Chapter 1

My father gave me a choice between the two Vance brothers for our family's arranged marriage. Without hesitation, I chose Silas Vance.

The room went silent. Everyone in the elite social circles of the East Coast knew I had been obsessed with Jasper Vance for years. I had even told the world I would marry no one but him.

In my past life, I got exactly what I wanted and married Jasper. But right after our wedding, he crawled into bed with my foster sister, Seraphina.

When the family elders found out about their affair, my mother sent Seraphina away to Europe. From that moment on, Jasper's hatred for me became a bottomless pit.

He kept dozens of mistresses in secret apartments, every single one of them a mirror image of Seraphina. He watched with a cold smile as those women humiliated and bullied me.

By the time he finally seized total control of the Vance empire, I died in a "convenient" car accident.

Now that I have been reborn, I only want to stay far away from him. I am happy to let him and Seraphina have their twisted ending together.

But after I got engaged to Silas, Jasper made a massive scene in public. He suddenly acted as if he couldn't stand the thought of me marrying someone else.

1

My father sent me to the Vance estate to finalize the engagement details with Mr. Vance.

As I stepped out of the study, I ran into Jasper in the side hall.

He was surrounded by a group of wealthy young heirs, looking like the king of the world as they laughed and drank.

The moment they saw me, the room erupted into mockery.

One of them yelled at the top of his lungs, "Oh, look! Norah's back for more. Is she stalking Jasper at his own house now?"

Jasper gave me a look of pure, unadulterated disgust.

"Norah Rivers, don't think that sucking up to my father will get you a ticket into this family," he sneered.

"You've made me a laughingstock in this city for years with your obsession. I'm going to have to think long and hard about this engagement."

His arrogance was actually exhausting to witness.

I looked at him calmly and spoke. "Whether you get engaged or not is none of my business."

I paused for a second before continuing. "As for the alliance between the Rivers and the Vance families, you'll find out the truth in three days."

The room went quiet for a heartbeat before everyone gasped. "An alliance?"

I knew why they were so shocked.

According to an old agreement between our grandfathers, whichever man the Rivers heiress chose as her husband would become the next head of the Vance family.

By announcing that the alliance would be official in three days, I was basically saying the next king had been chosen.

The crowd immediately swarmed Jasper, their faces full of fake smiles and flattery.

"Congrats, Jasper! Once the ink is dry, you'll be the boss. Don't forget about us when you're running the empire!"

Jasper's chin tilted up, his ego swelling to a breaking point.

He looked at me with a smirk of triumph. "Norah, don't think that just because you finally caught me, I'll ever be loyal to you. You'd better behave and stop your little schemes."

He leaned in close, whispering a warning in my ear. "This time, you must give your dowry to Seraphina as compensation. And you will guarantee she isn't sent away. Only then will I marry you."

My eyes widened in genuine shock.

Jasper had returned from the dead, too. He remembered everything.

I opened my mouth to speak, but a fragile, sobbing voice came from behind me.

"Norah, I know you don't like me, but I never tried to take him from you. Why would you tell everyone I seduced Jasper?"

Seraphina swayed on her feet, clutching her forehead as if she were about to faint from the trauma.

Jasper rushed forward, catching her by her waist and glaring at me with murderous eyes.

"Norah, how can you be so evil! Being a spoiled brat is one thing, but framing Seraphina like this? Were you raised with no morals at all?"

In my past life, she had played this exact same card, and Jasper had protected her just as fiercely. Back then, I was heartbroken and confused.

Now, it was just pathetic.

I didn't feel like wasting my breath on them, so I simply turned and walked away.

I could still hear Jasper's voice echoing behind me.

"If you bully her one more time, this wedding is canceled!"