Chapter 1

At my cousin Aria's engagement party, her fiancé showed up with a heavy metal safe, claiming it was filled with gold bars as part of his engagement gift to her.

Aria was overwhelmed with emotion and was just about to open it, but he stopped her.

He sweet-talked her, insisting she shouldn’t open the safe and instead suggested moving it straight to our family’s safe deposit box for safekeeping. Naturally, he asked my parents to guard it for Aria.

But here’s the thing—those “gold bars” were obviously fake. His plan was to pass the problem to my family, so later, when the truth came out, Aria would blame us for stealing the gold. That way, he could call off the wedding and demand the engagement gift money back.

I exposed his scheme on the spot, but Aria just laughed it off and forgave him. The wedding went ahead as planned.

However, on the wedding day, it was Aria’s bold move that completely shattered him.

“Luna, this is the engagement gift from our family to you,” Colin’s mom said warmly.

“I bought a few gold bars years ago when the price was low. We’re not wealthy and don’t have much to give, but we hope you’ll accept this gift with no hard feelings.”

She carefully set a polished, elegant box on the table.

I blinked, feeling momentarily disoriented by the familiar scene. It was as though I’d been transported to that exact moment from my previous life. But soon, I snapped back to my senses.

I glanced toward my parents, and my eyes stung with emotion. Taking a few steps forward, I threw my arms around them tightly.

In my last life, my biggest regret before I died was leaving my parents behind. I was afraid they’d be heartbroken, unable to cope with losing me.

Colin, Aria’s boyfriend, held her hand and gave her a heartfelt declaration:

“Babe, I’m sorry for putting you through so much. I promise, after we’re married, I’ll take care of you like a queen.”

Aria lowered her head shyly, her cheeks flushed.

“It’s not a hardship at all,” she murmured. “As long as I’m with you, I’ll do whatever it takes to make this work.”

My aunt and uncle were beaming with joy, practically unable to contain their excitement as they stared at the dazzling box.

“You’re too kind,” my uncle said to Colin’s mom. “We’re lucky to have such a generous gift. Without Aria, we’d never see this much gold in our lives!”

In my previous life, this was the exact moment I started getting suspicious. Colin’s family wasn’t wealthy—how could they afford to give such an extravagant gift? Something felt off.

Later, when Colin left, I discreetly advised Aria to double-check the gold bars to make sure everything was legitimate.

Her face immediately darkened.

“You’re just jealous of me,” she snapped. “You can’t stand to see me happy!”

My parents quickly stepped in to smooth things over, and I decided to drop the subject.

But the truth was, the gold in that box was fake. This was all part of Colin’s plan to break off the engagement without taking the blame.

Under Colin’s sweet talk and endless promises, Aria never even opened the box to check. Instead, she insisted on moving the box into our family’s safe for safekeeping.

That box of fake gold bars wasn’t just a scam—it was the beginning of my death countdown.