Chapter 1

After rebirth, the first thing Liana and I did was swap our marriage contracts.

In my past life, gentle Liana had married Kael, the cold and ruthless Alpha.

But Kael always put the scheming daughter of his savior first, condemning my cousin to a lifetime of endless grievance and suffocating misery.

As for me, with my fiery temper, I’d been wed to a mediocre, weak Beta.

He spent every day complaining that I “wasn’t a woman at all”. Endless quarrels and the crushing burden of the family eventually led me to a tragic end—dying exhausted on the battlefield.

Now I opened my eyes again, staring at the fateful marriage contract on the nightstand. I clenched my fists and looked at my teary-eyed cousin.

“Tomorrow, you’ll marry that Beta. And as for that cold-blooded Alpha? I’ll take care of him.”

--

I was reborn on the eve of the arranged marriage.

Moonlight seeped through the gap in the curtains, falling on a sheet of paper on the nightstand—the marriage contract, with Grandpa’s wobbly signature, exactly the same as in my past life.

Memories of my past life came crashing down like a toppled box, spilling out all at once.

The crack in the doorframe when Ethan slammed the door shut, the last words he said, “You don’t act like a woman at all”; Kael and Liana’s wedding, Vivian standing beside him smiling, a single tear teetering on the corner of her eye; and thirty years later, at Liana’s funeral, Kael’s hand resting on Vivian’s arm, the two of them standing together like an old married couple.

I sat up abruptly, my knee slamming into the edge of the bed, and I gasped in pain.

Liana was huddled in the corner of the bed, her eyes red as a rabbit’s. She’d been just like this in my past life, staying up all night with red eyes, then putting on a white dress to marry a man who would never bother to explain himself to her.

“I’ll marry Kael tomorrow,” I said. “You marry Ethan.”

She froze, then shook her head so hard her hair flew into her face. “No. Kael’s impossible to get along with. And Vivian—” She bit her lip, trailing off.

“That woman who’s always clinging to his side like a shadow.” I finished the sentence for her.

She didn’t refute it.

“Impossible to get along with?” I scoffed, throwing a couple of punches at the air. “I’m even more impossible to get along with. We make it work, or we fight. You’re too soft—you’ll walk into a death trap over there.”

Liana stared at me for a long time. So long I thought she’d cry, then she spoke, her voice as faint as a mosquito’s hum. “Okay.”

I hopped out of bed, bare feet on the floor, and started shoving things into a bag. A few changes of clothes, a folding knife, an old military canteen.

I left a note on the table for my Mom:

[I’m marrying Kael. I’ll come back if it doesn’t work out. Don’t look for me.]

I thought for a second, then added: [Don’t worry.]

I knew it was useless. But I wrote it anyway.

I left before dawn broke.

As the first light of day streaked the sky, I kicked the starter lever of my heavily modified motorcycle and tore out of town. The roar of the engine set the neighbor’s dogs barking like mad.

“Get back here right now!” My mom burst out of the house in her nightgown, chasing me all the way to the street corner. “Ethan may have no money or power, but he can give you a quiet life! Kael’s territory is full of beasts and maniacs—you’re walking to your death!”

Her voice faded, swallowed by the wind. I twisted the throttle and didn’t look back.

Two days and two nights on the road. My butt went numb, my back burned raw from the sun, my hair was caked with dust, and mud from the road crammed under my fingernails.

The edge of the Shadowwood Forest was colder and damper than I’d imagined, the air thick with the stench of dirt and wild beasts, so humid it was hard to breathe.

The guard who stopped me looked at me like I was a bag of trash left on the wrong doorstep.

“You say you’re Kael’s fiancée?” He ran his eyes up and down my body, a smile playing on his lips—not a kind one.

I didn’t bother with small talk. I pulled the contract out of my pocket and slapped it straight into his chest. “Check it. Then show me the way.”

His expression shifted. He stepped aside, and someone led me in.

I was brought to a wooden cabin at the edge of the territory. I ached all over, my stomach churned, my hair stuck to my face, and I looked as ragged as if I’d been fished out of the water.

A tall man stood there, his face expressionless, like a slab of stone.

I was about to walk over when a cloying voice drifted over from the side.

“What on earth is that dreadful smell? Good heavens! How could such an ill-dressed woman end up in our territory?”

I stopped in my tracks and stared at the woman.