Shot, I’d forgot. Marrying Elara won’t be enough. Selene still have to leave.
Elara was right. Selene couldn’t stay. Not if I was going to lead the Vale family. Not if I was going to give Elara the life she deserved.
So I found Father at the casino, tried to talk him into cutting Selene out completely. And again–before I could push, Selene pulled herself away. She volunteered to leave.
That’s what I couldn’t understand. Even if she was reborn… she had loved me. Hadn’t she? In our last life, I’d pretended so well There’s no way she saw through it.
But then again, I don’t care about Selene. As long She’s out of my life. Out of Elara’s. Out of the Vale,
And that’s all I ever wanted.
Elara had invited Selene to our engagement party. I didn’t understand it at first. But I agreed. Whatever Elara wanted, I would give it to her.
Reborn
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Selene wore that dress to our engagement party. The pale one from her graduation.
I recognized it the second I saw her. She looked… breathtaking. Not just beautiful–unfamiliar. Like a stranger wrapped in
someone else’s skin.
I had never looked at her from this distance before. She seemed nothing like the Selene I remembered.
Back in our past life, her gaze followed me everywhere. She watched if I drank enough, if I ate, if I looked too tired. She cared- openly, endlessly.
But now… now she didn’t even glance my way. It was as if the very sight of me would scald her.
And still, that was fine. None of it mattered. I had Elara. That was all I needed. Or so I told myself.
After Selene gave her speech about stepping down from the Vale family–right there, at our engagement party–I didn’t hear
from her again.
Elara laughed at her after. Mocked her, really.
And even though I loved Elara, something about it felt… wrong. Selene hadn’t done anything to deserve that. Not to her. Not
to anyone.
But I didn’t say a word. I stood by and let it pass. People forget. They’d forget that Elara told Selene to undress on stage, to
humiliate her in front of everyone.
And for a few days, I let myself forget, too.
Then one morning, while getting dressed for work, I saw it. A gossip site had posted a blurry, candid shot of Selene getting into a black car. It was taken the night of our engagement party. She wore nothing but a beige slip.
The photo wasn’t accidental. It was too close, too precise. Someone had been waiting–lurking near the hotel, camera ready.
Someone wanted this moment captured.
And in that moment, I thought of Elara. Could she have…?
I looked at the photo again, and that’s when I saw it. A scar. Long and faint, just visible on her upper thigh. Her slip barely
covered it.
A ten–centimeter scar. Stitched. Old. Familiar.
And suddenly, it hit me
I ran downstairs, Elara was at the dining table, sipping her morning coffee like it was any other day.
“Elara,” I asked, trying to sound casual, “do you remember that summer when we were kids? When we went swimming at the private beach and I almost drowned?”
She didn’t even blink. “Of course. Why?”
“I remember someone pulling me out. And… there was blood. A deep cut on the leg. I thought it was you.”
She smiled, stretched her leg beneath the table, her skin smooth and untouched “All healed now,” she said lightly. “What? Feeling nostalgic?”
But there were no scars, No sign of ever being wounded.
A memory rushed back. Waking up on the beach, Elara hovering over me, soaked in blood. I’d assumed it was hers.
I’d asked her once if she just saved me, and she blushed. She never actually said the words–but I thought it was her.
2/3
Reborn
But what if I’d been wrong? What if it was Selene had saved me that day?
Now that I think about it… Selene did disappear for a while after that trip. Long enough to get stitches and recover.
I walked back into my study, the weight in my chest pressing harder with every step, and called my father.
If anyone knew the truth, it would be him.
He answered on the second ring.
“Father,” I said, not even bothering with pleasantries, “was it Selene who saved me when I nearly drowned as a kid?”
There was a pause. Then his voice, cautious. “What’s this about?”
“I just need to know,” I pressed. “Was it her?”
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