My Sister Wanted the Rich Husband, I Wanted Power

In my previous life, my younger sister, Lilith, married Arthur, the vampire prince.

I married Grant Taylor, a werewolf tycoon and the Empire’s richest man.

Everyone said I was the lucky one.

I traveled in luxury cars, wore custom-made designer clothes, and appeared to have a perfect marriage. The entire Empire admired us.

Lilith, however, was miserable in the vampire royal family.

The royal family’s rigid rules controlled every part of her life. She had to bow and curtsy at every turn while noblewomen looked down on her and humiliated her.

Arthur ignored her, yet one beautiful woman after another moved into his estate.

Lilith cried. She threw tantrums. In the end, she had an affair with a human royal guard.

When the affair came to light, she was stripped of her title and locked inside the dark, windowless Royal Tower.

The day Grant and I attended a banquet at the palace, she appeared before me with hatred burning in her eyes.

“Why do you get everything? Why am I the one who has to rot in here?”

A second later, she detonated the mana crystal hidden beneath her clothes.

The flames swallowed us both.

When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to the day we chose which marriage contract to sign.

Lilith moved first. She pointed at the marriage contract bearing the wolf emblem and announced that she would marry Grant.

I lowered my gaze, barely holding back a laugh.

She thought she had stolen a fortune from me.

She had no idea what kind of monster that man truly was.

“Eve, Lilith, sit down.”

My father’s commanding voice rang in my ears.

My eyes flew open. Cold sweat soaked my back.

The explosion still seemed to echo inside my skull. I could still feel the flames consuming my skin and the agony of my organs being torn apart.

My vision slowly cleared.

Instead of the ruined palace from my previous life, I saw the familiar crystal chandelier in the Roland family estate.

I had been reborn.

I was back on the day my sister’s life and mine had taken two very different paths.

My parents sat stiffly on the sofa across from me. Two gold-embossed marriage contracts lay on the coffee table.

Lilith was already sitting eagerly beside our mother. A strange light gleamed in her beautiful blue eyes.

When she looked at me, she could barely hide her smug smile.

My father spoke in a grave voice. “The Roland family may still carry some weight in the Empire, but we’ve been in decline for years. We need a marriage alliance.”

My mother nodded. “We have two suitable candidates. Grant Taylor, the werewolf tycoon who heads the Taylor Group, and Prince Arthur Thorne of the vampire royal family. Which one of you would be willing to—”

“Mom, Dad, I’ve made my choice!”

Lilith shot to her feet and pointed at the contract bearing the wolf emblem.

“I’m marrying Mr. Taylor. I’m going to be Mrs. Taylor and the woman at the top of the Taylor empire.”

The moment she said it, I knew.

She had been reborn too.

The living room fell silent.

My father frowned. My mother covered her mouth in shock.

“Lilith, have you lost your mind?” Mother lowered her voice. “Taylor may be rich, but he’s still only a businessman. Arthur is a prince of the vampire royal family. You’ve been raised to be a proper lady since childhood. Only a princess’s title is worthy of you.”

“A princess? It’s nothing but a prison with a pretty title.”

Lilith sneered. Fear and resentment flashed in her eyes.

“The vampire royal family has suffocating rules. You have to bow and curtsy over every little thing. Arthur may be a prince, but he has no standing in the royal family. He has no real power and spends every day drinking and chasing women. I refuse to waste my life in a place like that.”

She turned to me.

“Eve has always been quiet. She’s used to keeping her head down and taking whatever people throw at her. Royal protocol will suit her perfectly. Arthur may be useless, but he’s still a prince. He’s more than good enough for her.”

I nearly laughed.

She thought she had beaten me to the better choice.

What she didn’t know was that my previous life had been a hundred times worse than hers.

To everyone else, I was the wife of the richest man in the Empire. I lived in luxury and had a devoted husband.

Only I knew that the gentle, charming Grant was completely insane.

He had never gotten over his dead first love. He had chosen a bride from our family only because both Lilith and I bore some resemblance to her.

The basement of his estate was filled with instruments of torture. Every night, he dropped his polite mask and forced me to wear his dead lover’s clothes. If I resisted, he beat and humiliated me for hours.

He used advanced medical technology to keep me alive, trapping me between life and death.

And now Lilith had willingly walked into that hell.

What a fool.

I nodded obediently.

“If Lilith wants Mr. Taylor that badly, I would never take him from her.”

I picked up the contract bearing the bat crest.

“Mom, Dad, I’ll marry Prince Arthur.”

My father stared at me, clearly surprised by how readily I had agreed.

“Eve, I’m glad you understand what’s expected of you. The vampire royal family may be complicated, but as long as you behave yourself, the Roland family will always stand behind you.”

“Thank you, Father.”

I lowered my head, hiding the contempt in my eyes.

The Roland family would stand behind me?

In my previous life, Grant broke my ribs in his basement. I barely managed to call home and beg for help.

My father’s response had been chillingly indifferent.

“Eve, Mr. Taylor just invested a billion dollars in our family. Married couples have disagreements. That’s normal. Be patient and stop upsetting him.”

That was the moment I understood.

Family meant nothing when there was money on the table.

Lilith seemed suspicious when I agreed so easily, but the thought of becoming the richest man’s wife quickly swept those doubts away.

She threw her arms around Mother and began speaking in a spoiled, coaxing tone.

“Mom, Mr. Taylor is one of the biggest names in business. The gifts I bring into the marriage can’t look cheap. What would all those society wives think of me?”