Chapter 1Reborn as the Villainess

The night Joseph Merton was crowned the youngest astrophysicist of his generation, he didn’t give an acceptance speech.

Instead, he confessed his love to a girl named Clara Leigh.

“There are only two constants in my universe,” he said. “Physics, and her.”

But for me, the girl in question, the grand declaration barely stirred a ripple in my heart.

I booked a flight to another country, planning to never see him again.

No one knew that this was my fifth life.

It was the fifth time I had heard his confession, and the fourth time I had lived through his betrayal.

This time, I decided to push him toward the woman destined to be the true love of his life—the one who wasn’t supposed to appear for another three years.

* * *

Crystal chandeliers cast a brilliant, fractured light across the hall. The red carpet stretched out before me, flanked by opulent bouquets of flowers.

At the center of the stage, Joseph’s eyes were shining with an adoration I knew all too well.

“Clara,” he began, his voice amplified throughout the grand hall, “the atoms of the universe are never truly destroyed. And we… we will be together for eternity.”

The room erupted. Thunderous applause and envious gazes crashed over me in a wave. I forced the corners of my mouth into a smile, but my expression felt like a mask of ice.

Across the sea of people, Joseph’s gaze was a tender caress. He grinned and raised his award toward me. “I want to share this honor with you. Not just for this moment, but for the rest of our lives.”

He was radiant, a man at the pinnacle of his world. He moved through the clamoring crowd, his eyes locked on mine.

“I love you,” he murmured, his voice finally close enough for only me to hear.

I flinched, taking an involuntary step back.

In my mind, a chorus of ghosts began to speak.

The first Joseph: “I’ve fallen in love with her. Clara, thank you for everything.”

The second Joseph: “I’m sorry. Ava needs me.”

The Joseph standing before me now reached out, pulling me into a hug that felt like a cage. “Marry me,” he whispered against my hair.

The third Joseph: He shoved me away, his face a mask of cold fury. “Let’s get a divorce.”

A tremor ran through me, and I wrenched myself from his embrace.

“If I say yes,” I began, my voice hollow, “you’ll only end up hating me for it.”

He mistook my words for a test of his resolve. His gaze burned with intensity. “Clara, for the rest of my life, I will only be captivated by you.”

But just a minute ago, in a life that had ended in a sterile hospital room, the fourth Joseph had told me with chilling finality: “Clara, I’m done with you. If there’s a next life, I only want to love Ava.”

The people around us began to chant, their voices blurring together. “Say yes! Say yes! Say yes!”

Joseph’s tall frame slowly lowered before me, his left knee touching the ground. “This is the most important question I will ever ask.” He looked nervous, his hand trembling slightly as he pulled out a ring box. “Will you marry me?”

“Please, just let me go, will you?” a different Joseph, from a different lifetime, had once begged me.

But not yet. We hadn't reached that point yet, where we would claw at each other like mortal enemies, our faces twisted with hate. Right now, we were still the golden couple, the envy of our circle.

Our last breakup deserved to be a clean one.

My face was a numb mask as I gave a stiff nod. “I will.”

I had answered him with sincerity four times before. I had fought with every fiber of my being to hold onto the genuine love he felt in this exact moment.

But every single time, I had failed, my efforts ending in tragedy, only to be reborn at this same starting line.

I was tired. I didn’t want to walk that path again.

Joseph carefully slid the ring onto my finger, a triumphant smile spreading across his face. A tide of affection rose in his amber eyes. But when he looked up, he met my gaze, and it was the gaze of a complete stranger.

The moment our eyes met, his breath hitched, almost imperceptibly.