Chapter 1The Firebrand Scholar: Trading the Scaffold for the Summit

When I woke up again, I was the real daughter kicked out of the house.

My biological family called me a wicked failure and showered the fake daughter with love.

My foster mother took my hand and brought me home.

Everyone expected me to self-destruct, to fall apart.

But I didn't. I loved this era where women could hold up half the sky.

Here, there would be no female scholar wrongfully executed.

No endless condemnation or hateful public torture just because of my gender.

In this life, I would stand tall on the world stage.

* * *

"Skylar Hayes, I don't have a vicious daughter like you!"

"You have repeatedly harmed Brooke Sutton. Our family won't tolerate a person with such a wicked heart!"

"Here are your bags. Go live your life!"

I rubbed my head and sat up in a daze.

I saw several people in front of me, dressed in strange, modern clothes, looking at me with expressions ranging from disgust to smug satisfaction.

"Who are you…"

Before I could finish my question, they turned and walked away.

They acted as if I were something dirty, something they couldn't stand to look at for another second.

The ornate iron gate slammed shut.

I looked around blankly.

Unfamiliar buildings, unfamiliar streets, unfamiliar air.

Wasn't I dead?

Disguising myself as a man!

Treason against the Emperor!

Death by a thousand cuts!

Why was I here again?

A cold wind blew, and I clutched my thin clothes tighter.

A shadow fell over me, and a rough hand pulled me up.

I looked up and saw a woman with salt-and-pepper hair.

She was very thin, her face gaunt, not someone who immediately looked kind.

"Daughter, come home with me."

That's what she said.

I followed her home, absorbing the original owner's memories along the way.

I had time-traveled.

This body was also named Skylar Hayes.

At birth, a nurse's mistake led to me being switched with Brooke Sutton.

A cliché 'real vs. fake daughter' drama.

Brooke was raised in the wealthy Sutton family, a spoiled little princess.

Skylar, meanwhile, was taken back to a cramped apartment by Amelia Reed, who had given birth alone.

Amelia’s husband died in a construction accident when Skylar was five.

Because the contractor and the boss shifted blame, they only received meager compensation.

The mother and daughter relied on Amelia working odd jobs.

Skylar grew up in poverty and low self-esteem until she was seventeen.

That's when the Sutton family showed up.

The original Skylar, tired of her poor and insecure life, decisively followed them back to the Suttons.

Amelia, the foster mother, had come to the door to protest.

But neither her biological nor her adopted daughter wanted to return with her.

She finally left in solitude.

She didn't take a penny of the massive compensation the Suttons offered.

The original Skylar was only home for half a year, clashing constantly with Brooke.

Skylar always lost.

She ended up being kicked out of the house.

"We're home. It'll just be the two of us again. They don't want you, but Mom wants you."

I looked up and saw the gentleness in Amelia's eyes.

Actually, the situation wasn't so bad.