My adopted younger sister, Marissa Payton, loves pulling pranks on others. But I'm the only one who gets hurt in her pranks.

Last year, she and our older brother, James Payton, locked me up in a cold storage room. Because of that, I'm afflicted with a case of severe asthma.

James apologizes to me before telling me that he'll take me cave diving just to make it up to me.

Marissa tags along with us on the trip. She keeps casting me malicious glances every now and then.

Feeling rather uneasy, I quickly get into the water just so I can get away from Marissa. But when I'm 65 feet deep, I feel a wave of suffocation hitting me all of a sudden.

It turns out that Marissa has secretly shut off the oxygen supply.

I can hear Marissa's smug laughter ringing out from the underwater communicator.

"Look, Jamie! I told you that Nat would fall for it again!"

James' voice is filled with affection. "Leave it to you to be smart enough to think of such a prank to play on your sister, you little imp."

My face has gone blue from the suffocation. I struggle with all my might in an attempt to turn on the bailout cylinder, only to feel my hands getting slapped away from them thanks to Marissa, who has swum over to me.

She then whines into the communicator, "Look at how dramatic Nat is being, Jamie! She can't stand the suffocation at all even though it's only been a few seconds!"

I hear James' icy and aloof voice reverberating in my earpiece.

"Just hold on a little longer. Look at how delicate you are! It hasn't been all that long, yet you already can't stand it. How humiliating. You're not even in the same league as Mari!"

This time, I can only stare at James in despair as my complexion slowly goes purple.

Has he forgotten what happened to me? Thanks to their prank, my lungs have already sustained irreversible damage.

It's getting more and more difficult for me to breathe. Finally, my vision goes black, and I collapse in the dark bottom of the sea.

This prank isn't funny at all, James.

This time, I'm going to die for real.

The ocean water was freezing, the sort of icy cold that seeped through the skin and right into my bones. It was even more painful than when I was trapped in the freezer last year.

My spirit floated in mid-air, watching as my blue-tinged body lay limply in the sandy bottom of the cave.

Marissa Payton, my adopted younger sister, swam over to me. Her swim fins stirred up a cloud of silt, which landed right on my face and covered it. Stretching out a leg, she kicked hard at my body.

"Look, Jamie! Nat sure is going all out in her act this time. She isn't moving at all."

Her delighted giggling came over the communicator, the sound filled with triumphant glee.

The voice of James Payton, my older brother, swiftly came over the line, his tone coldly indifferent as he said impatiently, "Stop that, Natalie. It's enough to put on this show once. There's no need to keep pretending. Now, hurry up and get up. Stop wasting everyone's time!"

I stared at James, my older brother by blood, as he held on tight to Marissa's hand. Clearly, he was worried about her getting swept away by the currents.

He didn't even bother looking at me when he spoke, assuming that I was still throwing a tantrum at having my oxygen shut off.

At that moment, our diving instructor, Jackson Morris, came over. Using the high-powered dive light he held, he shone it straight into my eyes.

"Ms. Natalie, stop pretending. Your heart rate monitor already cut off earlier. Did you pull the sensor off yourself? With such outstanding acting skills, why don't you try your luck at winning an award?"

Marissa's smile widened further.

"She's just trying to make Jamie feel sorry for her. After all, she's not as charming as I am."

From where I was floating above their heads, I sorely wanted to scream at them that I wasn't putting on an act.

I was truly dead.

My lungs were already injured from when Marissa shut me in the freezer last year on April Fools' Day. She claimed she was just playing a prank on me.

At the time, James stood beside her, glancing at his watch as he said, "Nat, if you can hold on for ten minutes, then I'll gift you that necklace you've been wanting."

I screamed for help, pounding madly on the door, and when my asthma kicked in, it felt as though knives were slicing at my lungs.

In the end, it wasn't until I had collapsed to the icy floor that they took their sweet time opening the door.

After that incident, the doctor reported that my respiratory system had suffered irreversible damage.

James apologized to me then, telling me that he knew he was wrong. He promised to bring me diving in this underwater cave this year, saying that it would be a sort of recovery training and also as compensation.

I believed him, happily putting on my diving suit, only to once again face death 65 feet below the ocean's surface.

"Natalie, I'm only going to say this one more time—get the hell up."

