Darkness was all that Ella could see.

And pain was all she felt.

It had been two months, four days, and who-knows-how-many hours since she had been locked in this dark cell where sunlight never seemed to reach. It was difficult to even distinguish day from night.

The high-pitched squeaking of the mice constantly reminded her of the company she had inside the cell. They felt tiny to the touch, but they were vicious. When they dug their large teeth into her already brutalized skin, a chunk of flesh would tear off.

It was painful at first. It still was. But to some extent, she had grown numb to it.

Whoever locked her in the cell had left her in the company of those mice and a dagger stating coldly that she should end her life when the pain became unbearable.

She had picked up the knife and slashed it across her thigh, where now multiple cuts lined her pale skin.

Two months and five days.

She would not die here. Not in this place.

Even if the whole world turned its back on her, there was one person who would never let her die.

The sound of footsteps snapped her out of her thoughts.

“She hasn’t died yet?” a familiar voice echoed.

This voice wasn’t the same as the one who had handed her the knife. It was different.

“What is she thinking? She’d rather torment herself than take her own life?” the woman said with a mix of disbelief and amusement.

“Never knew my elder sister had such perseverance.”

Ella’s body turned cold. The wounds on her skin suddenly tingled and burned like someone had rubbed salt into them.

“Esther…?” her voice croaked.

“It’s me, sister,” the woman giggled, as if she could see her shock despite the darkness.

“Ah, tell me why aren’t you dead yet?”

Tears welled in Ella’s eyes. Betrayal stabbed her heart like a thousand poisonous thorns.

Inhaling a sharp breath, she mustered all her strength to mutter four words:

“He will save me.”

The words tasted foreign on her own tongue.

“You’re counting on Mr. King?” Esther scoffed.

“Haven’t you always shunned and hated him? That husband of yours was indeed obsessed with you at one point, but that’s just the nature of men. What they can’t have, they must possess. They love the chase. But eventually… the chase loses its thrill.”

Ella almost laughed.

The man she had spent a lifetime running away from was now the one she longed for on the edge of death.

Because when the entire world abandoned her, Adrian never did.

He was crazy, yes. But she had been his only obsession.

He had proven it for over a decade now.

“Let me tell you this, sister,” Esther continued with a venomous smile.

“Your man is getting married to me in two days. So, you can die in peace here while I please him on our wedding night.”

Silence filled the cell for a moment.

Then, maniacal laughter echoed through the dark space.

“You… what are you laughing at?!”

Ella gasped for breath. Her vocal cords were damaged from screaming under torture her voice was now nothing but a grating rasp.

“How desperate are you for Adrian, Esther?” she coughed.

“In two days, it’ll be his grandfather’s death anniversary. You think he’ll marry you on that day? In your dreams.”

“You—! Even like this, you still want to humiliate me? DIE, ELLA!”

Bang. Bang. Bang.

Three consecutive gunshots rang through the darkness.

Ella’s body collapsed.

A peaceful smile was etched across her face.

No more pain. Finally.

Yet… her heart was filled with regrets.

Must I die like this?

If… if there is a next life, I must avenge myself. I must live well.

But… is there even a next life?

......................

Ella gasped, her eyes flying open.

The familiar scent of cedar and wine flooded her lungs. She felt the press of his body on hers, the roughness of his breath against her skin.

No. No, this isn’t happening.

Not again.

She had to be dreaming. She had to.

Hadn’t this already passed?

Wasn’t she… dead?

Then why was she here?

And why was he on top of her?

Her vision blurred, a strange mix of pain and pleasure coursing through her body.

In her daze, she tried to push the weight off her.

“It couldn’t… be…” Her old and broken mind must be fabricating this.

A rough hand clamped over her mouth.

“Shh. Don’t ever forget who you belong to.”

Those words dipped her into ice.

She froze heart, soul, and bone.

The man who had buried his face in her neck now lifted it…

And she stared into a pair of bloodthirsty eyes.

“Why… why must you keep me?” Ella whispered, her voice barely holding together from the whirlwind sensations running through her broken frame.

“Because I promised.”

His deep voice was like a cold chamber isolating her from the entire world and locking her in a cage.

If she hadn’t realized it before, she did now.

She had returned to the past.

And on top of that, in her dazed state, she realized that both her question and his response were completely different from what had happened in their past life.

Those words soon faded into the deepest corner of her mind. And in her intoxicated and confused state, she lost her composure in those strong arms...

