just like your mother!”

I coldly watched all of it. I knew that Liza really meant all her insults for someone else.

When Liza was fifteen, her biased parents had tried to sell her to a fifty-year-old man to be his wife. She had fought hard and escaped, and she had ended up fainting outside the backdoor of my family’s restaurant.

Seeing how injured she was, I had been overcome with pity. I got my parents to take her in and even pay for her schooling. In return, she helped out at the restaurant.

Everything I had, she also got. We never once mistreated her.

I thought that we would be best friends forever, but she had become ungrateful and vindictive instead.

But Liza was right. Her daughter had indeed inherited all she had from her mother.

The more Liza criticized Agnes, the more worked up she got. She picked up a broom by the door and used it to hit Agnes.

“Stupid! What an embarrassment! You’re worse than a dog! At least a dog can defend its family. What can you do but eat?”

Agnes did not hide or run away. She only curled into a ball and instinctively repeated, “I’m sorry, Mommy. I’m sorry! I won’t do anything bad anymore. I’m useless, I’m stupid…”

Serena was so shocked by all this that her face turned pale. She hugged me tightly and buried her face in my chest.

Hadrian came out from the study and frowned at the scene.

When Agnes’ voice got very weak, he said evenly, “Enough. She’s just a little girl. Don’t get so upset with her.”

Liza finally stopped. She kicked Agnes disdainfully where she was still curled up on the floor.