1

I was born able to see lies. When my sister married into old money, she set me up with a wealthy businessman. On our blind date, he claimed a net worth in the tens of millions. A soft green light glowed above his head, so I believed him.

On my wedding day, my sister burst through the chapel doors, livestreaming. "She tried to be a gold digger but botched it. She's marrying the CEO of a bankrupt shell company!" Guests whispered, the chat mocked. My life was destroyed. My sister went viral as a truth-exposer.

Afterward, my husband beat me, screaming I'd ruined his life. I learned the truth: before the date, my sister had wired him ten million to start a company. That was why the green light appeared. Once engaged, she withdrew the funds and staged her livestream to avenge childhood humiliations. He eventually beat me to death.

I woke back on the day of the blind date. This time, I accepted with a cold smile. But at the restaurant, the man was completely different. Figuring my sister had swapped actors, I sat down and went straight for the throat. "Do you have a billion dollars for pocket money? If not, we're done." He froze, lowered his teacup, and replied without missing a beat. "Sure. I do." A soft ding echoed in my mind, and a bright green light illuminated above his head.

…

I stared at him, genuinely stunned.

There was no way the mid-tier wealthy family my sister married into could casually toss around a billion dollars just to prank me. In my last life, that ten-million-dollar stunt was a massive gamble for her. She was entirely incapable of producing this kind of money.

The man tilted his head, looking slightly confused. "Are you here to..."

I pushed down the shock bubbling in my chest and steadied my voice. "I'm here for our blind date."

He let out a quiet "Oh" and nodded repeatedly. "Right, right, of course."

His reaction was completely off. It felt like he was just rolling with whatever bizarre situation I had thrown at him. I stared at his face for a few seconds, leaning slightly over the table to test the waters.

"Wow, I thought they said this window seat was fully booked. How did you manage to reserve it?"

He blinked, clearly caught off guard. Then, a wicked little smirk played on his lips as he lowered his voice.

"It's no big deal, really. I just paid the guy sitting here a hundred grand in cash to give up the table."

He probably thought that would scare me off as a ridiculous lie. But as he spoke, the green light above his head remained blindingly bright.

He actually paid a hundred thousand dollars just to sit by the window.

My mind was spinning. A total stranger who could casually drop a hundred grand for a view was absolutely not an actor hired by my sister. He wasn't a plant. He was a legitimate, wildly wealthy man who had simply bought the table and accidentally hijacked my date!

"You didn't actually believe that, did you?"

The man sitting across from me suddenly laughed, his eyes crinkling like a little boy who had just pulled off a great prank. "I'm just messing with you. Everything I just said was a joke."

The moment the words left his mouth, a massive, glowing red cross materialized over his head.

Completely oblivious to his glowing lie, he kept talking. "Since this is a blind date, we should probably be honest about our backgrounds. To tell you the truth, I'm just like you. I'm a regular guy making three grand a month."

He sounded so incredibly sincere.

I just smiled and listened, watching the glowing red cross hover above his head without flickering even once.

It all made sense now. This guy was playing a reverse-Cinderella game. Since he had chosen to crash my date, he shouldn't blame me for playing along.

"Is that so?" I nodded sympathetically, giving him a warm smile. "Well, it sounds like we have a lot in common."

He visibly exhaled, the tension completely draining from his shoulders.

I smoothly changed the subject, and over the course of our meal, I learned his name was Declan. He claimed to be a low-level clerk at a small logistics firm. I nodded along, taking mental notes while staring at the glaring red cross that punctuated every single sentence he spoke.

The man was so filthy rich that the only thing he had left was his acting skills.

As lunch wrapped up, I pulled out my phone and pulled up my contact code. "This was really fun. Want to add each other?"

He paused, his gaze lingering on my face for a fraction of a second before he smiled and pulled out his own phone. "It really was. It's been a long time since I've had such an easy conversation."

When I got back to my parents' house, my sister Beth practically sprinted to the door to greet me.

"So? How was it? How did the blind date go?"

I smiled at her, offering my most genuine reply. "Thanks so much, sis. You really did introduce me to a wealthy man."

Beth froze for a second before her smile widened into something sharp and entirely predatory. "That is so great to hear," she said, patting the back of my hand. "Hopefully you can marry into a good family too, and keep your big sister company in high society."

I didn't say a word. I just kept smiling at her.

She had no idea that the vicious trap she had spent months planning had been derailed from the very first second.

