Replying with "1" to everything had become a habit of mine over the past few years.

In the class group chat, Rachel Gilbert, the class academic officer, tagged @everyone:

"When my sister ran off years ago in a fit of temper, she said Mom and Dad couldn't even sell their blood fast enough to cover half a designer bag. Now that she's just been reunited with us, she's already forcing them to sell a kidney for cash."

"If you've got the guts to own it, just reply '1'!"

In my past life I'd been in the middle of class and, out of habit, blindly fired back a "1."

Rachel screenshotted it instantly and posted it everywhere, along with a faked record of my massive spending.

During the break, in a hallway packed with students, she blocked my path in front of everyone, her eyes rimmed red.

"Mom and Dad have been selling their blood for years, their bodies are already wrecked, and you still want to force them to sell a kidney for money. How can your heart be so cold?"

Last time, I'd tried desperately to explain that the two of us had nothing to do with each other, and she'd twisted it into me being ashamed of a poor family and refusing to claim my own kin.

The whole school decided I was a selfish, cold-blooded ingrate.

I was cursed at from every direction, my savings picked clean by her schemes, and then they stripped me bare and drove me to jump off the academic building.

After I died, she pinned a celebration post to the top of the forum:

【The vampire is finally dead. The family is free at last.】

When I opened my eyes again, I was back at the loudest moment of it all.

I threw my textbook straight into her face.

"You want to be my sister? We happen to share a last name and I don't recall you thanking me for it."

1

Rachel's eyes went red.

"Mom didn't dare go to the hospital even when she got sick, all so she could pay your tuition!"

"The family needs money urgently, and you won't even admit your own family exists."

Last time she talked circles around me until I couldn't get a word in, and my classmates were all certain I was a money-grubbing ingrate.

I'd thought time would wash it away. Instead the rumors only got worse.

Rachel picked the book up off the floor and held it out to me.

"Lillian Gilbert, I'm begging you as your sister. Mom's illness really can't wait any longer."

"I know you love money more than anything. Then let it be a loan, okay? I swear I'll sell my own blood to pay you back."

The students around us erupted at once.

"She doesn't even care whether her own parents live or die, and now she's turning it around on Rachel."

"She's always carrying designer stuff. Turns out she's been sucking her parents dry."

I pressed the record button on my phone and captured every word as evidence.

"You say I'm your biological sister. What proof do you have?"

"Don't tell me it's because we both have the last name Gilbert. I could laugh just saying it out loud."

Rachel wiped at her tears.

"I know you won't admit it. But can you really stand to let Mom die in agony in a hospital bed?"

"I thought about getting a paternity test, but the few hundred dollars it costs could buy Mom a box of painkillers instead."

The accusations around us swelled instantly.

"Is she even human? Her mother's practically dying of pain and she's still pretending she doesn't know her."

"Going to the same school as someone like that makes me feel dirty."

Rachel pulled a stack of papers out of her bag.

"Lillian, I know you blame me for airing our family's dirty laundry."

"You ran up three hundred thousand dollars at luxury stores in one month! These are the records of every transfer Mom and Dad sent you."

"Back home in the countryside they won't even let themselves eat meat, and you're draining the blood out of them!"

I had just reached out to take that statement.

When someone suddenly grabbed my wrist.

"If you were really short on money, you could have told me. Why force the parents who raised you into this?"

"Apologize to Rachel right now, and we'll figure out how to pay it back together."

I looked at my boyfriend and let out a cold laugh.

"Jasper Nolan, which eye of yours saw me force anyone to sell a kidney or their blood?"

He sighed, his tone turning even more helpless.

"The evidence is right here in front of you. Are you still going to argue?"

"Being poor is nothing to be ashamed of, but vanity and lying will ruin your whole life."

"Look at everything Rachel's given up for that family. Don't you feel even a shred of guilt?"

Right on cue, Rachel let out a small sob, her shoulders trembling faintly.

"Jasper, don't blame Lillian. She's just used to living well."

"As long as she's willing to change, I'll work ten jobs if I have to and cover the hole for her."

The moment she said it, my classmates' disgust for me deepened.

"Rachel's too kind. An ungrateful sister like that, she should just cut ties for good."

"Poor Jasper too. How did he end up stuck with a girlfriend like this?"

I walked straight up to Rachel.

"You're saying I spent this money?"

"Then do you dare pull up the transaction number on the bank app right now?"

Rachel's eyes flickered with panic.

"Lillian, a bank transaction number is private. How could I just log into your account?"

I pressed on, step by step.

"Didn't you just say your parents wired me this three hundred thousand?"

"Then there should be a matching transfer record on your parents' card, right?"

The crowd went quiet, suddenly realizing this was the one piece of evidence that mattered.

Rachel bit her lower lip, and her tears fell harder.

