After 99 Humiliations, My Brothers Destroyed Me—Now They'll Never Find Me

At the wedding, Adrian Gilbert had just slipped a hundred-billion-dollar diamond ring onto my fingerthen turned around and started auctioning our intimate photos.

He shoved me aside where I stood frozen and pulled his childhood sweetheart up onto the stage.

Vanessa, use these to practice. That way you won't be nervous at the international auction house.

The guests roared with laughter.

"Vanessa Gill suddenly wants to play auctioneer, and Mr. Gilbert's putting on quite the show."

"He really is somethingselling photos of his own wife."

My face went cold. I turned to leave.

But the three younger brothers I'd raised with my own hands blocked my path.

Ethan, the eldest, was stern and cold. "You're just leaving? Where does that leave Vanessa's dignity?"

Marcus, the second, clamped down on my wrist. "It's just some photos. Even your fianc doesn't mind. Why are you overreacting?"

The youngest flashed a goofy grin. "Vanessa's just having fun, and you got famous too. Win-win, right?"

The three of them tugged and pulled until I was standing directly under the main screen.

Forced to witness the live spectacle they'd personally staged for Vanessa Gill.

The System, silent for ten years, came online.

[Host humiliation count has reached 99. Mission complete.]

[Do you wish to leave this world?]

I nodded without hesitation.

But when I really leftwhy did the four men who'd treated me like Vanessa's toy go mad?

[World departure countdown: 180 minutes.]

The cold mechanical voice echoed in my head.

My gaze drifted from Adrian and Vanessa to the three brothers before me.

I looked at Ethan Sullivan. The eldest. The one I'd raised with my own hands.

"Ethan. Do you remember how many times you've thrown me under the bus for Vanessa Gill?"

My voice was soft, but it reached him clearly.

A flicker of confusion crossed his facelike something surfacedbut indifference swallowed it just as fast.

Right. Five years. Countless incidents.

How could he remember?

But I remembered.

The first time, Adrian switched my juice for liquor to make Vanessa laugh.

I was allergic. Hives covered my body. I was rushed to the hospital, barely breathing.

Back then, Ethan wasn't the Mr. Sullivan who commanded a business empire. He'd stormed into the Gilbert estate and beaten Adrian bloodynearly got hauled off to the precinct by the Gilbert family.

Just like when we were at our poorest, when we couldn't afford a single meal, he'd still shove the only bun he'd begged for into my hands.

"Serena, I want to give you the best."

But from the day he met Vanessa Gill, everything changed.

"It's nothing. I don't remember."

His voice was clipped. Impatient.

"Vanessa's just messing with you. She never really hurt you."

"Adrian's already yours. What more do you want?"

Right. Just messing around.

The allergic reaction that nearly killed me.

The contract I'd spent months securingruined.

Being abandoned deep in the mountains, almost torn apart by wolves.

And nowcountless leering gazes below, practically stripping through my wedding dress.

Vanessa Gill's idea of "harmless fun."

I didn't argue. I just asked Ethan one more time.

"So you really don't remember?"

I'd told him. Once Vanessa humiliated me ninety-nine times, I would leave.

"Serena Sullivan!" He lost all patience. "Drop the victim act! Today is Vanessa's big daydon't you dare make things difficult for her!"

A sigh of relief escaped me.

The weight I'd been carrying finally lifted.

When I was little, I promised Ethan I'd stay with him for a lifetime. Now he's the one who doesn't remember first.

So it doesn't count as me breaking my promise.

I smileda real smile, from somewhere deep inside.

"Okay." I breathed out. "Ethan, I don't owe you anymore."

As I spoke, a lecherous old man climbed onto the stage, grabbing at my clothes. "Who knows if those photos are Photoshopped? Let me inspect the goods."

Ethan stepped in front of me instinctively and kicked the man away. "With your filthy hands you dare touch her?!"

The man rolled across the floor, crashing through a row of tables. Every guest went still, as if remembering an old saying that had circulated through the city years agothat if you messed with Serena Sullivan, the three Sullivan brothers would chase you overseas and still grind your bones to dust.

I looked at Ethan, who was practically ready to kill someone, and felt something complicated twist in my chest. Why bother? The ones who'd tied me up here to be humiliated by anyonethat was them.

Across the room, Vanessa frowned.

Ethan snapped back to himself. He yanked off my shawl. "Herethe birthmark matches the photo exactly. In a proper auction, who would come paw at the merchandise? Follow some rules. Don't ruin Vanessa's mood."

Oh. So it was still for her.

