Reclaiming My Life, The True Heiress Strikes Back

I was born the daughter of the wealthiest family in the country. Due to my rare blood type, my parents went to a remote mountain village to find a child with a matching blood type—someone who could serve as my "spare blood bank" in emerge. They adopted her as a foster daughter to make up for this arrangement.

Three years later, I returned home after studying abroad as an exchange student. But what greeted me wasn’t a warm welcome—it was a betrayal that tore apart my world. I found my two older brothers, who had always doted on me, throwing an extravagant birthday party for Elissa Ashford, the foster daughter. In front of all the guests, they declared Elissa to be the real heiress of the Ashford Family. And me? I was demoted to the role of the “spare blood bank.”

When Elissa wanted my bedroom for her art studio, my belongings were thrown into the servants’ quarters. When she coveted my shares in the family business, my brothers handed over the equity transfer papers my dad had left for me—without hesitation. And when she set her sights on my fiancé, the man I had promised to since childhood, they canceled our engagement and gave him to her.

In my previous life, I endured it all. Out of love for my family, I swallowed my pride and refused to fight back. But I still died from their relentless cruelty.

Now, I’ve been reborn and my only goal is to destroy every last one.

——

Through the lively chatter in the grand banquet hall, I saw Elissa surrounded by a circle of admirers, basking in their endless compliments.

As they talked about how I, the adopted daughter, couldn’t compare to her on a single toe, my blood boiled. Without a second thought, I marched straight up to Elissa and yanked the pink diamond necklace off her neck.

“This,” I said coldly, holding the necklace aloft, “was my father’s birthday gift to me. He bought it at an astronomical price and named it ‘One & Only.’ And you, a nobody dragged out of a mountain village, dare to parade it around as your own? Shameless!”

The room fell silent. Then came the murmurs and jeers.

“Has Alyssa Ashford lost her mind? Causing a scene at her own sister’s birthday party?”

“She’s so desperate for attention. Once a hillbilly, always a hillbilly.”

My brothers stormed immediately, shielding Elissa protectively as if I were a villain.

Elissa clutched her neck, her eyes with an aggrieved face, playing the victim to perfection.

My eldest brother immediately took off his jacket and draped it over her shoulders, calling for a maid to fetch a first aid kit as though the faint red marks on her neck were life-threatening.

My second brother shoved me hard and bellowed, “Alyssa! Have you gone insane? How dare you hurt your sister? This necklace is the birthday gift that Dad shot to her real daughter. How dare you take that necklace!”

“Sister?” I laughed bitterly, clutching the necklace tightly in my hand. “She’s your real sister and could it be I’m fake? Gregory, are you out of your mind? Do you even know who your real sister is? I dare you to say that nonsense in front of Dad!”

Gregory’s face turned purple with rage, but Elissa tugged at his arm, her expression the perfect blend of understanding and sorrow.

“Forget it, brother,” she said gently, sighing. “She’s just… unrefined, growing up in the countryside. It’s not her fault. From a young age she has no qualities to be accustomed to. You don’t have to get into it with her. It’s my fault for not guiding her well as an older sister. I should have been a better role model for her.”

Then, with a pitiful smile, she added, “If it weren’t for my rare blood type, Mom and Dad wouldn’t have had to bring her here as a foster daughter. It’s my weak body that caused all this trouble. So, really, I should just let her have her way.”

I couldn’t help but laugh until I was nearly out of breath—this situation was all too familiar.

In my past life, I’d grown numb to Elissa’s subtle cruelty, her "soft knives" that cut deeper than any direct attack ever could. She had a knack for thriving in crowds, always speaking in a way that seemed supportive on the surface, claiming to act on my behalf. But beneath that façade, she tore me down piece by piece.

She loved pretending to be the rightful daughter of the Ashford Family, casting herself as the glowing moon in the sky while relegating me to the shadows. In her carefully orchestrated narrative, I was nothing more than an incompetent fool, someone unworthy of the Ashford Family name. And somehow, she made everyone believe it.

But the truth? Elissa was nothing more than a hollow shell—a straw bag who couldn’t even make it into a junior college without the Ashford Family pulling strings behind the scenes.

The guests, as always, ate up her performance.

“She’s so kind and thoughtful—Elissa truly deserves to be the real daughter of the Ashford Family,” they’d say, their voices dripping with admiration. “Not like certain others who think they’re phoenixes when they’re nothing but hens dressed in borrowed feathers.”

“Exactly! That foster sister should be grateful for the Ashford Family’s generosity instead of coveting what doesn’t belong to her. How dare she act out like this?”

I clenched the necklace in my hand, my nails digging into my palm. I wasn’t the same Alyssa Ashford they trampled on in my last life.