Just then, my mother walked out of the kitchen carrying a plate of food. Catching the end of our conversation, she slammed the plate down on the dining table.

"High society? Please. There is no way she'll ever marry as well as you did, Beth." She wiped her hands on her apron and shot me a disdainful glare. "Don't get ahead of yourself, girl. A rich man isn't going to settle for a boring bookworm like you."

I pressed my lips together and stayed completely silent.

It had been this way since we were kids. Even though I always had the better grades and the better career, my parents only had eyes for Beth and her sweet-talking, manipulative charm. They constantly backed her up, pouring buckets of cold water over my achievements without a second thought.

Beth nudged my mother's arm with fake scolding. "Mom, don't be so mean. What if my little sister really does transform into a swan? Everyone has their own destiny, right?"

I turned around to head to my bedroom, catching sight of Beth rolling her eyes with utter disgust the moment she finished her sentence.

As soon as I closed my bedroom door, my phone buzzed in my pocket.

It was a text from Declan. Are you free tomorrow? Want to hang out?

Remembering I had a shift at the university the next day, I quickly typed back. Sure. Meet me at the north gate of St. Jude's University.

The following afternoon, I stood by the campus gates. From a distance, I spotted Declan pedaling toward me on a rented city bike. He was wearing a plain white t-shirt, his hair slightly tousled by the wind.

He parked the bike and waved at me. "Sorry, did you wait long?"

I chuckled, pointing at the rental bike. "Is this your usual ride?"

"Yeah," he nodded, looking completely natural. "It's convenient and saves money."

The red cross immediately flashed above his head.

I sneered internally. What a liar. He probably had a garage full of supercars to choose from every morning, but here he was, committing to the role of a struggling working-class citizen with Oscar-worthy dedication.

"I'm a teaching assistant for a professor here. I have to run a tutorial session today," I said, leading him toward the lecture halls. "Do you mind waiting a bit? I'll be out as soon as I'm done."

He nodded and quietly took a seat in the very back row of the tiered lecture hall.

The moment I stepped up to the podium, I pushed all the chaotic drama of my family out of my mind. Chalk in hand, I calmly broke down complex formulas for the hundred-plus students in the room. I kept the logic sharp and clear, occasionally throwing in a witty example that earned a wave of laughter from the crowd.

The forty-five-minute session flew by. After class, students swarmed the podium, asking questions, begging for notes, and turning in late assignments. It took me nearly twenty minutes to finally break free.

I packed my bag and jogged out to the hallway. Declan was leaning against the window sill, waiting for me.

The afternoon sun streamed through the glass, casting a warm glow over his broad shoulders and the sharp angle of his jaw. When he saw me running over, he stood up straight and offered a soft smile.

"Professor Sophie is pretty amazing," he said, his eyes locked on mine. "I actually felt proud just sitting in the same room as you."

I froze.

My parents had said those exact words to me at every academic awards ceremony I had ever attended since childhood. But every single time they said it, a glowing red cross would appear over their heads. Their praise was always empty, a social pleasantry they threw around for the cameras before forgetting about it five minutes later. They had never, not once, been genuinely proud of me.

Hearing that familiar, hollow phrase again, I could only manage a bitter smile.

But when I looked up, there was no red cross. Instead, a brilliant, steady green light was glowing above Declan's head.

The bright sunlight washed over his face, and his smile was entirely sincere. There was not a trace of performance in his eyes.

My heart violently contracted in my chest.

I ducked my head, hugging my textbooks a little tighter to my chest, and managed a hoarse whisper. "Yeah. Thank you."

Over the next few months, we saw each other constantly. We went to museums, public parks, and local farmers' markets. He always rode his rental bike, and I took the bus.

Sometimes, he would pull out a crumpled discount coupon and announce he was treating me to dinner. I would play along, gasping at what a great deal it was.

"Well, making three grand a month means we have to be smart with our cash," I would say.

He would carefully fold the coupon and tuck it away. "Exactly. Especially since I still haven't made rent this month."

I would nod in solemn agreement, staring at the blazing red cross flashing above his head while dipping my head to drink my soup, biting my lip to keep from laughing out loud.

This man could lie through his teeth without his heart rate even spiking. If I didn't have my gift, I would have fallen for it completely.

But it worked for us. He played the struggling bachelor, and I played the naive girl. Back and forth, neither of us breaking character. It was the most relaxed I had ever felt with anyone.

