Chapter 1: Day of Rebirth
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"I'm... not dead?"
With trembling fingers, she touched her smooth cheek. No wounds, no blood, no traces of death. The mirror reflected her eighteen-year-old self, not the woman who had lain bleeding on the Training Camp's cold floor.
The memory of death remained vivid—bone-chilling pain, betraying eyes, and those final cruel words: "Poor Lyra, you were never meant to exist."
Her fingers gripped the bedsheet, knuckles white with pressure. Tomorrow she would be forced to marry Rayne, heir to the Greyson Family, in her sister's place. In her previous life, this very marriage had pushed her into death's abyss.
"Miss, you're awake?" The door opened softly as Anna entered with a steaming cup. "Your wedding dress is ready. Would you like to try it on now?"
Lyra looked up at the maid who had once shown her such care, only to betray her when it mattered most. A cold smile played at her lips. "Thank you, Anna. This time I'll truly cherish this marriage."
The maid gave her a puzzled look, clearly confused by her unusual composure, then quietly withdrew from the room.
Lyra walked to the window and pulled back the heavy curtains. In the distance, the Greyson family castle loomed in the moonlight like a crouching wolf, ready to devour her soul. Her fingers touched the cold glass as determination flashed in her eyes.
"Rayne Greyson," she whispered, her voice carrying a coldness absent from her previous life, "this time, I won't be anyone's pawn. You'll all pay for what you did to me."
Outside, a dark cloud drifted across the moon, as if fate itself acknowledged her vow.
