Reborn to Love Again
Our married life became a tempest of shattered crockery and incessant turmoil.
We tormented each other into old age, only to succumb to grave illnesses.
On his deathbed, Marcus Chase clutched our son's hand and whispered, “Had your mother not drugged me, how could I have betrayed my true love? Do not bury me beside her. In the next life, I shall not repeat this folly…”
And so, reborn.
No longer bound by his identity as heir to the Chase Group, he stormed into Summer Sue's humble apartment and spirited her away, squandering a fortune on a secluded villa, a gilded cage for his captive beauty.
To forestall any unforeseen complications, he compelled the Chase Family to arrange my distant marriage to the Northeast.
“Felicity, though you are but an adopted daughter to the Chase Family, if your heart is not in it, your mother would never compel you.”A troubled expression clouded Marcus' mother's face.
“Your daughter is resigned to it.”
Upon hearing my acquiescence, Marcus Chase visibly exhaled, a breath of relief escaping his lips.
Subsequently, the grand wedding cortege commenced its mournful journey.
Yet, Marcus Chase, as if seized by madness, prostrated himself before the carriage, arms outstretched in supplication, weeping and imploring me to abandon the marriage.
“Felicity, do you truly consent to this union? Will you not, even now, reconsider?”
A labyrinth of emotions flickered within the depths of Marcus' mother's eyes.
I wrung my fingers, my gaze drifting towards Marcus Chase, seated beside me.
He shifted his gaze indifferently, his coldness a stark denial of the lifetime we had shared.
I offered a compliant smile: “Your daughter is willing.”
Marcus' mother grasped my hand, her voice laced with pity.
“Good child, rest assured, this is merely a strategic marriage. A prenuptial agreement has already been drafted. In three years, once the cooperation between our families has stabilized, the engagement may be dissolved.”
Marcus Chase's expression stiffened momentarily at these words, but he swiftly regained his composure.
I managed a bitter smile.
Was he so afraid that I would return to haunt him after three years?
He nearly lost his composure.
But that ill-fated entanglement with him in my past life was never my desire.
In those days, I was indeed in love with him.
This unacknowledged love, I buried it deep within my heart for a decade.
It was not until Marcus Chase, at Summer Sue's birthday celebration, was drugged and, mistaking me for Summer Sue, crossed a forbidden line, after which, I discovered my pregnancy.
Thereafter, everything veered irrevocably off course.
The media, catching scent of the scandal, collectively besieged the entrance, awaiting the Chase Family's statement.
Netizens even initiated a poll, speculating on the identity of the child's father.
Upon learning the truth, Marcus' mother, consumed by heartbreak and remorse, punished him and decreed that he marry me.
In those days, Marcus Chase was utterly consumed by his love for Summer Sue. He wept and knelt for three days and nights, imploring his mother to rescind her command.
But Marcus' mother, a devout Buddhist, believed in the immutable law of karma.
Enduring her own heartache, she ultimately remained unyielding.
A week later, the announcement of the Chase Family's adopted daughter's betrothal to the Chase Family's young master seized every media outlet's attention.
For the remainder of our days, we were locked in mutual torment.
Through countless nights of solitary tears, my heart finally perished.
Alas, forced affection yields a bitterness that chills one to the very core.
It is well enough; we are reborn.
In this life, I shall be a thousand leagues distant from him, never to cross paths again!
As I emerged from Mother's chamber, my arm was abruptly seized.
Turning, I beheld Marcus Chase, his gaze laden with unfathomable intent.
“Felicity, we must speak.”
He ushered me into another bedchamber, closed the door, and, with a furrowed brow, declared:
“Mother made it clear that if you were unwilling, there would be no compulsion. Why, then, did you consent?”
I offered a wan smile: “Is this not what elder brother desired?”
“You!” His countenance darkened, and after a protracted silence, he released a profound sigh. “I merely sought to use this as a warning: cease these contemptible machinations.”After all, the Chase Family rescued you from a desolate mountain village in The Northeast; surely you wouldn't wish to return?
