Mistress Reborn の短編小説 & 小説

The hospital's latest intern, Lindsey Clark, is very pretty, but she's a total idiot as well. When my mom came to the hospital for a prescription, she swapped the vitamin C for potassium supplements, which were known to be very poisonous if misused. Mom, who was fresh out of surgery, suffered from heavy bleeding right after taking the medication. She died on the same night. Before I could hold Lindsey responsible for Mom's death, the latter quickly piped up with teary eyes, "I'm so sorry, Dr. Monroe! I just thought that potassium supplements can help your mother heal faster…" Even Michael Jones, my husband, who was the hospital director, took her side. "Your mom only had her idiocy to blame! She died because she took the wrong medication! How dare you drag Lindsey into this!" I was so furious that my cardiac arrest was triggered on the spot. Soon, I was sent into the operating room. Lindsey said she wanted to redeem herself by taking on the post as Michael's assistant in the surgery. But her hands kept trembling even when she tried to thread the suture needle. In the end, she took off her mask and picked up the suture with her teeth. Just like that, she used her saliva to wet the suture end. One day later, I died in the ICU due to a case of severe infection. When my spirit was about to fade away, I heard Lindsey crying sadly. "If it wasn't for my idiocy, Dr. Monroe wouldn't have died!" Michael just patted her dotingly on the head in return. "Having medical risks in a surgical operation is completely normal. You're still young, so stop blaming yourself already." Mom and I were cremated instantly, seeing as Michael intended to cover up our deaths. When I open my eyes again, I've returned to the day Lindsey has just gotten recruited by the hospital.

In the sixth year of my marriage with Zach Elroy, his workplace finally allocated us a small, two-room flat. I was overjoyed. I told our daughter she would finally have a bed of her own. But Zach said coldly, "This room is for Jennifer and her daughter. You and Kathy can keep sleeping on the floor." In my past life, we fought bitterly over it. He eventually gave in. But while I was away on a work trip, he went back on his word. He brought Jennifer Cross into our home and made our daughter, Kathy, sleep on the floor. That night, when Kathy came down with a high fever and cried out that she felt sick, he was reading Jennifer and her daughter a bedtime story. Our daughter passed away that night. Now, in this life, I calmly laid out the bedding on the floor and said, "Whatever."

On our wedding night, my husband didn't stay long enough to toast with champagne. He left me alone at the reception and retreated to the chapel. Because from the very beginning, this stoic, untouchable man had only ever loved my younger sister. For three years of my marriage, I poured myself into thawing a heart of stone, only to be met with glacial silence. "Claire," he said coldly, "I'd rather take vows of celibacy than ever love you." But when the truck came barreling toward me, the man who had resented me his entire life used his own body to shield mine. Just before I lost consciousness, I saw him gripping the paramedic's sleeve, blood staining his lips. "Don't tell that crazy woman who saved her… And don't let my family… make things difficult for her." Tears welled in my eyes. Only then did I realize I wasn't the only one at fault in this marriage. After coming back to life, I chose to join the United Nations Peacekeeping Forces and head straight to the front lines. If we were never meant to grow old together in this life, then let my final wish for him be this: A lifetime of peace, and an eternity of never crossing paths with me again.

I woke up in the past, on the eve of being traded by my family to that controlling mafia Don. Last life, his suffocating “love” and rigid rules strangled me to death. This time, watching my father’s eager face, I just smiled. “The engagement? Give it to your precious illegitimate daughter.” I walked away. Using the skills he forced me to learn, I secured my escape. On the day of his wedding to my replacement, I boarded a plane far from this gilded hell. Just before leaving, I pressed a button. The family mansion—the symbol of my old prison—erupted into a fireball behind me. Now, I’m thriving under the Mediterranean sun, free and wild. The once-untouchable Don is scouring the globe for me, unraveling. He found me at an airport, fell to his knees, his eyes desperate, begging me to come back. I lowered my sunglasses and looked at this stranger, my ex-fiancé, my voice utterly calm. “Do I know you?”

