Reborn To Reject My Regretful Mate For The King Chapter 01
Ever since we were children, my brother Adrian has had prophetic dreams.
When he was ten, he dreamed I would become the mate of my childhood sweetheart, Julian, and live a long, happy life.
My younger sister, Evelyn, however, would be sent north to marry a man with crippled legs. She would be caught in a rebellion that swept through the kingdom, and there wouldn’t be enough of her left to bury.
From that day forward, anything good Adrian got his hands on went to Evelyn first.
By the time we were adults, even my engagement had become a bargaining chip to protect her.
“You’re both my sisters,” he’d said. “I have to be fair.”
He sealed two metal rods of different lengths inside identical black tubes and made Evelyn and me draw for it.
Whoever drew the longer one would marry Julian.
I refused and went straight to Julian.
When Julian learned the truth, he nearly came to blows with Adrian.
“You’ll sacrifice Camille just to save Evelyn?”
That was the final break between Adrian and me.
But in the third year of my marriage, Evelyn still ended up marrying that crippled man—and dying in the rebellion.
Not long after her death, I was kidnapped by a group of rogues.
Adrian saw them take me, clear as day, yet he refused to tell Julian which way they had gone.
Julian and the Greymoor Pack Guards searched all night before they finally rescued me.
But when the rogues attacked again, he died protecting me.
In his last moments, he wouldn’t even look at me.
“Camille, I regret it.”
“If Evelyn had been the one to marry me… would things have turned out differently?”
Only then did I understand. He had always carried the guilt of Evelyn’s death.
He believed that by choosing me, he had stolen her only chance at survival.
So when I opened my eyes again and found myself back on the day of the drawing, I didn’t hesitate. I snatched one of the tubes from Adrian’s hand.
…
As I expected, it was the short one.
“Whoever draws the long rod registers their marriage to Julian. Whoever draws the short one—”
Adrian broke off, his eyes fixed on the open tube in my hand.
He froze.
Evelyn reached for the remaining tube, but he jerked his hand back, slipping it into the inner pocket of his suit jacket.
“Camille drew the short one.” He wouldn’t meet my eyes, his face a mask of false regret. “Well, that settles it.”
Evelyn looked at me, the joy in her eyes barely contained.
I smiled right back.
“Then the engagement to Julian is Evelyn’s.”
My name is Camille Parker.
Adrian Parker and Evelyn Parker are the only family I have left in this world.
After our parents died in a car accident near the border, the three of us grew up together. As our guardian, Adrian controlled our parents’ trust, their herbal medicine company, and by extension, our entire lives.
I knew exactly why Evelyn pretended not to see him cheating me.
And I knew exactly why Adrian had dared to let me draw first.
He declared mine the shorter rod without even looking at the other one.
The whole thing was a setup.
In my last life, the moment I saw through his plan, I’d made a scene and run to find Julian.
Julian fought for me and won back our engagement.
But in the end, what did it change?
He died for me, and with his last breath, he regretted it.
This time, I wasn’t going to fight for him.
Adrian took a step closer, studying my expression.
“Camille, you drew it yourself. Don’t accuse me of favoritism later.”
I stepped back, putting more distance between us.
“You’re right. I’m going to my room.”
He looked like he had a whole speech prepared, but my quiet acceptance left him speechless.
I turned and walked out of the living room.
I had barely reached the hall when a man in a Greymoor Pack Guard uniform strode in.
Julian Hart stopped dead the instant he saw me.
He was the captain of the Greymoor Pack Guard—and the man I had loved since I was a girl. We’d already set a date. All that was left was to make it official and have the ceremony.
Adrian came up behind me.
“Julian, what brings you here?”
Julian didn’t answer.
He just stared, his eyes searching mine, waiting for a sign only we would understand.
In that moment, I knew.
He had come back, too.
On this day in my last life, he had never set foot in our house.
Adrian glanced at me, then slung an arm over Julian’s shoulder and steered him toward the study.
Julian kept looking back at me as Adrian led him away.
I didn’t call out to him.
Back in my room, I pulled out a suitcase and started packing.
There was pitifully little that actually belonged to me.
Twelve years ago, Adrian had his first dream of Evelyn’s gruesome death. From that day on, every gift he brought back from business trips, every piece of jewelry bought with company dividends, went straight into Evelyn’s closet.
I worked as a healer’s assistant at the pack clinic, but Adrian took every cent I earned, claiming it was for the “family trust.” In reality, he spent it all on Evelyn.
I had resisted once.
That time, he revoked all my house privileges and locked me in the underground storage room, where there was no phone signal.
“You’re jealous of your sister. You need to cool off for a few days.”
“When you admit you were wrong, I’ll let you out.”
I starved until I could barely stand.
In the end, Julian was the one who noticed I was missing from the clinic. He climbed the backyard fence, smashed the small storage room window, and passed me food and water.
After Julian died in my last life, his mother told me, “He only lost his temper twice in his life because of you.”
The first was when he smashed the window to your family’s house.
The second was before your wedding, when he fought Adrian to keep him from sacrificing you.
She told me Julian had loved me more than anything.
Years after we were married, we still had no children. More than once, she suggested Julian end our marriage and find another mate who could give him heirs.
He refused every time.
He’d said, “Camille is the only mate I will ever choose.”
But I could never forget his dying words.
“Evelyn is too fragile. You’re stronger than she is. If you’d been the one to marry that man, maybe both of you would have survived.”
How absurd.
When you truly love someone, you can’t stand the thought of them being in danger.
How could my strength be a reason to send me to my death?
And yet, Julian had died for me.
This time, since he regretted our marriage, I would give him back his freedom.
And I would repay the life I owed him.
I was only halfway through packing when someone knocked on the door.
“Camille? I picked out dresses for you and Evelyn. Want to try yours on?”