Chapter 1

"That's the high-ranking official's son! What a golden chance. If Yasmine hadn't brought them that meal back then, do you really think you'd have this shot at marrying up?"

"So what if his dad's got leverage? Anthony's just a grunt for now, and I'm focused about getting into college. After that, life will be sweet. There will be a line of decent guys to choose from!"

My parents tried every way to convince her, but my sister, Holly Shaw, was as stubborn as a horse.

Back in the seventies when Anthony Brown and his mother, Amelia Brown, showed up at our farm, they were skin and bones, practically bullied out of their wits.

Nobody dared to get near them, except for me, sneaking out in the dead of night with some food and warm clothes from our stash.

For that, once the pair made it back to the city, marrying the girl who saved them was the first thing on their list.

In my previous life, Holly had snatched the credit for that good deed.

It was too dark for Amelia to make out my face, so she asked which family I belonged to.

My parents did not hesitate to claim it was Holly, their darling eldest, who had done the deed.

I had to watch Holly bask in the limelight as the high-ranking official's daughter-in-law.

"College isn't free, you know. We're so broke we're rattling, how are we supposed to pay for your education!"

Dad was so mad he slammed his pipe on the table, nearly knocking it over.

"Well, why not marry off Yasmine to Anthony? Demand a hefty amount of money, and there's my college fund," Holly suggested.

Holly knew well that marrying Anthony meant a one-way trip to the army base on the frontier, with no coming back.

However, she was ready to throw me into the fire.

She strode over to me and yanked the book from my grip, the pages' jagged edges scraping my palms raw.

"I've talked to the school. You're officially unenrolled. Give me all your textbooks and workbooks. School's out of the picture for you now."

It was all Holly's doing, of course.

I met my sister's eyes and grinned. "Fine by me."

Mom watched Holly, her mind made up, and let out a sigh. "You're clueless about what's good for you, kiddo. You'll be kicking yourself one day!"

Then, she glanced my way and said, "Lucky you! Off to the Browns' place. Don't forget to scout some decent guys for your sister. Skip nobodies like Anthony. She's college-bound and deserves a guy with power, like the Commander!"

My parents always put my sister first when it came to the good stuff.

As for me? Two words—not worthy.

Just because my birth was a three-day ordeal that nearly ended in disaster, I was branded the family curse—the bringer of bad luck.

Whenever my sister gave me a hard time, our parents saw it as payback.

Then, by shipping off their curse—me—they could scrape together some college money for my sister.

They figured it was a fair trade, so they rushed to tell the representative of the Brown family to double the wedding gift, sealing the deal.

The representative agreed, but not without an eye roll.

As she left, I caught her snide whisper.

"Making a mountain out of a molehill over a simple favor!"