Lament for My First Life

They called it an accident.
The darkness that devoured her home, the tragedy that took her parents - all wrapped in whispered pity and silent relief. But for the young daughter left behind, it was the beginning of her descent into hell.

Adopted by distant relatives who wore kindness like masks, she grew up as little more than a shadow within their house - unloved, unwanted, unseen. Her stepmother's hatred was venomous, her stepsister's laughter cruel. Denied an education, denied affection, she learned to survive on silence and obedience.

Then came the Duke - handsome, powerful, the man promised to her stepsister. When his eyes strayed toward the forgotten girl, admiration blooming where disgust should have lived, the family's hatred ignited into something fatal. They killed her quietly, as if snuffing out a candle no one would miss.

But death did not take her.

She awoke again - in the body of her seven-year-old self, the day after the tragic accident that destroyed her family. Time had folded backward, granting her a cruel gift: memory.

This time, she will not weep.
This time, she will not kneel.
With the knowledge of every betrayal and every grave that waits for her, she will twist fate itself - and turn the game that once destroyed her into her masterpiece.