Chapter 2

I clenched my fingers.

In my last life, everything had started tonight. This was when Celia began to care about Bernard.

This time, I cut it off before it could grow.

But her next words still cut deep. "He was only staying one night. He was freezing. You drove him out like that. If something happens to him, wouldn't that make us murderers?"

She looked at me. "You always said we should be kind. Why are you being so cruel to him?"

I stared at her. My throat tightened.

She had said the same thing back then.

Back then, she truly cared about Bernard.

And later, before she died, she had said something else. "Mom, I knew it long ago. Your soft heart would get us killed."

I closed my eyes. When I opened them again, there was nothing left but cold.

"He won't die," I said. "And from now on, you are not to say a single word to him."

Celia stared at me in disbelief.

"Why?" she demanded.

"Because you're my daughter," I said.

Her tears welled up and spilled over. "So that means you get to be unfair, huh?

"He's educated. He's polite. He's nothing like those gamblers and bullies in the village. Why can't you accept him?"

A sharp pain stabbed through my chest.

She was still too young. She didn't understand. Some people looked clean on the outside and rotten underneath.

I was about to answer when I heard footsteps outside the gate.

Then someone knocked on the door twice slowly. "Sally, I heard everything from the end of the alley."

My brow twitched. It was Hector Dixon.

In my last life, he had been the one who carried Celia's body out of the County Governor's backyard and buried her.

After I died, he was the one who laid me to rest.

But back then, it had all been too late. I didn't have time to ask any questions.

I hadn't expected him to show up so early in this lifetime.

Celia was still wiping her tears as I went over and opened the door.

Cold wind and snow rushed in. Hector stood there, tall and steady, with a thin layer of snow on his shoulders. He held a woodcutting knife in one hand. At his feet sat half a sack of golden grain.

He glanced at me, then at the dark alley behind.

"Is he gone?" he asked.

I nodded.

The corner of his mouth lifted, just a little. "That's a shame. If you couldn't handle him, I was ready to step in and give him a few hits myself."

I blinked, caught off guard.

Even Celia looked stunned, tears streaking her face.

Everyone in the village knew Hector never got involved in other people's business.

But tonight, he acted like he knew why I sent Bernard away.

My heart skipped a beat.

For a split second, I wondered if he had come back from the future like me.

But the next moment, he set the sack of golden grain down at my feet and whispered, "Don't open your stall tomorrow. Theo's coming to cause trouble."

That was enough. Some things were still going to happen, just like before.

But this time, I wouldn't let them push me around.

I dragged the golden grain inside and looked back at him. "Where did you hear that?"

He leaned against the doorframe, voice low. "At the tavern on the east side. Theo's second son got drunk. He was talking loudly.

"He said you kicked Bernard out today. Bernard's going to make it big someday. You just ruined the village's luck and your daughter's future."

Celia reacted before she could stop herself. "What future? I didn't—"

She cut herself off, her face turning red.

My chest felt heavy.

She had just started noticing boys. And someone like Bernard—someone who could read, who knew how to act—was exactly the kind who could fool her.

In my last life, Celia had not truly loved Bernard. What she loved was the idea of him. She loved the dream that a scholar could take her out of this hard, poor life.

She did not resent me just because I saved the wrong man.

She resented me because I kept her tied to that cake stand. At the same time, I had cut off the only way out she believed she had.

So this time, I was not just cutting Bernard out of our lives.

I was cutting off that belief. I was going to kill off her idea that a man could ever be her way out.

I reached over and slid the bolt across the yard gate. Then I turned to Celia. "You are not going out tomorrow."

She frowned right away. "Why?"

"There is trouble outside," I said. "If you go out, you will only get dragged into it and make things worse."

Her eyes reddened again, hurt clear on her face. "When have I ever made things worse for you? Mom, what is wrong with you lately? Since yesterday, you have been acting like a different person."

I looked at her young face and felt a dull ache in my chest.

If she thought I had changed, then so be it.

That was still better than living through that life again.

Hector seemed to sense the tension. He straightened and stepped back. "You two should talk. I should not be standing here listening."

He turned to leave.

"Wait," I called out.