When Ella opened her eyes again, sunlight cascaded through the windows as birds chirped on the trees outside.

The darkness of the night and of her mind seemed to have faded, relieving her nerves.

She moved her hand to cover her eyes, but suddenly, she tensed.

The arm around her waist tightened.

The man pulled her closer and bit her shoulder.

Ella hissed.

Her entire body was sore, and it felt like even the slightest poke might kill her. Yet, she endured the bite of the mad dog who had tormented her for the entire night.

She had been kissed and stroked, touched and nibbled on every inch of her skin.

The man held her like a soft toy he could play with as he pleased.

But she was too exhausted to resist, so she let him be.

After a while, he pressed a kiss on her neck and pushed himself to his feet.

Unlike her, who felt like she was hanging on the verge of death, the man looked like a re-energized vampire brimming with vitality from head to toe.

He wore only loose trousers that hung low on his waist, and his upper body was entirely bare, open to her eyes.

He looked like a Greek god every inch of him screaming perfection.

Lying there on the bed, she watched him pick up a black shirt from the couch. His movements made his back muscles flex.

But within a matter of seconds, that mesmerizing view vanished.

The man walked back toward her.

"Looking for him again?"

Like a cat living her ninth life with no more to lose, Ella shook her head.

The heavy realization of her current situation gradually dawned on her.

But she kept it hidden behind a blank expression.

As the man sat beside her on the bed, his cold gaze traced her from head to toe.

Had she not gone through this experience in both lives, she wouldn’t have believed she’d lost her virginity to this man.

Like a starving beast, he had held her all night and taken her again and again. Now, every nerve in her body seemed to react at even his simplest gaze.

Yet, after all that passion had faded, he now looked at her soullessly.

He met her gaze and leaned in.

Cupping the side of her face, he lowered himself over her.

Ella clenched the sheets.

This beast… Did he hear her internal thoughts and now wanted to prove her wrong?

Then suddenly, he bit her bottom lip harshly.

Tears pricked her eyes.

"Better never think of it again."

She heard the sound of retreating footsteps, and then the door clicked shut.

Finally, she allowed herself to relax just a little.

As her gaze wandered across the familiar walls and the super-familiar room where she had spent half of her life, she realized one thing.

Had she… returned to a decade in the past?

Ella stood up, stark naked, dragging the sheet around her body. She walked to the mirror and stared at her reflection.

What stared back at her was all too familiar.

Her 22-year-old self chubby, bordering on obese.

And all this unhealthy weight had been gained in just two years.

At 19, she had debuted in the entertainment industry. Modeling had been her dream, and within a few shows, she became the youngest supermodel.

But it all came crashing down after a scandal. She lost all her fame overnight.

In her previous life, Ella never thought much of it.

Consumed by despair, she continued binge eating and clung to her unhealthy habits until, by her early thirties, she was riddled with health issues.

"I cannot believe… after all this time, I had to wake up in his bed…"

And in that exact moment where her entire life had spiraled down in the past.

Two lives.

Adrian King was still as obsessed with her as he had been.

And she had always known it.

Otherwise, how could she not have believed Esther's claim about marrying Adrian?

What exactly did he see in her?

It was a genuine question one she asked herself for the first time in both lives.

Her past self used to relish in the fantasy that Adrian King was a big bad wolf who had taken a liking to an innocent sheep like her.

But now after living into her thirties, dying, and being reborn she was no longer as delusional.

She was just another girl.

Naïve and foolish, just as she had been in her past life. She had lost her career, her fiancé, her family…

And, in the end, she had lost herself.

But this time…

I can no longer be like that.

Since God has given me another chance at life, then I must change my fate!

The determination in her heart pulsed strongly, but in the next second, she deflated like a punctured balloon.

How was she going to change her fate?

She was still living with Adrian King.

Her present life was still following the same path as before.

Forget it.

She shook her head vigorously.

These things can be figured out, slowly.

She was no longer the girl who could be played like a fiddle by everyone.

This time, the game and the final move would both be hers.

The sound of approaching footsteps broke her thoughts.

“Sister! Oh my god—”

An audible gasp sounded by the door.

When Ella turned around, she saw a pretty face peeking in. A face she didn’t expect to see so soon.

Her younger sister. Esther.

The very person who had sent her to her grave.

“What is happening? Why are you in this condition...?” Esther asked, her eyes wide with feigned concern.

Ella calmly covered her body with the sheets.

