Valery 2

Valery stood in front of the mirror for several minutes.

She wasn't scared.

Nor confused.

Her mind, trained over years of analyzing complex information, had begun working almost immediately.

In her first life, she had been a stock exchange analyst. Her job consisted of observing data, organizing variables, and making swift decisions before the market shifted.

And now she was doing exactly the same thing.

Only the information in front of her wasn't charts and numbers.

It was her new life.

She sat down slowly at the vanity and rested her hands on the table.

"All right... Let's think."

First, the basic situation.

She had died.

That was already an established fact.

And now she had been reborn in the body of Valery Johnson, the protagonist of the audiobook she had been listening to just before the accident.

That meant the story she had heard... was, in some form, her future.

Or at least the fate that awaited her if she did nothing.

Valery closed her eyes for a moment and began organizing the information as if she were putting together a report.

Point number one.

She was already of legal age.

The story had clearly mentioned that Valery's parents had left assets before they died. Among them, a property.

A mansion.

It wasn't as large or as prestigious as the Field estate, but it was hers.

That meant something very important.

She wasn't obligated to live here.

She could leave.

Valery frowned slightly.

"Then... why didn't she?" she murmured.

She couldn't understand why the original Valery had never left this house.

Maybe it was gratitude toward the Fields.

Maybe because she had grown up here.

Maybe...

Because she was too deeply in love with Eric.

Valery sighed softly.

"Foolish girl."

She didn't say it cruelly -- more with a kind of resignation.

The Valery from the audiobook had been a kind, grateful, loyal girl.

But she had also been far too emotionally dependent.

She had spent years living in a house where the man she loved paraded another woman around as his fiancee... while she stayed nearby, suffering in silence.

Valery opened her eyes again.

Her gaze turned resolute.

"I'm not going to do that."

She stood up and began pacing the room slowly.

There were more things to consider.

At this point in the story, Eric had just announced his engagement.

That meant there was still time.

Time before many of the unpleasant episodes she remembered from the audiobook came to pass.

For instance...

She hadn't yet met Lady Rachel Mason.

Eric's fiancee.

Valery recalled the way the narration had described that woman.

Elegant.

Well-mannered in front of others.

But cruel to her when they were alone.

Rachel had quickly noticed that Valery was in love with Eric.

And she had enjoyed humiliating her for it.

Petty mockery.

Poisonous remarks.

Cruel insinuations.

Valery crossed her arms.

"It would be better never to meet her at all."

If she left soon...

Rachel Mason would never get the chance to turn her life into a nightmare.

But there was something else.

Something that made the anger build slowly in her chest.

Eric.

Valery pressed her lips together slightly.

Of all the characters in that story... he was the one who irritated her the most.

Because she was almost certain of something.

Eric knew that Valery loved him.

She couldn't believe he was naive enough not to notice.

They had grown up together.

He had watched the way she followed him around as a child.

The way she looked at him.

The way she worried about him.

It was impossible that he didn't know.

And yet...

He had kept her close.

The audiobook's narration mentioned many uncomfortable scenes.

Moments when Eric seemed to watch her in silence.

When she bathed in the tub in her room.

When she slept in her bed with her hair tousled.

Long gazes.

Far too long.

But during the day...

Eric walked proudly beside his fiancee.

Presenting her to everyone.

While keeping Valery at his side as though she were part of the house.

As though she were... a possession of the Field family.

Valery felt something inside her chest tighten.

"What a selfish man..."

Maybe Eric did feel something for her.

The audiobook hinted at moments of doubt in him.

But if he truly cared about her...

Why did he never let her go?

Why wouldn't he allow her to build her own life?

Every time Valery tried to bring up leaving, he stopped her.

"The Field family will always take care of you."

Valery let out a short, humorless laugh.

"Right."

It wasn't care.

It was control.

He was keeping her close while he lived his life with another woman.

And that was something she refused to accept.

Valery approached the mirror once more.

She studied the young face that now belonged to her.

Her green eyes blazed with determination.

"Getting away from that bastard..."

She murmured the words calmly.

"That's the first step."

Her mind was already working on the next moves.

First, she needed to confirm the legal status of the property her parents had left her.

Then prepare her departure.

And finally...

Leave the Field estate.

Before the story began to repeat itself.

Before Rachel Mason appeared.

Before Eric could trap her in that life of suffering again.

Valery squared her shoulders.

She had already lived an entire life before this one.

She had learned to make difficult decisions.

And this one would be no different.

This time...

She would choose her own destiny.

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