Chapter 1

My fiancé, Cassian, had prosopagnosia. He was always confusing me with my older sister, Seraphina.

When I won the New York Youth Poetry Competition, he handed the bouquet to Seraphina instead. “I knew you had it in you. You’re brilliant.”

When Seraphina shattered a six-figure antique wineglass at a Blackwood Foundation gala, he stepped in front of her. “It was Elowen. She’s always been clumsy and ignorant. She has no idea how to behave in decent company.”

Countless times, I grabbed his sleeve and forced him to look me in the eyes. “Cassian, look carefully. I’m Elowen.”

Eventually, I stopped wearing the red dresses Seraphina loved and gave up the pearls she favored. I replaced everything in my closet with shades of slate blue and forest green. I even styled my hair in ways she hated.

But he still mistook me for her.

Even on the day we were both getting married, he left with the wrong bride.

In my last life, I slit my wrist outside the Vale residence because I was desperate to marry him. I forced my mother to cancel Seraphina’s family-arranged engagement to Adrian Blackwood. In the end, I moved into a house Cassian bought in the suburbs and became the mistress he kept hidden from the world.

Then I hemorrhaged during childbirth at a private hospital. Seraphina had been admitted to the same hospital with abdominal pain, and Cassian mistook her for me, directing the emergency team to her room first.

By the time a nurse realized the medical chart did not match the patient’s wristband, it was too late to save me. My baby died too.

As I lay dying, he stood beside my bed and looked at me without a trace of warmth.

“If there is a next life, stay out of my relationship with Seraphina. Then I won’t have to spend years pretending I can’t recognize faces.”

When I opened my eyes again, it was my wedding day.

Once again, Cassian had driven away with Seraphina. Adrian’s car was already waiting outside, and the Vale household was in chaos. No one dared admit that the bride named in the marriage agreement had disappeared.

I opened the door.

“I’ll marry him.”

...

The room fell silent.

My mother recovered first. Her shoulders visibly relaxed.

“You’ve finally come to your senses. Adrian has a terrible reputation, but the Blackwoods control banks, energy companies, and media outlets, and he alone runs the entire group. Marry him, and you’ll never want for money again.”

In my last life, she had said the same thing after we discovered Cassian had taken the wrong bride.

Everyone in New York’s business world knew Adrian was ruthless. Partners who betrayed him either went bankrupt or never secured another deal.

They could not bear to make the delicate Seraphina marry a man like him, so they let Cassian “mistake” her for me.

My mother straightened my veil and regained her composure.

“Don’t blame Seraphina. Cassian’s condition acted up, and he took the wrong woman at the wedding. No one wanted this to happen.”

“Besides, she has given you an excellent match. You should be grateful to her.”

I almost laughed.

Only an hour earlier, I had overheard Cassian and Seraphina talking.

“Adrian drove a rival to suicide during that Eastern European acquisition. You’re too fragile to handle a man like him.”

“The engagement is already public. If the Vales back out now, they’ll go bankrupt. I’ll pretend I mistook you for Elowen and take you to the St. Margaret Hotel. Once we register our marriage, Adrian won’t be able to force you to honor the original agreement.”

Seraphina sniffled. “What about Elowen? She won’t actually marry Adrian in my place, will she?”

Cassian was quiet for a moment before giving a confident laugh.

“She won’t. She said she would never marry anyone but me. Once she realizes I left with you, she’ll probably tear the whole house apart.”

“Your mother will stop her too.”

“Once her arrangement with Adrian is void, I’ll buy her an apartment. She loves me so much she won’t care that she can never be my legal wife.”

In my last life, I had been so excited to marry Cassian that I did not realize his car was missing until the ceremony was about to begin.

I already knew the truth, but hearing it again still hurt.

What shocked me more was that my mother had known from the beginning.

I looked at her. “If you knew Cassian took the wrong woman, why didn’t you stop the car? Why did you wait for me to clean up the mess?”

Her head snapped up, panic flashing in her eyes.

“What are you talking about?”

Then her expression hardened.

“This marriage is tied to two billion dollars in financing. If no one marries into the Blackwood family today, Vale Group’s stock will be suspended tomorrow morning. If you make trouble, you’ll only hurt Seraphina, Cassian, and your father.”

She had thought of everyone.

Everyone except me.

In my last life, I had used my life to stop the wedding, and Blackwood Group immediately withdrew its financing. Adrian later called off his retaliation, saving Vale Group from bankruptcy, but my mother locked me away for three months.

She confiscated my phone and bank cards and told the public that I was mentally ill. Three months later, Cassian sent an assistant to take me to the house in the suburbs. He did not even show his face.

I did not learn until I was dying that his supposed prosopagnosia had been a lie from the beginning.

I looked at my mother and nodded calmly.

“You don’t need to worry.”

“I’m willing to marry Adrian.”