Reborn: I Quit Fighting Aging to Ruin Her Chapter 02

Reborn: I Quit Fighting Aging to Ruin Her Chapter 02 The Serum Was the Key
I ripped the cloth off the mirror and stared at my ravaged face—nails biting into my palms.
From my phone, Aria’s saccharine voice oozed through the speaker.
The comments were still eating it up. “Naturally gorgeous!”
Only I knew the truth.
That bitch was draining me!
But why? I’d stopped everything—no skincare, no treatments. I’d been actively destroying my face, speeding up the decay.
And she was fine? Not a single crack?
Could the system really just take from me and give to her with zero cost?
Despair crashed back like a wave. So did the phantom pain of that fall—the impact, the dark.
No. Not again.
I, Sophie Bennett, wasn’t going to be anyone’s sacrifice a second time.
Since I, her top supporter had gone dark, Aria ended the stream early.
The doorbell rang not long after.
I heard them outside—Aria and Eliot, calling my name.
I didn’t answer. I crept to the door and peered through the peephole.
My blood boiled.
Aria was pressed against Eliot’s chest, their mouths locked in a greedy, shameless kiss—both of them glowing with the thrill of getting away with something.
They’d been at it this early?
In my last life, I was blind to the very end. And that bastard Eliot had even tricked me into signing over my assets before I died.
Rage shot through me, hot and violent. I forced it down.
Just as Eliot reached for the doorbell again, I yanked the door open.
They nearly jumped out of their skin. Guilt was written all over their faces.
“Sophie! What took you so long? What were you doing?”
I answered Aria’s probing with a flat, dead voice.
Eliot, seeing I hadn’t caught them, relaxed visibly. Then his tone turned sour.
“It’s only been a few days. How are you already this old?”
The barely suppressed smirk on Aria’s lips was almost too much to stomach.
I gave him a cold look. “Work’s been brutal. All-nighters every night.”
“So… what do you two want?”
My clipped tone threw Eliot off—but he wrote it off as work stress.
“Aria was worried. She dragged me over to check on you. And you can’t even offer her a glass of water?”
I almost laughed.
Every word out of his mouth was singing her praises. Anyone would think he was her boyfriend.
I couldn’t stand the performance anymore. I just wanted them gone.
So I told them to leave—bluntly.
Eliot was more than happy to leave. But Aria blocked the door with a mask of concern.
“Sophie, you look so tired. It breaks my heart. I brought you this—a top‑of‑the‑line serum. Works wonders.”
She pressed a small bottle into my hand.
I barely glanced at it before tossing it onto the shoe cabinet and shutting the door.
I turned to walk back inside.
And stopped.
My eyes snagged on that little bottle.
Wait.
My last life… she’d given me the exact same serum.
Back then, I was desperate. I lathered it on daily, treating it like a lifeline.
At first, it seemed to help. The burning eased.
And after I came back this time… I’d used it once. Out of habit.
Could it be…?
A slow, cold smile spread across my face.
Aria. I think I finally understand.
This time, the rules are going to change.