The Neglected Heiress: Now Watch Me Rule

“In my past life, I spent twenty years breaking my bones just to earn a single scrap of my father's approval. I gave my brother the military strategies that bought his captaincy, and accepted a hollow betrothal to a noble heir to secure the Kowalski family's power. But when the vampire legions shattered the border, my family volunteered me as a sacrifice. They shipped me to the front lines in an unarmored wagon, telling the imperial court I wanted to be a martyr. I fought with broken blades until my palms were shredded to the bone, desperately waiting for my brother Dominic's cavalry to relieve the gatehouse. When he finally walked into the blood-soaked courtyard, his sword was perfectly clean. "Your death is worth far more to the Kowalski name than your life ever was, little sister," he smiled. Then, he drove a dragonblood spike straight through my chest. As I burned to ash from the inside out, I realized my half-sister had planned to steal my fiancé all along, and my father had traded my corpse for a political seat. I had worked like a pack mule for a family that viewed me as nothing but disposable cattle. Opening my eyes, the phantom pain vanished, replaced by the smell of oiled leather and old parchment. I was back in the twentieth year of my life, sitting in the mediation chamber for my parents' divorce. "Sign the document, Arlene," my father barked, expecting me to pledge my loyalty to his household once again. I didn't lower my head to beg this time. I leaned back in my chair, looked him dead in the eye, and chose my mother.”