CHAPTER 5: A NEW GAME BEGINS

"Sera! Are you out of your mind?! Get down here right now!"

Mrs. Fiona screamed in sheer terror, her aristocratic face instantly turning as pale as a sheet. Panic-stricken, she rushed forward to pull her daughter back, only to freeze when she caught sight of her eldest's extreme, unyielding resolve. Without pausing to question the real motives behind the stunt, she immediately played along to placate her darling girl, turning to pressure her husband instead:

"Lord husband! Look at her, she means what she says! She is our eldest legitimate daughter; if anything happens to her, where will our family's honor go? If tomorrow the newspapers print that the eldest miss of the Vance family committed suicide over an arranged marriage, people will mock our household for lacking discipline. Either way, marriage is an alliance—just go along with her wishes and swap the betrothal!"

Sera's recklessness, her total disregard for her own life, shocked Evelyn, who was still kneeling on the floor. In her past life, her sister had cherished her own skin above all else, yet now she was using death as a bargaining chip. Just how irresistible was the bait dangled by that worthless man to drive her to such madness?

Gazing at his precious daughter dangling dangerously over the balcony, and listening to his wife's tearful prodding, Mr. Robert—despite his authoritarian and fiery temper—could not simply stand by and watch his daughter take her own life. As a purely pragmatic man obsessed with final outcomes, he realized that whether they swapped or not, the alliance benefits of the Vance family remained secure, while the family name was spared from public scandal.

Gritting his teeth fiercely, Mr. Robert made a cold, decisive verdict:

"Fine! Get down from there! I agree to swap the betrothal, all right?! Evelyn, save those useless tears and prepare yourself to marry into the Sterling family. I have made my final decision on this matter, no more crying!"

Hearing this, Evelyn instantly dropped to the floor in a panic, pleading with a choked voice:

"Father! How can you treat me like this? The Sterling family is notoriously cold and ruthless—marrying into that house is no different from walking into a death trap! It was clearly Sister Sera whom you intended to marry off in the first place, why must I bear this in her stead..."

"Silence!" Mr. Robert slammed his hand on the table and stood up abruptly, his eyes sharp as daggers glaring down at his second daughter, his voice radiating absolute, unquestionable authority: "Is a family marriage some kind of joke for you girls to bargain over? I said we are swapping, and we are swapping! Do you want to watch your sister die right before your eyes to be satisfied? Say no more, it is settled!"

Seeing her father fly into a rage, Evelyn lowered her head, her entire body trembling in apparent despair, her face streaming with tears of utmost grievance. Yet beneath that fragile, helpless facade, the corners of her mouth curved upward into an icy, cynical smile. Her recent resistance had been just enough to mask her true psychological state, perfectly fitting for a daughter accustomed to quiet submission in this household.

The drama drew to a close exactly as Sera had desired. Supported by her mother, Sera stepped down from the balcony railing, smoothing out the folds of her dress. As she walked past the kneeling Evelyn, a flash of utter triumph and gratification burned in her eyes. Clutching the betrothal document tightly to her chest, she firmly believed she had fooled the entire family, dumping her useless younger sister into the fiery pit of the Sterling household while she herself prepared to step onto the pinnacle of power as the future mistress of the Hayes empire.

Evelyn remained kneeling quietly, bowing her head so her long hair concealed half her face. Her heart was still beating wildly with tension, but her mind was now clearer and colder than ever before.

Sera wanted to steal Dominic? Let her. She had no inkling that the reason Hayes Group had reached the summit of commerce in their past life was not due to Dominic Hayes's talent, but because Evelyn had spent sleepless nights wringing out her own intellect to draft rescue plans for projects teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.

In this lifetime, stripped of her brain, Dominic Hayes was nothing more than a paper tiger gasping for breath. Letting those two scoundrels bind themselves to each other right from their humble beginnings—was that not the most perfect form of revenge?

At this thought, Evelyn slowly rose to her feet and reached up to wipe away her tears. In those fake, tear-filled eyes, a deep, razor-sharp glint flashed as she stared at the back of Sera, who was happily clutching the engagement letter to her chest while walking upstairs.

The most urgent task right now was not fighting over a worthless man, but utilizing the preparation period to figure out a way to break free from the suffocating, selfish Vance household. She needed to quietly accumulate what was necessary before the big day, leaving the reckoning with those two for later.

