The day my brother, Chester Rodney, came to the orphanage to take me home, my boyfriend Dominic Huxley looked at me coldly and said, "If you choose to acknowledge your birth family, we're over."

I knew he had his pride—he could never accept the difference in our social standing.

So, for him, I turned my back on the family I had yearned for my whole life.

In the decades that followed, I toiled without complaint, saving every cent to help him rise to success.

By the time I was not yet fifty, overwork had worn me down. Lying on my deathbed, my breathing shallow and weak, I watched Dominic on television. He was now an acclaimed scientist, just awarded the nation's highest research honor.

Tears welled in his eyes as he thanked another woman.

"All these years," he said, "I never felt worthy of Alicia. But now, maybe I can use this award as the prologue to a love I've owed her for decades."

The "Alicia" he spoke of was the woman mistakenly switched with me at birth—the false heiress the Rodney family raised as their own.

The camera zoomed out.

Alicia Rodney stood radiant, graceful, and perfectly preserved by years of luxury, blushing as she accepted the trophy.

"I waited for you for decades," she said sweetly, "but marriage is still something I'll need to ask my brother about."

Chester, who had long taken over the family, looked at her with an indulgent tenderness tinged with something unspoken.

"I was adopted by our uncle back then for one reason—to protect Alicia. Making the only princess of the Rodney family happy has always been my life's mission."

Only then did I realize—everything I thought I had chosen freely, every sacrifice I made without regret, was nothing but a trap, carefully woven by two men, all for Alicia.

The betrayal pierced my heart. I died without peace.

But when I opened my eyes again, I was back on the very day Chester came to take me home from the orphanage.

I glanced past the two men eyeing me with subtle disdain. Without hesitation, I stepped into the car.

"Take me home," I said.

This time, I'd send whoever stole my life back to the gutter they slithered from.

"Eliza, I'm telling you, if you go back to live your life as some rich young lady, we're done! I don't want people thinking I'm just after your money! I may be poor, but I have pride!"

Just like in my previous life, Dominic Huxley, whose arm I was holding onto for support, shook me off violently.

The dull pain as I hit the wall made me realize… I had been reborn on the very day Chester Rodney came to find me and claim me as family.

In front of me, the air was heavy with the scent of money and power. Chester glanced at his watch, brows knit in impatience.

"If you're not interested, don't waste time. It's not like our parents cared that much about you after losing you all those years ago..."

He was in a hurry. This was nothing but a formality—he needed to get it over with and rush back to accompany Alicia Rodney.

In my previous life, Chester's detached, superior tone made it clear: there was no warmth waiting for me in the Rodney family. I, an orphan of twenty-two years, had shrank back in fear.

Coupled with Dominic's ultimatum, I never even met my birth parents before I walked away from them.

But now, as Dominic barked beside me—

"Eliza, can't you make your own decisions for once? Do you have to ask me about everything?"

I spoke without hesitation. "I'll go."

Those two words stunned both men into silence.

Chester stared, frowning, as if he couldn't believe what he'd heard.

"What... did you just say?"

But I was no longer the timid girl I had once been. At twenty-two, my body was young, but inside me lived the soul of a fifty-year-old woman who had seen it all.

To me, these two boys were nothing but amateurs.

I met Chester's gaze and returned it steadily.

"Didn't the family send you to pick me up? Well then, let's go. I don't want to keep our parents waiting."

In my previous life, I hadn't learned the truth until the very end: Chester wasn't my biological brother at all.

He had been adopted from a distant, barely-related branch of the family, solely to accompany and protect the so-called "only heiress" of the Rodney family—Alicia.

Though he was nothing more than a foster child, he acted like being around me—the real heiress—was somehow beneath him.

When I moved toward the car, Chester, not yet the cunning fox he would one day become, instinctively looked to Dominic. As if blaming him for letting things slip out of control.

So they knew each other.

Of course they did.

These two men, who, on the surface, had nothing to do with one another, had joined forces behind my back—all for the sake of a fake heiress.

Together, they had destroyed my previous life.

The next second, Dominic yanked my arm hard.

"Eliza, are you out of your mind?! You're wearing muddy shoes! That car's worth millions—what if you damage it? Can you afford to pay for it?! Don't go causing trouble just because you got carried away. I'm not going to clean up your mess!"

I was found by a lady named Dorothy Reagen on the riverbank, and she named me Eliza Reagen.

Both Dominic's family and Dorothy's were listed as poverty households in our small town, yet Dominic always acted like he was above me.

Why? Because I loved him. And my love gave him power.

I had followed him like a shadow since childhood.

He had good grades, a clean reputation, and the kind of proud dignity that comes from being poor but unyielding. He was the only one who never called me an unwanted child.

