Ethan Carter indulged his fiancée, letting her crush my legs until they were broken.
At his engagement banquet, my father, Richard Adams, created such chaos that Ethan was forced to marry me.
After the wedding, he tried to have my father killed, leaving him in a coma to this day.
For five years of marriage, we cursed each other, hoping the other would die a miserable death.
I forced him to acknowledge his beloved Isabella Moore as his “sister,” and then watched him escort her to her wedding.
On the way, the car lost control, causing a devastating accident. Ethan fought desperately to push me out of death’s grasp…
He looked at me with a faint smile:
“Claire, live well…”
“But in the next life, I want to marry Isabella.”
With the last of his strength, he crawled toward Isabella, who lay bleeding on the ground, trying to die at her side.
But after years of being paralyzed, I refused to let him have his wish.
I clung tightly to his leg as the flames roared around us.
When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to the very day Isabella set me up.
Ethan, I’m done with you.
A cool breeze brushed against my face, the pain and burning gone in an instant.
My assistant, Sophie Green, ran toward me with a pair of dance shoes in her hands.
“Claire, I knew you were the best!” she cheered.
“In the final round, we’re definitely going to win the championship and be crowned the most beautiful dancers!”
“I prepared these special ‘Champion’s Shoes’ for you. Let’s put them on right away!”
A glint of cold light flashed inside the shoes, and I froze.
Before I could answer, Sophie squatted down, eager to change my shoes for me.
This was Isabella’s first step in destroying me in my previous life.
I quickly stopped her.
“Don’t! Give me the shoes first!”
Though confused, Sophie obediently handed them over.
I took the shoes, and under the stage lights, I pulled out dozens of silver needles hidden inside.
Staring at the sharp pins in shock, Sophie stammered:
“Claire, I swear I prepared these myself! How could there be needles? I checked them over and over…”
“It’s fine. It’s not your fault. Some enemies hide in the shadows.”
Furious, Sophie declared she would find out who had done such a vile thing and framed her.
I stopped her with a smile, focusing instead on preparing for the final round.
When I stepped back onto the stage, my gaze drifted to the VIP seats, where Ethan and Isabella were feeding each other fruit.
Isabella smiled radiantly, her eyes gleaming with unrestrained triumph.
Under her expectant gaze, I danced gracefully.
And under her shocked, disbelieving eyes, I danced as if it were the performance of my life.
In my past life, unaware of the trap in my shoes, I had leapt onto the stage only to be pierced by countless needles. I never reached the finals.
Just like today, Sophie had shouted that we needed to find out who hurt me and handed me over to Ethan.
He had been drinking, so Isabella went to fetch the car.
When she returned, she slammed the gas pedal and drove straight into me, shattering both of my legs.
Ethan had let go of me, rushing instead to comfort Isabella, asking if she was hurt.
Later, on the way to the hospital, he looked at my pale, sweat-drenched face and begged me to forgive her, insisting she only mistook the gas for the brake in her panic to take me to the ER.
He refused to believe Isabella had done it on purpose, nor that she had planted needles in my shoes. He fought with me bitterly over it.
While I sat in the hospital, condemned to a wheelchair for life, he staged a grand engagement banquet to make Isabella happy.
When my father learned the truth, he stormed the celebration and forced Ethan to marry me, or else he’d pursue criminal charges against Isabella.
I thought sacrificing my legs and my lifelong passion for dance in exchange for marrying his beloved would be a fair trade.
But I lost everything.
As I finished my dance in this new life, the thunderous applause from the audience told me everything.
There was no suspense—I had won the championship.
Sophie hugged me and spun me around in joy, while I felt nothing but relief.
