Chapter 1

So when someone slipped him an aphrodisiac, I willingly became his cure.

A month later, I got pregnant, and my grandfather decided he had to marry me.

But Julian already had his first love, Chloe, in his heart. In a fit of drunken despair, he threw himself into the freezing river.

I swam in those icy waters for what felt like an eternity just to save him.

I didn’t just lose our baby in a miscarriage; the freezing water permanently damaged my hearing, leaving me deaf.

Grandpa made Julian kneel on the cold floor all night. At dawn, with bloodshot eyes, Julian finally agreed to the marriage.

But after we married, he resented me for saving his life and hated me for ruining his romance.

He abused me daily, eventually caused Grandpa’s death, and even sold me to a shady underground club as an escort.

Refusing to be degraded, I gathered every ounce of my remaining strength and dragged Julian with me into the path of oncoming traffic.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the very night Julian had been drugged.

The heavy weight pressing down on me was almost suffocating.

I opened my eyes in a daze, meeting Julian’s bloodshot gaze.

Those eyes, usually so cold and detached, were now swirling with an uncontrollable, wild desire, as if he wanted to consume me alive.

"Help me..." his voice was hoarse, his burning forehead resting against my collarbone. "Chloe."

The moment I heard that name, the blood in my veins turned to ice.

Chloe Sterling. His first love. The obsession he would rather drown for than marry me.

In my past life, carrying a secret crush and a desperate kind of bravery, I had willingly offered myself to be his cure.

But now, feeling his burning palms frantically tearing at my collar, I felt no flutter of a young girl’s heart. Only a bone-deep terror and disgust.

"Get off me!" I slammed my knee upward, aiming straight for his most vulnerable spot with all my might.

"Ugh!" Julian groaned, his movements freezing instantly. A brief flash of sanity returned to his eyes.

I took the chance to scramble out from under him, rolling onto the carpet in a disheveled heap, my heart pounding wildly.

It wasn't a dream. I was really back.

Back to the night where all the tragedies began.

"Fiona, how dare you!"

Once Julian realized it was me, the disgust in his voice was completely undisguised. "Did you drug me? Are you really that desperate and cheap?"

"I didn't drug you," my voice shook with the relief of surviving, yet it was crystal clear. "Don't you love Chloe? I’ll go get her for you!"

Julian panted heavily, sweat soaking his forehead. He stared at me, his eyes full of intense scrutiny.

"How do you know about Chloe?"

I didn't answer. I just looked at him quietly.

The drug surged again, finally breaking his last shred of sanity.

He gasped out an address—a luxury suburban apartment.

"Thirty minutes... I want to see her."

He leaned back on the bed, his veins bulging on his arms as he used his last bit of willpower to restrain himself.

"Fine." I picked up my jacket that he had ripped off, turned around, and walked out without a second thought.

As I drove out of the villa, tears streamed down my face without warning.

It wasn't from sadness. It was from pure hatred—and regret for my past stupidity.

Chloe was my college classmate.

She was a scholarship student who always wore faded dresses and looked fragile and pitiable.

I had genuinely treated her as a friend. I helped her get financial aid, brought her home for dinners, and gave her my unworn clothes.

Yet, behind my back, she told Julian:

"Fiona doesn't really care about me. She’s just pitying me. How could a rich heiress like her ever be a real friend to someone like me?"

Later, she "accidentally" let slip my feelings for Julian right in front of him, and then cried on her knees, begging for my forgiveness.

That was exactly when Julian started turning completely against me.

My past life played back in my head like a sick joke.

I slammed on the gas, speeding through the night, and quickly located the apartment.

When Chloe opened the door, she was wearing a silk nightgown that perfectly showed off her curves. A look of practiced surprise washed over her face.

"Fiona? What are you doing here?"

I didn't feel like playing her games. I cut straight to the chase. "Julian was drugged with an aphrodisiac. He wants you. Now."

Chloe’s face flushed red instantly, a mix of shyness and worry coloring her expression.

"Is Julian okay? I... I’ll come with you right away."

When I delivered Chloe to Julian’s door, it had been exactly thirty minutes.

Julian was still in the same position, but he was clearly at his limit.

The moment he saw Chloe, a desperate light flared in his eyes. He stumbled forward, pulling her tightly into his arms.

"Chloe..."

"Julian, what’s wrong? Don't scare me."

Chloe clung to him, her voice trembling with tears, but her eyes shot a triumphant look at me over his shoulder.

I looked at her expressionlessly.

She had calculated the drug’s timing perfectly to force his hand into a shotgun marriage with the Forbes family, but she hadn't expected Julian to go home early.

In my last life, I was foolish enough to be her scapegoat. This time, I decided to let them have each other.

"Bang!"

The door slammed shut in my face, cutting off whatever was about to happen inside.

My heart felt strangely peaceful.

Julian, the love you wanted so badly—I’ve given it back to you.