Seeing Sera about to turn into the hallway, Evelyn bit her lip. She had to probe further to gauge the extent of the other woman's madness. If she simply surrendered and stayed silent, someone as paranoid as Sera would surely smell something fishy once she calmed down.

Feigning grievance to the extreme, Evelyn choked out:

"Just yesterday, you were crying and screaming at the top of your lungs, threatening death to stay away from that impoverished man—how come you changed your tune so fast today? Or did you see the thick stacks of betrothal gifts they brought over, and now your eyes are lit up with greed, making you crawl right back to this mud pit?"

Sera’s footsteps halted. The question struck straight at her core, causing the surge of agitation deep within her eyes to flare up violently. Whirling around, she glared fiercely at Evelyn. The memory of the skin-tearing free fall at the Grand Plaza tightened painfully around Sera's chest; the accumulated hatred within her nearly caused her to lose control. Taking hurried, heavy strides down the stairs, she closed in on Evelyn with thick, palpable murderous intent.

Quick-wittedly stepping back a pace to maintain a safe distance, Evelyn tilted her head, deliberately putting on a trembling, terrified expression in the face of her sister's aggression:

"Do you hate me so much you want me dead? Just because I was unwilling to marry the man you discarded?"

These pitiful words pierced straight into Sera's eardrums, pulling her panicked, chaotic reason back to reality. She froze, casting a quick glance toward Mr. Robert, who was seated on the living room sofa, and forced herself to rein in her mad frenzy to hide the truth of her rebirth. Dropping her hands to her sides, she let out a cold, contemptuous laugh:

"Kill you? Are you worthy? Your older sister here has simply had a sudden awakening. Compared to being forced to marry a crippled, eccentric weirdo at the Sterling estate—someone whose life or death is a constant unknown—isn't it far better to marry a sound, able-bodied man like Dominic Hayes? Besides, the Hayes family used to be prominent; who knows, maybe they'll make a comeback tomorrow?"

With that, Sera stepped forward, invading Evelyn's space. Looking at her tear-streaked younger sister, she curved her lips into a smirk, leaned in close to Evelyn's ear, and whispered with a provocative, venomous tone:

"Oh, Evelyn, I know very well that you've always secretly carried a torch for Dominic, haven't you? The way you looked at him when the betrothal gifts arrived gave it all away. Did you think you actually had a chance to marry the man you love and become Mrs. Hayes? In your dreams! I deliberately changed my mind because I want to crush that delusional fantasy of yours with my own hands. I'm going to make you bury your youth right beside a cripple for the rest of your life, while Dominic and I have it all!"

These malicious, insulting words echoed loudly through the living room. Faced with such blatant provocation, instead of crying, Evelyn slowly raised her head. The mist of grievance in her eyes vanished abruptly, replaced by a subtle, mysterious smile. Her deep, profound gaze locked tightly onto Sera's triumphant face:

"Is that so? Then I must wish you and him a lifetime of happiness, and advise you to hold onto each other tightly... dear sister."

Sera was completely stunned by Evelyn's sudden change in attitude and her eerie, completely fearless smile. Her steps faltered, and her narrow eyes narrowed with suspicion.

A flash of unease darted through Sera's mind—in her past life, Evelyn had loved Dominic to the point of dying for him; why was she letting go so easily today? What did that smile mean?

Yet, the budding doubt was instantly crushed by her own arrogance. In Sera's eyes, Evelyn was merely putting up a brave front to salvage what little pathetic dignity she had left after being shoved into the Sterling quagmire. She told herself: Without the golden cheat of rebirth, what could someone like you possibly know about the future? She must just be gritting her teeth and bearing the bitterness inside!

With that thought, triumph surged overwhelmingly back into her chest. She tossed her head back and scoffed derisively:

"Go ahead and pretend to be tough all you want. Let's see if you can still smile like that once you step foot into the Sterling household!"

Evelyn curled her lips, replying in a casual yet blade-sharp tone: "Don't you worry your head about that. I'm gracefully passing this rich opportunity along to you—make sure you enjoy it to your heart's content."

That uninhibited retort was the straw that broke the camel's back. Challenged directly by someone she viewed as beneath her, the vicious fire in Sera's heart blazed into a frantic inferno. With her arrogance severely wounded, she flew into a rage, raising her hand high to land a fierce slap across Evelyn's face:

"You bitch, how dare you use that tone with me?!"

Right at that moment—

"Sir! The eldest young master of the Hayes family—Master Dominic Hayes is here to visit!"