She Takes My Luck, but I Still Win

On the night of Halloween, my best friend, Mina Corvelle, rushes to save the black cat before me, triumph dancing in her eyes. That is when I, Elora Aldridge, realize that she has been reincarnated, too. In my past life, she scorned the stray for being filthy, so she kept her distance. So, it was I who took pity on the cat and rescued it. When I walked past an old blind woman manning a roadside stall, she told me that the cat was a rare dark fortune cat. Once it recognized a master, it would draw dark riches from all directions and bring unimaginable wealth. I dismissed it as superstition. Yet, the very next day, I was inexplicably promoted to director of the department. Soon after, my family's dilapidated old house found itself part of a redevelopment scheme, and we were given compensation of eight apartments and 30 million dollars in cash. Even the enigmatic golden boy of Lakeshire, Cassian Mercer, started to pursue me relentlessly, declaring that he would only marry me and no one else. But not long after I married Cassian, Mina trapped me—and the black cat—inside the apartment. She then set it on fire, burning us alive. Outside the inferno, she screamed, "Why should you get everything without even lifting a finger? All those riches should've been mine!" When I open my eyes again, I find myself back at the very intersection. Chapter 1 "Mine! This cat is mine!" Mina Corvelle shrieked, her voice cracking with excitement. Suddenly, the blind old fortune-teller sitting at her roadside stall started muttering mysteriously, "Young lady, the cat you're holding in your arms is a once-in-a-century dark fortune cat. Once it chooses its master, the owner will gain immense riches, but—" Mina cut her off impatiently, her face brimming with unrestrained fervor. "Ma'am, what do I need to do to make it recognize me as its master?" The fortune-teller hesitated a little before answering. "Just let it lick a drop of your blood." Mina hurriedly thrust her scratched hand in front of the black cat. Once the cat licked it, a faint black mist shot out from its body before swiftly vanishing into the center of Mina's forehead. "Done! It's done! It recognized me as its master!" Mina yelled, dancing around in excitement. She hugged and kissed the cat. She turned to glare at me sideways, her lips curling into a mocking smile. "Elora Aldridge, I'm going to get rich! As for you, you can spend the rest of your life clinging to that measly salary of yours!" With that, she hugged the cat and disappeared into the night without looking back. I stood in the same spot, rubbing my aching foot that Mina had stepped on. A chilling calm settled over me. In my past life, after I adopted that cat, it would always scratch me, both deliberately or accidentally. Then, it would immediately scamper over and lick my bleeding wounds, acting all affectionate and guilty. Back then, I had only thought that the cat was just being playful or naughty, but now, I realized it was feeding on my blood with every lick. Little did Mina know—that black cat didn't just attract riches, it attracted disaster too. Every gift from the cat came with a hidden price tag. Come to think of it, I was actually quite grateful to Mina in my past life for setting that fire and setting me free. Since she wanted this good luck so badly, I hoped she got exactly what she wished for. The next morning, Mina bragged excitedly at the company. "My house is part of a redevelopment buyout! I'll be compensated with eight apartments and 30 million dollars in cash!" The surrounding coworkers all froze for a moment before crowding around to congratulate her. "Wow! Mina, you're about to become super rich! Congratulations!" "No kidding! Don't forget to look out for us from now on!" An older colleague whispered a reminder. "Keep it down. Don't let the boss hear. Better not flaunt it in front of him." Mina shrugged her off and scoffed disdainfully. "What's there to be scared of? I'm going to be the wife of the golden boy of Lakeshire soon. Even he will be bowing at my feet! Why should I be afraid of the boss of this little company?" Her bravado silenced the coworkers who had been fawning over her. Everyone exchanged skeptical looks, thinking Mina had let her wealthy fantasies go to her head and was now spouting nonsense. Right then, the boss walked into the office with a serious expression. He demanded that our department produce a concept design by the next day. "The client this time is Mercer Group. Whoever's proposal gets selected will not only receive a million-dollar bonus, but will also be promoted to department director immediately." In an instant, the entire design department erupted. The prize was enormous, and everyone rolled up their sleeves, eager to give it a go. Only Mina's expression was full of disdain. "It's just a design bid. Look at you lot, acting like you've never seen