Hilda Oakley, the charity case Mom and Dad take in, steals my family right out from under me.

She slips drugs into me, driving me into a bipolar disorder. She turns me into someone who snaps and screams at Mom and Dad without meaning to.

She paints me as someone rotten inside, as the bully at school, and as someone who'd shove her down the stairs at home.

And because of that, my whole family turns on me. Mom calls me a bad seed. Dad says I'm no daughter of his. Then, they adopt Hilda and throw me out in the dead of winter.

My bipolar flares. Naked, I sprint onto the rooftop and jump to my death.

When I'm reborn, I realize I can make the thoughts in other people's heads audible. So, at the dinner table, I let Hilda's thoughts spill right before Mom and Dad.

'I kept that witch Valerie drugged for three years. She finally broke! They still don't suspect that Alex isn't really her brother. He's Susan's son. Once we poison Valerie's parents, the Coopers' fortune will belong to us.'

"Mom, Dad, Hilda's adoption ceremony next week has to be grand. Make sure the town's big names are there. We can't have her feeling overlooked."

"Exactly, honey. I've already ordered a couture gown for her. It cost a million dollars. And I've invited half the society ladies in town. Hilda will be the picture of grace."

I blinked awake. At the marble dining table, Mom and Dad were deep in discussion about Hilda Oakley's adoption ceremony.

Dad's voice carried the final weight. "We'll need to change your surname, too. From now on, you're a Cooper."

Hilda beamed, sweetness pouring from her smile. "I have family now. Thanks, Mom and Dad. "

The fork slipped from my hand and clattered to the floor, my chest burning with shock and fury.

Dad's head snapped around, the warmth on his face icing over in an instant. "Valerie! What's gotten into you? If you're not going to eat, then leave!"

I stared around the table, dazed, unable to take it in.

I had been reborn at the very moment Mom and Dad were preparing to make Hilda their daughter.

Hilda was the girl our family sponsored through charity. In my last life, after her parents died, we took pity on her, covering her tuition and living expenses.

We gave her the best of it all. While kids her age crowded around display counters just to tap at demo screens, she unwrapped each new device as soon as it hit the market.

My brother, Alex Cooper, was the one who convinced Mom and Dad to let Hilda move in with us and transfer to my school. She ended up living under our roof for three years.

She was all sweetness to my face, playing the doting little sister. However, behind my back, she ripped up my books and even sliced me with a knife once.

When Mom and Dad found out, she shrank behind them, her eyes full of wounded innocence. "I'm fine. Val didn't mean it. It's nothing if I'm the one who gets hurt."

That was when Mom stepped forward and slapped me twice, hard.

When I rolled my sleeve up to show the cuts Hilda had carved into my arm, Dad's face contorted with disgust. He bellowed, "You violent lunatic! You hurt yourself and then try to pin it on Hilda? You're a disgrace!"

Alex, who was a doctor, pressed his thumb into my wound and taunted, "The artery runs right here. Next time, aim for precision."

At school, Hilda and her crew preyed on me without mercy. I'd been fragile my whole life, treading the jagged edges of bipolar swings, so no matter how many times I told Mom and Dad, they never listened.

On the eve of the adoption ceremony, Hilda threw herself down the stairs and blamed me for it. My mania spiraled out of control. I lashed out and hit her.

Mom and Dad were finished with me. She spat that I was a bad seed, a mistake born into the world. Dad formally struck me from the Cooper name.

They turned to Hilda as if she were the true child and shoved me out into the dead of winter. My mood swings unraveled me until, in a frantic blur, I leaped from the rooftop.

The truth surfaced only after I was dead. Hilda had been slipping something into my water every day. I wasn't sick by nature. She'd driven me into bipolar disorder.

I came to, only to find Hilda watching me, her face painted with concern.

'Valerie, you're panicking, aren't you? It's useless. I'm about to be the Cooper heiress!'

Her lips never moved, yet her voice threaded straight into my ear.

I froze.

After being reborn, I somehow gained the power to hear others' thoughts and to wrench those private words into the open.

Hilda's mocking curses poured through my mind like an endless stream.

Then, Mom's voice cut through it all, sharp as a whip. "What's with that look? If you won't eat, then stay hungry!"

I turned without a word. As I headed back to my room, a plan was already taking shape in my mind.

…

The next morning, the maid, Susan Walker, appeared at my door with a glass of milk.

"Ms. Valerie, why aren't you drinking? Best to have it while it's fresh."

Her smile lingered, but a sharp glint flickered in her eyes as she watched me.

I took the glass, then slammed the door in her face, the edge nearly catching her hand.

Her face must have soured on the other side. I could hear her muttering curses under her breath for a long while before finally stalking off.

Of course, I didn't drink it. I already knew the milk was drugged. I poured it straight into the flowerpot.

There was a sudden knock at the door.

Hilda came in wearing an innocent smile, closing the door behind her. Her gaze fell on the empty glass, and satisfaction curved her lips.

"Val, if I join this family, you won't be mad, will you? Even if you are, don't go hurting yourself."

Her smile looked sweet, almost naive, as she drew a small knife from her sleeve and slashed toward my arm.

A mirthless laugh escaped me.

So she wanted to drug me into madness? Newsflash—I was already there.

My hand cracked across Hilda's cheek.

She froze in shock. She'd always been the one to strike me. Never in her wildest dreams had she thought I'd hit her back.

"H-how dare you hit me? I'll tell Mom and Dad—"

I slapped her again, hard. Her cheek puffed out where my hand landed. I didn't stop. A quick, brutal barrage of slaps left her face grotesquely swollen.

