"Xiaolei... don’t run." A hoarse voice coming from a good looking man with delicate and soft facial features crept through Luo Xiaolei’s body like she just heard the call of death, causing her feet to wobble in fear until she fell down on her own.

"Jinhan...! What’s going on with you? Why are you doing this to me?! Wake up!" she cried as she crawled on her hands and knees. She was still wearing a white gown since this was their wedding night. This man was the person she just married hours ago and yet he was now like a madman looking at her with those terrifying eyes, telling her that he would definitely kill her.

They were in a secluded villa for their honeymoon and everything was completely fine just a moment ago. This man who had always been so kind and caring to her suddenly changed as if he was possessed by a demon the moment they both entered their bedroom on their first night together. He suddenly held a knife in his hand and his kind and innocent eyes were instantly filled with nothing but hate and bloodlust.

Luo Xiaolei’s instinct made her run away but the entire villa suddenly felt like it turned into a dark place, a haunted setting, the perfect place for him to kill her. All the doors were shut closed as if she was suddenly imprisoned in an empty killing dungeon. He chased her, moving like he was a walking dead until Luo Xiaolei slowly lost all her strength. She, who had always been a strong woman was cornered to this extent by none other than her newly wedded husband.

Luo Xiaolei was a powerful business woman, labelled as the queen of no mercy, she became a mighty CEO when she was just 25 and at 28, she had just married this perfect doting boyfriend of hers. Her life was the life of a perfect protagonist. She was a modern day Cinderella. She was tortured when she was younger by her father’s mistress and of course, just like what a typical protagonist would do, Luo Xiaolei studied hard and worked hard to rise to the top. She spent her youth learning everything until she finally took her most awaited revenge on all the people who wronged her.

She destroyed the people who caused her mother’s death, like a vengeful phoenix, until she achieved the peak of her success. She was able to reclaim her crown, everything that was supposed to be hers. Her revenge was a success. She was able to throw those people out to hell, making them experience the pain she went through in their hands. Yes, everything was flowing perfectly. She was the protagonist and she thought that since everything and everyone had been returned to their rightful place, this would now be the start of her happy ever after. But what was happening now? How did her happy ever after end up like this?

"J-jinhan...! What’s going on with you?! Stop being like this! Please!" Luo Xiaolei shouted, her voice loud but strained, thinking that she could wake him up but a bitter and painful smile curved on his face that Luo Xiaolei had never seen before.

"Xiaolei... I’m sorry. But I’m here to take my revenge on you." The man said, causing Luo Xiaolei’s eyes to widen in fear and confusion.

"W-what are you saying? You are not making any sense at all! Jinhan, please wake up!" She screamed once again but the man gripped the knife in his hand as he moved one step closer.

"Xiaolei... I’m the son of that woman you drove to madness, five years ago." He said and Luo Xiaolei’s mouth turned agape in shock. The woman she drove mad five years ago, wasn’t she her father’s mistress who caused her mother’s death?

"What are you saying? Y-y-you’re Mo Lifeng’s son?" her lips trembled and Yun Jinhan once again smiled bitterly.

"Mm. Indeed, I am, Xiaolei." He admitted and Luo Xiaolei felt like the world suddenly turned upside down, as if the gods were playing a prank on her life. She denied it, unable to make herself believe what he said but something triggered in her subconscious mind and she realized that Yun Jinhan was saying the truth. She remembered the report she received back then that her father’s mistress, Mo Lifeng already had a son before she met her father.

"So... all this time... you approached me, doted on me, married me... you did all this just so you could avenge your mother?" she asked in disbelief. This meant that the three whole years she spent with this man were all lies? He was such a loyal, obedient and doting man... how could everything ended up being actually fake?

"You are already pretending from the very first time we met?" she asked as her lips trembled.

"When I first met you, I still didn’t know what you did."

"Jinhan, you know my story! I was the victim here. I took revenge on Mo Lifeng because she first drove my mom insane! I promised my mother on her death bed that I would avenge her. You know how your mother tortured me and my mother until she went insane!" Luo Xiaolei screamed. Painful tears in her eyes fell down her gorgeous face.

"Yes. I know that. That was why for years, I fought with myself to accept everything and forget about revenge. I tried, but every night I was tortured with endless nightmares. I’m sorry, I couldn’t. You see, I also promised my mother that I would definitely avenge her. Xiaolei, if you claim to be a victim of my mother, then I am your victim. Even though I know your story, I’m sorry, but I can’t forgive you. When my mother went insane and our family was destroyed by you, both my grandparents died because of the shame and the mental attacks of the people who supported you. My sister you put to jail killed herself. Everything was already beyond saving. There’s no one I could blame for all this but you. I have lived to this day so that I could cast my revenge on you. I’m sorry but this is our fate."

