Chapter 1

After I decided to give everything up, my life entered a countdown. I was down to my final 72 hours.

I made my way to the private pack infirmary.

The infirmary room, which had been filled with laughter and cheerful voices just moments before, fell completely silent the moment I stepped inside. My brother, Alaric Sinclair, glared at me with open hostility.

"What are you doing here? Have you come to steal the Moonviolet serum? Let me tell you—from now on, Mom, Dad, and I won't be leaving Meg's side for even a second. You can forget about taking the serum!"

I froze for a moment. In my past life, I had stormed into the infirmary, snatched the Moonviolet serum, and gulped it down in one go. Why were things different this time? Could Alaric have been reborn too?

But none of it mattered anymore.

"The family doctor already told us—you're perfectly healthy. There's nothing wrong with you at all! You only wanted to steal the Moonviolet serum to kill Meg! Evelina Sinclair, how can you be so vicious?"

Alaric stood protectively in front of Megan Sinclair's bed, blocking me from getting any closer.

"Evelina, if you dare bully Meg again, I'll drive you out of the Sinclair family! I, Silas Sinclair, do not have a daughter as selfish and malicious as you! Had I known you were this cruel, I never would have brought you back five years ago!"

I looked up to see my father, Silas Sinclair, my mother, Seraphina Harrington, and my brother, Alaric, standing side by side to form a protective wall around Megan.

Behind them, Megan shot me a mocking smirk and flipped me off with her middle finger pointed down.

I forced an ugly, bitter smile.

They had called me selfish before, but never had they threatened to disown me or sever ties. It seemed Alaric must have told them how I'd stolen the Moonviolet serum and caused Megan's fatal car accident in my previous life.

Looking at Megan's triumphant expression, I didn't shout and defend myself or insist that she had framed me as I would have in the past, because that would only drive my parents and Alaric further toward her side.

The bond between my family and me had frayed and torn apart through one heated argument after another.

Now that I had a second chance at life, I didn't want things to end so ugly between us. Before dying, I just wanted them to dislike me a little less.

"I've got something to tell you," Mom said, her tone so icy that tears stung my eyes.

"What is it? Actually… I have something to tell you all, too," I replied, trying to soften the mood with a smile. "About Stellaris Atelier, the design company under my name, I'm thinking of giving it to Megan. She loves designing, doesn't she?"

My parents, who had been glaring at me with disdain moments before, fell silent in shock.

Alaric looked at me and snorted coldly. "Evelina, do you really think saying this will make us let our guard down and you'll get the chance to take the Moonviolet serum? Not a chance!

"Just so you know, Meg has already taken the serum. In three days, she'll have a minor surgery, and she'll be completely healed."

Dad watched me with a hint of suspicion. "Are you serious? Is there some kind of scheme behind this? Or do you have other conditions?"

"I'm not here for the Moonviolet serum," I said, pulling out a folder. "This is the equity transfer agreement for my design company. Once you sign it and file it with the Werewolf Council, the company will belong to her."

I smiled bitterly. Were there any parents who were so guarded against their own daughter? But then again, I couldn't blame them.

Megan had coveted the company I built from scratch for years. My parents and Alaric had taken turns pressuring me to hand it over to her, but I had refused every single time, no matter what they offered. Each refusal had burned away a little more of our already fragile family ties.

Now that I was going to die soon, what was the point of holding onto it?

Alaric still looked at me with hostility, clearly still not trusting me. But my parents were visibly tempted. They reached out at the same time, each taking one of my hands, their faces softening with sudden warmth.

"That's more like it. You may have founded the company, but Meg majored in design too—she even won first place in a global design competition and topped her management program in college. If the company goes to her, you can rest assured it will break into the global top 100."

I smiled and nodded.

After Megan was done verifying that the documents were genuine, she looked incredulous. She leaned in and whispered tauntingly as she signed them, "You lost, Evie."

I ignored her.

Mom, who thought that we were having a friendly chat, looked genuinely relieved and happy. "Yes, this is how it should be. Sisters should have a close and loving relationship.

"Anyway, you look pale, Evie. Are you hungry? Here, have some cake."

She thoughtfully handed me a slice of strawberry cake.

My nose tingled, and I nearly cried. Why was Mom only ever this gentle with me when I was giving something up? Would she regret how she'd treated me if she ever discovered how deceitful and vicious Megan truly was?

…

When I got home, Kenneth Ravenscroft, my fiance, was in the kitchen cooking. All the dishes were what Megan liked.

I stood at the kitchen doorway, my eyes stinging as I watched him move with practiced ease. He had never once cooked before. I had always thought he didn't even know how to.

After packing the food into containers, he made a call, instructing someone to decorate the marking ceremony venue with jasmines. A smile lingered on his face.

But the moment he turned and saw me, he hung up, and his expression turned cold. He looked at me as if I were a complete stranger.

"Didn't you run away from home? Didn't you say you wouldn't come back for a whole month?"

In the past, if he ever questioned me like that, there was no doubt I would have shouted back at him and kicked up a fuss. After all, this was my house, too. I could come and go whenever I pleased. But this time, I didn't.

When Kenneth saw my silence, he hesitated, then gestured for me to sit. "Evie, there's something I'd like to tell you."

He seemed to realize his earlier tone had been too harsh, and a trace of apology flickered across his face.

"Meg has taken the Moonviolet serum. She'll have surgery in three days. To keep her spirits up and help her recover quickly after the operation, Silas and Seraphina have arranged for me to have the marking ceremony with her."