On New Year's Eve, my older brother, Casper Shaw, attempted to expose me as a fraud and announced that Jenny Ford was the real heiress to the family.

He pulled out a paternity test result and threw it in my face.

"Open your eyes and take a look! Jenny is the Shaw family's real daughter. You're just a fake who has taken Jenny's place for so many years, yet you still have the nerve to sit here and eat New Year's Eve dinner with us!"

Then, he pushed Jenny in front of us, revealing a face that looked exactly like my mom, Theresa.

Everyone froze.

I lunged for the report, but suddenly, a stream of floating comments rolled past above Jenny's head.

[Is the female lead finally going back to her rich family and starting a sweet romance with her fake older brother?]

[Not yet. Right now, they still think they're siblings. They only get together later, once the misunderstandings are cleared up.]

[Am I the only one who feels bad for the female supporting character? She's the biggest victim in the whole book. She takes all the female lead's hatred that should have gone to her fake brother, and she gets treated as the fake heiress and sent to the Ford family to suffer on top of that.]

I looked at Jenny's face and compared it to my own—we almost looked like twins. I checked our ID cards again, confirming that our dates of birth were exactly the same. "Seriously? Ever think that you might be the real impostor here who was switched at birth?"

I was the heiress of the wealthy Shaw family, and everyone adored me.

Everyone except my brother. He had always dreamed of swapping me out for a different little sister.

When I was three, he secretly switched me with the nanny's daughter. When my parents, Zane and Theresa, found out, they smacked his butt until it was red and sore.

When I was five, he left me in a park. In the end, he was the one who almost got kidnapped by traffickers. He was only saved because the police happened to pass by.

When I was fifteen, he got some punk with dyed hair to hit on me. It turned out the guy liked men and ended up following my brother for three days and three nights instead.

After that, my brother actually behaved for a few years, and I thought he had finally accepted me as his sister.

I never thought that on New Year's Eve, he would give me a huge surprise on the one night the whole family was together,

"Dad, Mom, today I'm going to expose Joan as a fake! She doesn't deserve to eat the Shaw family's New Year's Eve dinner!" Casper suddenly shot to his feet, pulled out a little hammer, and smashed the wineglass in front of me.

Wine splashed all over me, and Mom hurried over with paper towels, frantically trying to wipe the wine off me. Dad slammed his hand on the table, frowning as he yelled at Casper. "Where are your manners?! Who told you that you could bully your sister like this?!"

He just gave me a look full of contempt, then turned and led a girl in from the doorway.

She was wearing the haute couture dress that had been made for my eighteenth birthday, the sapphire necklace Mom had given me, and the emerald bracelet Dad had bought me on her wrist.

I glared at the culprit. "Casper, what's wrong with you? You smash a wineglass for no reason and just hand my things to someone else like they're nothing?!"

Casper threw a paternity test report at my face and said smugly, "Because Jenny Ford is the true heiress of the Shaw family, the real daughter Mom and Dad actually gave birth to. You stole the first half of Jenny's life. So what if you have to hand over a few things? They were hers to begin with!"

As he spoke, he pushed Jenny in front of us so that everyone could see her face clearly.

Mom and Dad both froze. Jenny really looked too much like Mom.

Mom took great care of herself and looked like she was barely in her twenties. The two of them stood face to face like they were looking into a mirror. Meanwhile, I didn't look much like Mom as I stood off to the side.

My heart tightened. I was about to grab the report Casper had just thrown at me when I suddenly saw words floating above Jenny's head.

[Finally, this is not the same old real versus fake heiress story. After the female lead goes back to her rich family, she is going to start a romance with the imposter son.]

[Real heiress versus imposter son heir. I love this pairing choice.]

I was so shocked I stumbled back, and the bullet comments on Jenny's head vanished. I rubbed my eyes, stepped forward again, and the comments reappeared.

[So, this is the real heiress's unlucky little victim?]

