All Chapters of The Blood Ledger’s Favorite Heir: Chapter 11 - Chapter 17

The next morning, Lydia found me before class, and she chose her timing well.The room was full. Students were still settling into their seats, books open and voices low, when Lydia walked toward my desk with red eyes and a look of trembling concern. Several people noticed at once."Sister," she said softly, just loud enough for the room to hear, "you didn't come home last night. Mother and Father were so worried."Lydia's voice trembled in exactly the right place. "Where did you go... I saw you arrive at school this morning in someone's car." She paused, then added with painful gentleness, "Please don't ruin your whole life just because you're angry with us.""You shameless girl," she hissed. "Staying out all night... Following some man into his car... Are you determined to drag this family's name through the mud..."Professor Helena Voss stopped at the classroom door and took in the scene with one sharp glance. "If the Vale guardians have concerns," she said evenly, "they can discuss

Recently, Lydia had been quietly approaching Adrian Blackthorne. In my first life, she had charged through the vampire courts with nothing but beauty and confidence, yet she had never truly understood how to win a man's heart. In this life, she was making the same mistake with a different gift.Adrian's attitude changed almost immediately. He began speaking to her more often. He invited her to review blood-law problems after school. Twice, he had a driver take her to dinner at private restaurants where young heirs liked to pretend they were already adults.Mother was delighted. This time, she did not call Lydia shameless. She did not ask why a young girl was going out with a boy from an old house. She did not worry about reputation, danger, or family honor.In Mother's eyes, Lydia was only studying with a classmate. Just as, in my first life, she had believed everything I did was proper once my grades were good enough.Mother did not truly love hardworking children. My grades had never

Lydia woke after the final trials ended, and then she broke.For hours, she cried at home until her voice went hoarse. Mother held her while Father paced the parlor, and both of them kept telling her it was not the end. She could prepare for another year. A brilliant child like her would always have another chance.There would be no next time. She had missed Professor Selwyn, the final trials, and the one stage the Scholar Gift needed most. The next day, Father called me back to the Vale house. Father cleared his throat. "Eleanor, you will defer for a year." He continued, "Your place at university will go to Lydia.""Father," I said, "do you think the admissions board is blind, or do you think Lydia and I still look the same..."His face darkened. "You are twin sisters.""We were born twins," I said. "That does not mean we are interchangeable."Mother frowned. "Your sister is smarter than you. If she goes, she will do well. You can take the trials again next year.""Smile," I said. The

After Helena fulfilled her promise and transferred part of the Voss shares to me, I began investing. Not randomly, and not greedily. I chose projects I remembered from my first life: companies, research teams, and technologies that had not yet risen, but would.Some would change medicine. Some would reshape blood storage. Some would make quiet fortunes before the old houses even noticed them. Rebirth did not give me every answer, but it gave me enough.Helena, meanwhile, began tightening her hold over House Voss. She took control of the accounts, removed useless middlemen, reorganized the legal businesses, and separated clean assets from dirty ones.As for the things House Voss should never have touched, she pushed them back toward her father."My father can go to prison," Helena told me one evening, reading through a stack of legal documents. "I cannot."She turned a page calmly. "Most of those crimes were his decisions anyway. I checked the laws. He won't die for them."Then she adde