Rebirth of the Abandoned Heiress

The scent of antiseptic hung heavy in the air. It was cold, the kind of deep chill that settled in your bones.

Jiang Ruo lay in the hospital bed, the world outside a blur of rain and distant sirens. Headlines flashed behind her eyelids, each word a cruel twist of the knife.

'Villainess.' 'Criminal.' 'Crushed.'

No one came. Not her 'friends,' not her family (they were gone), and especially not him.

Gu Yichen.

She remembered his final look, the sheer disgust as he walked past without a glance. Why didn't you ever look at me? The thought was a silent scream.

And then, the stark white of the hospital room dissolved into soft sunlight. The smell of antiseptic was replaced by the faint scent of pop idol posters and almond cookies. Her heart hammered against her ribs, a frantic bird in a cage. The date on her phone glowed: her second year of college. The year it all began.

She was alive. Reborn. Not into a new life, but into the moment before her downfall.

This time, it would be different.