: Rebirth
From the moment my stepsister set foot in our house, she was determined to make my life hell.
When I won a certificate in a piano competition, she would mock me to anyone who would listen. "It's just that award, what's there to be happy about?" But then she'd turn around and beg Father to send her to piano lessons, too.
When exam results were posted, she was more concerned about my scores than I was. If I did well, she would spread rumors that I had cheated.
After we came of age, I began dating The Capital's Heir, and the resentment in her eyes grew increasingly obvious. Seizing a moment when I wasn't looking, she drugged us both. She had me sent to The Assailants to be tortured, while she put on my clothes to seduce the disoriented Heir.
I was tortured to death. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day she first came to our house.
She beat me to the punch, asking Father to send her to piano lessons. I knew then that she had been reborn, too, and that she was trying to steal my life's path.
But she didn't know that a piece of trash will always be a piece of trash.
1
I was reborn in the year I turned sixteen.
The very first day my stepsister, Rochelle Sterling, arrived at our home.
I had just come downstairs this morning when she eagerly shouted to Father, who was already down there, "Father, I want to learn the piano!"
I froze for a moment, then turned to look at her with an icy gaze.
She shot me a glance, her eyes filled with disdain and contempt.
Not understanding this sudden whim, Father instinctively asked why.
She had already walked to the dining table, casually taking the seat at the head of the table.
"When I was living with my Mother, we couldn't afford it, so I never dared to ask," she said. "But... I've loved the piano since I was little. I want to be like other girls, performing on stage. I want to show what I can do, too."
My family is quite well-off.
She was playing the sympathy card with Father now. He would definitely agree.
Sure enough.
My normally strict father's expression softened, his eyes filling with pride.
"Rochelle, you're a good child for understanding your Mother's hardships."
"Now that we can afford it, if you want to learn, we'll support you unconditionally."
Getting the answer she wanted, Rochelle nodded obediently.
But where Father couldn't see, she sneered at me.
Unimpressed, I simply looked away.
Father was completely in the dark, but I could see it clearly: this was a provocation directed at me.
Earlier this morning, just as I was waking up, Rochelle Sterling had walked right into my bedroom.
She'd made the audacious declaration that she would have a better life than me this time around.
I was completely stunned.
'She was reborn too?'
Before I could even process this revelation, she had already spoken with arrogance, "Anya Sterling, you couldn't beat me in our last life. Now that I'm back, don't even think you'll have an easy time in this one!"
I thought she would have some clever new way to surpass me.
I never expected her to just copy my playbook from the last life.
She clearly remembered everything I did in our previous life, and in this one, she was just replicating it all ahead of schedule.
My thoughts drifted back to the present. I glanced at Rochelle Sterling, who was putting on a perfectly docile act at the head of the table.
I couldn't help but find it amusing.
If she wanted to learn, then let her. I would just watch.
I was dying to see what she could make of herself.
Then I would just have to wait and see.