During a thunderstorm on the border, my fiancee, Eleanor Ashby, covers my retreat and falls down a cliff. The search and rescue team spends three months searching through flash floods without finding a trace of her. Everyone concludes she's dead. I refuse to give up and spend another two years looking for her. Eventually, I find her at a small clinic in a remote mountain village. But she's become the wife of the clinic's caregiver, Dylan Foster. That's when I learn she's lost her memory and fallen in love with someone else. In my previous life, I ignore her wishes and force a renowned neurosurgeon to use a high-risk treatment to restore her memories. The day her memories return, the man who has cared for and protected her for the past two years throws himself into the river in despair. Later, during an earthquake rescue mission, Eleanor and I are trapped beneath a collapsed mountainside. There's only one narrow escape route wide enough for one person. She forcibly pushes me out. Moments later, a second collapse buries her beneath a massive boulder. With her dying breath, she reaches through a crack in the rocks and grips my hand. She says in a hoarse voice, "Callum Pierce, these ten years we've spent together is repayment for the debt I owed you from the ten years before. We're even now. Neither of us owes the other anything anymore. "If there's a next life, don't let me remember the past. Please... let me be with him." Tears blur my vision. When I open my eyes again, I'm back on the day I find Eleanor. This time, I choose to respect her decision and let go of the life she's forgotten.

After being killed, Janelle Erwin and I open our eyes to see ourselves standing at a wedding venue. This time, Janelle chooses to marry her childhood friend, Lance Huff, who has just returned to the country. She's extraordinarily resentful of me, so she doesn't hesitate to kick me out of her company and let Lance take over my position there. "I will never marry a loser like Wesley! On top of that, he's just a mutt who belongs to the Erwin family!" But right after Lance takes over North Hill Corporation, the company keeps losing bids one after another. At one point, it was even dragged into a murder case. Janelle asks me for help again. But this time, she wants me to become the scapegoat for Lance's crimes. After witnessing my rejection, she starts using the deeds of kindness she's done for me in the past just to emotionally manipulate me. But I just guffaw in Janelle's face as I stare at her. "I've already paid the Erwins back for their benevolence in my past life! Now, you're the ones owing me in this life!"

Over three years, I called the police on Julian Prescott 188 times to force him to marry me. When he left me burning with fever to see his first love, I reported him missing. When that same woman summoned him to fix her plumbing in the middle of the night, I tipped off the vice squad. After the last trip to the police station, I asked whether he'd finally had enough of me. He was silent for a long time before answering. "I promised my father I'd take care of you. I'm going to keep that promise." Then came the day we climbed a snowy mountain together. An avalanche trapped us, and Julian shielded me with his body. A boulder crushed half of him. Feverish and close to death, I looked at him, half-dead after everything I'd put him through, and suddenly laughed. "You must hate me, Julian. I got you killed, and I tore you away from Sophie." He met my eyes, his voice calm. "Do you want the truth? I've been sick of you for years." My heart lurched. Before I could even react, he cut his wrist and pressed it to my lips, forcing me to swallow enough blood to keep me conscious. "But I'm not letting you die. Willa, I don't owe you anything anymore. In our next life, please let me go." Only after my rescue did I learn that he'd dragged his broken body through the snow, leaving a plea for help written in his own blood. I sank into severe depression. Lost in a haze, I eventually died in a car accident. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day I would have made my 189th desperate attempt to force a wedding. Julian, this time, you'll get what you asked for.

On the night before my wedding to my childhood sweetheart, Rylan Benton, my sister, Elisa Houghton, shows up with an ultrasound image. She tells me she's pregnant with Rylan's child. When she fails to force me to call off the wedding, she leaves behind a suicide note and jumps to her death, taking her unborn child with her. Rylan hates me for it. He forces me to have his child, only to smother our newborn in its crib. His eyes burn crimson as he grips my jaw. "Amy Houghton, her baby never got a chance at life, so yours doesn't deserve to live either!" Now, I am reborn. I wake up on the eve of the wedding. Ignoring the sly glint in Elisa's eyes, I offer a faint smile. "Fine. The wedding is off."

After being reborn, I deliberately avoid every possible connection with Zachary Lawson. When he enrolls at Prestwick University, I choose to study abroad in Norell instead. When he comes all the way to Norell looking for me, I travel even farther, moving from place to place as a war correspondent. Years later, I return home hand in hand with the person I love to have our wedding. Zachary is stopped outside the venue, his eyes red-rimmed. "Why don't you love me anymore?"

