Chapter 1

For ten years, Julian built his empire on my back.

And for ten years, he loathed my very existence.

After my death, he seized my family's company and married his childhood sweetheart.

On their wedding day, Ryder, my childhood sweetheart who later became my arch-nemesis, detonated the venue.

Before the flames consumed everything, Ryder smiled and said:

“She’s dead. You two get to waltz into success? No such luck in this world.”

When I opened my eyes again, I was back ten years ago.

The day I dragged Julian to meet Ryder and break off our engagement.

He looked at me with an indifferent expression: “Are you sure? You really want to break our engagement for *him*?”

“Aria, I never go back on my word.”

“Are you sure you want to break our engagement for that… *thing*?”

The familiar, cool male voice echoed in my ears.

I was still lost in the aftershocks of that explosion.

The overwhelming, fiery red light felt like it could even scorch my soul, floating suspended in the air.

Ryder, a gun in hand, stood amidst the flames, pulling the trigger.

He flashed a smile at a shocked and furious Julian:

“She’s dead. You two get to waltz into success? No such luck in this world.”

…

In that moment, the invisible shackles on me suddenly vanished.

Something new clicked in my mind.

Turns out, in my previous life, I was the toxic second lead in some twisted ‘redemption’ story.

I fixated on Julian, then a struggling student. I leveraged his mother’s medical bills, twisting his arm into accepting my “sponsorship” and, by extension, me.

Julian believed I had humiliated him with my money, and he hated me for years because of it.

After we married, he plotted to seize my family's company, all while carrying on a secret affair with his childhood sweetheart.

Later, he slowly drove me insane, sent me to a mental hospital, and watched me fall to my death.

Then, he reinvented himself as a newly minted mogul and married his childhood sweetheart.