Despicable, am I?
I swallowed the bitter truth with a pained smile, uttering each word with deliberate clarity: "I repeat, I was not the one who poisoned your drink in our past life."
"Enough!"" Marcus Chase's voice rose, laced with suppressed fury. ""You personally handed me that glass, and traces of the drug were found in your pocket. The evidence is irrefutable; do you truly believe I would credit your lies?"
I gazed at him, a profound sorrow engulfing my heart.
I turned away in silence, intending to depart, but he seized my arm, his tone now conciliatory: "Provided you cease your machinations against me, remaining within the Chase Family is not entirely out of the question."The Northeast is a land of hardy souls, and the man to whom you are betrothed is a second-generation scion, known for his violent temper and coarse manners. Marry him, and your suffering will know no end.
I turned, coldly extricating my hand from his grasp, and appraised him with a chilling gaze.
“Brother, I implore you to conduct yourself with decorum. I am now a woman promised in marriage. What impropriety is this, this unseemly tugging and pulling?”
With those words, I turned and strode purposefully away.
His voice, laced with a desperate edge, drifted from behind.
“Felicity Chase, you debase yourself thus, solely to elicit my pity! Very well! Marry him then, but do not come crawling back, weeping and pleading for your return!”
My steps faltered, a desperate urge rising within me to offer some defense, some justification for my actions.
Again, she felt a profound listlessness.
The way he described this marriage alliance, one would think he was venturing into a dragon's den, a tiger's lair.
Unbeknownst to him.
Reborn into this life, how could I possibly surrender myself to fate as I did in my previous existence?
When Marcus' mother uttered the name of my betrothed, 'Charles Lee' of the Lee Group, the memories of a bygone era came flooding back.
Him?
We had crossed paths in my previous life.
That year, my son had just reached the tender age of three.
Marcus Chase, in a rare display of affection, proposed a trip to Japan to celebrate my birthday.
Overjoyed beyond measure, I even, in my foolish excitement, endured a sleepless night before our departure.
It was only upon landing that I saw Summer Sue waiting to greet us.
I stood there, utterly stunned.
Ah, Summer Sue happens to be sojourning here. I trust she will graciously act as our guide for the coming days. An unnatural tremor laced Marcus Chase's voice.
A bitter laugh threatened to escape me. Summer Sue, perpetually studying in America, inexplicably sojourning in Japan? Preposterous.
Confined within the hotel walls, we engaged in the most ferocious quarrel of our shared history.
As Marcus Chase slammed the door in his wake, I glimpsed a furtive smile playing upon his lips.
In the desolate days that followed, I could not reach him, my calls unanswered.
Summer Sue's Twitter updates were frequent, and with a near-masochistic compulsion, I clicked through each one.
Vaporous tendrils clung to the bathroom glass, obscuring a man's back, the rumpled sheets, a crimson mark upon her collarbone…
I understood then that all which was destined to occur, had.
On my birthday, after consuming an entire bottle of sake in solitude, I stumbled from the hotel.
Wandering aimlessly in a daze, a street pulsating with garish lights and deafening music ensnared my attention.
Unbeknownst to me then, it was Japan's infamous red-light district, a haven for iniquity.
Scarcely had I entered when a man speaking Japanese accosted me.
Then, my arms were seized from either side, and my feet were abruptly lifted from the ground.
The two men gabbled between themselves before hauling me toward a van parked at the curb.
The haze of intoxication cleared almost entirely in an instant.
I shook my head wildly, kicking and flailing, desperate to break free.
The man on my left reached out and patted my hair, and in that instant, my limbs turned to lead, devoid of all strength.
I bit down hard on my tongue, fighting to stay conscious, and whispered in despair:
“Help, help…”
A split second before being shoved into the car, the two holding me were suddenly kicked away, sent sprawling to either side.
My body went limp, and I collapsed against a solid chest.
A powerful arm encircled my waist, and the subtle aroma of cigar smoke filled my senses.
