Chapter 1

"Mom, I'll marry Nathaniel."

Hearing Catherine Brown's words, both my mother, Amethyst Lowe, and I froze in shock.

By all logic, since I was still single as the older sister, I should've been the one to marry Nathaniel Cole. I never expected Catherine to step forward on her own.

My mother glanced at me, clearly wanting my opinion. "Bella, don't you have anything to say? Weren't you and Nathaniel seeing each other? I heard that he walked you to work every day."

I was struggling to find the right words when Catherine's sharp laugh cut straight through my thoughts. "Mom, how could Nathaniel possibly be dating Bella? He only helps her because of me. I'm the one he likes!"

A loud buzzing rang in my head. It was as if something inside me snapped. Memories that had never made sense from my last life came flooding back.

Before I had died, Nathaniel had written one final line in his journal.

"If you have a choice, never marry someone you don't love."

So the one he loved was Catherine, wasn't it?

In my last life, he'd always used me as an excuse, saying he was accompanying me back home. But looking back now, he'd just needed a reason to see Catherine.

Every time he came back from a business trip, he'd bring two identical sets of clothes, one for me and one for Catherine.

Once, I'd asked him why he always bought us the same outfits and why he couldn't choose something different.

He brushed me off flatly. "I was too lazy to look at other styles."

It was only now that I finally understood. It wasn't laziness. He had seen me as nothing more than her stand-in.

And I had lived like that for 40 years.

The woman he had wanted all along wasn't me. It was Catherine.

My mother's face was filled with shock, her eyes quickly shifting to me.

I forced myself to stay calm, closing my eyes to hide the shock and the storm inside me.

It seemed that Catherine had been reborn too. Otherwise, how could she so confidently declare that Nathaniel loved her?

After all, I was the one who had spent the most time with him. To everyone else, he would be her brother-in-law.

I was just about to speak when the door slammed open.

Nathaniel walked in and stopped right in front of Catherine, his eyes overflowing with tenderness.

"Mrs. Brown, I'm here today to propose to Catherine! I fell deeply in love with her from the very first moment I saw her. Please let us be together."

His gaze locked with Catherine. No words were spoken, but the tension between them was undeniable.

The shock hit me so hard I bit my lip, my nails digging into my palms until I nearly drew blood. Even though I had known in my last life that he never loved me, watching him propose to Catherine still felt like someone had ripped my heart out.

I opened my mouth, ready to speak. "Mom—"

"Shut up!" Nathaniel turned his head toward me, his face stripped of all warmth. Those cold, merciless eyes were the same ones that had watched me die without a shred of pity.

"Bella, I've already told you I don't love you. The only reason I ever treated you well was because of Catherine. In this life, even if I never marry at all, I will never marry you!"

I felt like someone had slashed my throat open, leaving a gaping wound.

"Mom, then why not just let Catherine marry Nathaniel and fulfill the agreement between our families?"

Catherine lifted her chin, smugly looking at me. "Finally, you know your place."

I didn't say another word. But inside, I was already torn apart. Seeing them now, I realized they must have been entangled long before.

And I had been the fool, left in the dark all along.