That was what Melody Summers thought, and it’s what she said aloud. "Sylvia Lancaster, are you out of your mind? Me? Bring you chicken soup? In your dreams. You should take a good long look in the mirror and see yourself for what you really are."

On the other end of the line, Sylvia Lancaster sounded furious. She shrieked, "Melody Summers! You’ve got some nerve, talking to me like that! Aren’t you afraid I’ll tell Mom, Dad, and our older brother?!"

Sylvia Lancaster had also looked through her text history with Melody Summers. There weren’t many messages, though. Most of them were from last year, before the heatwaves started.

In the chat, she had been showing off the villa Simon Lancaster had bought for her, but Melody Summers hadn’t replied much, seeming to just take it meekly.

This was consistent with Sylvia Lancaster’s memories from her past life.

In her past life, when faced with Sylvia’s showing off and bullying, Melody Summers had resisted at first. But the Lancasters had always taken Sylvia’s side, and over time, Melody stopped fighting back, usually just responding with silence.

Sylvia Lancaster had assumed the Melody of this world would be much the same.

Now, faced with this attitude from Melody, Sylvia Lancaster thought, ’Is it because I’ve returned to the Hayes Family and she’s become the Lancasters’ sole daughter? Does she think that gives her the right to stand up to me?’

At this thought, Sylvia Lancaster sneered and continued into the phone, "Melody Summers, do you think you get to be Mom and Dad’s only daughter just because I returned to the Hayes Family? Let me tell you, dream on!"

"The moment I go back to the Lancasters, I’ll still be Mom and Dad’s favorite daughter! You’re just a country bumpkin. Nobody in the Lancaster Family genuinely likes you! They all wish you would just drop dead somewhere and never come back!"

"Melody Summers, bring me that chicken soup now, and I might consider forgiving you for what you just said. Otherwise, the moment I get home, I’ll make Mom and Dad throw you out!"

Melody Summers: "..."

’This Sylvia Lancaster... is she possessed, or did she hit her head?’

’Hit her head...’

At that thought, Melody Summers suddenly remembered—Roman Rhodes had mentioned when he came over this morning that Sylvia Lancaster had injured her head in the fall, causing some of her memories to be jumbled.

’So Sylvia Lancaster really did hit her head!’ Melody Summers thought.

’No wonder she’s acting this crazy!’

Melody Summers sighed, then enunciated each word clearly into the phone, "Sylvia Lancaster, take your parents and get the hell away from me. Your whole family is a curse!"

With that, Melody Summers hung up, refusing to let Sylvia Lancaster spoil her good mood.

She stretched. After being busy here for so long, it was time to go home for lunch with her family!

******

On the other end of the line, Sylvia Lancaster’s eyes blazed with fury as she stared at the phone, disconnected by Melody Summers.

’How dare Melody Summers speak to her like that!’

’How dare she?!’

’Who gave her the nerve?!’

’She deserves to die!’

’Since I already killed Melody Summers once in my past life,’ Sylvia Lancaster thought through clenched teeth, ’I can kill her a second time now!’

’I’ll make sure the Melody Summers of this world dies by my hand too!’

’Unfortunately, the Flynn Adler of this world is already dead. I’ll have to find someone else to help me deal with Melody Summers...’

Just as Sylvia Lancaster was brainstorming how to deal with Melody Summers, Simon Lancaster arrived.

Simon Lancaster opened the hospital room door and strode to Sylvia Lancaster’s bedside. "Sylvia," he asked anxiously, "what’s going on? How did you get hurt? Didn’t the Hayes Family take good care of you?!"

Simon Lancaster didn’t yet know that the Hayes Family was under investigation; he assumed Sylvia was still living as their pampered daughter.

Seeing Simon’s concerned expression, Sylvia pouted and said with feigned misery, "Older brother, you’re finally here. I’ve been all alone since I woke up, with no one to look after me. My wounds hurt so much..."

Simon lovingly pulled Sylvia into his arms. "Don’t be afraid, Sylvia," he comforted her. "I’m here now. I’ll take good care of you."

He then carefully examined the bandages on Sylvia’s abdomen, his face filled with distress. "Sylvia, what happened? Who did this to you?"

With tears in her eyes, Sylvia shook her head gently. "I don’t know, Older Brother. I was already like this when I woke up..."

Seeing Simon’s worried expression, Sylvia put on a pitiful face again. "Oh, and Older Brother, Melody Summers was bullying me. I just called to say hello, and she started cursing me out for no reason. She even told me to drop dead..."

Simon Lancaster: "..."

Just hearing Melody Summers’s name now gave him a headache.

He asked, confused, "Sylvia, why did you contact her again? Our family has nothing to do with her anymore. Don’t contact her again."

Sylvia Lancaster was stunned upon hearing this—

’What did Simon mean by that?’

’What does he mean, "Our family has nothing to do with her anymore"?’

It was then that Sylvia Lancaster realized things might not be going as she’d expected...

Sylvia was silent for a moment, then spoke hesitantly. "Older Brother, it’s like this... I hit my head when I fell, and the doctor said my memories might be a little jumbled... I don’t remember the last two years very well. Could you tell me what’s happened?"

At her words, Simon shot to his feet, his face etched with anxiety. "Jumbled memories?? How could this happen? No, I’m going to find the doctor!"

Seeing Simon about to leave, Sylvia quickly grabbed his arm. "Older Brother, I’m fine! Don’t go to the doctor!"

Sylvia was also afraid the doctor would notice something was off. She couldn’t let anyone find out she was from another world! She was terrified of being dragged off to a lab for human experimentation! She hadn’t acquired her ’space’ yet; she couldn’t expose herself!

So, she tried to soothe Simon, "Older Brother, I’m really fine. Nothing else is wrong, so please don’t bother the doctor. By the way, you said Melody has nothing to do with our family now? But I remember she’s Mom and Dad’s biological daughter. Why would you say that?"

Hearing Sylvia say that nothing else was wrong, Simon finally relaxed a little.

When Sylvia mentioned Melody Summers, he snorted. "It’s true she’s Mom and Dad’s biological daughter, but she insisted on living with that adoptive family of hers and refused to come back to the Lancasters. After the cataclysms started, Mom, Dad, and I went looking for her several times, and she threw us out every single time."

The thought of all the setbacks he and his parents had suffered at the hands of the Summers Family over the past two years made Simon’s eyes burn with rage. "That Melody Summers is a heartless, ungrateful woman! If she doesn’t want to be a part of the Lancaster Family, then we won’t acknowledge her either. Sylvia, just stop talking about her!"

Every word from Simon was an information bomb, leaving Sylvia completely stunned.

’Melody Summers’s adoptive family?’

’That wretched girl’s adoptive family... didn’t they all die in the mudslide on Mount Anworth last year?’

’Why are these people still alive?’

Overwhelmed with confusion, Sylvia pressed him, "Older Brother, what in the world has happened to our family these past two years? You have to tell me!"

Seeing her like this, Simon had no choice but to recount in detail everything that had happened to the Lancaster Family over the past two years.

He began with the onset of the cataclysms, the persistent heatwaves, and the cascade of problems that plagued the Lancaster Family’s business ventures. The more he spoke, the more his spirits sank. Those two years had been the darkest in the family’s history and the lowest point of his own life.

In just two short years, the Lancasters had fallen from being one of the nation’s most prominent families to an ordinary one struggling to survive. Simon himself had gone from a vibrant, envied heir to a low-level employee who had been fired from his job.

Recalling the bitterness of it all, Simon could only think of how difficult life had become.

As for Sylvia, she was so shocked by the news that she was left reeling, unable to process it for a very long time.