I pulled my gaze away from Ethan and looked toward my second brotherthe one who'd been sickly and frail since childhood, who'd basically grown up on my back. Marcus walked toward me. Behind his gold-rimmed glasses, his eyes held no warmth at all.

"Be good and cooperate, Serena." He adjusted his glasses. "It'll be over soon. This is a very fair trade. Vanessa gave Adrian to youlet you become Mrs. Gilbert. Now you let her vent a little. That's only right."

He looked all business. Exactly like the frail boy in my memory.

When we were little, every time I carried him to the hospital, he'd carefully record another entry in his little notebook. He said he owed all of it to his sister, and he had to repay it for a lifetime. I once secretly looked at that notebook. On the last page, on the day he recovered, he'd written: How I wish I could stay sick forever, so I could keep clinging to my sister's side forever.

I pulled myself back to the present and looked at Marcus.

I didn't question him like before about what I supposedly owed Vanessa. Instead, I asked softly, "Marcus, for Vanessa, how many times have you messed with me now?"

He remembered.

"Ninety-nine times."

He said the number clearly, then cut off whatever I was about to say. "Stop with that stupid stuff about being a 'tasker'that if you get humiliated a certain number of times, you'll disappear. Look, this is already the ninety-ninth time." The corner of his mouth curled. "Aren't you still standing here perfectly fine? Serena, don't use childish threats on us."

The moment he finished speaking

Warm liquid, without any warning, surged from my nose.

One drop. Two. They splattered onto my pure white wedding dress, spreading into a glaring red stain.

The calm on Marcus's face shattered.

He grabbed ice water, tissuesnothing he did could stop the blood pouring out of me. He'd been sick so long he'd practically become his own doctor, and he knew this wasn't normal. His voice cracked as he shouted, helpless, trembling.

"Doctor! Get a doctornow!"

But the doctor who rushed over and examined me couldn't find anything wrong.

Across the room, Vanessa frowned. "Serena, are you deliberately making trouble?"

"I just got this place lively, and you go and make yourself look like that."

"You're killing my appetitehow am I supposed to sell your photos now?"

Marcus released me, his gaze colder and sharper than before.

"Serena, you really opened my eyes."

"It's just a few photos. Was all this really necessary?"

The weakness from having my life force extracted by the System washed over me, and I shook my head feebly.

"Marcus, I didn't."

"I told you beforeI won't lie to you."

Marcus stiffened, remembering the promise we once made.

To earn his medical bills, I'd taken a tutoring jobbut the student treated me like a pony to ride around on.

Marcus came to pick me up after my shift. He saw everything.

He burst into loud sobs, saying I'd clearly told him I was going to help someone with homework.

I coaxed him over and over, until finally I promised I would never lie to him again. Only then did he stop crying.

Little Marcus solemnly wrote in a small notebook, one entry after another, every wrong I'd suffered.

He said, "Everyone who bullies SerenaI'm going to make them regret it."

But now, Marcus only snorted.

"Still being stubborn. Since you like playing these little tricks, let's play bigger!"

He pointed at the bloodstains on my wedding dress and shouted to the guests below:

"Red fallen on white frostdoesn't it look familiar?"

"Starting now, we're auctioning off Serena's first-time photos!"

An even more heated wave surged through the crowd.

Ethan and Marcus both stopped looking at me.

The youngest, Lucas, walked toward me instead, eyes bright with interest.

"Serena, fun, right?"

Smiling, he stuffed a lollipop into my handstrawberry milk, my favorite.

Since we were little, he was the youngest, yet the best at cheering me up.

When we slept under bridges, he would venture out and pick me a bunch of nameless wildflowers.

When vicious dogs chased us, he would throw his small body in front of mine, even if he got bitten bloody.

He said, "Serena, don't cry. With me here, you have to keep smiling."

Those daysme as a kid taking care of three even smaller kidswere brutal.

But because of him, that stretch of memories actually carried a sweetness.

Now, with the candy in my mouth, it was so sweet it made me sick, but my heart was bitter as herbs.

I spoke softly, voice muffled: "Lucas, I'm leaving."

"In the future, treat yourself a little better."

"You give all your candy away, and you'll be the one who suffers."

The smile on Lucas's face froze. Eyes bloodshot, he roared:

"Don't act like you understand me so well!"

"If it weren't for you, Charlotte would still be alive!"

I didn't speak.

Charlotte was Vanessa's best friend.

The moment I saw her, the System sounded an alarm.

[Warning: This person will cause Lucas Sullivan to fall into depravity, become disabled, and ultimately die a miserable death.]

That was the little brother who would dig a broken doll out of the trash, wash it clean, clumsily sew it back togetherjust to make me smile.

