Chapter 1

I snapped back to reality when Melanie Smith slammed the money on the table.

Melanie shouted rudely, “I want all the fishtail dresses in this shop, especially the one she’s holding!”

In my previous life, Francis Smith, my elder brother, mistook Melanie for me. It was simply because she was wearing the fishtail dress I was holding.

Francis barged into my room that night. He made me take off my clothes and forced me to kneel on glass pieces as punishment. My legs were bleeding, but he was still angry. Thus, he harshly gave me forty-nine lashes.

“Are you out of your mind, Scarlett Smith? How dare you drug me?! You let me down!”

I realized that it was Melanie who had drugged Francis, but the system had tampered with those memories.

Once I remembered that, I smiled and texted Francis.

[Frank, I don’t like fishtail dresses anymore! I’ll only wear skirts from today onward. I’m going to be mad at you if you mistake someone for me.]

Francis texted me an emoji to tell me that he had understood. A long sigh of relief escaped me. I handed the dress to the salesperson. “Let her have it.”

But Melanie screamed when I wanted to turn and leave. “Scarlett! How could you hide a needle in the dress to prick me?!”

Before I could defend myself, someone abruptly slapped me and made me fall to the floor.

Henry Jordan, my fiance, looked at me with disgust. “I told you, Scarlett. If I find you bullying Mel, you’ll wish you were dead!”

Melanie snuggled up to Henry and looked at me provocatively. It hurt me.

Henry had mistaken Melanie for me the day before. Thus, he came to my house to cancel our engagement that night.

“How dare you hook up with men in bars?! My family won’t put up with such shamelessness!”

He did not wait for my explanation before he pinned me to the floor.

He handed Melanie a needle. “Get your revenge, Mel.”

Melanie pulled my tongue out and stabbed it with the needle fiercely. The needle soon pierced through my tongue, and I started bleeding.

“I’m sorry, Scarlett. I accidentally missed it. I’m sure you won’t blame me.”

I wanted to dodge, but Henry pinned me down hard. Helpless, I could only let Melanie stab my entire body with needles.

In the end, my body was filled with needles. I looked like a hedgehog.

Henry gave me an icy look. “Serves you right.”

It broke my heart. But I knew that the most important thing was that I could not let any other person mistake Melanie for me again.

A passerby drove me to the hospital. Henry’s parents dragged him to the hospital to apologize to me.

But when his parents left, he looked at me with hatred.

“It’s just a minor injury, Scarlett, but you used it as an excuse to force me to come and see you.”

I stared at him. I had to ask him a question because of our decades-long relationship.

“Henry, what did I do to make you hate me this much?”

Henry snorted. “What? Aren’t you happy being a playgirl? Tell me which hurt you more, Miss Scarlett. Being stabbed with needles or whipped by that man?”

Helplessness overcame me as I offered a weak explanation.

“That wasn’t me…”

Henry burst into laughter. “So, you’re saying that I was seeing things?”

Francis punched Henry. “Henry Jordan, I’ll kill you if you say anything more! Lottie is not that kind of person!”

I bit my lip and texted a private detective.

[Help me look into Henry and Melanie’s whereabouts for this week!]

Francis pinned Henry to the floor before the Jordan family dragged the latter out. Still, he yelled, “Scarlett Smith, loving you is the most disgusting thing I’ve ever done!”

Francis wanted to rush over. But I held back my tears and pulled him back. I reminded him, “Frank, you must never mistake someone else for me!”