Pain again.
But this time, it wasn't the pain of betrayal or physical wounds.
It was something quieter, deeper.
Like waking from a long dream and realizing you were back inside a nightmare.
Elara opened her eyes slowly.
She knew this ceiling.
The cracked paint. The faint mold in the corner. The single lightbulb dangling from a frayed wire.
She was back.
Back in her old room, in the Lin family's mansion.
No... not a room. A cage.
She sat up, her small hands gripping the edge of the blanket.
She was thirteen again. That fragile age—too young to fight back, too old to be ignored.
This was the age when everything had started to fall apart.
When they began preparing her for sacrifice.
Her fingers trembled slightly, but her breath remained calm.
No one knew yet.
They thought she was still the same girl. Timid. Confused. Weak.
They would learn soon enough.
---
"Elara, are you finally awake?"
A knock, followed by a sweet, poisonous voice.
The door opened before she could answer.
A girl stepped inside—perfect posture, perfect smile. Long black hair braided neatly, eyes filled with false concern.
"Suyin," Elara said flatly.
Her second-eldest sister.
The one with the sharpest tongue and softest voice. The one who always wore white… as if her lies would look cleaner that way.
Suyin blinked. "You're acting strange. Still feeling dizzy?"
Elara smiled. Softly. Coldly.
"No. Just remembering something."
Suyin frowned, tilting her head. "You're not being dramatic again, are you? Mother will be angry if you skip school."
School.
Of course.
She was back just before the worst of it began. The whispers. The setup. The betrayal.
That meant she still had time.
And now… knowledge.
"Give me a moment," Elara said, standing and moving past her sister with effortless grace. "I'll be down shortly."
Suyin narrowed her eyes but said nothing.
Elara didn't look back.
She no longer needed to.
---
Downstairs, the breakfast table buzzed with noise.
Zian, the eldest brother, sat at the head like he already owned the house. Arrogant. Loud. A natural-born manipulator who wore charm like armor.
Meilin, the family's golden daughter, giggled beside him. The perfect angel with the ugliest heart.
Then there was Wen, the youngest—quiet, calculating, always pretending to be innocent. And Liwei, the fourth child, always caught between choosing sides.
They were all here.
And all of them believed she was powerless.
"Elara," Meilin chirped, "you're late again."
"I had a strange dream," Elara said, sitting down calmly.
"Was it about failing your next exam?" Zian smirked.
"No," Elara said. "It was about fire."
They stared.
She picked up her chopsticks, expression unreadable.
"Everything burned. And the smoke choked the liars first."
Silence.
Then laughter.
"Still dramatic as ever," Wen mumbled, eyes half-hidden under long lashes.
But Zian stared a second longer than the others. Almost… suspicious.
Good.
Let him wonder.
---
At school, nothing had changed.
The same worn-out desks. The same tiled halls. The same smell of floor wax and ink. And the same whispers.
"She's the quiet one, right?"
"She never talks to anyone."
"I heard she fainted last week. Again."
Elara walked with her head high.
They didn't matter. Not anymore.
But the moment she entered the classroom, her steps paused.
A girl turned toward her. Tall. Slender. Beautiful. Her uniform perfectly ironed, her long nails painted pale pink.
Lina Zhou.
Of course she was here.
The one who would later pretend to be her friend. Who would twist every smile into a knife. The one who would plant rumors that tore her apart.
She remembered it all.
"Elara!" Lina beamed. "I saved you a seat!"
As if they were close. As if they were ever close.
Elara blinked once… then smiled.
"Thank you."
She sat beside Lina, calm as a mirror. But inside, she was already calculating.
Enemies didn't always come with fangs.
Sometimes, they wore perfume and carried notebooks.
---
During lunch, the first spark lit the fuse.
Zian's voice cut through the hallway behind her.
"Elara!" he called, loud enough for others to hear. "Why don't you tell everyone where you were this morning?"
She turned slowly.
His smile was wide. Innocent. But his eyes shone with the same malice from her first life.
"I saw you near Mr. Liu's office," he added casually. "You wouldn't happen to know where his watch went, would you?"
Gasps.
Accusations.
Eyes turned.
Of course.
It started just like this last time. Whispers. Suspicion. The snowball that would become an avalanche.
Only this time…
Elara stepped forward.
Calm. Straight-backed. Her voice quiet but clear.
"I didn't take anything."
"Then you won't mind if they check your bag?" Zian said, arms crossed.
The teacher nearby frowned. "Is there a problem?"
"Actually," Elara said smoothly, "there are security cameras in that corridor. If we watch the footage, I'm sure we'll clear this up quickly."
A beat of silence.
Zian's smile cracked.
"The footage?" Meilin repeated, suddenly uneasy. "Is that… really necessary?"
"Yes," Elara said firmly. "It's necessary. I insist."
The teacher nodded. "Alright. Let's go take a look."
Zian and Meilin exchanged a look—just a flicker of fear beneath the surface.
Good.
She wouldn't expose everything yet.
But this time, she wouldn't fall silently either.
Let the fire begin… with a spark.