Chapter 1

The capital was abuzz with news of the imperial selection, the once-in-a-decade event where the Emperor chose officials and ladies for the court, a grand affair that could make or break a family' s fortune. In the Thompson household, however, the mood was not one of excitement, but of tense negotiation.

My mother, Mrs. Thompson, held my hands, her grip tight and her face a mask of strained concern.

"Sarah, you have to do this for us. For the family."

Her voice was soft, but the demand was hard as steel. She wanted me to go to the selection in my cousin Emily' s place.

"Emily is too delicate for such a high-pressure event. You know how she is. Just go, make a brief appearance, and fail gracefully. No one will know. Once you' re eliminated, you can come right back home. It's just a formality."

I looked at my mother, her face so familiar, her words a chilling echo from a life I had already lived in torment.

This was the moment it all began.

The last time, I believed her. I went. I failed as instructed. But no one ever came for me.

The memory was a physical weight, crushing the air from my lungs. Three years. Three years I was forced to work as the lowest-ranking intern in the Ministry of Works, treated worse than a servant, enduring endless humiliation and back-breaking labor. I did it all, clinging to the promise that my family would bring me home.

When I finally scraped together enough money to return, I arrived to the sight of red lanterns and festive decorations. My home was celebrating a wedding.

My cousin, Emily, was marrying my fiancé.

She wore a beautiful red dress, her face radiant, while my fiancé stood beside her, his gaze averted. My mother stood with them, beaming with pride. She saw me standing at the gate, a ghost in tattered clothes, and her smile vanished.

"What are you doing here?" she had spat, her voice dripping with disgust. "You' re an embarrassment. Go away."

The gates slammed shut in my face. The laughter from inside the courtyard was the last thing I heard before the cold and hunger finally claimed me. I collapsed in the snow, my life bleeding away on the frozen stone steps of the home that had cast me out.

And then, I woke up.

I was back in my room, the familiar scent of sandalwood in the air. My mother was holding my hand, her voice a poisonous murmur in my ear.

"Sarah, you have to do this for us."

A bitter laugh almost escaped my lips. I was back. Back at the exact moment of my ruin.

This time, things would be different.

I pulled my hands from her grasp and looked straight into her eyes. A cold, hard resolve settled in my heart.

"I will go."

My mother let out a sigh of relief, her smile returning. "Good girl. I knew I could count on you."

But I wasn't finished.

"But I will go as Sarah Thompson. And I will not fail."

The smile on my mother's face froze. My younger brother, David, who had been lounging on a nearby chair, sat up straight.

"What did you just say?" he asked, his eyes wide with disbelief.

"Are you deaf?" I replied, my voice devoid of its usual warmth. "I said, I' m going to the selection, and I' m going to win."

"You can' t be serious, Sarah!" my mother hissed, her composure cracking. "Emily is the one who has been preparing for this! She is the one our family is counting on!"

"Is she?" I asked calmly. "The same Emily who can' t draw a straight line without a ruler? The same Emily whose design proposals were all secretly written by me?"

My mother' s face paled. David looked from me to our mother, a flicker of confusion in his eyes. He had always been easily swayed by her and Emily, always taking their side, but my sudden assertiveness seemed to throw him off balance.

I could see the gears turning in my mother' s head as she tried to regain control. She had manipulated me my entire life, playing on my desire for her approval, my sense of familial duty. She had made me sacrifice everything for Emily, her sister' s orphan child whom she had always favored over her own daughter.

"Sarah, don' t be foolish," she said, her voice softening again into that familiar, wheedling tone. "Emily needs this. Her future depends on it. She' s not as strong or as talented as you. You' ve always been the capable one, the one who takes care of everything."

It was the same old song, the same emotional blackmail she had used for years. She would praise my competence only when she needed me to sacrifice it.

My whole life had been a series of sacrifices for Emily. My favorite dresses were given to Emily because she "looked prettier in them." The prized art supplies from my late father were given to Emily because she "needed encouragement." My room, the largest and sunniest in the house, was given to Emily because she was "prone to melancholy."

And my fiancé, the man I was supposed to marry, was now hers in that other life. A life I would not allow to happen again.

I stood up, my gaze sweeping over my mother' s shocked face and my brother' s confused one.

"I have given Emily enough," I said, my voice low and steady. "From now on, I take back what is mine."

I would not be their puppet. I would not be their stepping stone. This life was mine. This opportunity was mine. I would seize it, and I would build a legacy so great that they would choke on the dust of it.

I turned and walked out of the room, leaving them speechless in my wake. The first step of my revenge had been taken.

That night, sleep was a distant stranger. I tossed and turned, the ghosts of my past life swirling in my mind. Desperate for a breath of fresh air, I slipped out into the garden. The moon was high and bright, casting long shadows across the stone paths.

As I rounded a hedge, I nearly collided with a tall figure.

"My apologies," a deep voice said.

I looked up and met the gaze of a man I had never seen before. He was dressed in the dark, immaculate uniform of an imperial guard, but his bearing suggested a much higher rank. His features were sharp and defined in the moonlight, and his eyes held a startling intensity. He was Duke Henderson, a man known throughout the capital for his influence and his close relationship with the Emperor.

"It' s late to be out," he noted, his gaze analytical.

A flicker of the old, timid Sarah wanted to apologize and scurry away. But the new Sarah held her ground. An unreadable emotion stirred within me, a mix of apprehension and a strange, unfamiliar spark of interest. But I quickly suppressed it. I had no time for distractions.

"I could say the same for you, Your Grace," I said, my voice even.

He raised an eyebrow, a hint of a smile playing on his lips. "Indeed."

He didn't press for an explanation, simply gave me a slight nod and continued on his way, disappearing into the shadows as silently as he had appeared.

I watched him go, a strange feeling settling in my stomach. I didn' t know it then, but our paths were destined to cross again. For now, I had to focus. The selection was tomorrow.

My new life was about to begin.