Chapter 1

It appeared that I got tricked into coming home under the pretense of a family dinner, only to be beaten to death by my adoptive parents in my past life.

Before I died, their twisted faces loomed over me.

"We only raised you for Stacy. Now that she's gone, what reason do you have to live?"

A baseball bat struck my head.

Warm blood streamed down, blurring my vision.

...

I suddenly opened my eyes in the darkness.

The sharp clarity of my surroundings stunned me for a moment.

Bright sunlight filled the familiar room.

My adoptive mother and younger sister sat right in front of me.

Then, my mother’s anxious voice rang out.

"Stacy, what’s going on? Your teacher called, saying you applied to transfer classes, and not just any class, but the worst-performing one in the entire grade?"

Across from me, Stacy Lowe lifted her head slightly, hesitating.

"Transfer… classes?"

She blinked, as if finally processing what was happening.

Her gaze flickered around the room before she raised a hand and pointed at me.

"Mom, the teacher must have misunderstood. I was saying my sister should transfer, not me.

"There are so many failing students in Class Thirteen, and since my sister has always been kind and helpful, I’m sure she’d be more than happy to lend them a hand."

In our past life, Stacy had fallen for Nicholas Scott at first sight.

Barely two months into the school year, she cried and begged to transfer into his class—Class Thirteen, the lowest-ranked class in the entire grade.

Our mother had always indulged her, so she gave in and approved the request.

Stacy then spent the next seven years entangled with Nicholas.

In the end, she even lost her life for him—drunk driving in the middle of a storm.

In my past life, I had almost no interaction with Nicholas.

Apart from a few brief conversations after graduation, our paths barely crossed.

Yet, Stacy saw me as a thorn in her side.

She stubbornly believed that the reason Nicholas kept breaking up and getting back together with her was because he had feelings for me.

She thought I was his so-called first love.

Now, as I met her gaze, filled with barely concealed malice and resentment, everything became clear.

So, Stacy had also been reborn.

…

Hearing her words, my adoptive mother turned to me.

"Stacy is right. I’ll go to the school today and arrange your transfer."

Her tone left no room for argument.

I knew that, out of obligation for the kindness my father had once shown them, the Lowes had taken me in.

But from the very beginning, they never truly saw me as their daughter.

To them, I was just a convenient accessory for Stacy to order around.

In my past life, when Stacy insisted on transferring classes, my adoptive mother got worried and originally planned to have me follow along.

But Stacy refused adamantly.

So, my adoptive mother gave up on the idea.

Later, Stacy had even come to gloat.

"Don’t think I don’t know—when you competed in that violin contest, Nicholas skipped class to watch you. Did you really think I’d let you stay in the same class as him every day?"

I simply looked at her foolish expression and said nothing.

Nicholas came to watch my violin competition?

What a joke.

He probably didn’t even know how many strings a violin had.

That rumor?

I was the one who subtly spread it.

My only goal was to keep Stacy from dragging me down with her.

But now, she had been reborn.

If she wanted to play games, I could simply change the rules and play on a different field.

…

That night, Stacy slipped into my room without making a sound.