[The female supporting character really has it rough. One paternity test, and the whole family decides she is the fake heiress. The female lead is hostile to her, and the imposter son keeps making things hard for her. Even her parents, Zane and Theresa, grow distant. She gets sent to the Ford family to suffer, but in the end, it turns out to be one big misunderstanding. Who would not have a villain arc after that?]

Real heiress?

Imposter son?

Unlucky victim?

There was too much information. I stood there in a daze while Casper shielded Jenny behind him as though I was a thief and snapped at me, "Don't even start getting any bad ideas. If you dare hurt Jenny, I won't show you any mercy! Remember this. Jenny is my real sister who shares my blood, and you're nothing but a fake who stole her place!"

I understood it now.

It was not about me being a fake heiress… It was about the imposter son!

Casper was the imposter!

Thinking about what the bullet comments said, I gathered that I would be treated as the fake heiress and become the next biggest victim whose identity Casper had stolen.

I turned around, picked up the test report, and tore it into tiny pieces before anyone could react. I then tossed the shredded paper into the trash and then turned back before spreading my hands as I said, "Casper, you need evidence if you're going to accuse someone. What makes you think I'm a fake heiress?"

[Is the supporting character a shredder? That report was thick, and she just ripped it up like nothing.]

[The imposter son is so mad that his face is red. Why do I find this a little satisfying?]

[But if she does that, the female lead will just misunderstand her even more and think she is some vicious fake heiress who stole her place.]

I glanced at Jenny.

Her eyes were a bit red, and she looked like she'd been picked on. But when she looked at me, there was a tiny bit of caution and anger, so small you could barely see it. It really did seem like she had already taken me as an imaginary enemy.

Casper rushed to the trash can and tried to rescue the scraps of paper. He squatted on the floor and worked on them for a long time, but he could not even piece the cover page back together. His fists clenched so hard his knuckles popped. If Mom and Dad were not standing right there, he would probably have smashed them into my face the very next second.

"Even without the test report, I can still be one hundred percent sure Jenny belongs to the Shaw family. The moment I saw her, I had this strange feeling that she had to be my sister. Meanwhile, a fake will always be a fake. Don't think tearing up the report means you can keep lying to yourself and freeloading off the Shaw family."

The corner of my mouth twitched, and I gave him a slow, meaningful smile. "No one knows yet who the imposter truly is."

Casper thought I was calling Jenny the fake, and he shot me with a vicious glare, then turned to comfort her. "Jenny, don't worry. She can't steal your identity. I'm firmly on your side."

Jenny sobbed as she said, "Thank you, Casper."

Then, she raised her tear-filled eyes and looked at Mom and Dad.

"Dad, Mom, I know it's hard for you to accept the truth right away, but I really am your biological daughter."

[The female lead looks so careful and pitiful. She must be afraid that Zane and Theresa will choose the female supporting character and not her.]

[But the female supporting character is innocent, too. She is also their daughter. Why force the sisters to fight?]

[Don't you guys think there's a plot hole here? The female lead and the imposter son were the ones switched, so she should be the same age as the imposter son. How did things develop into her being switched with the female supporting character?]

[When the female lead was little, she was not even properly registered in the system. They only put her on the books later when she started school. Her date of birth was filled in without careful consideration, and she ended up the same age as the female supporting character by accident.]

So that was it.

I silently thanked the bullet comments for clearing it up for me.

Looking at Jenny, Mom felt like her heart was aching, and her eyes turned red before she even realized it. She felt an overwhelming sense of closeness to the young woman in front of her, like Jenny really was her own daughter. She could not help walking over to take Jenny's hand, and when she felt how rough her palm was, her heart ached.

Suddenly, Mom remembered I was still standing off to the side. Even if I really was an imposter, she had raised me for eighteen years. To her, both of us were precious. She could not bear to give up either of us.

After thinking for a moment, she turned her head and said to her husband. "Honey, no matter which of these two is our biological daughter, we'll take the other in as our adopted daughter."

"No!" Casper jumped in right away, his face full of disdain as he looked at me.