One evening, I was waiting for Declan outside a restaurant when a familiar, grating voice called out from behind me.

"Sophie."

I turned around to see Beth striding toward me in a designer trench coat and stilettos. She wore a probing, fake smile.

"I heard things are going really well with your blind date. I was just passing by and thought I'd check on your progress."

Her eyes darted past me, scanning the empty sidewalk. "Where is he? Didn't he come with you?"

My stomach dropped. I could not let them meet. If they did, this whole charade would blow up in my face. I opened my mouth to invent an excuse to get rid of her, but before I could speak, another voice called out.

"Hey, did you wait long?"

Beth turned, took one look at Declan, and let out a shrill shriek. "This isn't the guy I set you up with! Who the hell is this?!"

The air instantly froze.

I opened my mouth, my brain scrambling for a lie to explain the mix-up. Part of me wanted to just tear the facade down right there and expose Beth's sick setup. But before I could form a sentence, Declan stepped in.

"You're Sophie's sister, right? Do you mind if we speak privately for a second?"

They walked a few paces away. I quietly crept closer, hiding behind a decorative pillar to eavesdrop.

Beth's voice dripped with condescension. "Listen, since you're the one dating my sister now, let's make a deal. I will invest ten million dollars into a startup for you. How does that sound?"

It was the exact same playbook from my last life. I clenched my fists so hard my nails dug into my palms.

But then, I heard Declan let out a low, mocking chuckle.

"Only ten million?" His tone was incredibly casual, like he was discussing the price of a cup of coffee. "I wouldn't even get out of bed for a billion-dollar investment."

There was a brief silence before Beth exploded into hysterical laughter.

"Are you serious right now?" she gasped, clutching her stomach. "Do you think there's no penalty for being this completely delusional?"

I cautiously peeked around the pillar.

Above Declan's head, the green light of truth was glowing. Steady, unwavering, without a single flicker. He was dead serious. To him, a billion dollars truly meant absolutely nothing.

Beth treated him like a raving lunatic, laughing until tears ruined her mascara. Declan didn't bother defending himself; he simply turned and walked into the restaurant.

As soon as he was out of earshot, I watched Beth pull out her phone, her voice dripping with absolute triumph.

"Yeah, Sophie didn't fall into the original trap. But guess what? She actually went and found herself a total psycho with a billionaire delusion." She giggled into the receiver. "Just wait. This is going to be an even better show than we planned."

Later that night, she sent me a text message.

Hey sweetie! Your sister looked into that guy for you. He is totally solid. You should absolutely lock him down and marry him!

I stared at the screen, reading her transparent lies. She wasn't doing a background check out of the goodness of her heart. She had confirmed he was a "psycho" and was now desperately pushing me to marry him as fast as possible.

She wanted the big wedding day. She wanted to stand in front of a crowd and expose me for marrying a pathological liar, using my humiliation as a stepping stone to build her own fame.

Over the next year, Declan and I grew closer and closer. Meanwhile, Beth constantly harassed me.

"So when is the big day? If things are stable, you need to hurry up and secure the bag. Don't let him get away!"

I never gave her a straight answer, just dragging the timeline out at my own pace.

Until one evening, Declan took me to the coast.

The sea breeze was fierce, the waves crashing violently against the jagged rocks and sending white seafoam into the air.

I took a deep breath, facing the vast, endless ocean, and screamed.

"I just want to be free!"

The wind snatched the words from my lips, scattering them into the crashing waves.

Declan turned to look at me, his voice cutting through the roar of the ocean. "Then I'll be free with you."

Before I could even process what he said, he dropped to one knee on the damp sand. He pulled out a velvet box, revealing a ring with a diamond that caught the fractured, fading light of the sunset.

"Take me with you. Let's escape to freedom together. Will you?"

He looked up at me. The wind was whipping his hair across his forehead, and his dark eyes reflected the fiery sunset and my own stunned face.

As the words hung in the air, the green light bloomed above his head. His proposal was absolute, unadulterated truth.

Every doubt I had ever harbored shattered into dust. I took a deep, trembling breath and reached my hand out to him.

"Okay. Let's get married."

The moment Beth caught wind of our wedding plans, she immediately weaponized the gossip. She spread the rumor that her little sister was marrying a "billionaire" to absolutely everyone in town. Extended family, nosy neighbors, old classmates I hadn't spoken to in a decade, she made sure every single one of them received an invitation.

She wanted the whole city to watch me marry into "high society." Because the bigger the crowd, the more devastating her fake-busting livestream would be.