“Sister, I sent you the outfit yesterday. I gave you all the details, but still… you didn’t show up to the event. And now, this…” Her gaze shifted from the messy bed to Ella’s neck, which looked like it had been ravaged by a wild animal.

But in Esther’s eyes, Ella caught a flicker of something she had never noticed in the past-jealousy.

“It’s normal for these things to happen between a couple,” Ella said after a pause.

Esther was stunned visibly never expecting to hear such words from Ella.

She immediately stepped forward and pressed the back of her hand to Ella’s forehead.

“What are you saying, sister? It’s been almost two years since you were locked up by Mr. King. And now, he even… forced himself on you? He’s such a beast!” she gritted through her teeth.

But for the first time, Ella realized that Esther wasn’t gritting her teeth out of righteous anger on her behalf.

Rather, she hated not being a part of the party.

She wanted Mr. King all to herself.

In her past life, things had unfolded almost exactly like this.

But the truth was the sex between her and Adrian had been consensual.

They were both drunk, and in her intoxicated state, Ella had taken the initiative to kiss him.

He responded and things happened.

However, when they were at their peak, she had murmured another man’s name.

And in that moment, Adrian realized she had mistaken him for someone else.

He was furious. His rage snapped her out of her drunken haze, and she saw him storm out.

Unlike this life, they had not spent the whole night together. Just once and he had left, leaving the bed cold.

The next morning, Esther had shown up just like now reacting the same way, justifying her future betrayal by painting Adrian as a monster.

He might be one but Ella was equally responsible.

Yet, after speaking with Esther, she had ignored her own actions and clashed with Adrian repeatedly for taking advantage of her.

She was punished, locked away, and the tension between them only escalated with each argument.

“Sister, what do we do now?” Esther whined.

“Why don’t you report him somewhere... No, that won’t work. He’s too powerful...”

She grabbed Ella’s flabby arm and squeezed it tightly.

“He’s cornered you like a helpless animal...”

There it was again the same old routine. Esther always highlighted Ella’s miseries just to provoke her anger.

And now, the pattern Ella had been blind to before lay completely exposed.

“Sister, Max got engaged last night,” Esther added. “I waited for you… he was looking around too. Even in that situation, we were all hoping you’d come to stop the engagement. But there was no sign of you. He couldn’t defy his parents, so the engagement went through...”

Ella lowered her gaze thoughtfully. Everything was proceeding just like in her previous life.

Max the man she had hopelessly chased after had been her childhood sweetheart. They were supposed to marry.

But things had gone terribly wrong. He got engaged to someone else, and Ella couldn’t accept it.

Her “good sister” had made every effort to reunite them… or so it seemed.

But all it did was infuriate Adrian, pushing him to lock Ella away like a dragon hoarding treasure.

Adrian only treated her well when she didn’t provoke him. Their relationship had always been that fragile.

And time after time, it was Ella who kept breaking it picking fights with him after getting riled up by Esther’s words.

Seeing Ella’s lowered head, Esther assumed she was heartbroken.

She tightened her grip and tried to lead her back to the bed, but her expression darkened upon seeing the messy sheets.

Eventually, she led Ella to the couch instead.

“Sister, don’t worry about anything now. I’ll help you through it all.”

She sounded like she was making an oath.

“It’s just an engagement. Max is still yours. No matter what, we’ll find a solution… Alright? Are you feeling better now?”

Ella looked at Esther thoughtfully.

Esther froze.

That calm, clear gaze made her uncomfortable for some reason…

But before she could respond, Ella smiled sweetly.

“Much better.”

Esther scoffed silently. Still a fool.

“Sister, I brought you something…”

She had dropped a bag at the door in shock earlier. She rushed over, picked it up, and brought it to Ella.

“Your favorite desserts. It took me time to gather everything, but I managed it. I knew you must be craving something sweet for breakfast.”

She shoved the bag into Ella’s arms.

“I still have some things to do. But don’t worry, sister. We’ll make everything right.” With another round of false assurances, she left.

Ella looked down at the bag that reached her knees.

She didn’t even need to open it to know it was filled to the brim with sugary treats.

In her previous life, she had developed eating disorders.

There were days she couldn’t stop eating and days she wouldn’t eat at all.

And through it all, she binged on sweet foods, numbing her emotions one cake at a time.

But now…

Ella clicked her tongue.

In fact, her dear little sister was right about one thing.

That is—