Cleo Carrington used to be Northvale's brightest spark—wild, fearless, impossible to pin down. And then she married Damian Joubert. The most controlled, rigid heir in their world. Damian ran like a machine. Perfect standards. Zero slack. And he expected the same from his wife. Cleo loved noise—clubs, music, bodies moving. He had every venue in the city blacklist her. She loved freedom—the blazing Afriyan sun, the northern lights in Icelorn. She raced cars. She jumped out of planes. He took her passport. Shut it all down.

My boyfriend, Hayden Klein, has just finished grilling my favorite chicken wings when his childhood friend, Sophie Miller, walks over and takes a bite. "You know me the best, Hayden," she says approvingly. Before I can react, I hear an angry voice getting closer. "Ugh! That awful woman is about to drink that jerk's drink again." As those words fall, Sophie really does pick up Hayden's cup. "Mom, don't be such a pushover this time around. Otherwise, you'll get so angry you'll end up dying of breast cancer." Confused, I look around. My dog, Daisy, is baring her teeth at Sophie. Was it... my dog? I cautiously take a bite of my boyfriend's handsome best friend's chicken wing. "Way to go, Mom! This time, you have to end up with Oliver instead. Don't choose that jerk again!" Daisy wags her tail so hard that it practically resembles a helicopter rotor. "Oliver is ready to become 'the other man' for love. Mom is the most charming woman ever!"

I was the legitimate firstborn daughter of the King of the North. After my mother’s death, my aunt married the King of the South and became his Queen Consort. She brought me to her court, raising me beside her own sons. The Southern King adored me—He would seat me upon his knee and gesture toward the princes, laughing lightly: “When Hazel comes of age, whichever prince she chooses as her husband shall inherit this throne of the South.” “Stay here, child. The South could be your home.” In my previous life, I chose the Crown Prince—Ethan. I stood beside him during the War of Succession. I funded his armies with Northern gold. I silenced rival lords. I secured the throne for him. And when he was crowned king—He repaid me with imprisonment in the White Tower. And an order signed in his own hand. The North burned.The court was purged. Before I was forced to take my own life, he came to watch. “If not for you,” he said coldly, “Ava would still be alive.” “She died alone while I could not even mourn her. You will suffer tenfold.” “The Nouth falls because of you. Their blood is your dowry.” Then I died. When I opened my eyes again, I was seated once more in the Great Hall. The King was smiling. “Hazel, today you will choose your husband.” The princes stood before me. This time, I did not look at Ethan. I pointed instead to the Queen’s third son. “I will marry Alexander.” And this time—I would decide who burns.

Three years into their marriage, Vivian Cole was thrown into the basement for the ninety-ninth time. Half her face was swollen, and a bruise darkened the corner of her eye. Before she could struggle, a bodyguard roughly forced her into a chair. “Last month, you sneaked into bars three times and went street racing once. You ended up bedridden for a week. Haven’t you learned your lesson?” Disappointment weighed heavily on Alexander Blackwood’s face. “When will you finally learn to behave and become a proper Mrs. Blackwood?” Vivian glanced at the restraints wrapped around her arms and gave him a faint smile. “So this is how a Mrs. Blackwood is supposed to be treated? I’m living worse than a stray dog on the street.” His expression darkened, and his chest heaved with anger. “If you hadn’t kept breaking the rules, I wouldn’t have had to lay a hand on you! “You’re my wife! You’re the face of the Blackwood family, not some woman out on the street who can do whatever she pleases!” “Rules, rules, rules! I’m sick of hearing about those stupid rules!” she snarled, her usually delicate face contorted with fury. “I just want to live as myself! I don’t want to be some puppet whose only purpose is to obey the Blackwood family’s rules!” Alexander stared at her with cold, unreadable eyes for a long moment. “Anyone could be Mrs. Blackwood. You could be, or any other woman.” Just as he turned to leave, Vivian spoke in a desperate, pleading voice. “Fine. Just don’t leave me. I’ll try harder to become the perfect Mrs. Blackwood.” From that day on, Vivian gave up street racing, stopped going to bars, followed every rule, and studied proper etiquette. But at a formal gala, she lost her temper and struck a woman who had been openly mocking her. Then her father, Thomas Cole, addressed that very woman as his daughter. Vivian froze. Alexander’s expression stiffened as well. The words on his lips shifted, and his face gradually settled into an impassive mask. “She has always been rebellious and poorly mannered. Her lack of discipline is my fault. “Get on your knees and apologize to her.” Vivian felt as though she’d been struck by lightning. After making sure he was truly ordering her to apologize, she stumbled backward in disbelief. Three years of marriage and five years of love. With just one sentence, he had reduced all her efforts to nothing. Dazed and heartbroken, she ran out into the street, failing to notice the truck approaching from the roadside. She was killed on the spot. But when she opened her eyes again, she realized she’d been given a second chance at life. She had returned to the days before her wedding.