“Daring to kidnap our people, you're courting death.”
His voice, laced with authority, resonated softly above me.
In the final moment before oblivion, I strained to look up, my gaze meeting a sharply sculpted face, as cold as frost.
When I awoke, I was lying in a private Villa.
A maid approached, offering a business card. “Mr. Lee sends his regards,” she said, “and instructed me to give you this upon waking.”She added, “Should you require any assistance during your stay, please do not hesitate to contact him.”
I accepted the card.
“Charles Lee…”
I whispered his name, a sudden ache in my throat, and tears welled in my eyes.
Even a stranger recognized my vulnerability in this foreign land.
Marcus Chase, however, remained unconcerned.
I had even resorted to self-inflicted pain, hoping to punish him.
How utterly foolish of me.
If I cannot cherish myself, how can I expect it from another?
As if to atone for the debts of his past life, Marcus Chase indulged Summer Sue with an almost unsettling devotion, granting her every whim.
For Summer Sue's birthday, he commandeered the revolving restaurant atop an international hotel, airlifting in thousands of American roses to adorn the venue.
He invited all his acquaintances to the celebration, a gesture from which I was, naturally, excluded.
In my previous life, Marcus Chase hosted my birthday at his private Villa nestled in the mountains.
I attended, relegated to the role of a mere bartender.
My cocktails, at least, earned the begrudging praise of his coterie of wealthy, second-generation friends.
Thereafter, Marcus Chase would recount that birthday party countless times, each recollection leaving his eyes brimming with tears.
On one occasion, he even seized my throat in anguish, lamenting: “I deserve to die! Why did I drink the cocktail you concocted? Summer Sue saved my life, and I vowed to marry her! But you have ruined everything! I have failed her; I am so sorry to her…”
A crushing wave of suffocation washed over me, and I nearly lost consciousness.
In that instant, the stark realization dawned upon me: he harbored only hatred and had never, not even for a fleeting moment, believed in me…
Subsequently, I ceased to defend myself, merely observing with numb detachment as he repeatedly indulged in nostalgic reveries of his former love.
This morning, he commanded the driver and bodyguards to drag me, against my will, to the mountains and imprison me within that secluded villa.
A gilded cage, he calls it, for my 'recuperation' in the mountains.
Gazing upon the servants and bodyguards, an impenetrable wall surrounding the villa, a bitter laugh escaped my lips.
Does he truly fear so greatly that I might shatter his precious romance?
Is such a tactic not utterly base?
In the dead of night, I was roused from slumber by the sounds of carnal delight emanating from the adjacent room.
The night's profound silence served only to amplify each and every lascivious whisper.
“Marcus, please, be more gentle… Felicity is right next door, you know.”
“I brought you here so she would finally abandon any inappropriate notions she harbored.”
I could endure no more, and fled downstairs.
The night air was crisp, and clad only in my pajamas, I wandered aimlessly into the courtyard.
My eyes were drawn to the cherry blossom tree standing sentinel in the yard.
In my past life, it was beneath this very tree that Marcus Chase, without a second thought, drained the meticulously crafted cherry blossom wine I had prepared.
I approached, my hand tracing the bark of the trunk, as if cherishing an ancient artifact.
Abruptly, a large hand clamped over my mouth, and I was dragged, utterly helpless, toward the back garden.
The figure wore a mask and hat, tall and imposing; he was no mere Bodyguard, certainly not a servant.
My heart hammered in my chest, every nerve stretched taut, a helpless whimper escaping my lips.
He dragged me into the garden's depths, threw me to the ground, and pressed a knife against my throat.
“Serve me well, and I might spare your life.”
My chest rose and fell sharply: “You wouldn't dare! I am Marcus Chase's fiancée.”
A slap struck me, and a searing pain instantly blazed across my face.
“Tsk, tsk, still clinging to your delusions of marrying into wealth! After tonight, you'll be nothing but worthless, unwanted refuse.”