"Mom, she's just a thief who stole everything that belonged to Jenny. If I had not found Jenny, she might have been stuck in poverty her whole life. While she was living in luxury in the Shaw family, Jenny was suffering. I don't agree to let her stay here, and I want her to kneel and apologize to Jenny."

Next to me, Jenny was so thin she looked almost frail. My dress hung loose on her, and even her hair was dry and split at the ends. All of it proved she had been through a lot.

The bullet comments above Jenny's head exploded again.

[I can't believe that imposter son had the audacity to say that! He's the real thief! He's the one who should kneel and apologize to the female lead. His real parents have beaten and yelled at the female lead since she was a kid! She clearly got into college, yet they forced her to drop out and work at a club as a hostess pouring drinks!]

[The male lead is innocent. He never wanted to be switched at birth, and he has done a lot to make it up to the female lead.]

[He is only talking like this now because of a misunderstanding. He just thinks keeping the fake heiress around would not be fair to the female lead. He didn't do anything wrong from his perspective.]

[But he's the one who benefited from all of it!]

-

The bullet comments argued back and forth, but my attention snagged on those words "either beaten or scolded" and "forced to drop out and be a hostess".

My real older sister had lived that kind of life for twenty years?!

I suddenly understood Jenny's hostility toward me. If I were her, I would not be able to make peace with someone stealing the happy life that should have been mine. But the person she should hate was not me…

It was Casper.

I gave Jenny a long look, then spoke calmly, "If I'm not Dad and Mom's biological daughter, I'll leave on my own. I don't need you to say it."

Casper let out a cold snort. "Then you're definitely leaving. Dad, we have to do another paternity test tomorrow to give Jenny an answer and to make Joan give up."

That was exactly what I had been waiting for.

Dad first agreed with Casper's suggestion to redo the test, then he started scolding him again. "Casper, you're the heir of the Shaw family, but you're not acting like an heir right now! Where's your calm? Also, no matter what the result of the test is, Joan is still your sister. Now, eat."

The sharp-eyed butler had already told the staff to clear away all the dishes that had gone cold and bring out fresh ones.

Casper snorted and pulled Jenny over to the table. He pushed her into the seat where I had been sitting before. "Jenny, you sit here."

Just as he was about to sit beside her, I squeezed him out of the way and dropped into his chair.

Casper's expression changed, and he shouted at me, "Joan Shaw!"

I scratched my ear. "What, you can sit next to her, but I can't?"

Casper glared at me. "Don't think flattering Jenny will let you stay in the Shaw family!"

A strange light flashed in Jenny's eyes. She shot me a quick sideways glance, then began to eat in small bites. It was obvious she had learned some table manners in a hurry.

Mom watched me with relief. Dad then said to Casper, "You're the older brother, so you need to set an example and be more patient with your sister."

Casper had no choice but to sit down beside me, glaring at me the whole time. Meanwhile, I ate happily as if nothing had happened and even took some food for Mom, Dad, and Jenny from time to time.

The New Year's Eve dinner ended in this strange atmosphere.

That night, Mom and Dad arranged for Jenny to stay in a guest room in the villa, and Casper started shouting in protest. "Jenny was switched out for so many years, and as soon as she comes home, you make her live in a guest room? That'll break her heart. Joan's room is the biggest and brightest. She has to give it up for Jenny."

Jenny tugged on Casper's sleeve and said softly, "It's alright, Casper. I'm used to staying in small rooms. The guest room here is already good enough, so I'll stay in the guest room."

Nevertheless, her eyes fell on the photo by my bed where Mom and Dad were on either side kissing my cheeks, and I was smiling brightly. In that look, I saw jealousy, sadness, and longing.

I sighed, shoved the still complaining Casper out of my room, and locked the door, then pulled Jenny down to lie on the soft, big bed with me.

Jenny's eyes went wide, and she flung my hand off in an instant, jumped up, and ran into the bathroom to wash up.

For some reason, Jenny still ended up sleeping in the same bed with me that night. However, she would lie very far away, with her back to me and her head buried under the blanket.

