CHAPTER 1

The luxurious bedroom was pitch black, illuminated only by the pale moonlight piercing through the large glass window, casting desolate shadows across the cold marble floor.

Talita sat in a daze on the edge of her spacious bed, which felt like a suffocating isolation cell.

The woman wept in absolute silence, her tears melting down both cheeks as she mourned a life completely shattered after marrying Reza Pratama.

That five-year marriage—which she once imagined would lead her into heavenly bliss—had instead plunged her straight into the cruelest abyss of hell.

Even more agonizing was the memory of the tragedy from three years prior that continued to spin relentlessly in her mind.

Right before her eyes, her parents, Doni and Siska Herdian, had been brutally murdered by the husband she trusted with her life.

Without mercy or compassion, their blood spilled onto the floor while Talita knelt and begged with bloody tears for Reza to spare her mother and father. Yet, her pleas were completely ignored.

Mercilessly, Reza had finished off both of her parents with a steel rod that pierced straight through their skulls.

Even now, she paid no mind to the fresh blood still oozing from the wound on her temple, the result of her husband’s violent rage earlier that afternoon.

Talita felt as though her entire body had gone numb because the frequency of the abuse she endured had become far too regular—every single day!

Her frame was now emaciated, covered in bluish bruises, and her appearance was utterly wretched—a far cry from the aristocratic young woman who was once the pride of the Herdian family.

Suddenly, the sound of a key turning echoed from the bedroom door, which had been locked from the outside.

Click.

Talita’s body instantly trembled violently. The door pushed open slowly, followed by the sound of footfalls she knew all too well.

"Talita... My love?" Reza called out in a feigned, gentle tone—a voice that had now become the most terrifying terror to Talita’s soul.

Talita remained still, trying to preserve the scraps of her dignity on the bed, ignoring the calls of the monster who held the status of her husband.

Yet the very next moment, excruciating pain struck her head.

"Argh!" Talita shrieked aloud as her long hair was yanked back with brutal force by Reza’s rough hands, forcing her head to tilt violently backward.

Reza brought his face close, whispering right into Talita’s ear with a voice full of menace, "I don't like it when you ignore me when I call you, Talita!"

Talita winced in pain, but Reza kept pulling her hair as he continued, "You're starting to grow bold enough to disobey me, huh? What kind of beating do you want tonight?"

With ragged breaths and continuous tears falling to cope with the agonizing pain tearing at her scalp, Talita answered Reza's threat in a hoarse voice, "It's useless, Reza! Why should I even answer you? No matter whether I obey you or not, the result will always be the same. You will just keep torturing me!"

Hearing that defiance, Reza’s fury peaked.

Slap!

A hard, ringing blow landed across Talita’s cheek.

Her already fragile, emaciated body could not withstand the impact, causing her to collapse instantly as her face smashed hard against the cold marble floor.

Talita could only let out a stifled scream, biting down hard on her lips to suppress her sobs amidst pain that made her entire body feel utterly shattered.

Without a shred of mercy, Reza grabbed Talita by the shoulders, roughly flipping her frail body onto its back.

Before Talita could even catch her breath, Reza’s strong hands clamped mercilessly around her throat in a lethal chokehold.

"Ugh... k-euk..." Talita choked violently, struggling desperately for air.

Her weak, skeletal hands fought with all her might to pry away the iron hands crushing her windpipe.

Yet all her efforts were in vain! That barbaric grip refused to budge even a fraction.

At the brink of fading consciousness and staring at the face of death, Reza whispered a massive secret that completely crushed the remaining fragments of Talita’s mental defense.

"You know, Talita? You are such a foolish, naive girl," Reza whispered with a triumphant, malicious smile over his wife's misery. "You were so easily deceived by my lies that you couldn't even see the depth of Bastian Wijaya’s sincere love—a man who genuinely loved you! You were completely blinded by my lies, and I... I merely used you as a pawn to tear down the Herdian family!"

Hearing Bastian’s name uttered aloud, Talita’s thoughts flashed back to the cold, quiet man who had always kept to himself yet watched her with absolute sincerity—a man she once pushed away because of Reza’s deceit and manipulation.

Reza continued, his gaze dripping with utter disgust, "Now, after acquiring all of your family's immense wealth and power, and ruining your body and mind until you are broken beyond repair, I don't need you anymore. You're hideous, skin-and-bones, and completely unappealing! I am utterly disgusted just looking at you, Talita. Go ahead and die with your stupidity!"

Having successfully stripped away everything, destroying Talita's mind and body, Reza tightened his grip without mercy to snuff out the woman's final breath.

In the final moments of her life, as encroaching darkness swallowed her and her consciousness slipped away, Talita squeezed her eyes shut.

With the very last ounces of her soul's strength, she offered up a prayer full of anguish and hope to God:

“Heavenly Father, at the threshold of this unjust death, I surrender my spirit into Your hands. Forgive all my sins, and if it is Your will to show mercy to this shattered soul... I beg of You, grant me a second chance. Send me back to the past, before I made this fatal choice, so that I may save my family, correct my path, and redeem the true love of Bastian that I so foolishly cast aside.”

As soon as that prayer finished echoing within her heart, Talita’s body went completely limp.

Her eyes closed completely, and from the corner of her left eye, a final tear slipped away to touch the cold marble floor.

And then...

Ring! Ring! Ring!

A cheerful alarm tone echoed loudly, shattering the morning silence. Golden sunlight broke through the elegant window drapes, illuminating a room styled in modern classic luxury.

Talita gasped sharply, coughing as if Reza's chokehold were still wrapped around her neck.

She bolted upright from her bed, her breathing ragged, her hands frantically patting her neck.

There was no pain. No choke marks, no bruises covering her body, and no blood!

She turned her head rapidly around the room with wide, disbelieving eyes. It was her own bedroom inside the Herdian family estate.

"Did I... not just die at the hands of my own husband?" Talita muttered, still stunned and uncomprehending. "But this isn't the afterlife... Is this my old bedroom?"

With trembling hands, her fingers reached for the phone resting on the nightstand table.

The screen flashed brightly, displaying a digital date that made her heart skip a beat and freeze:

October 14, 2020

"The year 2020...?" Her voice trembled heavily, barely audible even to her own ears.

Talita scrambled out of bed in a flash, running in a panic toward the large mirror standing in the corner of the room.

The reflection in the glass revealed a twenty-two-year-old version of herself—looking healthy, radiant, with flawless skin, a stark contrast to the emaciated, wretched creature consumed by suffering.

She had returned to the past! Long before becoming trapped in a marriage with the monster named Reza Pratama!

Suddenly, a soft knock tapped against her bedroom door, followed by a warm voice she had yearned for through years of bloody tears.

"Talita, sayang? Are you awake yet, sweetheart? Reza is downstairs; he said he wants to see you to discuss the preparations for your wedding next week."

"Mother!... Is that my mother's voice?" Talita's eyes glistened with tears, her heart overflowing with a deep, aching longing for her parents.

Her mother Siska Herdian’s voice from behind the door brought Talita’s tears rushing down instantly.

Yet this time, those tears were no longer born of grief, but rather of overwhelming relief mixed with a raging inferno of vengeance and burning determination.

Reza Pratama! Talita thought as she ground her teeth together, fixing a sharp, piercing glare at her own reflection in the mirror. I will strip away your angel mask for the entire world to see. And this time, not a single one of your lies will ever deceive me or separate me from my parents!