My cousin, Monica Newman, turned down a blind date with a rich guy and insisted on marrying a broke kid instead.

She begged me to steal her papers from my aunt so that she could get her way, yet two years after the wedding, she ended up killing me.

She said it was all my fault that she had married an average guy and spent every day stressing about money.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the same day Monica was to meet that rich guy for the blind date.

This time, I told her, "How do you know he's wrong for you if you won't even give him a try?"

Since she blamed me for ruining her dream of marrying into money in my last life, this time, I would give her exactly what she wanted.

The cold knife sank into my body, and I collapsed at my cousin Monica Newman's feet.

Blood kept pouring out of me, soaking through the carpet.

Even as I died, I couldn't understand it. She was the one who had begged me over and over to steal her papers from her mother so that she could get married.

Yet now that her life wasn't as comfortable as she had hoped, she blamed everything on me, claiming that I had pushed her into getting married.

As my body grew colder and colder, Monica's cruel curses faded along with my breath.

When I opened my eyes again, every memory from my death rushed back into my mind.

Monica, the person I had once treated like family but had ended up killing me, was sitting right in front of me.

I had been reborn.

And just like in my previous life, once Monica's mother, Lorelei Newman, found out that she had secretly been dating a guy from a modest background, she immediately set up a blind date out of anger.

Monica was beautiful, and she had become a model after graduating from the arts academy.

At every family gathering, relatives would always say to Aunt Lorelei, "Monica is so gorgeous. She's definitely going to marry into a wealthy family someday."

Aunt Lorelei would act humble on the outside, but she was thrilled on the inside.

Monica and I had grown up together, and there were always boys hovering around her.

Once she got into the arts academy, the boyfriends she dated were all ridiculously handsome.

This boyfriend was no exception.

He was also a model, just like her.

"What's the use of being handsome? He can't even afford to buy a home for you to live in after you get married. Are you planning to spend your whole life paying off a mortgage with him?"

Every word out of Aunt Lorelei's mouth was filled with criticism.

Monica snapped back, "So what?! The guy you picked is nothing but rich. He's so greasy-looking that he makes my stomach turn."

Then she suddenly turned to me and said, "Right, Tabitha?"

I remembered this scene from my past life. She had asked me the exact same question.

Back then, I didn't even think before taking her side, and soon after that, I had helped her steal her papers from Aunt Lorelei so that she could get married.

She had said love shouldn't be chained down by money, so she had marched straight ahead and tied the knot.

Even though they had made some money working as models, the job was unstable.

The mortgage, the car loan, and all the household expenses piled up way faster than they could keep up.

As she watched her friends marrying into comfortable families, living in big houses, and driving nice cars, jealousy ate away at her until every argument about money turned into a full-blown fight.

Two years into the marriage, she finally exploded. And somehow, she decided every bit of it was my fault.

She blamed me for not convincing her to go to the blind date. She blamed me for stealing her papers for her, ruining her chance to marry rich.

She said every miserable thing in her life was because of me.

So, she had stabbed me to death to release her anger.

Thinking about all this, I pulled myself together and said earnestly, "Monica, Aunt Lorelei just wants you to have a better life. She would never hurt you."

Aunt Lorelei looked at me proudly. "See? At least Tabitha uses her head. You're the only silly one here. If you don't marry someone who can provide for you, you'll be the one suffering later."

Then Aunt Lorelei went on and on, introducing the blind date.

Monica didn't say a word, but I could tell she was already starting to waver.

Since Monica had blamed me in my last life for ruining her chance to marry into money, this time, I would help her get exactly what she wanted.

I was curious to see whether being a rich wife was truly as wonderful as they made it out to be.

The day after we talked, Monica went on the blind date Aunt Lorelei had arranged with that rich guy, Howard Sharp.

Over the next month, Howard showed up in front of her nonstop, showering her with flowers, gifts, and luxury items.

Wrapped up in all that money and attention, Monica forgot the good-looking boyfriend she had once sworn to marry no matter what.

She turned around and had a whirlwind wedding with the rich guy, successfully marrying into a wealthy family.

After the wedding, her social media feed was full of selfies and luxury items.

Her captions were always things like "New purse from Hubby", "Howard bought me this outfit", and "My husband surprised me with a new car".

She basically mentioned Howard in every sentence, but he never appeared in a single photo.

She was still the Monica I remembered.

Monica had loved makeup and fashion since high school, even though her allowance could never cover those things.

We went to the same school, so she always borrowed money from me.

I didn't have much allowance either, but she kept asking, so I kept giving in and lending it to her.

She was quite popular at school, and almost every guy who chased her was handsome.

She definitely cared about looks, so her boyfriends were always the best-looking ones.

Now, she was enjoying the comfortable life her rich husband provided, but she also had to stare at a face she couldn't stand every single day.

I wondered if she was truly happy living like that.