When I remained unresponsive, James genuinely grew angry. Letting go of Marissa, he swam over to me in a flash and seized my air hose. Then, using the hands that should have protected me, he lashed out to slap me on the cheek.

With the scuba mask and seawater as a buffer, his slap landed with a dull thud.

My head was thrown to the side by the force, my scuba mask sent askew. Immediately, icy saltwater gushed into my mouth and nose.

Nonetheless, I couldn't feel the agony of choking on the seawater anymore.

Like a deflated balloon, my body swayed with the force of his blow before slowly drifting back to the ocean floor.

"Jamie, it looks like Nat is truly angry this time." Marissa came up to James and grabbed his arm, a look of fake concern on her face. "Maybe we should go. Let's leave her alone here to calm down a little. She must be using this method to force you into buying her the new limited edition handbag."

James snorted, his eyes shining with disdain.

"It's amazing that she hasn't grown tired of playing the pity act yet, because I sure have. Since we were young, she's always pretending to be sick or dying whenever I don't fulfill her wishes. In stark contrast to her, you're so kind and obedient, Mari. Even now, you're speaking up on her behalf."

He reached out to pat Marissa's head with gentleness practically overflowing from his eyes.

That was the sort of warmth that he had never given me.

Subsequently, he took out a sharp knife from his belt.

Even though I didn't have a heartbeat anymore, my heart still trembled slightly when I caught sight of the knife.

What was he planning to do with that?

I didn't have to wonder long, as in the next second, he slashed at the safety line connecting me to the rest of the group. The sound of the nylon rope snapping was particularly jarring in the dim cave.

"Since you wish to stay here so much, I'll oblige you. Swim back up yourself whenever you've finally come to your senses."

With that, he used the communicator to announce to the rest of the group, "Natalie has left our group to reflect on her actions. Everyone else, follow me. We're heading deeper into the trench."

Following that, he took Marissa's hand again and continued swimming forward, not even looking back once at me.

I gazed down at my corpse. Without the safety line, I had become nothing but a sacrifice left behind in this dark cave deep in the ocean.

It wasn't long before a strong underwater current swept by, dragging me along with it. With nothing to hold me in place, my corpse began drifting slowly across the cave floor.

Marissa glanced back, and when she realized that my corpse was heading toward the bottomless abyss of a trench nearby, not only did she not speak up about it, but she even kicked her legs faster. The intense currents stirred up by her rapid movements acted like another force pushing at my corpse from behind.

I could do nothing but watch as my body slid toward the trench.

Although James detected some movement behind him, he didn't turn around to look, simply saying through the communicator, "Natalie, don't bother with any tricks. No one is going to save you."

The cold words slammed into my spirit like a physical force, but he wasn't done yet.

"If we don't teach you a lesson this time, you'll never learn how to be more understanding."

And so, he swam off with the others, leaving me further and further behind. Their diving lights grew increasingly dim before vanishing around the corner of a cliff.

As for my corpse, it finally slipped over the edge and began falling into the trench.

Sharp rocky edges lined the trench, so as I sank, my diving suit caught on the rocks and tore open. My back also slammed into a large rock, the sheer force of it enough to break all the ribs of a living person.

In the end, my corpse got stuck in a narrow crack in the rocks. Blood from my cuts seeped into the water, the scent attracting some fish over. They circled my body before taking a few tentative bites at my wounds.

I saw it all happen, the utter despair that swept over me even more unbearable than suffocating to death.

Just then, my spirit was dragged back to James' side, and I happened to see him carefully helping Marissa adjust her regulator.

Those hands of his once held me as I learned how to walk, yet now, I was nothing but a burden to him.

"Jamie, is it really okay for us to leave Nat back there?" Marissa asked with fake concern. "What if the currents are too strong?"

James let out a cold laugh. "A delicate, spoiled heiress like her values her life more than anyone else. I bet she's already used her backup oxygen to sneak back up onto the yacht and is currently enjoying a steak. She simply wants us to go back for her to prove just how important she is."

Nearby, Jackson chimed in ingratiatingly, "Mr. Payton is right. Her spoiled attitude is a result of indulging her too much. She's nothing like you, Ms. Marissa. You're understanding, physically fit, and have a steady head on your shoulders."