He produced a small vial from his pocket, containing a chillingly white powder, and smirked lasciviously, “This is quite the little treasure. Ingest it, and even the most virtuous maiden will degenerate into a harlot ridden by a thousand men.”
Upon opening the vial, a pungent, medicinal stench filled the air.
My mind erupted in a deafening roar.
This powder… it's identical to what I discovered in my pocket in my previous life.
Verily, there are those who, across lifetimes, remain determined to ruin me.
I fixed my gaze upon the bandit before me, and said with a chilling composure, "How much are they offering? I'll double it. Let me go."
He scoffed.
"Enough with the drivel. Open your mouth."
A cold dread washed over me. Not for money? Then what was the purpose?
A knife forced my mouth open, the blade tearing at the corner of my lips, drawing a crimson flow.
With practiced efficiency, he positioned the medicine bottle near my mouth.
I stared at him, then, a faint smile touched my lips: "Thank you."
His hand faltered.
In the next instant, a piercing alarm shattered the silence around the Villa, and a blinding light flooded the grounds.
The sudden, blinding light forced his eyes shut. Seizing the moment, I kicked his knife away and then delivered a brutal kick to his groin.
The bodyguards, arriving belatedly, swarmed the man and pinned him to the ground.
Summer Sue and Marcus Chase arrived in quick succession.
With composure, I wiped the blood from the corner of my lips.
Marcus Chase, taking in the scene, wore an expression of utter shock.
He rushed to me, gripping my shoulders, and demanded, his voice laced with urgency, “What in God's name happened here?!”
Before I could utter a word, the man sprawled on the ground cried out, “Felicity, I was wrong! I shouldn't have come looking for you, nor should I have sought thrills with you here. I beg you, have your family spare me!”
Before I could even retort, Marcus Chase had already planted his foot on the man's face.
“What did you say!”
He bent down, removing the man's mask and hat, his brow furrowing with sudden intensity!
Turning then, his gaze, sharp as a blade, dissected my face inch by agonizing inch.
“Felicity Chase, you've sunk so low as to stomach this kind of filth? Don't imagine that by degrading yourself in this manner, you'll earn even a fleeting glance from me!”
I stared, dumbfounded, my eyes wide with disbelief, a sharp, stinging pain blossoming within my heart.
Prejudice in the human heart is a mountain insurmountable.
Even now, when I am the injured party.
Without hesitation, he blindly favored the other party's words.
How utterly absurd. In this life, as in the last, he never believed a word I said.
Summer Sue approached, her cheeks flushed, and spoke in a frail voice:
“Felicity… a girl must cherish herself. To behave so recklessly, aren't you afraid of contracting something?”
She stooped to retrieve the medicine bottle from the floor, her mouth agape, her voice laced with astonishment:
“Good heavens! Are you engaging in such extreme practices? Using this sort of drug to enhance the experience?”
The medicine bottle was tossed to Marcus Chase as if it were burning his hand.
Marcus Chase, his face a thundercloud, pinched a bit of the powder, inhaled its scent, and his countenance underwent a dramatic shift.
“Felicity Chase! Still denying it? Then explain this! What is this substance doing here!”
I understood then; the powder lingering in my pocket from my past life was identical to the drug contained within that vial.
I glanced towards his side, a faint smile playing on my lips. “Summer Sue, why don't you pick it up and examine it? Perhaps you recognize the medication? Have you, perchance, used it before?”
Summer Sue faltered, then offered a brittle smile. “I merely speculate, of course. After all, what else would a solitary man and woman be doing together, if not taking such medicine?”
Marcus Chase scoffed, "Do you think Summer is like you, stooping to such underhanded tricks!"
Wiping away the tears welling in my eyes, I approached Summer Sue and struck her, my palm connecting with her face!
Marcus Chase, stunned for a heartbeat, erupted in fury: "What do you think you're doing!"
I sneered, a bitter edge to my voice: "Perhaps you should ask Summer Sue what she is doing!"
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