Hearing Jinhan’s words, Luo Xiaolei couldn’t even speak anymore. Everything was just so nonsensical.

When she was young, her mother was the legal madam in the Luo mansion. Until one day, rumours that her father got himself a mistress caused Luo Xiaolei’s mother to become furious and her relationship with her father went from bad to worse. However, all of a sudden, the rumoured young mistress suddenly died in an accident so Luo Xiaolei’s mother calmed down. However five years later, another mistress appeared. The new mistress was intelligent and a scheming fox. She drove Luo Xiaolei and her mother out of the Luo mansion after a long battle. Luo Xiaolei’s mother fought with everything she had but the new mistress crushed her to the core. The new mistress was just like Cinderella’s step mother. She tortured them both until eventually, Luo Xiaolei’s mother lost her sanity before she eventually died.

Since that day, Luo Xiaolei lived for her revenge and now that her own revenge was over, another avenger appeared.

"I’m sorry. But you should know, the moment you decided to take your revenge for your mother... the cycle of revenge had just begun and it will never stop."

"Jinhan... yes, you’re right so even if you kill me now, someone will come after you and avenge me."

"I know that. We both know that, until there is no one left, until no one can forgive, this will continue forever."

As those words left Jinhan’s mouth, his eyes blazed and it seemed like he too finally lost himself. Seeing this, Luo Xiaolei’s instinct forced her to try and run away. However, before she registered where she was heading, it was too late to change course. She found herself on the veranda and the moment Jinhan lunged at her with a knife, her foot slipped in fear and she fell over the railing.

’H-huh? I’m falling... so this is how it ends? Why? Why did it end up like this? Where did I go wrong? Why?’ Luo Xiaolei felt her body flying, as if her soul was being sucked in by a certain black hole. Her heart was breaking for a million times over.

She closed her eyes as everything started to turn dark and a memory suddenly appeared in her mind. It was the moment just before her mother took her last breath.

"Xiaolei... Don’t think about avenging me and live a peaceful life. This is all my fault, so don’t waste your time taking revenge because... It won’t be worth it. I don’t want you to live like me. I’m so sorry for leaving you so early. Please my daughter, choose to live a peaceful life, that’s the only thing I am wishing for."

As those words rang inside her brain, the tears in Luo Xiaolei’s eyes kept falling like drops of crystals and her lips curved up, flashing a bitter and painful smile. The moments of her life began flashing like a flash forwarded movie. Since she swore to herself to take revenge, Luo Xiaolei saw her life revolving around nothing else but revenge and power. Indeed, she spent all her years aiming for the top. She looked like a mountain climber who was only focused towards the peak that she forgot to even enjoy the climb and never even looked around to at least take a glance at the beautiful scenery from time to time. She saw how bland her life was. She gained success, revenge and power yet at the end of the day, she was utterly alone, like a queen sitting at the peak of the mountain with no one beside her.

"Mother, you were right. It wasn’t worth it. I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you."

"Miss Luo! Please move!" Someone’s voice reached Luo Xiaolei’s consciousness and she slowly opened her eyes.

She saw people in white panicking as one of them suddenly pulled her away from her seat beside the white bed. Luo Xiaolei’s eyes widened, she was sure this wasn’t heaven. This smell, the people before her and this bland plain white room was no doubt the place where her mother had died 10 years ago.

When Luo Xiaolei’s eyes fell on the person on the bed, she saw her mother lying there while the doctors seemed to be trying to revive her. Was this a dream? I am just dreaming, right? Didn’t I just fall from the veranda moment ago? What happened? Why am I seeing this again?

As Luo Xiaolei watched the commotion before her in confusion and in disbelief, a long beep rang loudly in her ears, indicating that her mother was dead.

Everything didn’t feel like it was a dream.

She saw the doctors shake their heads as they all fell silent and after some time a doctor finally approached her.

"Miss Luo, we are very sorry." He said before he left and Luo Xiaolei was left out in a daze as she watched the nurses covering her mother with white sheet. Her knees weakened and she fell on the floor. She knew this scene, this was what happened exactly 12 years ago. The only thing that was different was that she didn’t plead and beg for everyone to revive her mother again.

