I died once, quietly.
This time, they planned to make it a spectacle.
As the cold iron chains bit into her wrists, Aveline looked up at the crowd—jeering nobles, sneering knights, and above them all, the prince she once loved… smiling.
That was how the story ended.
Until she opened her eyes again.
Gasping, she sat upright—no chains, no crowd. Just silk sheets, the scent of roses, and the familiar ceiling of her bedroom in the Duchy of Ravenshire. She was… back.
"I've been reincarnated," she whispered.
In this world, she wasn't the heroine. She was the villainess. The woman destined to betray the crown prince, to fall from grace, to be executed.
Not this time.
Aveline threw off the covers, her breath uneven. Her fingers trembled as they touched the rose-colored drapes, the velvet cushions, the golden-framed mirror across the room. It was all exactly how she remembered it—before the scandal, before the trial, before the sword.
She stumbled toward the mirror.
The reflection was unmistakable: tall, elegant, golden-blonde hair swept into a delicate braid, icy blue eyes framed by dark lashes. The face of the villainess, Aveline du Armand.
Her lips curled bitterly. "So it's true. I'm back… in my own nightmare."
A sharp knock came at the door.
"My Lady?" a maid's voice called. "The duke requests your presence in the drawing room. His Grace says it's urgent."
Urgent. She knew what that meant.
Today was the day the engagement letter would arrive—the prince's token of devotion to bind her fate to his. The beginning of her end.
She inhaled slowly. Not this time.
The Duke of Ravenshire, tall and grim, barely glanced at her when she entered.
"It's done," he said, tossing a velvet box onto the table. "The crown prince has officially confirmed the engagement. The sealing ring arrived this morning."
Aveline opened the box with gloved fingers. Inside, a gleaming sapphire rested like a curse.
She stared at it for a long moment. Then, to the shock of both her father and the servants watching from the shadows, she closed the lid with a snap.
"No," she said.
The duke frowned. "No?"
"I won't marry the crown prince."
"You will—"
"I'd rather face the gallows than stand beside that man again," she said coldly. "But this time, I'm rewriting the story."
Her heart pounded, but her voice remained steady. "Send word to the palace. Aveline du Armand is rejecting the engagement."