99 Crimes, Countless Blessings — and None of Them Were Mine Chapter 01
When I died, Heaven and Hell arrived at the same time to claim my soul.
Heaven said I had saved countless lives—that my soul was overflowing with good deeds.
Hell opened its record of my sins.
Arson. Theft. Violence. Ninety-nine crimes in all, all bearing my name.
The Judge of the Underworld turned the final page of my soul record, his face darkening line by line.
“Kid, why did every blessing you earned end up with your family?”
I said nothing.
The Sinclairs were one of the most celebrated philanthropic families in the state.
My father had been named Humanitarian of the Year. My mother was the public face of our foundation. All three of my brothers were young, brilliant, and successful.
My little sister was their miracle child—the blessing they claimed had transformed the family’s fortunes.
Only I was rotten. The family disgrace they kept hidden from the world.
When I stayed silent, the Judge grabbed my soul by the wrist.
“Fine. Then I’m walking through every last memory with you.”
My face went white. I turned and ran.
I never wanted to see those memories again.
A second later, countless hands surged from the darkness and dragged us into a churning vortex.
When I opened my eyes, my five-year-old self stood in front of me.
Then she looked up and flashed me a wicked grin—one that had never once belonged on my face.
…
I stared at the five-year-old version of myself in shock.
She arched one tiny eyebrow.
“What? Never seen the Judge of the Underworld look this cute?”
“You’re the Judge?”
He frowned and glanced around the cramped, dim room.
“Did this memory dump us in the wrong place? Why am I in the servants’ quarters?”
I corrected him quietly.
“The servants’ rooms have windows.”
“This one doesn’t.”
“This was my bedroom.”
He stopped moving.
“No matter how badly they treated you, it doesn’t excuse ninety-nine crimes.”
I tugged at the corner of my mouth but didn’t explain.
In the living room, Mom held my baby sister while Dad shook a rattle over her. My three brothers crowded around the stroller, each trying to get her attention.
The Judge called, “Mom.”
No one answered.
He walked right up to them.
Not one of them spared him a glance.
He frowned and muttered, “Did this thing mess up again and turn me into a ghost?”
He waved a hand in front of Mom’s face.
At last, she looked up.
“Move. You’re blocking the sun from Ruby.”
His hand froze in midair.
I shrugged. Nothing about it surprised me.
At lunch, he had barely sat down at the dining table when Mom yanked the fork from his hand.
“Who said you could sit here? Ruby can’t stand that musty smell on you.”
A housekeeper set half a bowl of cold rice on a cramped table in the corner of the kitchen.
I drifted after him and whispered, “Don’t finish it. Save me a couple bites.”
“The stray out back just had kittens. She’s so hungry she can barely make a sound.”
The Judge’s fingers tightened around the fork. He jerked his head up at me.
“You’re starving, and you’re still feeding stray cats?”
A familiar cramp twisted through my empty stomach.
“They were smaller than me.”
“And they didn’t have a mother.”
I had one.
Somehow, I wasn’t much luckier than they were.
The Judge said nothing. He pushed half the rice aside.
At that moment, my third brother jumped down from the couch with Ruby in his arms and stepped on a toy block.
Ruby slipped.
Her brow struck the edge of the coffee table. Blood spilled instantly.
Mom screamed and lunged for her.
My brother froze, shaking all over.
Everyone had seen what happened.
But Mom whipped around and pointed at the Judge.
“You shoved Ethan, didn’t you?”
The Judge let out a disbelieving laugh.
“Did you not see what happened?”
Dad slapped him across the face.
The blow landed on the Judge, but my ears rang with it.
A familiar ache shot through my teeth. I threw my arms over my head and curled into the corner without thinking.
I wasn’t the one being hit.
But the moment Dad raised his hand, I still forgot how to breathe.
The Judge crashed to the floor, stunned by the blow.
“You all saw what happened. Ethan tripped.”
Mom pulled Ethan behind her.
“If you hadn’t scared him on purpose, Ruby wouldn’t have fallen.”
Dad’s voice turned cold.
“You’re the only one in this family who can’t stand to see Ruby happy.”
Adrian, my oldest brother, looked at him with open disgust.
“Ethan doesn’t lie.”
Julian, my second brother, didn’t even glance at the block on the floor.
“Who else could it have been?”
The Judge clenched his teeth.
“So it doesn’t matter that I didn’t do it. I’m taking the blame anyway?”
Adrian’s face stayed blank.
“Someone has to take the blame. It’s going to be you.”
“Why?”
Julian looked down at him.
“Because yours is the only reputation this family can afford to destroy.”
The Judge raised a hand to flip the table.
A black chain snapped around his wrist.
[Fixed memory. Divine power restricted.]
Dad picked up a wooden paddle and brought it down across his palms again and again.
His palms were left raw and trembling.
Every strike made my shoulders jerk.
My own hands were untouched, yet the pain came rushing back as if it were happening all over again.
I crouched beside him.
“Just say you did it.”
He spun toward me.
“Why would you confess to something you didn’t do?”
I looked toward the backyard.
“If we wait much longer, the kittens will starve.”
My eyes dropped to his bleeding hands.
“Just say you pushed him. Then they’ll stop.”
The paddle came down again.
He closed his eyes.
A long time passed before he forced the words through his teeth.
“I pushed him.”
Mom exhaled in relief. Dad tossed the paddle away.
Everyone crowded around Ruby.
No one looked at his bleeding hands.
The record of sins opened in midair.
[Age five: Jealous of her younger sister, she deliberately shoved her brother, causing the child to fall and suffer a permanent scar above her brow.]
A sharp wave of pain suddenly rushed through my hands, and the memory blurred around me.
All I could hear was Mom’s voice.
“Don’t be scared, sweetheart.”
“The bad girl admitted what she did.”
