Chapter 1

I opened my eyes, only to find myself back at the altar of my own blood-soaked wedding.

In my previous life, Edward Sterling slaughtered my entire family for the sake of his true love. Now, I was jilting him at the altar, making him the laughingstock of the city.

With the newly awakened Emotion Manipulation System, I planned to live only for vengeance.

But I never expected my greatest enemy, the untouchable Chancellor, to be the one to shield me from the world. He traded his coldness for a suffocating tenderness, determined to pamper me forever.

*****

A bone-deep pain radiated through every inch of my body, mingling with the heavy stench of medicinal herbs and the unmistakable rot of death.

I struggled to force my eyes open, only to be met with the sight of the faded, embroidered lilies on my bed canopy, a sight I had grown thoroughly sick of.

"Lady Sterling, it's time for your medicine," a maid announced flatly as she stepped into the room, carrying some pitch-black liquid.

It was that same medicine. My so-called husband, Edward Sterling, and his precious lover, Charlotte Graham, had plotted every dose, brewing this slow-acting poison intended to kill me.

Twenty years passed.

Ever since the day we exchanged our vows, I had been locked away in this suffocating, isolated wing of the estate, reduced to nothing more than a pet in a gilded cage.

Edward used my family's vast fortune to pave his road to absolute power. He used my father's military command to secure his iron grip on the realm.

Then, he would turn to Charlotte's portrait, sighing endlessly about how our marriage had come too soon, tragically ruining his chance to be with his one true love.

What a spectacular joke. My noble family had been reduced to nothing but an obstacle in his grand, tragic romance.

In the end, my father was falsely accused of high treason, and my entire bloodline was sent to the executioner's block. As for me, after years of wasting away on my sickbed, I finally passed away.

In the last fading moments of my consciousness, I saw Edward in the magnificent robes of the King, his hand tightly clasping that of his newly crowned Queen, Charlotte.

As they strolled past my cold, prison-like courtyard, he didn't even spare it a glance. He merely leaned in and whispered to Charlotte at his side, "Charlotte, let's have this wretched, unlucky place torn down tomorrow."

Hatred surged like boiling magma through my veins. If I were ever given a second chance, Edward and Charlotte would pay in blood. I would carve my vengeance into their flesh.

Suddenly, I shot up in bed, gasping desperately for air.

The suffocating, faded bed curtains were gone. Instead, my vision was filled with vibrant crimson silk and festive golden tassels. The mirror across the room reflected a face that, while pale, was striking and full of life.

Resting on my head was a jeweled bridal tiara, and I was draped in a wedding gown.

I froze. My hands trembled violently as I touched my own warm cheek and then my flat stomach.

This was my bedchamber in Lawrence Manor.

From the hallway, my bridal attendant's urgent voice rang out. "The auspicious hour is almost upon us, Miss Lawrence. Hurry now. Lord Sterling's grand procession has already arrived at the gates."

Lord Sterling? It was Edward.

I was reborn.

I had actually returned twenty years ago, the very day I was meant to marry Edward.

My heart hammered wildly against my ribs with the lethal thrill of a vengeance that had festered across two lifetimes instead of bridal joy.

The girl staring back at me in the mirror still carried a naive glimmer of hope for the future in her eyes. But only I knew the truth.

The gilded carriage waiting outside was not a vessel to a happily-ever-after; it was a hearse bound straight for hell.

"I know," I replied, my voice carrying a subtle, chilling rasp.

I stood up and picked up the heavy veil, draping it over my own head to conceal the murderous storm brewing in my eyes.

Edward spent his entire life wishing he could have delayed our union, so I would make sure we would never tie the knot at all.

The wedding ceremony in the grand cathedral of Sterling Manor dragged on, an elaborate, exhausting spectacle. I moved like a wooden marionette, guided to the center of the hall to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with a man whose silhouette was intimately familiar, yet utterly repulsive.

"In the sight of the Almighty."

The high priest's voice boomed through the echoing hall.

Following Edward's lead, I turned and bowed toward the grand altar.

"A salute to the Throne."

Seated above us were the King and Queen. They wore gracious, approving smiles, exactly as they had in my previous life.

"Now, pledge to one another."

I turned slowly to face Edward. Even through the veil, I could perfectly envision the charming, princely mask he wore and the rotten, scheming core hiding just beneath it.

In my previous life, it was right after this final vow that I officially became his wife, dragging my entire family into an abyss of despair.