After Dorothy passed away, Dominic became my only anchor in the world.

Even though we both made it into the same high school, I gave up my place and dropped out to work and help pay his tuition.

He once said students from big cities had private tutors. So I risked my life trekking thirty miles into the mountains to gather rare herbs from cliffs, just to earn enough for his lessons.

Then, on my deathbed in my previous life, I watched him on television—an aging man blushing as he reminisced about how he met Alicia at tutoring class.

"I was young, poor, and insecure back then," he had said, smiling, "but she never once looked down on me. I'd never seen a girl as kind and beautiful as Alicia. From that moment on, I knew—even if it took a lifetime—I'd catch up to her."

And me? I was the one bent over cliffs, breaking my back to build the bridge they walked over to meet each other.

He could throw my love away like garbage, but he had no right to use it to destroy my entire life.

Now, looking at his youthful face again from the eyes of another life, I felt nothing but disgust.

"That car came to pick me up," I said calmly. "If I don't get in, am I supposed to let someone else steal my rightful place?"

Dominic hadn't expected my sharp retort. His eyes widened, throat bobbing as he choked back words.

His face flushed red as he finally spat out a few scathing lines.

"Eliza, is money all you care about?! They lost you for years and didn't even care! Now they casually ask about you, and you go running back, all eager and pathetic? Have you no pride? No shame at all?"

In my previous life, he used to speak to me just like this—always with contempt, always finding ways to belittle me.

Back then, I would've wilted under his questions, already convinced I had done something wrong.

But not anymore.

I'd suffered through one lifetime.

Every creaking joint in my weathered body, every ache that came with the rain, whispered the same question: Why did I give up a future handed to me on a silver platter, only to swallow hardship for a man who never deserved it?

I shook off his hand coldly.

"No matter what, the Rodneys are family," I said. "And my family affairs are none of your business."

With that, I stepped into the car without looking back.

Behind me, Chester shot him a glance full of reproach, while Dominic shouted after me, refusing to let it end.

"Eliza! I'm giving you one last chance! Get out of that car—right now! Or we're through!

"You think you're fit to be the Rodney family's heiress? Look at yourself. You're uncultured and uneducated! Just wait till they kick you out! Don't come crawling back to me, begging for another chance!"

I simply rolled up the window, cutting off his shouting mid-curse, and turned to the driver without missing a beat.

"Please take me home. I'd like to see my parents."

Even though I knew the Rodneys were wealthy, the reality of the mansion and the luxury car left me speechless.

Chester glanced at me, lips curling in disdain at what he deemed my lack of sophistication.

"This villa was a birthday gift for Alicia when she turned eighteen."

For her eighteenth birthday, Alicia received a private estate.

At eighteen, I was washing dishes in a greasy kitchen sink, my hands raw from labor, scrubbing my way to fund Dominic's critical final year of high school.

"She used to call herself a little princess," he said, momentarily lost in the memory. "So the house was designed to resemble a castle."

He smiled faintly, but the second his eyes landed on me, the coldness returned.

"Since you've chosen to come back," he said coolly, "as the future heiress of the Rodney family, I have a few things to make clear."

Alicia had no talent for business or academics, but Chester had entered the company early. No one ever promised him he'd inherit the family fortune—but clearly, he'd already crowned himself the heir of my family.

"You may be related to us by blood," he continued, "but maybe your boyfriend was right. Our parents probably reached out on a whim.

"But Alicia is different. She grew up in this home. She's always been our little princess. She was switched at birth too, but she knows nothing of it. She's innocent. She owes you nothing."

His every word landed like a blade. I looked up at him and said, evenly, "Thank you."

He blinked, startled.

I didn't wait for him to respond. I walked past him, my steps steady.

'Thank you…for spelling it all out, for confirming that everything you described was supposed to be mine,' I thought inwardly.

In my past life, even after refusing to acknowledge my birth parents, I once considered sneaking into the Rodney house—not for wealth, but just to see where I came from.

But at the gates, I was stopped by Chester.

"You chose your boyfriend over your own family," he said coldly. "Our parents are deeply disappointed in you. Now you come crawling back? You're pathetic.

"You've lost your chance. Leave, and don't return. We don't want Alicia disturbed—her birthday's coming up. She doesn't even know you exist. Do the right thing, Eliza. Don't hurt my sister."

That day, I was shoved away by security like a stray dog. Through the narrow gap in the door, I caught a glimpse of my parents in the garden, doting on their precious daughter, Alicia.

Back then, I didn't know Chester was adopted. I thought he spoke for the whole Rodney family.

It wasn't until the end of my life, when everything replayed before me like flickering lights in the dark, that I realized—

My parents had wanted to see me. But Chester blocked them at every turn. He painted me as unstable, a troublemaker.