"Lillian, Mom and Dad can't even use a smartphone. Where would they get a transaction number for you?"

"They knelt in the bank lobby and begged the branch manager to print these statements out!"

In an instant, the wave of condemnation crashed down again.

She still wanted to use the same old trick from my last life to force me into submission. Fine. This time I'd make sure she never got back up.

Jasper looked at me, his face full of disappointment.

"Lillian, you've disappointed me so much."

"You've driven your parents to this point, and you're still splitting hairs and making excuses."

"Do you have to watch them die in front of you before you'll admit you were wrong?"

I rolled my eyes at him.

"Jasper, did zombies eat your brain?"

"She says her parents can't even use a smartphone, so how did this three hundred thousand get transferred to my card?"

"By carrier pigeon?"

Someone in the crowd snorted out a laugh.

Rachel immediately changed her story.

"They took a passbook to the counter and transferred it!"

"Counter transfers come with a receipt. Where's the receipt?"

"The receipt... they lost the receipt."

Rachel stammered, her eyes starting to dart away.

"Lost it? A receipt for a three-hundred-thousand transfer, just lost like that?"

"Rachel, if you're going to make up a story, at least write a draft first."

Just then, our advisor, Alvin Chavez, came over.

"Class is out. What are you all crowding around here for?"

I waved to him right away.

"Mr. Chavez, someone here is framing and slandering me. How do you want to handle it?"

Alvin came closer and took a couple of looks.

"Lillian Gilbert, some of your classmates have come to me privately. They say you live a lavish lifestyle."

"You won't even acknowledge the parents who raised you. How is someone like that ever supposed to make it in the world?"

My hands curled into fists.

"Mr. Chavez, this is all slander!"

Alvin Chavez picked up the statement.

"It's all right here in black and white. What more do you have to say?"

I tried to explain.

"That statement is a forgery. The transaction numbers don't even match up."

Alvin looked at me and shook his head.

"Rachel Gilbert is the top student in this class. She wins a scholarship every year. What possible reason would she have to smear you?"

"You, on the other hand, never even bother to show up for class, and now you've dragged us into this disgraceful mess."

Rachel was crying so hard she could barely catch her breath.

"I really didn't want to make a scene, but Mom called yesterday. The hospital is already pushing for the money for her kidney transplant."

"If Lillian doesn't return the money, Mom has no way out but to die!"

Alvin looked at Rachel, and his tone softened considerably.

"Rachel, the school will make sure justice is done for you."

When he turned back to me, his face darkened at once.

"Lillian Gilbert, look at what you've driven your sister to."

"I don't have a sister, and I've never taken a single cent from her family."

I looked Alvin straight in the eye.

"Then how do you explain this statement?"

"I already told you. It's a forgery."

"Just call the bank and check the transaction numbers, and the truth will be clear."

Alvin's face flushed with anger.

"You think the bank belongs to your family? That anyone can just make a phone call and pull up someone's private records?"

"That statement is an original with an official seal on it. You think the bank would fake something for her?"

In my last life, I only found out right before I died that the seal was a counterfeit Rachel had someone carve for her.

But right now I had no proof.

Jasper Nolan walked over to my side.

"Lillian, just apologize to Rachel and give the money back."

"If you admit your mistake, I'll work jobs alongside you to pay off the debt, and Mr. Chavez will cut you some slack."

I looked at Jasper and thought he was absolutely ridiculous.

"Jasper, what gives you the right to confess on my behalf?"

"I won't admit to something I never did."

Jasper lost his patience, his voice climbing.

"Why do you have to be so stubborn!"

"Everyone already knows you took your family's money to buy luxury goods. What's the point of holding out?"

"Being poor isn't the shameful part. The shameful part is that you don't even have the courage to admit you were wrong!"

"You're not just ruining yourself, you're dragging me down with you, making people point fingers at me too!"

So that was what he really thought.

It was never about justice, and it was never about me. He just didn't want me tarnishing his perfect image.

"Since you're so afraid of being dragged down, let's break up."

I looked at him calmly.

Jasper froze.

"You're the one who did wrong, and you have the nerve to break up with me?"

Seeing this, Rachel quickly cut in:

"Lillian's had a stubborn temper since she was little. Back home, Mom and Dad would save her the last bite of food, and she'd still complain that the rice was too hard."

A few sentences, and she'd painted me all over again as a selfish, ungrateful brat who'd been that way since childhood.

Alvin waved his hand impatiently.

"Lillian Gilbert, you will return the three hundred thousand to Rachel before tomorrow morning."

"And you will apologize to Rachel in front of the whole class."

"Otherwise, you're expelled, effective immediately!"

Back in the dorm, I took out my phone and dialed a number.

"Hey, I need you to look into something for me."

"A forged bank statement, and all of Rachel Gilbert's recent transfer records."