Stop Simping For Her! Or I’ll Go After Your Greatest Rival

"Sylvia, you destroyed my brother. Now face the consequences."

The stage lights blazed. I, Zoe Hale, burning with hatred, raised a gleaming knife and lunged at the she-wolf who had just been crowned Best Actress at the Annual Wolf Gala.

My hatred was boundless. It ate at my bones and burned my heart.

My brother. The brother who had been my whole world.

He'd been such a good man, the next Alpha of the Hale bloodline, and he had given Sylvia everything he had.

Whatever Sylvia wanted, he handed to her with both hands, and he helped her climb to the very top of the entertainment industry, helped her become the most sought-after she-wolf in the city.

And in the end, her fans had falsely accused him of inappropriate behavior. His pack was ruined, he was driven to despair, and she had climbed over his suffering to become Best Actress.

My brother had suffered so miserably. What gave her the right to stand there in all that glory?

Shhk.

The sound of a sharp knife striking its target.

"Haha! Brother, I finally avenged you!"

"Ahh!"

"She's attacking her!"

"Somebody help!"

Screams erupted all at once.

The festive awards ceremony descended into chaos.

I had my revenge. The knife slipped from my hand as I stood there, overwhelmed by emotion.

I laughed, exhilarated. "Brother, did you see? I finally avenged you! I finally..."

I looked up, and the twisted smile froze on my face.

Sylvia, pale as a sheet, was hiding behind her bodyguard.

The knife had gone wide. It had only grazed her arm.

"H-how can this be?"

Sylvia wasn't seriously hurt.

Several bodyguards swarmed in, wrenched the sharp knife out of my hand, and pinned me hard to the floor.

Clutching her arm, pale and fragile, Sylvia choked up for the cameras.

"Zoe, I'm so sorry about your brother's passing, but he brought it all on himself. I was only standing up for my rights as a she-wolf."

"That's a lie! You framed him! My brother loved you so much, how could you do this?"

As I screamed myself hoarse, Sylvia, turned away from the cameras, arched a smug eyebrow.

"So what? Your brother was just a dog I kept on a leash."

"Zoe Hale, you're just as stupid and useless as that doormat brother of yours."

"Sylvia, I'll make you pay!"

My eyes were bloodshot, as if weeping tears of pain, my chest full of anger about to explode.

Why was the Moon Goddess so blind?

The wicked prospered while good people suffered.

I refused to accept it!

The she-wolf who caused all of this was now the industry's one and only two-time Best Actress, with hundreds of millions of fans and endless glory.

Even when I threw everything I had into bringing Sylvia down with me, all I'd managed was a scratch.

"Sylvia, I curse you, in this life and every life after, to face a terrible fate!"

I laughed until I cried.

There was no way I'd escape the consequences of my actions. Sylvia would never let me go.

My eyes, full of hatred and bitter defiance, stayed locked on Sylvia's face as I turned and leapt from the thirty-second floor.

"Brother, I'm coming to you."

I spread my arms wide. The instant I struck the ground, the corners of my lips were curled in an eerie smile as I lay motionless.

Brother, did you see?

This is the she-wolf you loved more than your own life.

She wasn't worth it... she wasn't worth it...

Brother, please don't leave Zoe behind, okay?

Brother, is it lonely down there? Let Zoe come keep you company, okay?

I lay there with my eyes open, unable to find peace.

My fingers clawed at the foxtail grass on the lawn beside me, leaving five vivid marks.

"No!"

My eyes flew open. I jolted upright, gasping, cold sweat instantly soaking through my silk pajamas.

Above me hung the familiar crystal chandelier. I was in a soft, comfortable bed, and the air smelled of my usual white-tea diffuser.

No suffering. No agony. No sight of Sylvia's sinister face.

Dazed, I raised a hand and touched skin that was smooth, delicate, and unmarked.

Could it be... I'd been reborn?

As that deep question flooded my mind, the carved hardwood door swung open from outside.

A middle-aged woman in a crisp butler's uniform walked in, her eyes full of joy.

"Miss, you're finally awake."

"Mabel?"

I studied her, my gaze still a little sluggish.

Mabel Cruz, thirty-six, a graduate of a royal butler academy in England, was now in her tenth year as the Hale family's butler.

After the Hales lost everything and my brother was driven to despair by Sylvia's fans, Mabel had spent nearly all her savings helping me, and I had dragged her down with me.

My eyes reddened. "Mabel, where's my brother?"

"The young master went to get ready for his confession to Miss Sylvia. He's going to announce her as his fated mate."

Mabel Cruz brought me a new dress and urged me, "There's only an hour until the young master's global mate confession. Hurry and get changed, and we'll go cheer him on."

"What?!"

I felt as if I'd been struck by lightning.

My brother was going to confess Sylvia as his fated mate in front of the whole world?

Right. It was this day. The day my brother, the next Alpha of the Hale bloodline, held a grand confession ceremony for Sylvia, that ultimate fake-innocent "white lotus" she-wolf, and livestreamed it to the world.

My brother had been overjoyed. He truly believed the Moon Goddess had blessed him with Sylvia as his mate.

But Sylvia only wanted to use him to boost her own popularity. She'd never had any intention of accepting the mate bond.

When he knelt down in front of the press and pulled out the treasured Hale family heirloom the Alpha's mate ring—Sylvia turned him down with a pained look on her face.

"Thank you, Asher, but I haven't thought about accepting a mate bond yet. Right now I just want to play every role well and carve out a place in this industry through my own hard work."

After that, Sylvia successfully built herself an image as "the dedicated, strong she-wolf who won't bow to the Alpha of a powerful bloodline and dared to turn down the heir to the Hale pack," and her popularity online exploded.

And my fool of a brother was torn apart by the media as utterly worthless.

The next Alpha and leader of the Hale bloodline, making such an extravagant spectacle of himself over some she-wolf who didn't even want him?

The pack's alliances faltered. Shareholders threatened to pull out of Hale Enterprises, wiping out tens of billions.

The pack elders, disappointed in their future Alpha, questioned whether he was fit to lead at all.

My chest heaved as I gulped for air.

"Miss, what's wrong? Why do you look so pale?"

"Damn it! Asher Hale!"

My face livid, I threw off the thin blanket and headed for the door.

Mabel's expression shifted, and she hurried after me. "Miss, however urgent it is, you still need shoes. You'll catch cold."

It was March in the south, when the warmth of spring still came with a lingering chill.

Barefoot on the floor, I could still feel the biting cold.

I snapped back to my senses.

No. My brother had already contacted the media. Rushing over there now wouldn't help.

In my last life, I had tried to stop him. I had argued with him.

My brother just thought I was being childish and determined to make things hard for his supposed fated mate.

So how was I supposed to stop him?

He loved Sylvia so much, and right now he was at the height of his lovesick madness. He'd never take anything I said seriously...

I bit my nails anxiously, at a total loss, when my gaze suddenly landed on Mabel Cruz.

Mabel Cruz stiffened. "M-Miss, why are you looking at me like that?"

"Mabel, Leo came by the house yesterday, didn't he?"

Mabel Cruz nodded, puzzled.

Her husband often came over to help out, and he sometimes stayed for a while.

"I need to borrow something from you."

With that, I turned and headed for Mabel Cruz's room.

My eyes swept quickly across the room.

When I spotted something, I strode right over to it.

Mabel Cruz followed behind me. When she saw what I was holding, her face flushed bright red and she stamped her foot in a panic. "Miss! Don't! That's not a toy!"

No one ever came into her room, and she hadn't had time to put away the things she'd just bought online.

I gave a wicked smile and, without a moment's hesitation, started a video call with Asher Hale