Becoming the Empress Regent After Rebirth

In my previous life, my stepmother Lauryn Collins forced me to marry Phillip Perez, the dying prince, as his second wife.

But I didn't get buried with him after he died. Instead, I was bestowed with an honored title and lived a life of wealth and prosperity.

Lauryn hated my guts.

When she was reborn, she rushed to marry my sister off to Phillip.

She thought it would make her and her daughter wealthy.

But she had no idea that Prince Phillip's Mansion was just an empty shell.

In the past life, all my glory and wealth were attributed to the twenty banks I owned.

Even though she was reborn, she wouldn't stand a chance against me!

1

When I was reborn, I found myself kneeling in the dimly lit ancestral hall.

In front of me were creepy ancestral tablets, and behind me was my furious father, Henry Collins.

His voice was cold, and he was raging.

"Having been punished for so many days, have you figured out what you've done wrong? Do you understand my painstaking efforts?

"I don't get it. Is the position of Prince Phillip's wife not good enough for you?"

His slanting shadow loomed over me.

I shook my head and then realized that I was back in the year when my dad and stepmother forced me to marry Phillip as his second wife.

That year, two prominent families came to my family to propose marriage.

One was the old dying Phillip. And he wanted a second wife.

One was Victor Perez, the young and promising Crown Prince, who wanted a concubine.

Lauryn Collins, my stepmother, convinced my dad to pressure me into marrying Phillip while allowing her daughter to marry Victor.

I didn't reply, and my father's face became even darker. He whipped me.

"If you don't admit your mistake, then keep kneeling!"

The sharp pain shot up from my back, and I let out a muffled groan, collapsing on the ground.

Before I could even speak, a female voice suddenly came through.

"Henry, wait a moment!"

I turned and saw Lauryn rushing in, panting.

She wiped the sweat from her forehead and shot me a disgusted look.

"Henry, she is disobedient and deserves to be punished. However, if she is unwilling to marry Prince Phillip, then fine."

Henry frowned. "The betrothal gifts from Prince Phillip have been delivered. If you want to call off the wedding..."

"We aren't calling off the wedding!"

Lauryn clenched her handkerchief and blurted out, "Let Cecelia marry Prince Phillip instead!"

I turned around, realizing something.

It turned out Lauryn had been reborn, too.

2

My mother was Henry's first wife and the only daughter of a wealthy merchant in Dustbury.

But in the fifth year of her marriage to Henry, she experienced a difficult childbirth. She gave birth to a stillborn baby and then died from postpartum hemorrhage.

The following year, my father made his concubine, Lauryn, his legal wife.

Lauryn became my stepmother, and my younger sister Cecelia became Henry's legitimate daughter.

All the dowry of my mother fell into the hands of Lauryn, providing Lauryn with a life of extravagance.

And Lauryn regard...