Her tears fell like a waterfall. She felt her heart going numb but her knees, which hit the floor were also hurting. This meant she wasn’t dreaming. Then what was going on here? If this wasn’t a dream, did this mean she had woken up in the past? Did that even make sense?

While Luo Xiaolei was still processing this and was still unable to believe what was currently going on, a nurse bent before her and embraced her quietly. Luo Xiaolei’s heart was already numb from what happened before she fell over the veranda and now she was witnessing this nightmare again for the second time around? If she really did jump back in time, why did she have to witness this moment again? Why?

Luo Xiaolei was unable to weep. Her tears just fell and she couldn’t speak. Like a broken doll, she just sat there looking at the dead woman on the bed. She felt like she couldn’t breathe. The confusion and all this heartache were killing her. She clenched her shirt hard as if she wanted to rip them off, until her vision became blurry and then everything turned dark, once more.

...

Days later, Luo Xiaolei woke up in her room in a daze. She couldn’t believe that she really had somehow been transported back to the past.

She looked at her devastated 18 year old self and she couldn’t help but smile bitterly. She was back in this place again. In her previous life, after her mother’s burial, it was her grandparents who took her back to the old Luo residence and from then on, she swore to herself to rise up higher than anyone else and avenge her mother. She threw away her dream and aimed to reclaim the crown her mother fought for for many years. Luo Xiaolei grew up in the countryside for 8 years since Mo Lifeng kicked them out of the Luo mansion so at this time in her previous life, what Luo Xiaolei did first was to learn the socialite etiquette.

Back then, she strived passed her limit. To ease her pain, she buried herself in studying until she ended up exceeding everybody’s expectations. She did everything to please her grandparents until eventually, her grandparents became so proud of her that she easily gained their favour. She was a model lady, the perfect granddaughter anyone could ever ask for. She grew up as the prim, proper, intelligent and perfect eldest miss of the Luo family. She started her revenge until she snatched the position of Luo Corporation’s CEO from the hand of her own father, before she destroyed Mo Lifeng without mercy.

In her previous life, Luo Xiaolei was a flawless and invincible queen, until she fell at the hands of another avenger.

Thinking about all that had happened in her previous life, Luo Xiaolei looked blankly at the mirror, reflecting her 18 year old self. She reached out her hand and touched her own reflection.

"Luo Xiaolei, you’ve been given a second chance... what do you want to do with your life this time? Are you going to spend another lifetime taking revenge all over again? Or, are you going to choose another path and walk towards the dream you threw in exchange for your revenge back then?"

4 years later...

Standing like an unnoticeable wallflower, Luo Xiaolei was holding a bouquet of flowers in her right hand as she leaned quietly on the wall.

She was like a quiet breeze, existing yet invisible to everyone.

The entire hall was lovely, filled with nothing but pure extravagance. Each person inside was dressed in luxury that it wouldn’t be an exaggeration if one described this a banquet fit for a king.

Looking at all these excessive displays of wealth, Luo Xiaolei’s eyes didn’t even glimmer with admiration. She looked at everything in this place with a blank expression, as if her spirit was floating somewhere else.

She was dressed in a simple and normal dress, one that wouldn’t catch any of this socialites’ attention. Well, this was her aim in the first place. She didn’t want anyone to notice her. She was just in this place to show respect to her grandfather, Luo Feng, on his birthday.

Luo Feng was the great master of the powerful Luo family so socialites tended to show their faces for this occasion every year. This year, it seemed like Luo Feng had another group of even more powerful guests attending his banquet.

The man, who was known as the emperor of the business world, Yu Zhaohui, was here today so Luo Xiaolei couldn’t find the chance to go and greet her grandfather for her to finally be able to leave.

What was even worse was that Yu Zhaohui’s grandson, the man whose nickname was ’The Devil Prince’, Yu Chen, was with him. No wonder every female in this hall dressed like they were here to receive an Oscar award.

Everyone in this country actually knew all about this Devil Prince. He was the only heir of the Yu Empire and he was the only direct descendant of Yu Zhaohui. Numerous sources even revealed that this grandfather and grandson duo were the only members of the Yu family left.

Thus, for years, Yu Chen was the target of everyone, whether it be women or enemies. His security was even tighter than the country’s president and rumor had it that anyone who dared to try harming him was tortured to death. This handsome and mysterious Devil Prince was even rumored to be a vicious beast with no heart.

However, despite the nasty rumors about him, whenever news that Yu Chen would be showing up at a certain occasion, all the socialites who were aiming for the position of Mrs. Yu flocked around like birds to the place where he would appear.