The next time I saw Monica was during Christmas, when we visited Grandma's house.

She had only been married for about three months, yet she came back alone for her first Christmas as a married woman.

Naturally, the relatives got curious and started gossiping.

But their curiosity disappeared the moment they saw all the gifts Monica had brought.

The elders beamed as they admired the fur coats, jewelry, and expensive wine and tea.

They all praised Monica for being thoughtful, generous, and grateful, saying she had married well but still cared about her family.

Monica just smiled at them without saying much.

She smiled on the surface, but I still caught the flicker of disappointment in her eyes.

Aunt Lorelei was proudly bragging beside her. "It's all thanks to my son-in-law, Howard. He treats Monica so well. Even though he couldn't make it today, he still sent gifts."

Then she held up her own purse to show everyone, saying it was a Christmas present from Howard.

It was a Louis Vuitton designer bag worth several thousand dollars.

Grandma didn't know brand names. She just stared at it and said, "Is this bag really that pricey? It looks like the same kind Tabitha carries."

I was on my phone nearby, and once Grandma said that, everyone turned their heads toward me.

Aunt Lorelei came over, picked up my purse, and examined it closely in surprise. "This bag isn't cheap. Tabitha, did you secretly start dating someone?"

I calmly took my purse back. "Nope. I'm single. I bought it myself."

Sometimes, I truly wondered how Aunt Lorelei's mind worked.

Did she really believe a woman could only meet her material needs through a man?

I worked at a major company. I wasn't making a million dollars a year like the top executives, but I still made at least 100 thousand.

In my last life, after Monica and her boyfriend had gotten married, they borrowed quite a bit of money from me because they were always struggling financially.

I felt sorry for her because I remembered how Uncle Johnny had passed away in an accident years ago and how hard life had been for Aunt Lorelei and Monica ever since.

So, I always felt that as sisters, I should help whenever I could.

But I did not expect that she would never pay me back.

Aunt Lorelei looked surprised, clearly not convinced I could afford a designer brand with my salary. "I know you young people love buying labels to keep up appearances, but that's not a smart move for the long term.

"You'll be 26 next year. Honestly, you should find a wealthy guy just like Monica did. Then you could just ask for the things you would've needed to spend a few months' salary to buy."

I didn't respond, and the atmosphere grew awkward.

My other aunt, Karen Hall, quickly stepped in to smooth things over. "I think Monica and Tabitha are both great. One is married well, and the other has a good job. The only one struggling is my son. He's almost 30, but his job is average, and he still doesn't have a girlfriend…"

Aunt Lorelei took the bait and immediately switched her attention to setting my cousin up.

I looked at Monica, who was sitting beside us. She still hadn't said a word, and her expression hadn't changed at all.

My instincts told me something was off about her.

Ever since Monica had gotten married, the family group chat had been livelier than ever.

Every few days, Aunt Lorelei would send updates about the new gifts Monica and Howard had bought for her.

Whenever she posted, relatives would flood the chat, saying how lucky she was and how thoughtful and capable Monica and Howard were.

Aunt Lorelei never got tired of showing it off.

But then I suddenly realized she hadn't mentioned anything about Monica's job in a long time.

Back when Monica worked as a model, every runway show and photoshoot was posted in the family chat without fail.

Later, when relatives asked about her work, Aunt Lorelei finally said, "Howard felt bad that she was working so hard, so he told her to quit and stay home. They're not short on money, anyway."

One evening after work, I stepped out of the elevator and ran right into Monica.

I instinctively stepped back, feeling guarded.

After all, she had killed me in my previous life. Being alone with her still made my heart jump.

Before I could say anything, she rushed over and hugged me. "Tabitha, what am I supposed to do?!

"Howard cheated on me! He thought I was fooling around with someone before, so he forced me to quit my job. But all this time, he was the one sneaking off to a hotel with someone else…"

Monica cried hysterically while accusing her husband of cheating. She was sobbing so hard that her voice nearly broke.

She talked and talked, but I said nothing.

When she didn't get the comfort she expected, she finally asked, puzzled, "Why aren't you saying anything?"

Her confusion made sense. In the past, I would have been cursing him out with her.

I stared at her expressionlessly. "This is the life you chose, isn't it?"

I had wanted to say this in my last life, but by then, I was already bleeding out.

"It's all my mom's fault. If she hadn't forced that blind date on me and pushed me to marry him, I wouldn't be suffering like this."

She was still the same as before. Whenever her choice didn't turn out the way she wanted, she blamed everyone but herself.

If she hadn't been tempted by money in the first place, Aunt Lorelei wouldn't have been able to force her into anything.

A moment later, someone pounded on the door urgently.

I already knew it had to be Aunt Lorelei, so before Monica could stop me, I went and opened the door.

Sure enough, the moment the door cracked open, I heard Aunt Lorelei shouting, "Monica, have you lost your mind? Talking about divorce over something this small?!"