Hilda had no fight left. She could only give me that venomous glare.

I flicked my hand after the blow and let a smirk curl my lips. "Don't take it to heart. I'm bipolar. Hitting someone in the middle of an episode is perfectly normal, isn't it?"

I kept everything bottled tightly in my past life. When the illness flared, all I could do was shut myself away and endure it alone. But now, reborn, I refused to hold back any longer.

"Do you really think Mom and Dad see you as their daughter? You're nothing but a charity case. Taking you in was already more than they owed you. They've made it clear. The company shares are mine!"

Hilda clutched her cheek, her eyes glittering with poisonous hate, and swept downstairs without another word.

Sure enough, the moment I stepped into the living room, Dad hurled his mug to the floor, the shatter echoing as he roared, "Has your jealousy gone so far? Look at what you did to Hilda!"

Mom was clutching Hilda, tears streaming down her cheeks. "I'd rather not have a daughter like Valerie. I'm sorry, Hilda."

Hilda pressed a hand to her swollen cheek and bit her lip. "I know Val resents me, but I don't blame her."

Inside, she was cursing me over and over. And I let every venomous thought of hers pour out for everyone to hear.

'Why isn't Valerie dead yet? That witch. I'll ruin her face! And this old hag, clinging to me with her useless tears. She sickens me! Just wait. I'll drive Valerie out of this house. The Coopers can only have one daughter—me!'

Mom, who had been cradling Hilda and weeping, froze. Her gaze fixed on Hilda, disbelief written plain on her face.

"Why is this wrinkled old hag staring at me? She terrifies me!"

A muscle jumped in Mom's face. She shoved Hilda away.

Hilda's eyes darted, then slid toward Dad, whose expression flickered from one emotion to another.

"This old geezer is good for nothing but smashing mugs. Why won't he just give me a few million as compensation? Better yet, he should hand over the company shares to me."

The shock on Dad's face quickly stiffened into a look of displeasure. No parent wanted a "devoted child" who, before even being officially taken in, was already scheming after the family's fortune.

Both Mom's and Dad's faces darkened, their gazes on Hilda turning strangely distant.

Mom and Dad never imagined that Hilda, who'd always seemed gentle, calm, and harmless, could harbor such venom beneath her quiet exterior.

The uneasy silence was shattered when Alex strode in from outside.

The instant his eyes landed on Hilda's swollen cheek, a blaze of fury lit his face. Without a word, he came at me and drove his foot forward with brutal force.

"Hilda is your sister! How could you treat her like this?"

Had that kick struck true, it might have torn me apart inside. I slipped aside swiftly and swept my leg out, sending Alex crashing to the floor in a graceless sprawl.

Scarlet with rage, he scrambled back to his feet. He was ready to lunge again until Mom and Dad's sharp command froze him in place.

In the end, we barely touched our food before scattering from the table.

I thought back to the way Alex had always treated me, and a knot of suspicion tightened in my chest.

He'd kept me at arm's length since childhood. I once thought it was nothing more than his cold nature. However, with Hilda, he was unfailingly tender and patient.

It was as if she were his real family, and I was nothing more than an intruder. He was the one who'd urged us to bring Hilda into our home and to adopt her.

The thought gnawed at me, burrowing deeper, until I found myself dialing a number.

I was just about to step outside when I caught sight of Hilda at the bend of the staircase. She glared at me, her eyes burning with malice. The swelling in her cheek was already fading.

"Val, did you bewitch Mom and Dad somehow?"

She stepped back until her heel caught the edge of the staircase, teetering as if a breath might send her tumbling.

In my last life, that was exactly how it had happened. Hilda went crashing down the stairs, and in my panic, I reached out to grab her, only for Mom and Dad to walk in that very instant. They thought I'd pushed her.

From that moment on, the whole family despised and ignored me.

When I still didn't move closer, Hilda's patience snapped. Venom laced her words as she hissed, "Once I'm a Cooper, I'll have Mom and Dad throw you out of this house. How about moving back into the school restroom? You managed well enough there before, didn't you?"

I stood perfectly still, watching her in silence.

A flicker of confusion passed through Hilda's eyes.

In the past, my bipolar episodes had flared at the slightest spark. A few cruel words from her were enough to set me off, to drive me into a shouting match. She hadn't expected this silence.

Then came the sound of Mom's and Dad's footsteps.

Jaw clenched, Hilda hurled herself down the stairs. Her scream tore through the house.

Mom and Dad dropped everything and rushed over, scrambling to lift her, blood already glistening at the corner of her mouth.

"Hilda, are you alright? Call the ambulance!"

Hilda gave a bitter laugh, then whispered carefully, "I don't blame Val. It was my own carelessness—"

Mom stabbed a finger toward me, her voice raw with fury. "Valerie! You pushed Hilda, didn't you?"

I kept my face impassive and laid bare Hilda's true thoughts to Mom and Dad.

'So, my little trick paid off. Now these two must be utterly disgusted with Valerie, aren't they?'

Mom's shout died in her throat. She looked down at Hilda, and her face set like iron.

'Keep your hands off me, you old geezer. You're nothing but a pile of rotting flesh. Disgusting! If it weren't for the show, who'd ever stomach your touch?'

Dad shot to his feet.

Hilda's head hit the floor with a sickening thud.

'You old thing! When you're nothing but a cripple in a bed, I'll torture you to death. And why did Valerie suddenly stop flipping out? Maybe the dose wasn't enough. Has she built up a tolerance?'

Mom and Dad froze, their faces draining of color.