something like this before." A colleague couldn't help but retort, "Mina, this is a Mercer Group project! If you win this, you'll be set for the rest of your life!" "As if the rest of my life depends on this," Mina remarked, deliberately raising her voice in my direction. "Some people spend their whole lives chasing such a small dream, but not me though. I'm born lucky. Immense riches will come knocking on their own." Chapter 2 Mina's smug, triumphant expression sharply contrasted with the fake, syrupy congratulations she'd offered me in my past life when I had been promoted. I kept my head down and sorted through my files. I couldn't be bothered with her. On the day of the proposal presentation, the conference room was thick with tension. Even more surprisingly, the golden boy of Lakeshire, Cassian Mercer himself, attended in person. In my past life, Cassian had only approached me after our company won the project, using that win as an excuse to get close to me. This time, he appeared earlier. Alarm bells rang in my head. I couldn't help but feel that things were veering into a stranger, more uncontrollable territory. Cassian's face was stern, his presence overwhelming. Just sitting there, he made the temperature in the room feel like it had dropped several degrees. A few of the senior designers nervously presented their proposals while he remained expressionless throughout. When it was Mina's turn, she strutted like a peacock in full display, deliberately undoing two buttons on her blouse to reveal a tantalizing glimpse of her cleavage. She mimicked scenes from romance novels that featured domineering CEOs and naive heroines, batting her lashes at Cassian and cooing, "Mr. Mercer, I stayed up all night working on your project. Look, I even have dark circles under my eyes." Her contrived performance gave everyone goosebumps. Cassian's brows knitted tightly, a barely perceptible flash of disgust in his eyes. But Mina was completely oblivious to it. She smugly unveiled her design, something that could only be described as doodles. Just as the boss was about to cut her off, the black cat that she'd kept hidden in her bag suddenly leapt onto the long conference table. With a proud and graceful stride, it walked straight up to Cassian, let out a soft "meow", and rubbed its head against his hand. Cassian's gaze fell on Mina's scribbled proposal, and he actually nodded. "Let's go with this one." Pointing at the doodle, he explained to the stunned room, "This design is brimming with a childlike, back-to-basics charm. I love it." Once the meeting ended, he even extended an invitation to Mina. "Ms. Corvelle, to celebrate our successful partnership and discuss further details, would you be free for dinner tonight?" Mina's face flushed red, feeling both surprised and ecstatic. She agreed eagerly. As everyone filed out, they all stared at Mina with a mix of envy and disbelief. She strutted up to me, chin held high. "See that, Elora? Mr. Mercer personally chose my proposal and even invited me to dinner. So tell me, what was the point of you staying up all night working on that design? In the face of absolute luck, hard work means nothing! Jealous? Too bad. You just don't have the luck!" The news of Mina snagging a million-dollar bonus and a director position, thanks to a cat, spread through the office like wildfire. People's skeptical glances quickly turned into fawning smiles. She reveled in the attention and admiration. The black cat was her prized treasure by this point, and she took it with her everywhere. She even boasted that she would soon become Lakeshire's top socialite. A few days later, an even bigger bombshell dropped. Cassian was actually going to propose to Mina. He even rented an entire private island and invited everyone from our company. On paper, it was to celebrate the project, but in reality, it was a surprise for her. Everyone envied Mina's luck, marveling that she truly was fate's favorite. Chapter 3 On the day we were set to depart for the island, Mina received a text from the bank. The 30 million dollars in redevelopment compensation had been deposited. She immediately handed in her resignation to the company. Then, wearing a bespoke suit, a watch worth over 100 thousand dollars, and sky-high heels, she strutted over to my desk under the envious stares of our colleagues. "Elora, from today onward, we're no longer from the same world. You can just keep slogging through late nights and overtime for a few measly thousand dollars here, while I go enjoy my life." Then, she pulled out 200 dollars from her bag and casually threw them onto my desk. "Take it. Consider this me feeling bad for you. After all, we were best friends. Now that I've struck it big, I can't just watch you suffer like this, right?" The insult was unmistakable. Everyone around us went silent as they shot me sympathetic glances. In my past life, though I hadn't humiliated