Chapter 1

"Stop playing dumb, Master Damian." A cold female voice came from the foot of the bed.

I opened my eyes, and my mind was a suffocating blank.

I don't remember who I am, nor do I remember my family.

The speaker was a woman in her fifties, dressed in a rigid uniform.

She identified herself as Emily, the Foster family's nanny.

The look in their eyes held no sympathy for the patient, only deep disgust.

"You've lost your memory?" Emily's lips curled into a mocking smile. "Is this yet another trick you're using to gain the lady's sympathy?"

Through her story, I learned who I was.

I am the biological son of the Foster family. I was lost when I was a child and was not found until a few years ago.

But during the years I was absent, the Foster family adopted Sebastian. He not only took my place, but was also groomed by his parents to be the sole successor to the family business.

And I am a complete joke.

“You’re married. Your wife is Victoria, the president of Blackwood Investment Group,” Emily added coldly. “However, she won’t even give you a second glance. You’ve attempted suicide several times to force her to come home.”

Suicide? I looked down at my pale wrist, which was indeed covered with ugly old scars.

But I felt nothing. It was like listening to a stranger's cheap soap opera.

"Where are my 'family'?" I asked, my voice dry.

“They’re all in Master Sebastian’s hospital room.” Emily’s tone finally softened, revealing obvious favoritism. “He was in a car accident and lost a lot of blood. He needs someone to be with him right now.”

The biological son had just woken up from a coma, but the parents and wife were all at the bedside of their adopted son, showing their filial piety.

That's incredibly ironic.

I picked up my phone from beside my pillow, unlocked it with my fingerprint using muscle memory, and dialed the name pinned to the top of my contacts—"Victoria".

The phone rang for a long time before it was answered.

"What is it?" came an extremely cold, impatient female voice.

"I……"

"Busy." The call was abruptly cut off with a beep.

The phone screen gradually dimmed. At the same time, a series of hurried and chaotic footsteps echoed down the corridor.

With a "bang," my hospital room door was violently pushed open.

A group of people strode in. Leading the way was a woman with strikingly beautiful features, dressed in a perfectly tailored haute couture business suit, her demeanor as cold and hard as iron.

This must be my "wife," Victoria.

But her hands were gently pushing a wheelchair. In the wheelchair sat a young man with a bandage wrapped around his forehead, his face pale but his eyes revealing a shrewdness.

Following closely behind was a middle-aged couple, my biological parents. They flanked the wheelchair on either side, their faces filled with nauseatingly solicitous concern.

"Sebastian, are you still dizzy? The doctor said you need to rest!" Eleanor's voice was filled with heartbreak.

Not a single person glanced at me. My own son, who had just woken up, seemed like a wisp of air in this hospital room.

Victoria didn't turn her head until she had settled her wheelchair in place. Her gaze swept across my face like a razor blade.

“Sebastian needs a blood transfusion.” She looked down at me, her tone leaving no room for argument. “The blood bank doesn’t have enough of your type. Go donate.”

I leaned against the headboard, my head still throbbing. I pointed to my pale face: "I just woke up."

“So what?” Victoria frowned, her eyes filled with disgust. “If you hadn’t played so many suicide pranks, you wouldn’t be so weak now. Hurry up and go, don’t delay Sebastian’s treatment.”

She didn't look at me a second time, and turned to hold Sebastian's hand again.

Despair? Anger? No, having lost my memory, all I feel right now is absurdity.

The nurse was quickly called in. A cold needle pierced my vein, and dark red blood flowed rapidly out through the catheter.

Through a curtain, the patient in the next bed was whispering to his family.

"See that? That's Mrs. Blackwood. I heard her good-for-nothing husband would risk his life just to get a second look at her."

"Tsk tsk, but what about now? She doesn't care about her husband even half as much as she does about her brother-in-law. How despicable."

Every word of those words reached my ears. I watched as the blood bag swelled up little by little, and my body temperature dropped rapidly as I lost blood.

After the blood draw, I was so weak that I could barely stand and could only hold onto the edge of the bed, breathing heavily.

"You all go out first, I want to speak with Damian alone for a few minutes," Sebastian suddenly said weakly.

Victoria hesitated for a moment, but under Sebastian's gentle insistence, she led my parents out of the ward and closed the door behind them.

The door lock clicked softly.

Only the two of us remained in the ward. The weakness on Sebastian's face vanished instantly.

He pushed his wheelchair to my bedside, a wicked smile playing on his lips.

"I heard you have amnesia?" He lowered his voice, leaning close to my ear. "That's such a shame. Aren't you curious why Victoria hates you so much?"

I stared at him coldly, without saying a word.

“Back then, I was the one who drugged your drinks,” Sebastian’s voice was as soft as a viper’s hiss, “making you sleep together like beasts in heat.”

My pupils suddenly contracted.

“She was pregnant. Her old-fashioned grandmother threatened suicide to force her to marry you, a good-for-nothing. She didn’t want the child, so she had an abortion. ” He chuckled softly, the sound particularly jarring in the quiet hospital room. “She always thought it was a despicable scheme you devised to climb the social ladder by marrying into the Blackwood family.”

He looked me straight in the eye, his gaze filled with the arrogance of a victor: "I did administer the drug. But Damian, guess what? If you tell her the truth now, will she believe you or me?"

After saying that, he put on that weak and pained expression again and pressed the call button.

The door was quickly pushed open, and Victoria rushed in nervously, shoving him out. She didn't even spare me a glance before leaving.

The ward fell silent again.

I sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the bleeding needle marks on my wrist, and remained silent for a full three minutes.

The loss of memory has stripped away those foolish feelings of love and humility, making my mind incredibly clear at this moment.

I didn't break down and cry like the previous "Damian," nor did I rush out to hysterically defend myself.

I simply picked up my phone calmly and dialed a number in my contacts labeled "Attorney Marcus".

"Mr. Damian?" The voice on the other end was clearly businesslike.

"Marcus, do me two favors." I looked out the window at the gloomy sky, my voice completely flat.

"First, draft a divorce agreement, in which I will leave with nothing."

"Second, prepare a legal document severing ties with my parents. The sooner the better."