I was reborn along with Arthur, but he had no idea. He thought I was still the same love-struck, delusional girl from our past life. The girl who provided him with the best of everything, sent him to the finest university, and supported his startup even if it meant driving my own family into bankruptcy. And in return? Once he had drained every drop of my usefulness, he kicked me to the curb. To add insult to injury, he brought my lifelong nemesis to my face just to tell me he "finally didn't have to endure the humiliation of my money anymore." Reborn, I swore I wouldn't give him a single rusty penny. When it came time to select a student for our corporate scholarship program, he stood in front of me, arrogant and brimming with confidence. But I looked right past him and chose the quiet, battered kid standing next to him. 01 It was the annual charity gala, and I was attending as the representative for the Sterling Corporation. To show our dedication to philanthropy, every year we selected one exceptional student from the applicant pool for a full-ride, one-on-one mentorship and financial sponsorship, handled directly by our executive team. In my past life, this was the exact moment I laid eyes on Arthur and chose him immediately. Unfortunately, he turned out to be an ungrateful parasite. This time, before I arrived, I made sure to invite Chloe. She was my rival—and Arthur's long-time crush. In our previous life, Arthur had told me more than once that long before I ever sponsored him, Chloe had been secretly in love with him. He claimed that my money had been the only thing standing in the way of their true love. Well, this time, I wanted to see if Chloe would even spare him a passing glance before he became the "Sterling Corporation's Golden Boy." When Chloe and I arrived at the grand hall, the administrators and applicants were already gathered. There were over a hundred students crowding the room. I spotted Arthur instantly. I had to admit, purely from an aesthetic standpoint, my past self had good taste. He was over six feet tall, lean, with striking features and pale skin. Standing among a crowd of plainly dressed, underprivileged students, Arthur stood out like a swan among a flock of ducks. Sensing my gaze, Arthur straightened his posture and tilted his chin up even higher. I knew he was reborn, just like me. I wondered how the former billionaire CEO Arthur was adjusting to suddenly waking up as a broke, struggling teenager again. And I was incredibly curious to see how he would react when his most hated enemy humiliated him today. I walked in with a bright, enthusiastic smile. The university officials were incredibly warm, constantly thanking the Sterling Corporation for giving these students a chance to focus on their studies without financial terror. See? Even strangers knew how to be grateful. But simply because I loved him, Arthur had twisted all my sacrifices into a personal insult. Well, this time, I was revoking that love. I hope he’s satisfied. I offered a few polite, humble remarks about corporate social responsibility. Then, it was time for the main event. The university had pre-screened the applicants based on GPA, awards, and extracurriculars, presenting me with a shortlist of ten candidates. I had to choose one for the full-ride sponsorship. I sat at the head of the conference table. The coordinator lined the candidates up to introduce themselves to me one by one. They were all exceptional kids. Their only limitation was a lack of financial resources holding them back from their true potential. Our sponsorship was designed to be the boat that carried them across that first impossible river. The students looked at me with gratitude and burning hope. Everyone knew the one-on-one sponsorship came with massive networking resources and a golden ticket to a brighter future. Soon, it was Arthur's turn. He really was brilliant. He consistently ranked in the top ten of his class and had a resume packed with state and national academic awards. The coordinator clearly favored him and prompted him to say a few words to make a strong impression on me. But Arthur didn't play along. He just stared at me coldly and said a flat, "Hello." The coordinator's face darkened. Arthur couldn't care less. He looked at me with an expression of pure, arrogant disdain. In my past life, after hearing his resume, I had bypassed the rest of the candidates and immediately selected him on the spot. He was definitely expecting me to do the exact same thing today. Too bad for him. I turned to the coordinator. "No need to force him. Let's move on and meet the next student." Arthur froze, clearly not expecting to be dismissed so quickly. He didn't move. The coordinator immediately ushered him along. "Arthur, please step aside. We don't want to waste Ms. Sterling's time." Arthur shot me an icy glare before turning on his heel and walking away. See? If I don't choose you, you aren't even qualified to stand in front of me. I didn't even spare him a second glance, focusing my attention on the next candidate. After listening to all ten presentations, I chose a boy named Liam. He didn't have a laundry list of flashy extracurricular awards, but his GPA was flawlessly ranked number one year-round. He was also the only student with a visible, fading bruise on his face. Rumor had it his