Born Again for the Nation

At my engagement banquet, my cousin Erin Zane pretended to be drunk and drugged herself. Tearfully, she clutched my dress and begged, "Marina, please, let Jude save me, won't you? Marina, it's just for one night. Please, have a little mercy on me."

I looked down at Erin, kneeling and sobbing at my feet, and sighed. "Erin, Jude and I are already engaged. If you do this… what will people say? How will you ever marry after this?"

Jude Langdon, standing beside me, frowned in disgust. "I'm engaged to your cousin. You're revolting." With that, he kicked Erin aside and pulled me away.

I glanced back at my cousin sprawled on the floor in pain, and in the end, my heart softened. I called for the Eastons' youngest son, Mason—who always had a thing for Erin—to help her.

Erin and Mason were already betrothed, and he was a man of good character. I knew he would never breathe a word of what happened. Asking him for help was, at the time, the best way to protect her.

But when Erin woke and found Mason by her side instead of Jude, she broke down in tears, screaming that I had ruined her life. Overwhelmed with shame, she took her own life soon after.

That tragedy became a thorn in my heart. For years, I believed I was the one who had killed my cousin. After her death, I took care of her mother, my aunt, doing everything I could to make amends.

Jude saw how hard I worked and often helped me look after them too. But on our wedding night, he brought in a group of filthy beggars and let them defile me until I died.

I had begged him desperately to spare me, but he only stared at me with cold disgust. "If not for you, Erin and I would've been together long ago! You ruined everything! Erin suffered just like this before she died—so you can atone for her pain with that wretched body of yours."

Only then did I realize that before our engagement, Jude had already been involved with Erin. From the journal Erin had given him, he came to believe she was his one true love. What he didn't know was that every word written in that journal was about me.

Erin had envied me since we were children. She copied everything about me—my clothes, my manners, even the way I wrote in my diary. She believed that if she became more like me, she could replace me.

In my previous life, I endured her jealousy because she was my cousin. I tolerated everything, and in the end, I lost my life because of it. But this time, I vowed to let them have each other—because I had far more important things to do.

When the scene from my previous life began to unfold again, I took advantage of the moment when I was supposed to change dresses and quietly slipped away, leaving the stage to Erin.

As expected, she pretended to be drunk and "accidentally" drugged herself again. Then she shoved Mason aside and ran off to look for me and Jude.

When she couldn't find me anywhere, she fell to her knees before Jude and begged, "Jude, please, help me. If you don't save me, I'll die."

She tried to threaten him with her life, and Jude's expression twisted in disgust. But the servant who came to report said, "Mr. Langdon said he had something urgent and already left."

I stared into the mirror and suddenly remembered the miserable end I had suffered in my previous life. A chill ran through me. Thank God I was reborn. This time, I would send them both straight to hell.

"Get Mr. Easton for me," I ordered. "Tell him I'm worried about my cousin and want him to help me find her."

Once the servant left, I made a show of searching the entire mansion for Jude. I asked everyone I passed, feigning panic, "Have you seen my fiance and my cousin Erin?"

Before long, the entire banquet knew that both Jude and my cousin had disappeared at the same time. Mason's expression grew tense when he heard. "Erin's a young woman—if word gets out, her reputation will be ruined!"

He immediately ordered the servants, "Find her. No matter what, bring her back!"

The guests scattered to search, combing through every corner of the mansion until only one door remained unchecked—mine and Jude's room. Everyone stood at the door, unsure whether to enter or not.

Just then, I came running over, feigning panic. "Did you find Erin and Jude?"

The crowd fell silent.

"We've searched every other room," someone said awkwardly. "Only this one—"

Before he could finish, I pushed the door open. "Jude, Erin—are you in there?"

A woman's scream and a man's furious shout erupted from inside. I froze in the doorway as everyone behind me watched the scene unfold with their own eyes—Jude in bed with his fiancee's cousin during his own engagement banquet.

My face went pale as I stared at Jude. "Jude, you…" The next moment, I fainted.

Mason reacted quickly, catching me before I hit the ground. His face darkened with fury as he glared at Jude. "You Langdons better have an explanation for this or…"

He didn't finish his sentence, but everyone present understood what he meant. The Easton family had been rising in power lately, and even though Mason was "the spare," he wasn't someone to be trifled with.

Very quickly, Mason carried me away.