Chapter 1

As the sound of the royal carriage faded into the distance, my eldest stepsister, Mira Carrington, and my second stepsister, Bianca Carrington, exchanged a glance, their faces drained of color. At the same time, I pressed a hand against my aching chest.

It seemed that everyone had been reborn.

My stepmother, Sienna Drake, grabbed the feather duster beside her and swung it toward me. "Ryla Carrington, was this your doing? If you ruin your sisters' chances of marrying into the royal family, I'll skin you alive!"

In the past, I would have already curled up in the corner, trembling in fear. But this time, before I could even move, two hands reached out and grabbed Sienna's wrist.

Mira's face was ghostly pale. "Mom, stop. If you beat her to death, we'll die even sooner."

Bianca trembled all over as she stepped in front of me. "Nobody's allowed to lay a hand on Ryla!"

Sienna froze, her eyes wide with shock. "What kind of spell did this brat cast on you two?"

Mira shouted impatiently, "Mom, just shut up!"

Mira turned to look at me, her expression unreadable. "Ryla, you were reborn too, weren't you?"

I brushed the dust off my skirt and looked at them coldly. "Looks like you both remember how you died."

Sienna kept rambling, "What's all this talk about dying? What kind of nonsense is that? Ryla, from now on, you are not allowed to step outside your room! This time, the title of princess will definitely go to—"

"Enough!" Mira and Bianca shouted.

They exchanged a glance, then each grabbed one of Sienna's arms and dragged her toward the bedroom. The door slammed shut with a loud bang.

Ten minutes later, it opened.

Every trace of Sienna's usual arrogance had vanished. Trembling, she gritted her teeth and forced the words out. "I… I'm done with this. Whoever wants to be princess can have it. I'm not getting involved. You… you figure it out yourselves!"

As soon as she finished speaking, she stumbled back to her room and locked the door. Only Mira, Bianca, and I remained in the living room.

Mira took a deep breath. "Alright, since we've all been reborn with our memories intact, let's be straight with each other. In the past three lifetimes, we sabotaged one another trying to become the princess, but in the end, we were all killed by that lunatic prince."

Bianca stood up and rubbed her neck. "That's right. In our first lives, Mira cut her toes to fit the slipper and got chopped to pieces. In our second lives, I trimmed my heel and ended up being hanged from the city gates. In our third lives, Ryla managed to squeeze into the slipper but still had her heart ripped out."

They both turned to look at me at the same time.

I smiled bitterly. "But that slipper really was mine."

"Then why did he still kill you?" Mira asked urgently. "You were the slipper's owner!"

I stared at the glass slipper on the coffee table and said quietly, "He said I didn't love him and asked me why I was pretending to be her."

If cutting off toes to fit the slipper counted as impersonation and even the real owner had been accused of being a fake, just who exactly was that lunatic prince looking for?

Mira suddenly slammed her hand down on the table, rattling the tea set. "This time around, none of us will survive on our own. If we want to live, we have to track down the real owner of the glass slipper within three days!"

Bianca grabbed at her hair in frustration. "Is Prince Adrian out of his mind?"

She turned to me and asked, "Ryla, what exactly happened at the ball that night? Were you hiding something from him too?"