alcoholic father beat him regularly. He didn't seem to harbor any hope of being chosen. It wasn't until I announced his name that he looked up at me with his dull, lifeless eyes and quietly muttered, "Thank you." Arthur, unable to accept the loss, sneered loudly from the back of the room. "Just a mindless bookworm." Liam's lips pressed into a tight line, but he didn't say a word. I, however, had absolutely no intention of letting that slide. "Excuse me, applicant. Are you verbally bullying your peer?" I asked, my voice dropping to a freezing temperature. Arthur looked at me in genuine shock, before his face morphed into a subtle, smug expression that clearly said: Ah, I see. You're just doing this to get my attention. I wanted to vomit. Arthur just put on his best aloof, unbothered persona. "I was just stating a fact." "So, you don't believe your behavior is inappropriate?" I didn't even bother engaging with him further. I turned directly to the university officials. "This is the caliber of candidates you shortlisted? "I seriously question the moral character of this selection pool. "The Sterling Corporation sponsors future leaders who will pass this kindness forward. "If this student treats his peers with such arrogance and cruelty now, I highly doubt he will ever extend a helping hand to those in need when he gains power." I threw the book at him, aggressively escalating it into a moral issue. Having lived this life once before, I refused to waste my charity on a parasite. As expected, my words threw the administration into a panic. The coordinator immediately jumped in, demanding Arthur apologize to Liam, threatening to revoke his eligibility for any future financial aid if he refused. Arthur glared at me with furious indignation. I didn't even look at him. Didn't you say my money was an insult to your dignity? Let's see if the great CEO Arthur is willing to swallow his pride and beg me for a few thousand bucks of 'humiliation' today. "I will not apologize." Arthur stood his ground. "Don't think you can use your money to force me to bow my head. "One day, I will show you exactly what I'm capable of! Don't underestimate a man just because he's poor today!" Arthur delivered his self-righteous, cinematic monologue. Everyone in the room just stared at him in profound silence. So, me choosing not to give you free money means I'm bullying you? What an absolute, staggering ego. The awkward silence was broken by the sudden, slow clapping of hands. It was Chloe. She clapped as she walked over to stand beside me. "What an incredibly principled young man. You shouldn't be so harsh on him, Chloe." Chloe played the manipulative "pick-me" card perfectly, trying to paint me as an elitist bully picking on a poor student. Arthur's eyes lit up the second he saw her. In his head, he was probably scripting a romantic movie scene where his fragile, secret crush bravely stood up against the evil billionaire to defend his honor. Unfortunately for him, I saw the smug, mocking smirk hiding in the corner of Chloe's mouth. She was just using Arthur as a pawn to annoy me. I wasn't the naive idiot I used to be. I wasn't going to let her play the saint at my expense. "But he was the one who refused to apologize first," I pointed out, shooting Arthur a look of pure disdain. Predictably, he tilted his chin up defensively and glared at me. "I did nothing wrong." I let out an exaggerated, theatrical sigh. "The Sterling Corporation absolutely refuses to sponsor candidates who create toxic, hostile environments for their peers. "However—" I pivoted sharply. "Since you are so impressed by this young man's principles, Chloe, why doesn't your family sponsor him?" The moment those words left my mouth, Arthur's eyes sparkled with desperate hope as he looked at Chloe. Chloe, however, choked on her words. Her face contorted awkwardly. She finally mumbled a vague excuse, "I... I'll have to discuss it with my family." Heh. She was a neglected, illegitimate daughter from a minor branch of her family. She couldn't secure a five-dollar loan if she tried. But seeing the arrogant smirk on Arthur's face—clearly believing that even without me, he had Chloe to back him up—I simply grabbed some mental popcorn and took a seat. I was incredibly excited to see how far Arthur would get this time without the Sterling family's bottomless bank accounts. 02 Liam and I both enrolled at Columbia University. Arthur ended up at a local state college. His grades were originally high enough for Columbia. But the state college offered him a massive financial aid package, incredibly cheap room and board, and a monthly living stipend. Liam and I bumped into Arthur on the street one day. His eyes swept over Liam dismissively from head to toe, and he scoffed. "Gold-digging toyboy." This exact scenario had played out in my past life too. Back then, I was obsessed with him. I found every excuse in the book to hang around him. Rumors started spreading that he had latched onto the Sterling heiress and was set for life. One day, while I was waiting in line with him at the cafeteria, a guy passing by muttered "sugar baby." Arthur's face instantly turned black. While the guy swaggered away laughing, Arthur spun around and violently slapped my lunch tray out of my hands, screaming at me to stay the hell away from him. Greasy food splattered