James was more than pleased to hear the compliments.

"Natalie can't even hope to compare to Mari. She's nothing but an embarrassment to the Payton family!"

They continued forward, completely oblivious to the fact that my corpse was currently in a deep, dark trench, being eaten by the fishes.

The currents in the cave suddenly churned agitatedly—a sign of impending high tide. If they didn't leave immediately, there was a high possibility that they would be swept away by the chaotic currents.

"Mr. Payton, it's about time that we head back," Jackson said grimly after glancing at his watch.

James nodded and glanced back at the spot where they had left me behind earlier.

Other than some swirling silt, there was nothing.

An imperceptible hint of frustration flashed in his eyes, but it was quickly overtaken by fury.

"See, what did I say? She must have left long ago. Come on, let's head back up to the yacht to settle scores with her. This time, I'm definitely not letting her return home unless she apologizes to Mari on her knees."

The sun was blinding in its intensity.

The diving team surfaced from the ocean, one after another, before climbing onto the yacht.

The first thing James did after boarding the yacht was search the deck for any signs of me.

When he failed to see me, his expression darkened.

"Where's Natalie?" he asked one of the crew members.

The crew member was briefly surprised before answering honestly, "Mr. Payton, Ms. Natalie hasn't returned. We didn't see anyone coming up just now."

James' fingers tightened into fists.

"That's impossible. With her personality, she would have immediately returned here to complain about whatever minor grievance she's suffered."

At that moment, Marissa came over while toweling her hair.

"Jamie, Nat must be hiding in the lower deck and playing a game of hide and seek with us. She must be hoping that you'll go looking for her so that she can cry up a storm and have you cajole her."

That made sense to James, causing him to let out a scoff. "She's hiding, huh? Fine then! Let's see how long she can hide for!"

He called for the captain and ordered in a frosty tone, "Go and lock all cabin doors, then shut off the central air conditioning for the lower deck. No one is allowed to deliver her even a single drop of water. Since she loves hiding so much, she can enjoy the stuffiness to her heart's content!"

Marissa offered him a cup of hot coffee, a sweet, gentle smile curving her lips.

"Jamie, don't be mad anymore. Nat does have a bit of a temper, but that's not surprising considering that she's the legitimate Ms. Payton, heiress to the Payton family."

That sort of remark was exactly the sort that would provoke James' resentment toward me. After all, although the Payton family was vast and powerful, he had an extremely arrogant personality. He absolutely hated it when people threw their weight around and used their status to step on him, even if that person was his own younger sister.

"The legitimate heiress to the Payton family?" James accepted the coffee, a vicious look flashing in his eyes. "In my eyes, she can't compare to even a single one of your fingers."

After that, he headed for the helm and used the yacht-wide broadcast system to say, "Natalie, I know you're on the boat. Listen up! I have no time to play such childish games with you. Get your ass to the deck right this instant and apologize to Mari on your knees for your selfishness in the cave.

"If you still want to return to the Payton residence, this is your only chance. I'll count to three, and if you still won't come out by then, you can spend the night drifting in the ocean alone!"

His words blared through the speakers and echoed across the ocean's surface, startling a flock of seagulls.

Nonetheless, the only sound that answered him was the relentless slapping of the waves hitting the sides of the yacht.

Thoroughly running out of patience, James slammed the phone back onto the control board.

"Fine! You sure have some guts!"

Just then, a massive pitch-black cloud drifted across the sky, followed by the ocean waves churning violently.

Jackson approached James with an uneasy expression.

"Mr. Payton, a storm is coming. It's too dangerous to remain here in such weather. Maybe we should return first?"

James gritted his teeth as he stared at the entrance to the lower deck.

"Alright, we'll return immediately. I doubt there's anywhere she can hide once we're back at the harbor."

The captain placed the yacht in full throttle, sending them speeding through the howling winds. The ride was bumpy due to the roiling waves.

Still, James sat at the bow, unmoving even as the rain and seawater pelted him. He appeared to be waiting for me to crack under the violent rocking and rush out to him to beg for mercy.

Suddenly, a dark shape burst from the thick fog and headed straight for the yacht.

It was a coast guard patrol boat, with its red and blue lights flashing.

"Yacht ahead! Cut your engines and immediately prepare for inspection!"