Chapter 1

The fake heiress is a little copycat, and I have the baby illness.

My first day back with the Hensons, I sat at the dining table swinging my two little legs.

"Baby's hungry, Mommy feed me~"

The fake heiress instantly pursed her little lips, copying me.

"Food's hot hot, Brother blow on it~"

Mom, Dad, and my brother crowded around her at once, all doting smiles, then turned back to snap at me.

"Barely home and already fighting Ruby Henson for attention. If you won't eat, then go hungry!"

Fat little tears rolled down my face right away. They didn't know. It wasn't that I didn't want to eat. My baby illness gave me muscle weakness.

Seeing me cry, the copycat fake heiress only wailed louder.

And just as the whole family scrambled to comfort her, a system popped up in my mind.

【Ding! Someone has been detected imitating the host's baby illness. Initiate transfer?】

My eyes lit up and I nodded like mad.

If she wanted so badly to be a helpless, brainless overgrown infant, then I'd give her exactly that.

...

Catching the excitement on my face, my brother, busy wiping Ruby's eyes, went rigid.

"You're happy you bullied Ruby to tears?"

Mom knit her brows, thoroughly displeased.

"Get back to your room. No dinner for you today, as punishment!"

With that, she scooped Ruby onto her lap like a fussy baby and gently patted her back as she cried herself into hiccups.

The nanny behind me lowered her head, cleared away my plate, and wheeled me back to my own bedroom.

Before she left, she couldn't help murmuring a word of comfort.

"Don't be sad, miss. It's only that Miss Ruby has been in this house so long, everyone's just more used to taking care of her."

I tilted my head up with a wide grin and babbled out, "Fank you."

The moment the door shut, I couldn't wait to open the system panel.

【Ding! I am the Transfer System.】

【One transfer of the baby illness is currently available. Host, please select a transfer target.】

【Friendly reminder: Once the baby illness is taken over by another, the host will return completely to a normal life.】

The panel put an excited, amused look on my face.

I could tell Ruby's copycat act was on purpose.

Her whole point was to make me understand that in this house, my parents and my brother would only ever revolve around her.

And I was just some poor wretch butting into someone else's life.

She wanted me to know my place.

But what I wanted was never anyone's love. What I wanted was to become the heir to this whole family.

Lying in the oversized stroller, I stretched out my little hand and tapped at the panel.

"System, I confirm the transfer."

"Transfer my baby illness to Ruby."

The next second, the panel blazed with a harsh glare of light.

The mechanical announcement rang out.

【Transfer condition confirmed. Transfer target confirmed.】

【After the transfer, the target's baby illness will regress further, all the way back to the newborn stage.】

【Current transfer progress: twenty percent.】

The light faded and the panel vanished from my sight.

Just then, Mom came up to my stroller, brows drawn tight.

"Bertha Henson, you're my own flesh and blood. It won't hurt you to swallow a little."

"But Ruby lost her parents so young. We ought to look after her more. You need to understand that."

I looked at the command in her eyes, my little mouth pulling down as tears welled up on cue.

She erupted at once.

"Wipe that pitiful look off your face."

"You know full well Ruby loves to learn, and you deliberately led her astray!"

Watching her back as she slammed the door, contempt flickered in my eyes.

The one who lost her parents young was me, wasn't it?

This baby illness of mine came from exactly that, the trauma left behind by growing up with no parents to care for me.

The truth was, if they just made it up to me properly, there was still a chance I could recover.

Since you think Ruby is the one who needs looking after, then you'd all better be ready to look after her for the rest of her life.

That night, the nanny didn't wheel me out until I'd served my full day's punishment.

The second Ruby saw me lying in the oversized stroller, she wasn't having it.

She cried and threw a fit, demanding I hand the stroller over to her.

"Sissy so comfy, baby wants to sleep too."

My mother waved a hand at once, hauled me out of the stroller, and dumped me on the icy floor.

I watched, cold-eyed, as Ruby clambered into my stroller on all fours.

On the system, the transfer progress spiked wildly again.

Seeing me sprawled on the floor drooling in a pitiful heap, Ruby clutched her stomach and giggled.

"Baby's tummy, so owie."

The next second, a sharp stench and a wet trickle spread out from under her skirt.