Brothers Regret When They Lost Me novel Chapter 1

"Zara, you really are just a useless country bumpkin, so vicious and scheming."

"Don't think just because we brought you back that you're really part of the Sterling family. Fact is, the only real heiress of the Sterlings is Rosalie."

"Rosalie is a once-in-a-century genius in Summerport, the pride of our family. You're just a nobody—what do you have that could possibly compare to Rosalie?"

"Zara, go to hell! We don't want a sister like you."

The shrill, venomous voices rang out relentlessly in Zara's head, playing on loop like someone pressed repeat—she couldn't escape them.

It was as if countless needles kept stabbing into her mind, sharp and merciless, never giving her a moment's peace.

Zara frowned, her long, curly lashes trembling as she tried to hold herself together.

"Zara, you're finally awake," Rosalie's sweet voice rang out, laced with a smug little giggle.

But before Zara could react, a hand reeking faintly of blood slammed down onto the wound on her head, pressing hard.

The pain was excruciating—it felt like a hundred needles stabbing through her skull, sharp enough to pierce right through.

Zara twisted around and grabbed the hand at her forehead. As she slowly opened her eyes, an icy, forbidding light flashed across her gaze, cold enough to make anyone shiver.

Her slender, flawless fingers seemed gentle at first glance, but the way she pressed down was ruthless—she landed right on the most sensitive nerve.

The girl beside the bed howled in pain, her scream utterly different from that sweet voice she'd used just seconds earlier.

Zara's gaze stayed calm as she slowly lifted her eyes.

Standing before her was a girl in a luxury white dress, makeup minimal but impossibly perfect. The girl, who had always been sweet and soft, now had tears streaming down, her face so contorted by pain that she looked like a monster.

So this is the true face of the little princess everyone in the Sterling family spoils rotten,' Zara thought.

The girl was Rosalie Sterling. She had lived as the Sterling family's daughter for eighteen years, taking Zara's place, stealing the love of her parents and brothers.

Back then, Zara's parents found her and brought her back home.

To fit into her own family, Zara was careful, patient, and always tried to please everyone.

Rosalie, the one who had taken her identity, often clung to Zara's arm and talked to her sweetly, and Zara treated her like a real sister.

When Zara came home, her parents told her that even though Rosalie wasn't their real daughter, they had raised her for eighteen years. The bond was real, even if the blood wasn't.

After learning she wasn't her parents' biological child, Rosalie cried for three days and got seriously sick.

Zara's parents told her to treat Rosalie well, to never make her feel like she'd lost her place in the family.

They told her to take care of Rosalie's feelings—but no one cared about Zara's.

Zara's caution, patience, and kindness only met coldness.

Rosalie kept setting her up with clumsy tricks, yet the Sterlings always blindly believed Rosalie. They called Zara "jealous" and "shameless."

They adored Rosalie but looked at Zara with disgust, treating her worse than a dog no matter how humble she tried to be.

Rosalie not only set Zara up—she went further, taking her captive and dragging her straight into the Abyss of Sins, the hell that everyone in Summerport feared. There, Rosalie carved Zara's body with a knife, cutting her up piece by agonizing piece.

Rosalie couldn't stand seeing Zara's face—so much like her mother's—so she disfigured Zara.

Just because Zara carried Sterling blood, Rosalie didn't care that she was just an ordinary girl, not even having the Heartcore Elixir. Already a Master in cultivation, Rosalie drove her blade into Zara's abdomen, shattering her very core without mercy.

Blood poured out, soaking Zara in her own crimson.

Just then, her parents and six brothers rushed in, but they all ignored Zara.

A white bandage was wrapped tight around that delicate wrist, and little dots of blood were already blooming through the fabric.

Zara remembered everything. To please Rosalie, she had gotten up early, made breakfast herself, and brought it to Rosalie's room to invite her to go to school together.

But no one answered the door, no matter how long she knocked.

The door wasn't locked. Zara pushed it open and saw Rosalie lying on the floor in a white nightgown, with drops of blood soaking into her hem.

Zara was so scared she dropped the tray. She rushed over to help Rosalie up—but Alan, who heard the noise, shoved her aside.

She lost her balance, hit her head on the corner of the table, and blood poured down her face.

Rosalie sobbed, looking like a fragile flower in the rain. The whole family swarmed to rush her to the hospital, and no one cared about Zara, who had fainted from blood loss.

It was the housemaid who finally found Zara and took her to the hospital.

From start to finish, no one from the Sterling family—except Rosalie—came to see her.

In her previous life, Zara had thought Rosalie was beautiful and kind, and she had been deeply grateful to Rosalie.

But now, she no longer believed that.

Zara's lips, drained of all color, slowly curled into an ice-cold smirk. Under Rosalie's shocked gaze, Zara slammed her down onto the white hospital bed with a thud.

Zara's eyes were calm as her slender fingers tightened around Rosalie's bandaged wrist, squeezing harder and harder.

The nearly healed wound tore open under the pressure, and blood rushed out, soaking the gauze bright red.

Zara said softly, "I just wanted to see if your blood is as filthy as you are. Looks like even filth like you still bleeds red, huh?"