her like this, I had given her a card loaded with five million dollars the moment the redevelopment compensation was deposited. This was so she could try to build a better life. Looking back now, my kindness might have seemed like the ultimate show of arrogance and mockery in her eyes. I looked at her calmly. "Mina, have you ever wondered why all this good luck is suddenly coming your way?" Mina blinked, then burst out laughing like she had heard the funniest joke. "Why? It's because I have Riches, the cat, obviously! I know you're feeling bitter, Elora, but you just have to accept it. It's fate!" "Is that so?" I asked, my lips curling into a faint smile. "But I've heard old folktales saying that sudden windfalls, especially those involving dark riches, come at the cost of your destined life span. The more you take, the faster you die." Mina's face turned pale in an instant, but rage quickly took over. "What nonsense are you spewing? You're just jealous of me! You can't stand to see me live a good life!" she screamed. "I'm telling you, Elora, my good luck is only just beginning. Just wait and see!" With that, she strutted off, her hips swaying. I stared at the two bills on my desk and felt a chill crawl up my spine. She had no idea that I wasn't joking at all. In my past life, as my wealth accumulated, my body deteriorated. I often felt dizzy and disoriented, and there were even a few times when I would collapse on the street. And once Cassian and I officially got together, these episodes only became more frequent and severe. I would often forget chunks of my memory, like what we had had for dinner the night before, or what we had talked about. Whenever I woke up the next morning, those memories would be wiped clean from my mind. Doctors couldn't find anything wrong with me. They merely said that I was too stressed and just needed to rest more. Looking back now, those forgotten memories were probably hiding a far more terrifying truth. Chapter 4 The next day, we took a private plane to the island. At the lavish banquet, Cassian announced to all the guests and the media, "I would like to announce that I've found the love of my life, and she is Mina Corvelle." His deep eyes sparkled mesmerizingly as he added, "It's strange, really, but it was a cat that brought us together. It brought my beloved to me." Then, he dropped to one knee and proposed to Mina with a huge diamond ring. "Mina, will you marry me? I'm willing to transfer all my assets to you, and in this life, I'll love you and only you." The loving declaration drew screams of excitement from everyone present. Mina, dizzy with joy, immediately slipped the ring on her finger. Only I noticed that even though Cassian was proposing to Mina, he had never once looked her in the eye. His gaze kept drifting, almost unconsciously, to the black cat she cradled in her arms. True to his word, he immediately had his lawyers transfer his assets to her. Hundreds of billions of dollars in wealth were now all under Mina's name. All of a sudden, she went from an ordinary office worker to the richest woman in Lakeshire—perhaps even the entire country. The media spun their story into a modern-day fairy tale where Cassian was the prince, and Mina was the lucky commoner who caught his eye. Online, countless girls and women went crazy for this love story and treated Mina as their lucky goddess, praying daily to catch a fraction of her luck. I shivered as I watched the absurd scene unfold. I intended to think of an excuse to slip away early, but a few bodyguards subtly blocked my way. The wedding day came soon. Our coworkers had all gone wild. They buzzed around me, gossiping. "Goodness! Elora, Mina really has flown to the top of the social ladder!" "She previously said even the golden boy of Lakeshire would fall at her feet. It turns out she wasn't bluffing! That cat is incredible!" A new intern joked, "Mr. Mercer said that he fell for Mina because of a cat. What if he's actually in love with the cat and not Mina?" Everyone burst into laughter. I, however, jumped as my heart slammed against my ribcage. A terrifying thought struck me like a thunderclap. Before I could fully process it, Mina suddenly clutched her stomach, saying she needed to use the restroom. She asked me to help her get there. I instinctively wanted to refuse, but her grip was shockingly strong as she practically dragged me into the villa. She didn't take me to the restroom, though, and instead headed to the presidential suite on the top floor. She entered it with a swipe of a keycard. This was their bridal suite. The room was empty except for the black cat, sprawled lazily across a bed strewn with rose petals. "Mina, why did you bring me here?" I asked, looking at her warily. "Why?" She suddenly released me and locked the door behind us. Then, she spun around. The drunkenness was gone from her face, replaced by a cold, eerie smile.