all over my clothes. The entire cafeteria stopped and stared at me. Even now, I can remember the suffocating, agonizing humiliation of that moment. I wanted the floor to swallow me whole. I deeply regretted not slapping him across the face right then and there. What an absolute piece of trash. Someone insulted him, and he took his bruised ego out on me. And now, he was mercilessly insulting the guy who had taken his place. I was just about to rip into him when Liam stepped forward, staring dead into Arthur's eyes. "You're jealous of me." It wasn't a question. It was a flat, objective statement delivered with chilling clarity. Arthur took a step back, desperately trying to maintain his composure. "Why the hell would I be jealous of you?" Liam took another step forward. "You're jealous that I got into Columbia, and you didn't. "You're jealous that Chloe chose me, and she didn't choose you. "You're jealous that I'm the one standing next to her right now, and you aren't." A lethal, three-strike combo. I honestly wanted to give Liam a standing ovation. Arthur was completely outmatched. After all, he couldn't exactly claim he chose state college because he thought Columbia was beneath him. In the end, all he could do was mutter a pathetic "I don't have time for your bullshit," and scurry away. Only then did Liam drop his aggressive, intimidating aura and step quietly back to my side like an obedient puppy. "You aren't mad?" I asked. "I know it isn't true," Liam replied simply. Perfect. At least the guy I picked this time was mentally stable, unlike the last one who turned into a rabid dog over a single stray comment. 03 I thought after an absolute humiliation like that, a guy with an ego as massive as Arthur's wouldn't show his face around me for a very long time. I severely underestimated his shamelessness. While I was studying in the library, he tracked me down. "Chloe, I'm giving you the opportunity to invest in my new clean-energy tech startup. "If you give me $5 million, I'll give you 0.1% of the founder's equity." Arthur stood in front of my desk, planting both hands on the table, staring down at me with absolute authority. His eyes were a perfectly calibrated mix of 30% mockery, 30% indifference, 30% coldness, and 10% charity. It was an aura of pure, unadulterated "Billionaire CEO." But who the hell pitches a venture capital investment like an absolute psycho? I kicked the leg of the table hard and shoved my chair back, standing up. "You're standing too close to me." Arthur's hand slipped, and he stumbled awkwardly before catching his balance. Good. His "Alpha Male" aura was still leaking, but at least it wasn't suffocating me anymore. The students studying nearby shot us annoyed glares. I bowed my head apologizing profusely. "I am so sorry. This guy from another school was harassing me, and I couldn't hold it in." "Who the hell said I was harassing you?!" Arthur yelled. Instantly, several large, athletic guys sitting nearby stood up, glaring at Arthur. Arthur instantly deflated. "It's a misunderstanding. Just a misunderstanding." I signaled that I was fine, and the guys sat back down. Arthur leaned in close, gritting his teeth in a furious whisper. "Chloe, do not push your luck." I shrugged, showing him his threats meant absolutely nothing to me. Furious but lacking options, Arthur forced himself to negotiate. "Chloe, think this through. "If you don't invest in my company now, when your family's empire collapses, don't blame me for not giving you a lifeline." Arthur looked down at me from his imaginary pedestal, looking exactly like a benevolent god staring down at an ant. In that moment, everything clicked. Right. In my past life, to fund his startup, I threw a suicidal tantrum and forced my family to liquidate every cent of our cash reserves to invest in him. Because of the massive cash drain, our company almost went bankrupt. It was only when his core technology finally achieved a major breakthrough that he secured series B funding and pulled my family out of the crisis. No wonder he always acted so arrogant and superior around me. He genuinely believed he was the savior of my family. But if I hadn't drained our entire cash flow to fund him in the first place, we never would have faced bankruptcy at all! A guy like him... even reborn, he only remembered the parts of history that glorified him. The actual facts and context? Completely irrelevant. Now that I understood his psychotic mental gymnastics, I was going to be even more ruthless. "You want an investment? Show me your corporate incorporation documents. "Where is your engineering team? "Where is your business plan? "Where are your projected ROI reports?" A rapid-fire barrage of basic questions. Arthur couldn't answer a single one. I looked at him with pure, unadulterated contempt. "You show up here with absolutely nothing and demand my money? "Based on what? "That pretty face of yours?" I genuinely just wanted to insult him. But his brain must have gone to a very weird place, because he looked at me with an expression of deeply offended, violated modesty. "Chloe Sterling, don't think that just because you have a little money you can do whatever you want! "I will never, ever submit to you! "If you won't invest, fine! "I'll wait for the day you come crawling back, begging me." Then he literally jogged out