She was like a hedgehog. The moment anyone got close, she curled into a ball and hid her soft belly, protecting herself with her spines.

I knew she was not asleep, so I asked, "I'm eighteen. How old are you?"

It was the New Year.

My dad used the power of money to get a private hospital to work overtime and run a paternity test.

When the Maybach pulled up near the hospital entrance, a figure suddenly dashed in front of the car. The car braked hard. Jenny, who was sitting across from me, stumbled forward, and I caught her in my arms. Her cheeks flushed, clearly embarrassed.

Once she was safe, I checked the bullet comments.

[Didn't the supporting character become the Shaw family's foster daughter for at least half a year before the Ford family dragged her away? So, why are the female lead's awful adoptive parents showing up now?]

[The female lead didn't send any money home, so the adoptive parents went to the club to squeeze money out of her. Then, they found out she'd been taken away by the imposter son, and when they heard the Shaw family was going to do a paternity test, they got scared the imposter son's identity would be exposed and rushed over to stop it.]

[The supporting character is doomed now! After she's taken back to the Ford family, they'll sell her to an old cripple and use her as a cheap wife!]

I clenched my hands and looked out of the car window. A middle-aged man and woman were blocking the car. The man sprawled across the hood as the woman ran up, slapping the window and yanking at the door while yelling, "You horrible traffickers! Give me back my daughter!"

"Everyone! Come look! These rich people are stealing someone else's child!"

Jenny's face went pale white in an instant.

Casper's expression went dark. He grabbed my collar, dragged me out of the car, and shoved me toward the woman. "You want your daughter, right? She's your real daughter! Jenny is the Shaw family's treasured daughter."

The woman, Hannah, froze. Then, she quickly realized the Shaw family had not discovered the truth yet and threw herself at me in tears.

"So, you're my real daughter. Come, go home with Mom!"

I dodged behind my real parents as Hannah lunged at nothing and almost knocked out her front teeth.

I narrowed my eyes. "We haven't even done the paternity test yet. Who knows if you're my mom?"

At that, Hannah waved her hands again and again. "It's too expensive. We're just ordinary people, so how could we afford that? It's enough for Jenny to do the test with you. If she's the Shaw family's daughter, then you're my daughter."

The two of them refused to go in and insisted on waiting at the door, afraid I would drag them in for a test too.

"Your parents really reek of poverty," Casper said with mockery on his face. Then, Casper pulled Jenny into the hospital.

The test results came out very quickly as we had paid extra for them.

There were two reports. One was for Jenny and my mom, and the other was for Jenny and my dad. Both showed they were directly related by blood. In other words, she was the biological daughter of both my parents, not some hidden child of just one side.

Mom hugged Jenny and broke down in tears. Dad looked at the daughter he had lost and found again, pain and regret clouding his eyes.

Unhappy with how calm I was, Casper started in with cold sarcasm. "Joan Shaw... no, I should call you Joan Ford now. If I were you, I'd slip away right now and crawl back to that sewer with your pair of country bumpkin parents!"

Hannah and Ivan Ford showed up at just the right moment, both wiping away tears as they urged me to acknowledge my roots and return to the Ford family.

I shook my head and said, "I'm not your daughter."

Hannah cried and beat the floor with her fist. "Oh, good heavens! I gave birth to a daughter who won't acknowledge her real parents! How are we supposed to live for the rest of our lives?!"

Ivan had a tough expression on his face as he pointed a finger at my nose and cursed at me, "You ungrateful wretch! I think you just can't bear to leave the good life in the Shaw family and want to cling on and refuse to leave."

Casper stood at the side watching the show, his arms folded. He was enjoying every second of my being given a hard time.

I tilted my head and smiled at him. "The fake heiress is an ungrateful wretch, alright, but I'm not a fake heiress."

Casper panicked at once. "If it's not you, who else could it be?"

I let out a cold laugh. "Is there a chance that you're the one who's the real imposter here and has taken someone else's position?"

My dad's voice rang from behind me in the next second. "Casper, you're the one who was switched at birth."