He had told them, "She said the only time she'd acknowledge the Rodney family is when we're all dead and she's here for the inheritance. She wants nothing to do with us—not even a glance."

People are emotional creatures.

My parents had no deep feelings for me. Listening to those words while looking at Alicia's innocence and sweetness, all they could do was sigh and let me go.

In my previous life, I believed in fate. I didn't understand that if you weren't born into a life of sweetness, you had to fight for what you wanted.

Be it love or money.

That's why, in this life, when I knelt before them in tears, trembling with grief and longing, they pulled me into their arms, eyes glistening.

"Our poor baby girl has suffered so much. Don't worry—Mom and Dad will make it up to you tenfold."

Buried in their embrace, my vision blurred with tears. Peering behind them, I saw the youthful face of Alicia watching from a distance.

Alicia didn't say a word, but I caught the flicker of resentment in her eyes.

Alicia looked every bit the helpless, innocent girl—eyes rimmed red, lips trembling in aggrieved silence.

"Mom, Dad… who is she? Why is she calling you Mom and Dad too?"

Just as my parents realized they had overlooked her feelings and turned to comfort her, I stepped in first.

I reached for Alicia's hand, smiling gently.

"You must be the one who's been honoring our parents in my place," I said. "Just as Chester said—you're a thousand times better than I could ever be. Even though your mother switched us at birth and left me by the river to die, I know you have lived here for eighteen years without knowing a thing. You're innocent.

"And Chester warned me that you're the beloved princess of the family, unlike me—someone who never even knew what my parents looked like."

I removed the pendant from around my neck.

"I don't have much to offer," I said, "but this was the keepsake of the person who saved me—the only thing she left me. I hope it keeps you safe and protects you."

Before Alicia could refuse, I placed the pendant firmly in her hand.

Its sharp edges pricked her soft palm. With a shriek, she recoiled, and I let myself stagger backward, collapsing to the floor.

The pendant hit the ground and shattered.

Under my parents' startled gazes, I dropped to my knees and began gathering the shards, hands bleeding, eyes brimming with tears, words tumbling out in apology.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't think this through! No matter how precious it was to me, it's not worthy of someone like you—the heiress of the Rodney family."

My parents rushed to lift me up, voices thick with emotion.

"Eliza, what are you doing?" my father said, his throat tight. "You're our biological daughter!"

When I looked up again, Alicia's eyes were already dark with rage that she could no longer hide.

So she wasn't some innocent and naïve girl after all.

Good. Saves me the guilt.

From the moment I was reborn, I'd made up my mind. Whether she was innocent or not, I would take back everything that was mine.

Even if she truly knew nothing, I would still take it all. Because it was never hers to begin with.

She and I were switched at birth.

Her mother, pregnant and unmarried, had gone into labor the same day as mine. Seeing how well-dressed and cared for my mother was, she made her decision.

While no one was watching, she swapped the babies.

She didn't even plan to raise me—just tossed me by the river, like trash.

Had Dorothy not found me, I would've become nothing more than a nameless pile of bones.

Compared to Alicia's life of silk sheets and silver spoons, I was the one who truly suffered without cause.

As for the pendant, it wasn't a keepsake at all.

It was a worthless prize Dominic had once won at a street raffle. The only gift he ever gave me.

A cheap piece of glass I treasured for years.

Now, it served its final purpose well.

My father anxiously picked up the shards, insisting that someone repair them. My mother called the family doctor to tend to my wounds.

"Alicia! How could you break your sister's gift and push her like that? Is this how we raised you all these years?!"

Unlike me, who had grown used to Dominic's insults and belittlement, this was likely the first time in her life Alicia had been scolded.

Her face flushed crimson. She stiffened, throat locked, unable to offer a single defense.

But then Chester stepped in, ever her loyal defender.

"Mom, Dad, you've misunderstood," he said calmly. "I saw everything. Eliza threw herself to the ground and smashed the pendant on purpose. I don't know why she would frame Alicia the moment she came home, but I'm sure the house surveillance captured it all. After all, this is the same Eliza who ditched her boyfriend just to return to the Rodney family."

As he spoke, he pulled out his phone. On the screen was a carefully edited clip of me saying to Dominic, "steal my rightful place" and "an outsider like you shouldn't have any say."

And just like that, my parents' brows began to crease.

Chester leaned in and whispered, "You don't know much about surveillance tech, do you?"

Back in the year I had returned to, home surveillance was still a novelty—most families barely understood what it was.

His smirk deepened with satisfaction.

"I warned you, Alicia is innocent. I told you not to touch her. But if you insist on playing dirty, then don't blame anyone else when you get exposed."