Such a scene had happened countless times in the past decade. Yet, whenever I saw it play out before my eyes again, I felt a chill.

Hadrian’s cold distance was much more terrifying to me than Liza’s violent rage.

After all, whether or not I had switched the children back, the child being beaten and left on the floor was still his biological daughter.

Even so, he had watched this happen soundlessly for ten years.

…

Serena’s tenth birthday was to take place the following day.

The original plan was to take her for a day out at a new amusement park.

However, I was unexpectedly awoken early in the morning by the noise of crying and shouting.

It was Liza again.

She had brought Agnes over to celebrate Serena’s birthday. For the crime of taking a second look at Serena’s pink sneakers, Liza was furiously scolding Agnes.

When I went downstairs, I found Agnes with her coat ripped off, her skinny body littered with scars and injuries.

Liza twisted Agnes’ ear painfully.

“You wench! How dare you want Serena’s things? Let me tell you something. Serena is a princess, and you’re nothing but a worm! You will always rot out in the dirt!”

At some point, Serena had been woken by the noise as well. She hugged me in terror, still in her pajamas.

I spoke out to interrupt Liza’s rage. “Enough. It’s just a pair of shoes. If the girl likes them, just give them to her.”

Serena spoke up softly as well. “Liza, can you please stop hitting her? I gifted her the shoes. Her own shoes are so thin. It’s so cold in the winter, and her feet will get cold.”

Liza became even more livid at this. She grabbed Agnes by the hair.

“What did you say to Serena? How dare you? You’ve learned to manipulate people for things, have you?”

Agnes was in such pain that tears flowed freely down her face. She rushed to explain in a panic, “No, I haven’t, Mom. I never tricked anyone…”

“How dare you talk back to me?”

Liza immediately slapped her.

“How dare you trick her? How dare you even try to compare to her?”

Agnes had tried to plead for mercy, but her soft cries gradually tapered off. In the end, she could only groan and pant in pain.

“She’s bleeding!” Serena cried suddenly.

She pointed at Agnes. Bright red blood was flowing from Agnes’ wounds.

Out of terror, both girls paled and collapsed at practically the same time, both clutching their chests.

Liza’s actions had caused both girls to have a heart attack at the same time. Both were sent to the hospital.

Hadrian, Liza, and I all stood outside the surgery room. The atmosphere was very tense.

Liza complained about me in her anxiousness. “What kind of mother are you? You knew that Serena’s always been in poor health, but you let her watch what happened and gave her such a shock! If anything happens to her…”

I was already regretting letting Serena see all that unpleasantness, and I was hurt and upset. When Liza accused me, my temper overwhelmed me.

“You have no right to lecture me on how to be a mother! What about you, huh? How could you hit your daughter so badly that she has to go to the emergency room?”

Liza blurted out, “That wench can’t compare to Serena! She’s not worth a single hair on Serena’s head!”

Right then, the door of the surgery room opened. The lead surgeon came out wearing a grim expression.

“Both girls need immediate heart transplants. However, we only have one compatible heart on hand, and both girls are a match. From a medical point of view, your daughter is already showing multiple organ failure, Miss Blair. She needs the transplant immediately.

“Meanwhile, Serena’s condition is more stable, and she can temporarily…”

“No!” Liza interrupted. “That heart must go to Serena!”

Hadrian was frowning as well. His tone brooked no argument as he said, “Doctor, you must give the heart to Serena.”

I looked at them both and took in the level of selfishness they were displaying. An epiphany dawned upon me.

No matter what the circumstances were, Liza had raised Agnes for ten years, and she considered Liza her mother and had done so for an entire decade.

Yet, Liza still chose to save the daughter she thought was hers: Serena.

Even so, my heart would not soften.

The suffering Agnes went through was the same suffering my own daughter had experienced in the previous timeline.

At my silence, Liza came up and grabbed my sleeve.

“Rowena, what are you waiting for? Save Serena! You have to save Serena! My girl is just a useless piece of trash. If she dies, what of it?”

Liza’s voice echoed down the expansive hallway, attracting the strange looks of other visitors and the nursing staff alike. However, Liza ignored all this. There was deranged conviction on her face.

In the end, I did as she wanted and signed the consent form for the surgery.

Liza stared at my hand as I signed and let out a relieved breath when it was done.

A few hours later, the surgery was completed.

Serena survived. Agnes did not make it.

In a VIP ward, connected to a respirator, Serena slowly opened her eyes.

I lunged to the bedside and clutched her cold hand. I was so happy that I wept.

Liza was wiping away her tears, smiling through them.

“You’re alive! You’re alive! I knew you’d live through this, Serena!”

Hadrian also let out a long sigh. He smiled as if a heavy burden had been lifted.

Seeing them that way, I could not help but feel how laughable it all was.

I glanced at Liza and asked calmly, “Your daughter just died. Why are you two so happy about that?”

“My daughter?”

The triumph and sinister look on her face could not be concealed.

“There’s no point in hiding this from you any longer, Rowena. I switched our daughters ten years ago at the hospital!”

Hadrian stopped pretending as well.

“Face it, Rowena. Serena was never your daughter.”

Liza added, “The daughter you’ve loved and doted on for ten years is my daughter! The little girl that just died on the operating table is your useless wench!

“Haha! To save my daughter, your own daughter could not get the lifesaving heart she needed! You even signed it off yourself! Your life is a joke, Rowena! You’ve raised my daughter for years, you idiot!”

The two broke character in synchrony, sharing the secret they had hidden for ten years.

Their faces were twisted with triumph, as if they were already seeing me broken down and brokenhearted.

I quietly watched them. Once they finished, I said lightly, “Is that so? Well, why don’t you look at the blood type information in Serena’s file?”

Hadrian and Liza were both stunned for a moment. They turned unconsciously toward the file at the end of Serena’s bed.

There, clearly printed, was the following text:

[Patient: Serena Scott; Blood type: A]

Liza’s eyes bulged, and Hadrian went pale.

Hadrian’s blood type was O, and so was Liza’s.

There was no way they could have had a child with A-type blood.