of the library in a huff. It looked bizarrely like a Victorian maiden fleeing a scandalous proposition. But God as my witness, I literally just didn't want to give him my money. Somehow, Arthur still managed to secure funding. Rumor had it Chloe used her connections to secure a $500,000 seed investment for him, taking 51% of the equity in his newly formed startup. Arthur became an instant legend at his state college. He was enrolled in their prestigious education program, but those classes were completely useless for his tech startup. So, he simply stopped going to class. When a professor criticized him for slacking off, he arrogantly snapped back, asking the professor how many decades of teaching it would take to earn the half-million dollars he just secured in funding. After that, no one at the school bothered to discipline him again. I knew exactly what Arthur's startup project was. He was a smart guy. In his past life, he entered the electric vehicle sector, specifically focusing on extending battery life and efficiency. Back then, I loved him, so naturally I thought he was a misunderstood genius. I used my family's massive influence to pull strings and get him accepted into Columbia's elite Energy Science and Engineering program. He spent four years laser-focused on his studies in a world-class environment, and during his Master's, he co-founded his company with his thesis advisor. But now? He was just a freshman at a mid-tier state college. Even with his memories of the future, he had spent years sitting behind a CEO's desk, completely detached from the actual front lines of R&D. Could a washed-up CEO really single-handedly develop revolutionary battery technology from scratch? I couldn't wait to watch the train wreck. 04 Arthur assembled his startup team. He hunted down the people who had co-founded his company in our past life. Unfortunately for him, only the guys who were currently broke and desperate enough to listen to his sales pitch actually joined him. As for his genius thesis advisor from our past life? I heard he refused to even take a meeting with Arthur. Obviously. He was a globally recognized titan in his field. Why the hell would he entertain a pitch from a random freshman at an unrelated state college? I, however, took a different approach. Leveraging my status as an alum, and armed with $3 million in venture capital, I happily finalized a partnership with that exact professor. And I slipped Liam into his lab as a research assistant while I was at it. He was majoring in the exact same field anyway. Getting him early access to an elite R&D team and setting him up for a seamless Ph.D. track? Win-win. Shortly after joining the lab, Liam started sharing the gossip his upperclassmen had about Arthur. For example, Arthur had marched into a meeting and commanded: "I want a complete dossier on every single one of our competitors on my desk in three minutes." One of the grad students painstakingly opened an industry database, typed in a flurry of commands, and hit a paywall requiring an expensive corporate subscription to proceed. He turned the monitor around to face Arthur. Arthur's intimidating, billionaire-CEO aura instantly vanished the second he saw the price tag. It cost $30,000 a year. To the Arthur of his past life, backed by the Sterling family's endless wealth, those reports were just a few clicks away. But in this life, he was getting a brutal reality check on exactly how expensive raw, actionable market data truly was. He obviously didn't pay for the subscription. An hour later, Arthur tossed a list of target companies to the team and told them to manually scrape the internet for product specs. But after hours of searching, they found barely anything. One of the companies on his list hadn't even been incorporated yet. When the student tried to hand in the pathetic results, Arthur screamed in his face for half an hour, yelling that these were industry titans and it was impossible that there was no data on them. Terrible pay, psychotic demands. The student snapped, got into a screaming match with Arthur, and quit on the spot. When he returned to Columbia, he vented to Liam and the rest of the lab, saying Arthur didn't have the destiny of a CEO, but he definitely had the mental illness of one. I thought that summary was absolutely flawless. Arthur had always been arrogant. In our past life, his smooth, meteoric rise to success was entirely because I was paving his path with the Sterling Corporation's limitless resources. He needed data? My corporate strategy department held platinum subscriptions to every major database in the world. He needed a business plan? I had a dozen elite project managers draft individual sections, compiled it, and let Arthur present it as his own. He needed a technological breakthrough? A lab full of brilliant, exhausted engineers pulled 80-hour weeks for months to secure the patents... and put Arthur's name as the lead inventor. Those were the people who forged the halo that made Arthur look like a brilliant tech visionary and a billionaire prodigy. But he was so narcissistic he genuinely believed he was the sun, radiating light all on his own. And the old me had been so utterly blind and love-struck that I actually believed he was a diamond buried in the rough.
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