Thunder rumbled in the distance.
The rain in June poured down relentlessly.
Emma was covered in blood, collapsed in the mud.
Standing over her, a woman sneered triumphantly, her foot pressing hard on Emma's back.
"Emma, Emma, you always held your head high and refused to bow down, didn't you? Well, I'll just break every bone in your body!"
With just a signal from the woman, two men behind her immediately moved forward.
Poor Emma was already unrecognizable from the torture. She was hanging on to her last breath.
But still, she stubbornly lifted her head, her eyes locked on the woman above her.
Her body was drenched in blood, yet her eyes were the only thing that shone, burning with endless anger and resentment.
On this stormy night, those eyes looked especially eerie.
The woman froze for a second, but quickly grew angry again. "What are you all waiting for? Throw her in! I want to see how a dead person can oppose me!"
The two men obeyed immediately. "Yes, ma'am."
With a kick, they threw Emma into the swamp.
Her body fell like a torn burlap sack.
Emma knew she was going to die today.
It was her own fault, her own stupidity. She had no one else to blame.
But she wasn't willing. Not at all!!!
As her consciousness faded, her entire life flashed before her eyes like a carousel.
She remembered when she was still the beloved daughter of the Miller Family, showered with endless love and affection.
But she hated herself for being so blind. For taking the blame for her fiancé and ending up in jail for years.
For breaking ties with her family.
Her father died from rage, her mother committed suicide by setting fire to their villa, and her younger brother was slowly poisoned until he became mute and mentally disabled.
And in the end, all she got was her fiancé's cold words:
"Are you even worthy?"
Worthy?
How ridiculous!
As she struggled for air, sinking into darkness, Emma felt no fear. Only the urge to laugh at how absurd and foolish her life had been.
But then the woman standing nearby gave her another cruel blow, her voice full of pride.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you, sister. Your father suffocated to death because I pulled out his oxygen tube. I set the fire at your villa. I poisoned your brother. And even your beloved fiancé, the one you loved so much, is moaning already in my bed..."
"It's all your fault for being so stupid. That's why I could so easily steal all your family's wealth! Hahaha..."
Emma, sinking deeper, trembled when she heard these words. Her eyes turned red, and a hoarse scream tore from her throat:
"Isabella, I hope you rot in hell!"
But as soon as she opened her mouth, mud rushed in, choking her.
Her mouth and nose filled, and the suffocating pressure pulled her under until she was completely submerged.
Everything went dark.
Only her endless hatred remained, a fire that would never burn out.
Boom!
Another clap of thunder.
Emma gasped and opened her eyes.
The dazzling sunlight pierced through the leaves, shining straight into her face.
She was lying in a field outside the city, drenched and disheveled.
This…
Emma froze.
Wasn't this the day of her 18th birthday?
The day she went on an outing with her classmates and friends? The day she prepared to confess her love to her fiancé, William?
She remembered so clearly. Her confession, so sincere yet clumsy, had been ridiculed by William in front of everyone.
He had said to her directly in front of everyone,
"Emma, give up on me. Even if you were the only woman left in the world, I, William, would never be interested in you!"
This cruel and heartless statement had shattered her heart at the time.
That was why she had run away alone, got lost, was caught in the rain, and finally fell down a small hill where she fainted.
Thinking back to her past self, Emma felt like slapping herself twice.
Why was she so pathetic?
But when she raised her hand, she realized her hands were white and soft, without the scars Isabella had later left on them.
Her body wasn't wracked with the unbearable pain of broken bones either.
She…
Didn't she die?
She died in the swamp on that rainy night.
Or…
Emma's heart pounded wildly, and she pinched herself hard.
Pain.
Clear and real!
She had really come back to life, and returned to her 18th birthday!
"Hahaha, this is really a stroke of luck…"
Emma suddenly laughed, tears streaming down her face as she laughed.
The past wasn't just a dream.
Everything that happened before was carved deeply into her memory!
In her previous life, she had been foolish.
She had let her Second Uncle and his family, people as greedy as wolves and tigers, into her home. That gave her cousin Isabella the chance to take advantage of her!
Now she finally understood the true cruelty of human nature!
Luckily, Heaven was merciful. All the disasters that had destroyed the Miller Family hadn't happened yet.
She still had a chance to fix everything!
This time, she would repay every kindness and take revenge on everyone who had wronged her!
Emma fiercely wiped the tears off her face and was about to get up when her phone vibrated in her pocket.
It was a call from William.
She and William had grown up together, and for years she had been chasing after him, though it was always a one-sided love.
Later on, William suddenly changed his attitude and promised to marry her, but only if she took the blame for his lover and went to jail.
She agreed.
For him, she was even willing to cut ties with her parents, anger her father until he was hospitalized, and endure five years in prison.
And in return?
She received just one cold sentence from him:
"Are you worthy?"
Thinking of how foolish she had been in her past life, Emma smiled and answered the call without hesitation.
William's cold and impatient voice came through at once:
"Emma, can you stop being so stubborn? Do we really have to come and drag you back after you run off? Let me tell you the truth, don't even dream about it. Even if I were to die, I would never like you!"
The exact same words as before.
She could even picture his face full of disgust and hatred, just like in her previous life.
Emma touched her chin.
How had she responded last time?
With a sobbing, pleading voice, she had begged:
"I'll change for you, no matter what you want. Can you just try to accept me once? I really can't live without you…"
Tsk.
This time, Emma only smiled slowly and replied, word by word:
"Go fuck yourself!"