Chapter 1

I was the real heiress in a switched-at-birth novel.

Except the fake heiress was actually a transmigrator who held the entire plot in her hands—and her real biological father was the richest tycoon in the country!

My parents cared only about her. Even my fiancé fell head over heels under her spell.

I had planned to simply walk away, but she backed me into a corner and pushed me off the seventeenth floor.

Given a second chance at life, I woke up armed with the entire plot as well. This time, I set my sights on my fiancé's ultimate rival—the ruthless corporate kingpin, Nicholas Frost.

Let's see who comes out on top this time.

"Gia, I gave you everything you asked for! Why won't you just let me go?!"

My eyes were bloodshot as I swayed precariously on the edge of the rooftop.

I truly hadn't expected that even after I surrendered every single thing to her, she still refused to spare my life.

"Scarlett Vance."

Gia pinched my chin, her face twisted in a sinister sneer.

"Do you think you're noble? Thinking you generously gave everything up to me? Darling, this was all rightfully mine to begin with!"

"Your parents chose to love me on their own. And your fiancé, Christian? He's completely mad about me."

"Looking back, your whole life is such a pathetic joke. I stole your twenty-something years of high society, letting you grow up as a dirty peasant in the middle of nowhere. Then you come back, only for me to discover I'm actually the biological daughter of the nation's wealthiest billionaire. Scarlett, oh Scarlett, you really are cursed!"

Her grip bruised my jaw, forcing tears from my eyes.

"Don't you want to know why you lost so miserably?"

Gia’s stunning face dripped with pure disdain.

Only then did I learn the truth: the world we lived in was an actual novel.

And Gia was a transmigrator from another dimension.

In the original storyline, after I was brought back to the family, the fake heiress fell out of favor. Believing my return had stolen away our parents' love, she framed me over and over, ultimately meeting a tragic end.

Right up until her death in that book, the fake heiress never knew she was the daughter of the wealthiest man in the country.

Gia, however, was different.

The moment she transmigrated, she manipulated my parents' affections. She set traps to make me look foolish and trashy. High society cares about prestige and face above all else, while I looked like an uncouth outcast.

On top of that, the novel laid out every single one of their likes and dislikes. Catering to them was child's play for her.

Meanwhile, I had mindlessly walked along the original plotline like a pawn.

With Gia constantly whispering poison in their ears, how could my biological parents ever truly love me?

Gia even mapped out Christian's exact preferences.

Step by step, she manipulated him into defying his family for her sake and breaking off our engagement.

She wanted nothing more than to watch me become an unloved, miserable wretch.

She bragged that she was the heroine, the universe's favorite daughter.

She had even unlocked the secret storyline revealing her billionaire heritage.

"I still don't understand..." I choked out, her fingers tightening around my throat until I could barely breathe. "You already have everything. Why go this far to destroy me?!"

She wouldn't even let me leave in peace. She wanted to crush my very bones into dust.

I couldn't fathom where such bottomless hatred came from.

Gia sneered, madness glittering in her eyes. "Because of that face of yours! You have no idea... back in my world, my so-called best friend—the one who outshone me in everything and constantly made me look pathetic—had the exact same face as you! Seeing you crawl in the dirt feels just like watching her beg on her knees for mercy."

"You entitled, high-born hypocrites... all of you deserve to die!"

I had imagined thousands of reasons.

Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine she destroyed me simply because she was jealous of someone else from her past life.

"Gia, you're a lunatic!"

I fought back frantically.

But it was too late.

Gia gave me a brutal shove, sending me plummeting off the edge.

The last things burned into my memory—apart from the bone-shattering agony and the metallic stench of blood—were Gia's contorted, victorious features.