Chapter 2

As per the initial agreement, those who weren't chosen to marry Adrian were expected to pack up and leave the estate. It wasn't really a bad deal for us. After all, these were the terms when the Quirrels took us in.

Excited, I returned to my room and began packing the few belongings I had. After years of staying in the estate, I had very few things that were truly mine, except a handful of clothes and some daily necessities.

As I wheeled my modest suitcase toward the door, I was stopped by two bodyguards dressed in black.

Adrian stood in the doorway and said coldly, "You'll stay in this room until my wedding's over."

I stared at him in disbelief. "Adrian, what do you mean? Didn't you already choose Emily?"

He slowly approached me and smiled coldly.

"Nevertheless, you're not going anywhere. For all I know, you'll find some way to ruin my wedding," he said.

My stomach dropped at his words.

"Just let me leave. I won't cause any trouble for your wedding, I swear. The last thing I ever wanted was to be your wife."

Adrian scoffed. "You've been reborn, too, haven't you? In your past life, you schemed to have Emily killed to secure your position as Mrs. Quirrel. How could I ever trust someone as vicious as you?"

He actually believed I was responsible for Emily's death.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I retorted. "I've never harmed anyone."

"Stop pretending to be innocent," Adrian snapped. He stepped forward and looked at me with utter contempt.

"She texted me before she died and said you were the reason. The fact that you always bullied her was bad enough, but then you married me and still refused to stop tormenting her."

My chest tightened with rage. The accusation was utterly absurd.

Emily and I had grown up in the same rundown orphanage. Since she was older and bigger than me, she spent every day tormenting me with a group of followers. How could I possibly be the one bullying her?

In my past life, I only learned the truth about Emily's death from the Quirrel family housekeepers who handled her body. The cause of her death was a drug overdose at an underground party.

Lydia still felt some attachment to Emily, whom she had taken in. To protect the Quirrel family's reputation, she claimed that Emily had committed suicide due to depression.

I couldn't believe Adrian was unaware of the truth. Just because of a few lies from Emily, he treated me and the children with such cruelty.

I let out a bitter laugh.

"So whatever she said must be true?" I shot back. "I had no reason to hurt her, and I have no interest in you now. Just let me leave."

Adrian didn't believe me.

"Of course, you had a reason. You pretended to be meek and pitiful just to win my family's favor and marry me, right?

"Emily told me you found someone to swap your birth chart with hers so you would get the reading that said you carried a healing energy."

Emily lied through her teeth, yet Adrian believed her without verifying it.

"That's ridiculous," I said flatly. "I don't believe in any of that nonsense, let alone know how to alter it."

His face darkened instantly.

"Shut up! I won't let you slander her. She was perfect. You're the one who would stoop to anything to climb higher. I'll never believe a word you say.

"You'd better behave and stay put. Before the wedding, don't even think about stepping out of this room."

With that, he turned and left.

The two bodyguards immediately stepped forward and blocked the doorway like a solid wall.

I watched Adrian's retreating figure, with a cold dread settling deep in my chest. He was completely blinded by Emily. His hatred for me ran so deep that he trusted her word over his own eyes and judgment.

I was trapped in this room, just like in my past life when I was locked in the basement.