Everyone knew that Yu Chen was looking for a wife because Yu Zhaohui had announced it to the media, even saying that he didn’t care about the woman’s background. He just wanted his grandson to find the woman his heart desired. Well, one of the rumors surrounding Yu Chen was that he was disgusted with women and no one ever caught his attention to this day. For years, he remained single despite the fact that the Yu family desperately need to produce offspring for the sake of their bloodline.

That was why, like the prince in the Cinderella story, he was meant to simply choose whoever it was that caught his attention among the crowds.

Looking at him from afar, even the uninterested Xiaolei couldn’t help but praise just how perfect he looked. He just looked like someone who didn’t belong in this modern world because with just one glance at him, one could easily imagine what the gods must have looked like when they roamed on earth.

At this moment, everyone started greeting Luo Feng. The families all brought their prettiest daughters with them, hoping that the prince might take an interest in their daughters. Of course, Luo Xiaolei’s sisters were no different.

Her two younger half-sisters, Luo Meili, was hands down the prettiest woman in the crowd. She gave off the vibe of a stunning female lead that no men could dare ignore. Well, Luo Meili was born to be a protagonist. She was strong and she fought her way up, defeating all her enemies who schemed against her, including her own sister Luo Suyin. No one would have even imagined that in Luo Xiaolei’s previous life, Luo Meili was nothing compared to her.

However, as Xiaolei watched Luo Meili greet her grandfather, Yu Chen’s reaction was the same as with all the other girls he saw, only throwing a quick glance at her.

Seeing this, Xiaolei thought that the rumor that Yu Chen was disgusted with women, that he could barely look at them in the eyes past three seconds, was true. Maybe the rumor that this Yu Chen was bent was real after all? But are gays really disgusted with women so much that they wouldn’t make eye contact? Not at all, right?

Everyone in the banquet started murmuring. It was because Luo Meili was like the secret weapon, appearing at the end, and everyone actually thought that she would definitely catch Yu Chen’s attention. After all, it seemed like Yu Zhaohui brought Yu Chen to this banquet for that sole reason and even Luo Feng was very confident in his belief that his most favored grandchild would surely slay as always and would never fail his expectations.

However, what on earth was this? Wasn’t Yu Chen supposed to be the male protagonist who was worthy of this female lead, Luo Meili? Why did he look at her without a second glance?

Xiaolei who was silent all this time was also speechless. She couldn’t believe that even her sister Meili couldn’t catch his attention. Was he not into stunning women who looked innocent with a kind heart? But he also didn’t even look at the sophisticatedly beautiful but scheming and evil girl, Luo Suyin. He didn’t want the protagonist nor the antagonist, so what exactly was he looking for? Maybe he didn’t want 2D girls?

The show somehow entertained Xiaolei in this boring banquet but her patience was running out. She wanted to finally leave this place already, which was why she was praying for this emperor and his grandson to leave so she could finally go and greet her grandfather.

Gladly, just as Xiaolei was starting to chant her wishes to the gods, the Devil Prince finally stood up.

’Good. Leave this place already, Devil Prince. Unfortunately, the woman you’re looking for isn’t here. Maybe she doesn’t even exist in this world, so good luck with your search...’ Xiaolei whispered to herself as she followed the godly creature with her eyes, as he started walking away.

However, as soon as the words, ’goodluck with your search’ left her mouth, the Devil Prince suddenly halted, causing everyone to blink with curiosity. Did the prince forget something? Maybe he changed his mind and he was going to go back and take Luo Meili’s hand?

In the midst of the speculation, Xiaolei’s brows knotted as she looked at him. The man was looking straight towards the huge door but he looked like he was a beast in the bamboo forest who suddenly smelled the presence of his prey and was currently using its senses to detect its location.

For long seconds, everyone was silent as they waited for the prince’s next move. Almost everyone believed he would go back for Luo Meili and as if watching a movie in slow motion, the prince slowly turned around but to everyone’s surprise, his gaze didn’t fall on the goddess Meili.

What? Where is he looking at?

At that moment, as soon as Yu Chen turned around, his gaze actually fell on Xiaolei. He looked at her as if he finally spotted his prey.

1 second... 2 seconds... 3 seconds... 4 seconds...

The counting didn’t stop and the devil’s eyes didn’t leave her. Luo Xiaolei’s heart started beating wildly. She didn’t know why but with just this one look from this devil, she felt like the course of her life was suddenly at the edge of something and that one wrong move and her life will never be the same again.