Chapter 1

When I suddenly woke up on the day we were submitting our college choices, I was shocked for maybe a few seconds.

Then the feeling faded, and I calmed down.

When I turned my head, I saw Horace Clark.

His eyes were blazingly bright, almost frighteningly so. They burned with the wild joy of someone who had gotten something back after losing it, along with the certainty that he would never let it slip away again.

He glanced at me once, his gaze sharp and hostile.

Then, he rushed out the back door of the classroom and sprinted down the hallway toward the girl standing at the far end.

It was Sharon Fleming from Senior Class A, Horace's childhood sweetheart.

In my last life, she had become my wife.

"Sharon!"

Horace's voice shook as he wrapped his arms tightly around the girl's slim waist, holding her as if he were afraid she might disappear.

"I really like you. This time… I won't let anyone else have you."

The sudden hug left Sharon stunned for a moment. When the realization hit, joy flooded across her face.

She hurriedly hugged him back, a little clumsy but gentle, softly patting his back as if she was calming him down.

"Okay," she murmured. "I'm yours forever."

Sunlight streamed through the hallway windows, outlining the two of them in gold.

The scene looked so perfect that it could have been a poster for some coming-of-age movie.

The comments in front of me exploded instantly, dripping with excitement and malice.

[Yes! That's how it's supposed to be! The real heir should be with the hardworking childhood sweetheart who's always loved him. That dumb loser can move aside!]

[Brian is a despicable thief. He stole someone else's top university spot, someone else's heir status, and even someone else's woman. People like him are disgusting!]

[The real heir finally woke up this time. His main-character arc is just getting started. As for the fake heir, Brian… Without that spot at a top university, let's see how he ever makes anything of himself.]

Reading those smug comments, I smiled.

Everything from my last life replayed clearly in my mind.

After Horace was brought back to the Clarks, he couldn't stand the rules and expectations of a wealthy household. All he wanted was freedom and so-called true love.

He fell hard for Laura Turner, a wild, unpredictable troublemaker.

To run off and "see the world" with her, he tore with his own hands his early admission letter to Ashford University, a top college, right in front of everyone.

He publicly announced he was breaking off the engagement with Sharon. It nearly gave my father, Sebastian Clark, a heart attack and turned our family into a laughingstock among the upper-class circle.

As for me, the fake heir who suddenly lost everything the moment the real one returned, I walked on eggshells with every step.

While people looked at me with either contempt or pity, I quietly picked up the Ashford University admission letter Horace had tossed aside like trash.

And I also "picked up" the engagement he had scorned.

I spent ten years, from stepping into Ashford University's campus with nothing but nerves, to carving out a brutal path for myself inside Clark Corporations and finally securing my place there.