"Sis, are you done with your makeup and hair? Got your dress and jewelry all set? Don't forget the rehearsal schedule from yesterday!" Vanessa beamed sweetly, but her eyes glinted with the chill of a venomous snake. "Tsk tsk, just look at you—what a stunning transformation! You've really outgrown that country bumpkin phase."
Her words were dressed in concern, but each sentence cut like a blade, layered with mockery.
Lila's heart skipped a beat. The scene was so familiar, it made her chest tighten—
The day of her engagement party… five years ago!
"What's wrong, sis? Not happy? Did I not praise you enough?" Vanessa feigned innocence, shooting a sly glance at Lu Zhe, her eyes flickering with triumph.
Lu Zhe's brows drew together ever so slightly. His cold gaze swept over Lila like she was something unpleasant.
Unworthy. Heartless. Disgusting. His eyes practically screamed it.
Vanessa let out a light, dainty laugh and struck again, "Oh, sis, mind if I borrow your lipstick? I need a quick touch-up…"
Before Lila could answer, Vanessa had already started rifling through her purse on the sofa.
Clink!
Something fell to the ground with a crisp, unmistakable sound.
Vanessa gasped theatrically, bent down, and picked it up. "Oh my, what's this, sis?"
Lu Zhe whipped his head around. His eyes landed on the intricately carved jade pendant now dangling from Vanessa's fingers.
His face turned instantly grim, and the room felt as though it dropped ten degrees.
"Oh my God, isn't this Grandpa Lu's heirloom pendant?" Vanessa clutched her mouth in fake shock, her voice trembling. "The Lu family treasure that mysteriously vanished a few days ago—Lu Zhe was tearing the place apart looking for it! Sis, why do you have it? You know how much it means to him… why would you steal it?"
She played the outraged sister to perfection, like she was fighting for justice on Lu Zhe's behalf.
Lila's eyes turned icy. "I didn't take it."
"You didn't?" Vanessa blinked, lips trembling with pretend sorrow as she turned to Lu Zhe. "I just asked a simple question. Why are you being so fierce with me, sis? It's your engagement day with Lu Zhe, how could you do something so shameful?"
She sighed dramatically, as if heartbroken by Lila's betrayal, painting herself as the poor sister who just happened to catch the thief red-handed.
Images stabbed through Lila's mind like glass shards. That day five years ago… this was how it all unraveled. Vanessa had "accidentally" discovered the pendant and manipulated everyone into thinking Lila was the thief. Her protests became a joke. Lu Zhe's icy eyes—unforgiving.
Lila turned her eyes toward the calendar on the wall.
Five years ago.
It was real.
She had been reborn!
Shock. Fury. Then a hatred so intense it scorched her veins.
Her lips curled into a chilling smile.
She took a deep breath, burying the rage in her chest. Her voice came out calm, yet razor-sharp. "I don't know how that got in my bag."
"You don't know?" Vanessa faltered, not expecting such composure. She blinked away fake tears and kept up the act. "Sis, you're just our adopted sister, but I've always treated you like my own flesh and blood! And yet the pendant was in your bag. How do you explain that? If you liked it so much, couldn't you just get a knockoff? Why would you steal Lu Zhe's most treasured keepsake?"
Lila sneered inwardly but smiled with subtle menace. "Vanessa, haven't you been the one holding onto my bag since yesterday? Anyone could've slipped something in—any time, anywhere."
"What are you implying?" Vanessa's voice pitched high. Panic flickered behind her eyes. "Are you accusing me of framing you? Lu Zhe, did you hear that? She's making me out to be the villain!"
Tears welled in her eyes again as she looked pitifully at Lu Zhe.
He clutched the jade tightly, fury darkening his gaze. Raised by his grandfather, the pendant was more than a relic—it was an emotional anchor. He'd been devastated when it went missing. Now, finding it in Lila's purse…
His glare at Lila was sharp enough to cut.
Lila's heart throbbed with a dull ache.
In her past life, she had loved Lu Zhe for five long years. Learned piano until her fingers bled, just to play the song he liked—only for him to call it "noise." Learned to cook his favorite dishes—only to have him order them thrown away. Studied economics into the night to stand beside him—only to be met with mockery.
Later, she discovered the truth: he liked Vanessa's music, Vanessa's cooking, Vanessa's"talents." And she? She had always been a joke.
Not anymore.
This life, she would no longer crawl or beg.
She would rise. And every traitor would kneel.
Lila raised her head and met Lu Zhe's gaze. Her voice was soft, but each word struck like steel. "If I really wanted to steal it, why would I hide it in a bag you've been carrying for me? Wouldn't that be the dumbest way to get caught?"
Lu Zhe didn't speak. His gaze flickered between her and Vanessa, brows furrowed, uncertainty cracking his anger.
The room was dead silent. The air felt thick, heavy with tension.