In my last life, while my father lay on his deathbed, he asked me to choose—inherit his title and become the Don of Vale, or marry my boyfriend, Julian Moreau, and walk away from the family business for good. Becoming the Don meant a lifetime of danger, and likely a political marriage without love. Marrying Julian promised peace. I hesitated. Next morning after the party, I woke up in bed with Julian on my left and my best friend, Sebastian, on my right. I soon found out I was pregnant. With that, I thought the better choice would be marry either Julian or Sebastian—and to give up my right to inherit, handing it to my stepsister. After my father’s funeral, Julian, Vivienne, and Sebastian locked me away and tortured me for days—until my baby and I finally met a tragic end. When I opened my eyes again, I was back to the very day my father asked that question. This time, I didn’t hesitate. “I’ll break up with Julian and become the Don of Vale—on my own.”

Just as the Silverwolf Pack was about to fall into ruin, Blaise Larkin approached me and asked me to be his mate. I'd had a crush on Blaise for as long as I could remember. Now that my wildest dreams were about to come true, I was happy to form a mate bond with him. As I was the sole daughter of the Eastern Pack's Alpha, I was able to provide him with a mountain of resources by becoming Blaise's mate. One month after our bonding ceremony, I was expecting a pup. I was ecstatic, but before I could share the news with Blaise, I overheard something soul-shattering. "I wonder who fathered the pup of our pregnant Luna." "She probably got involved with some filthy Rogue. There's no way Alpha Blaise will let her give birth to that mutt, right?" If it weren't for those werewolves, I wouldn't know that Blaise was pretending we never mated. When I demanded answers in a deranged manner, he threw me into the underground prison and forced me to atone for the death of his first love. "If you didn't insist on becoming my mate, Susie wouldn't have left the pack—she also wouldn't have gotten slaughtered by Rogues!" Eight months later, I lost my pup in the cell I was imprisoned in and died, soaking in my own blood. When I opened my eyes once again, I found myself back on the day Blaise asked me to be his mate.

I'm lucky to have Maggie Lambert as my grandmother. She appears in my dreams three times. The first time, she tells me I'll win a 75-million-dollar lottery jackpot. The second time, she tells me I'll marry a gorgeous woman. She then visits me for the third time and says, "Go to the home in the south of the city and burn everything in the basement, Christian." I'm over the moon with excitement, but that day, Nathan Lister, my three-year-old son, suddenly comes down with a high fever and loses consciousness. I decide to take him to the hospital instead of following Grandma's instructions after seeing how worried my wife, Wanda Cooper, is. In that instant, my world completely collapses. I lose 75 million dollars, and the company I founded becomes my assistant Henry Johnson's conglomerate. On top of that, Wanda becomes Henry's wife. I take the matter to court and report it to the police, only to be labeled delusional—everyone looks at me like I'm insane. In the end, Henry sends me straight to a psychiatric hospital. Henry and Wanda come to visit me the last time I'm clear-headed. Wanda cuddles up to Henry in his arms and looks at me, asking, "How much longer do you think he'll live, Henry?" I don't have time to struggle before Henry pulls out my ventilator. I open my eyes again and find that I have been reborn.