In my previous life, pulling this exact stunt made her an overnight sensation. Wealthy socialites started paying her for appearances just to prove they had real money and weren't afraid of her exposes. Beth and her husband used my destroyed life as a VIP pass into the upper echelon of society.

On the day of the wedding, Declan and I stood at the altar. We had just finished our vows and were reaching for the rings.

"Stop the wedding!"

The heavy oak doors of the banquet hall flew open. Just like in my past life, Beth marched down the aisle, holding her phone up high. The camera was pointed directly at me, and I could already see the livestream chat scrolling wildly on her screen.

She turned to the stunned crowd of guests, pitching her voice so the microphone would pick it up perfectly.

"Sophie! I know you've always been jealous that I married a wealthy man, but you can't just marry a con artist because you're desperate for cash!"

The banquet hall exploded into chaos. Guests were whispering frantically. People were craning their necks, and half the room pulled out their own phones to record the drama.

"Is she serious?!"

"I knew that guy claiming to have a billion dollars was totally full of it! How could she be stupid enough to marry him?"

"This is so humiliating. She tried to climb the social ladder and fell flat on her face."

Faced with the exact same nightmare from my previous life, I kept my voice dead calm. "Where is your proof?"

In my past life, she had produced bankruptcy papers for the shell company she had funded. The hired actor had checked his phone, realized his company was ruined, and completely lost his mind, tearing the wedding venue apart with his bare hands.

The video of that meltdown circulated the internet for a year. I became a local laughingstock. I couldn't leave the house, I was forced to quit my job, and I lived in a nightmare of public shame until my husband eventually beat me to death.

This time, Beth held up a crisp white document, waving it like a victory flag.

"I had my husband use his corporate connections to run a deep-dive background check on this guy. Declan's total verifiable assets? Zero!"

She handed the paper to the relatives in the front row, encouraging them to pass it around. "Take a look! Read it yourselves! I am not making this up to ruin her day, I am protecting her!"

The relatives huddled over the document, their voices rising in a mocking crescendo.

"Holy crap, it really says zero..."

"A billion dollars, huh? Dude couldn't even lie convincingly!"

"Well, this is streaming to the whole internet now. What an absolute disgrace."

Beth shoved the phone camera right into Declan's face, her smile practically splitting her cheeks. "Oh, Sophie! Didn't your amazing husband say a billion dollars was pocket change to him?"

The room erupted into cruel laughter.

The comments on the livestream were moving so fast they were a blur.

A billion is pocket change? LMAO. Not even Arthur Hawthorne talks like that.

This chick is psychotic for money. They belong in an asylum together!

Absolute delusion. Someone call the psychiatric ward.

Beth stood in the center of the aisle, her chin tilted up, unable to hide the euphoric grin on her face. She was waiting for us to snap. She was waiting for me to break down in hysterical tears so my ruined wedding could crown her the queen of the internet.

The document was eventually passed to me. I glanced at it. It was a standard background check, citing his assets as untraceable, effectively listing them as zero.

I opened my mouth to speak, but Declan stepped in front of me, shielding me from the cameras.

His posture was entirely relaxed. He didn't look remotely threatened by the circus unfolding around him. He looked at Beth and offered a cool, amused smile.

"You spent a whole year setting this trap, and this cheap piece of paper is all you managed to dig up?"

Beth's triumphant grin faltered for a second. She pointed a manicured finger at his chest. "What trap! Stop talking nonsense!"

"Well," Declan mused, adjusting his cuffs, "I suppose it really is time for my dear sister-in-law to officially meet my family."

He turned his head to look at me, his dark eyes suddenly entirely serious.

"Once you know the truth, please don't leave me. You have to believe that I truly love you." He lowered his voice, gently cupping my face. "Okay?"

The green light illuminated above him, bright and warm.

I looked into his eyes and gave a firm nod.

Declan turned back toward the aisle and gave a sharp hand signal to someone in the shadows.

The massive LED screen behind the altar suddenly blazed to life, bathing the entire banquet hall in harsh white light.

The room went dead silent. Hundreds of heads turned in unison to stare at the screen.

Beth was standing dead center, the first one to read the document projected in massive letters. Her smug smile completely shattered.

She stumbled backward, clapping a hand over her mouth. "This... this is impossible!"

I frowned, wondering what could possibly be on that screen to warrant such a dramatic reaction. I turned my head to look.