Chapter 1

The city’s wealthiest billionaire lost his daughter. To cope with the grief, he decided to adopt an orphan girl of the exact same age from our shelter.

I bore the closest resemblance to his deceased daughter, and we even shared the exact same birthday. Yet it wasn't until my third lifetime that this "golden ticket" finally fell into my lap.

The billionaire treated me like royalty, pampering me like a true princess.

I was over the moon, believing I had hit the jackpot and would live in luxury for the rest of my days. But then, the nightmare struck.

On the night of my eighteenth birthday, he stabbed me seventy-seven times. With every plunge of the blade, he screamed like a madman:

"It’s not you! It was never you!"

"What makes you think you have the right to take my daughter's place? Die! Just die..."

When I opened my eyes again, the billionaire was back at the shelter, looking for a girl to adopt.

Chloe, the resident bully who had aggressively snatched the spot in the first timeline, was trembling violently:

"I’m not going! On my eighteenth birthday, he drained every drop of my blood and turned me into a mummified corpse!"

Mia, the manipulative snitch who had schemes her way into his luxury car in the second timeline, burst into tears:

"I won’t go either! On my eighteenth birthday, he pushed me off a thousand-foot skyscraper. I was smashed into red pulp on the pavement!"

I had just regained my senses from the agonizing terror of death:

"Wait a minute! There are only three girls our age in this entire shelter. Who the hell is he actually trying to adopt?"

Alexander, the billionaire’s son, was running out of patience. He snapped at us to hurry up and choose one person to go with him.

Seeing all three of us trembling, plastered with sheer reluctance, Alexander sneered with a cold, disgusted face:

"Ungrateful wretches. Wealth and luxury are knocking at your door, and none of you want it?"

"Ever since my sister died of that terrible illness, my father has been desperately searching for someone to fill the empty hole in his chest. And according to Master Lee, a renowned spiritual psychic, that person is definitely from this shelter—someone who shares my sister's birth date."

"Make up your minds already! Whoever leaves with me gets my father's undivided love and a life of pure luxury as an heiress."

Chloe, who was standing right at the front, instantly took a step back. Her whole body shook like a leaf. "I... I can't. I'm loud, violent, and ill-tempered. Mr. Vance would absolutely hate me!"

Mia was just as firm in her refusal: "I’m even worse! I'm sneaky, manipulative, and I play dirty to get what I want. I have zero class. I'd embarrass the family."

Alexander’s gaze slowly shifted toward me. Goosebumps erupted all over my skin.

Don't look at me!

I had the most gruesome death of all!

Yet Alexander was clearly most interested in me: "You look the most like my sister. The moment my dad sees you, he'll cherish you like his own flesh and blood."

Cherish my foot!

In my third lifetime, I actually fell for his bullshit. On top of that, Chloe and Mia had already suffered their horrific deaths and pushed me forward, convinced that I was the one the billionaire had truly been looking for all along. So, I happily followed him home.

And what did I get? On the day of my eighteenth birthday, I was pumped full of adrenaline and stabbed seventy-seven times. I couldn't even pass out from the pain.

That sheer agony—wishing for death while being kept awake to feel every agonizing slice—was something I refused to live through a second time!

Gritting my teeth, I decided to play crazy. I started throwing a wild tantrum, screaming and wailing on the floor, flatly refusing to leave with him.

Alexander's patience finally snapped. He glared at us with icy disdain and threw down an ultimatum: "Stupid, ungrateful trash. You have two days to think it over. If you still can't pick one person, then all three of you are coming with me. The Vance family doesn't mind feeding a few extra mouths."

The second Alexander walked out, all three of us let out a collective sigh of relief.

Even though Chloe had bullied me relentlessly, and Mia had made a hobby out of scheming against me, our lives were on the line. I had no choice but to form an alliance with my two worst enemies so we could carefully piece together what went wrong.

Chloe was the first to speak. "I've always been loud and energetic. Alexander told me my personality was just like his late sister's. So, I deliberately copied the dead girl's habits, and the old man spoiled me rotten for years."

"But on my eighteenth birthday, he drugged my drink, slit my wrists, and bled me dry. All while screaming like a complete psycho with bloodshot eyes, raving that I wasn't the one he was looking for, that I was an imposter stealing his daughter's place. He turned my body into a dried-up mummy!"

Mia chimed in next: "Then came my turn in the second life. I learned from her mistake and thought copying the dead girl made him sick of her. So I avoided all of her habits and poured all my energy into kissing his ass."

"Up until my eighteenth birthday, he adored me too. I honestly thought I'd cracked the code! But then he took me to the roof of a thousand-foot skyscraper and tossed me off. I hit the concrete and exploded into minced meat! Right before he pushed me, he said the exact same thing: that I wasn't the one, and that I didn't deserve to replace his daughter!"

Then, both Chloe and Mia turned their eyes to me.

"Lynn, why did you fail too?"

"You look practically identical to that dead girl!"

I shook my head, feeling totally helpless.

"Yeah, and I got the most horrific death of all!"