Chapter 1

In my last life, my cousin and I got engaged on the same day.

She was pretty and doted on, so she picked the fighter pilot with a bright future ahead of him.

I was born under an unlucky star, so I was forced to marry the laid-off worker from the neighboring settlement, the one with the bad leg.

Who could have guessed how it turned out. The pilot broke the rules and got discharged, lost his job, ended up drowning in debt, and drank himself into a rage at home every day, beating whoever was nearby.

My husband, though, recovered from his leg trouble, and with his skill at fixing engines the county machinery plant brought him back on and promoted him ahead of the line as a key technician.

As his wife, I became a substitute teacher at the plant workers' elementary school, and people treated me with respect.

My cousin ate herself up with envy. And then, over the New Year visit, she dragged me down into an ice hole with her to die together.

"Why should a jinx like you get to live in the city while I go back to the countryside to farm with a drunk? If one of us dies, we both die!"

When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day the matchmaker came with our birth charts.

My cousin snatched up the red slip with the laid-off worker's name on it and clutched it tight against her chest.

"Little sister, you're so frail. Let your big sister be the one to go suffer out in the countryside instead of you!"

Watching how she couldn't wait to have it, I swallowed a smile and nodded.

She had no idea that in the last life, that man's bad leg had only healed because of my family's inherited massage technique.

And that pilot, as long as he wasn't dragged down by a greedy wife, was destined to make captain one day.

...

"Are you satisfied now?" Caleb Gilbert was in his everyday uniform, watching me with a cold stare.

I reached up and lifted the wedding veil off my face. "What is that supposed to mean, Mr. Gilbert?"

"What does it mean?"

He gave a cold laugh. "Frieda Fox cried herself half to death out there."

"She said you threatened to kill yourself, that you were dead set on stealing this match into the city."

"Edwina Fox, if there's one kind of woman I despise, it's the kind who'll do anything to climb higher."

She was the one who'd scrambled to switch places, and now she'd turned it into some sacrifice, like she was suffering out in the countryside just to make things right for me.

So now she was the long-suffering saint, and I was the vain little joke.

I stood and looked him straight in the eyes. "So whatever she says, you believe it?"

"What else?" His brow drew tight. "Frieda's never even dared to step on an ant her whole life."

"If you hadn't pulled some dirty trick, why would she throw away a perfectly good life to go suffer with a cripple?"

In the last life, after Frieda married him, she complained his monthly allowance was too small and went behind his back selling off supplies.

When it came out, Caleb took the blame for all of it to protect her.

In the end he was discharged, and he never got back up.

And now here he was, wrapped around Frieda's little finger over a few tears.

I gave a cold snort. "Mr. Gilbert, the marriage application was approved by the organization. The organization did the vetting."

"If I'd really used some dirty trick, do you think you'd be standing here comfortably losing your temper at me?"

Caleb couldn't come back with a word.

"Sharp tongue."

He ground the words out through his teeth. "Frieda was right. You really are a scheming one."

"Let me be clear, Edwina Fox. You may have gotten your wish and married into the Gilbert family, but don't expect me to lay a finger on you."

With that, he slammed the door and left.

Outside the door, Auntie Gilbert grumbled under her breath, "Caleb, take it easy, don't give the neighbors something to laugh at."

"Ma, I'm going to sleep at the barracks."

"Oh, come on. It's your wedding night. What's this, leaving your new bride home alone?"

"She schemed for this life, so let her live it."

Hearing that, I poured myself a cup of cold water and just barely tamped down the fury in my chest.

The door pushed open and Auntie Gilbert came in carrying a bowl of plain boiled noodles.

Her eyelids drooped, her whole face soured with displeasure.

"Caleb's gone back to the barracks."

She set the noodles down hard on the table. "Frieda's a kind-hearted girl. She thought of you at every turn."

"And you, you'd barely walked in the door before you drove your man off."

"We Gilberts are decent, honest folk. We've no room for all that twisted scheming."

"You're right to say so, Ma."

I didn't argue. I just obediently picked up the chopsticks.

"My cousin really is kind-hearted. Before she left she made a point of telling me your son works hard, so I should bear with him and be patient."

I let the pause hang on purpose. "She also said I mustn't touch a cent of Caleb's monthly allowance, that I should set it aside to care for you in your old age."

"Frieda always was the sensible one."

She muttered it, then turned to go.

"Wash the bowl when you're done. This house doesn't feed idle mouths."

Watching her walk away, the corner of my mouth curved into a cold smile.

Frieda, oh Frieda.

You think that by stealing Paul Delgado, you'll get to live that glorious life you had before?

But that leg of Paul's, if it doesn't get special therapeutic massage within three months, will rot away for good.

And then your sweet dream shatters, all of it.

After eating, I tidied the room clean, then stitched up Caleb's jacket, one careful stitch at a time.

This life, I will never let anyone step on my head again.

The first step is planting my feet firmly in this house.