How could I watch him walk toward an ending like that.

I intervened.

The price was ten years of my real-world lifespan, taken by the System as punishment.

Seeing that I didn't speak, Lucas got even angrier. He raised his hand and slapped me hard across the face.

The crisp sound echoed through the noisy hall.

The candy was knocked from my mouth. Several teeth rolled onto the floor along with it.

I didn't cry.

I only lifted my head, spread my lipsignoring the gap where my teeth had beenand smiled at him.

This was what I had promised Lucas.

No matter when, as long as he was there, I had to be happy.

One last timeI wanted to keep my word.

Lucas froze completely, as if someone had him by the throat.

He stared at me, and only after a long moment did he force the words through clenched teeth.

"Psycho!"

"Laugh it up! We'll see if you're still laughing in a minute!"

Lucas asked a server for scissors.

He cut my wedding dress to shreds. What remained barely covered anything.

Then he walked over to Vanessa. "Raise the stakes. Whoever lights the sky and buys all the photos gets one live photo of Serena. On-site. Any request satisfied."

Vanessa smiled and tapped the auction hammer. "You all heard that, right? This chance doesn't come oftenget those bids in!"

The room went silent for a heartbeat. Then the bidding exploded.

Lucas's addition had poured gasoline on an already raging fire.

Adrian stood beside Vanessa, holding her microphone, an indulgent smile playing at his lips. As if he were watching a harmless little game.

[World detachment countdown: 30 minutes.]

My consciousness started to blur. Everything looked like it was behind frosted glass.

Finally, the hammer came down.

A greasy fat man lit the lantern and bought every single photo.

Mr. Finch.

In their circles, he was infamousa lecherous predator who got off on tormenting women. He'd once kidnapped me. Almost succeeded.

My three brothers had arrived just in time, beat him until he couldn't walk, and saved me.

Now he propped himself up on a cane and limped onto the stage, his face dripping with lust and venom.

"The three young masters of the Sullivan family. Long time no see."

His poisonous gaze swept over Ethan, Marcus, and Lucas.

"Back then you treated her like a treasure. Protected her like she was everything."

"And now? You're delivering her to me personally?"

"Since young master Lucas said any angle is fineI won't hold back!"

All three brothers' expressions darkened instantly.

Ethan slammed his hand down on Vanessa's hammer. "Vanessa. That's enough."

Marcus fixed Mr. Finch with a cold stare and pushed up his glasses. "Looks like you don't need that other leg either."

Lucas signed a check and threw it in Mr. Finch's face. "Get lost. I'll pay ten times. I'm buying those photos."

Mr. Finch didn't get angry. He laughed. Turned to Vanessa and spread his hands.

"Miss Gill, is this your auction or not? Highest bidder winsyou're just going to say it doesn't count? So this is just a children's game you're playing to amuse yourselves?"

Vanessa's face fell.

She shoved Ethan away and turned on all three brothers. "You want to back out again, don't you! We had a dealthis was the last time! Once I've had my fun, I'd never appear in front of you and Serena again! Why do you always lie to me!"

Tears streamed down her face like rain on flower petals, and all three men panicked.

They backed down.

Mr. Finch laughed, smug and satisfied. He walked up to me and used the tip of his cane to lift my chin.

"Don't be scared, little beauty. I'll treat you well."

Filthy words poured from his mouth, each one slithering like a venomous snake.

He took a fluffy fox tail from his assistant and pinned it to the back of my ruined dress.

"Put this on. Now give me a little spin."

I hung my head like a soulless puppet. Didn't move.

[World detachment countdown: 1 minute.]

Mr. Finch's irritation grew. He grabbed my face roughly.

"Damn it, you're like a corpse!"

He turned back to Vanessa with a complaint. "Ms. Gill, this auction item of yours is a total dud. No fun at all!"

Vanessa snorted and clicked over in her heels.

"Serena, quit the act. It's getting boring."

She reached out, fingers closing on the last scraps of fabric barely covering my body.

"You were way more uninhibited in those photos. Just make the expression already"

Her hand had just touched the thin gauze on my shoulder.

My body gave out. I crashed off the rack and hit the floor.

A dull thud. Like a heavy bag of trash, casually thrown away.

[World detachment countdown: 0.]

Every head in the room lifted at once.

Floating in midair, I finally understoodthe System's final broadcast was audible to everyone.

My three brothers froze as if struck by lightning, then rushed toward my lifeless body.

Shouting for a doctor.

But the System's voice cut through their panic.

[Host chooses reward: sever all karmic ties with all associated characters in this world.]