To the public, Maggie Sinise and I are a golden married couple who have lived peacefully with each other for over four decades. But when Maggie is on her deathbed, she grips my hand tightly while pleading to me, "Aaron, if there ever is a next life, please… please let me and Scotty be together…" I feel as though I've gotten struck by lightning. The shock lasts for a long time. But since this is Maggie's death wish, I nod in agreement. "Okay." Upon hearing the answer she's been yearning for, Maggie closes her eyes in satisfaction. What I don't expect is that both of us have actually returned to the timeframe that's set 40 years ago. Just as I'm trying to wrap my mind around the question as to why Maggie has gotten reborn as well, I hear her stating firmly, "I will never marry Aaron! In this lifetime, Scotty is the only man I will ever marry!" I'm not mad at all. I'm just curious about one thing, though. How will Maggie ever rebuild Sinise Group and make it great again without my help this time?

I was reborn. Opening my eyes on the sofa, the television flickered before me, broadcasting another financial news segment about my husband, Jasper Brolin. The Alpha of the Moonblood pack, a man who had sat at the top of the billionaire list for years, was speaking with his usual cool authority. Broad-shouldered and sharp-featured, he carried an air of cold command that made him untouchable. Whenever he stepped into the public eye, the crowd surged with screams and breathless admiration. My marriage to him was the envy of our entire circle, and every woman wished to step into my shoes. As I watched the screen, memories of my tragic death in my last life came rushing back, sending a quiet ache through my chest. My wolf rumbled low in my chest. "So we're back. Now what?" "Break the bond," I whispered. "I'm leaving him." "He'll never agree to that." "That's why I need her help," I replied, thinking of the woman I had always disliked—Halle. Halle walked into the café, a smug smirk was plastered on her face. Having grown up alongside Jasper, she was regarded as his inner circle, and people never failed to give her the highest courtesy. I slid a mate-bond dissolution document across the table. "I need your help, Halle. And of course, there's something in it for you too." She glanced through the papers, suspicion flashing in her eyes. "Are you leaving him?" she asked. My voice was calm, "Maybe you're the one he really wants by his side." In my last life, I was the perfect Mrs. Brolin, envied by all, yet never the one he held closest. This time, I would take my unborn pup and leave quietly.

I'm eight months pregnant when I suddenly faint on the train. My husband panics and cries for help as he kneels beside me. An interning doctor hurries to me. She doesn't bother checking my condition before saying, "The patient needs to undergo a C-section! We have to get the baby out now, or it might die of suffocation!" Then, she slices me open with a fruit knife—she doesn't take any precautionary measures before doing so. She takes my child out. I'm in so much pain that I don't even have the strength to scream. My blood flows everywhere. Yet, a photo of her holding my baby while standing in a pool of blood goes viral. People call her the prettiest doctor alive. My husband and his family are eternally grateful to her. They don't go after her for causing my death; they even make her my child's godmother! Meanwhile, I'm given a simple cremation. No one cares about me. After my death, all my assets go to my husband and his family. Only then do I hear my husband and the doctor talking to each other, sounding smug. "This plan killed two birds with one stone. We got rid of that woman and made ourselves out to be heroes!" That's when I learn the interning doctor is my husband's junior from high school. They got together when he accompanied me to my prenatal checkups! She failed her internship, so my husband came up with this idea—he wanted to use my death to boost her reputation and help her! Even my child eventually died under their "care". When I open my eyes again, I'm taken back to the day we get on the train.

On my wedding day, Yuna Shaw, the girl my parents had sponsored blocked the door to my room, just as lines of text began scrolling across my vision. [Oh my god, is the female lead really going to marry that golden heir? He’s a psychopath. He likes cutting people into pieces!] [The female lead’s such an idiot. The match Yuna arranged for her is the smarter choice.] [Switching marriages with Yuna is the only way to survive!] In my previous life, after reading those messages, I begged to call off the engagement. Yuna insisted on repaying my family’s kindness by marrying in my place. I ended up marrying the construction foreman she had chosen. After the wedding, my mother-in-law made my life miserable, and my husband abused me. I ran back to my parents for help, only to be slapped repeatedly by Yuna when she returned home. “Still think you’re some rich young lady? Running home the moment things get hard? Someone needs to knock that out of you!” Even my once-loving parents turned cold and threw me out. “You walked out that door as someone else’s wife. What happens to you now is none of our concern.” In the end, I was tortured to death by my husband. Only after I died did I realize it had all been Yuna’s scheme. Now she stood in front of me again, her eyes sharp with calculation. I shoved her aside. “You think you’re worthy of marrying in my place?”