Chapter 1

Inside the bandit stronghold, my husband Cedric Winthrop didn't even blink.

He took the ransom and picked his cherished widowed sister-in-law, Clara Rookwood, over me.

Right then, I knew he'd been reborn, too.

In my previous life, I used my unborn child as leverage, forcing Cedric to choose to rescue me first.

When he returned to the bandit stronghold, all he found was Clara's lifeless body, violated and discarded.

He utterly despised me.

No matter how loud I got or how hard I tried to win him over, he never acknowledged me.

On our eldest son's seventh birthday, he did something unheard of.

He invited me to go out with him.

But when we reached the mountains, he locked me inside a nailed coffin.

Desperate to survive, I fought with everything I had, my fingers worn down to the bone.

But then I heard my son's childish voice from outside.

"Mom, can't you just die quietly? You're bothering Aunt Clara," he complained.

In that instant, all my strength drained away as Cedric hammered in the final nail.

"If I ever got another chance, I wouldn't save you, not in a million years," Cedric said, his voice ice-cold.

"Letting you scrape by for two years was already a betrayal to Clara. Now it's time for you to atone for your sins," he added.

Reborn into another life, I watched Cedric walk away, holding Clara tightly, his resolve unshakable.

I accepted my fate and faced death calmly.

******

But later, how could it be that he went completely mad with regret? "Cedric, this time, I'll do as you wish," I said, resignation in my voice.

At my words, Cedric stopped in his tracks, then turned around.

Garrick Harlow, the bandit leader, his eyes gleamed with cunning.

"Having second thoughts? Or do you want to save both of them?" he taunted.

I held my breath, waiting for his answer.

In my previous life, after Cedric left the mountains, he scoured every friend and relative, promising outrageous profits just to scrape together the second ransom, all in less than a day.

Back then, he said it was all for his brother's only widow.

But only I knew the real reason. Clara was his unreachable white moonlight, the love he could never touch.

This time, I wasn't going to struggle anymore.

Would he ever risk everything to save me, the way he did for Clara?

"Regret it? Never," Cedric said, his voice cold and unyielding.

He barely glanced at me. "Her? She's yours, do as you please."

He said it all with a blank face. All I could do was give a bitter smile.

Just as I thought that even after living another life, Clara was still his one and only wish.

I just never expected he wouldn't even care what became of me.

Clara, standing behind him, piped up in a soft, almost coquettish tone.

"Cedric, can we go home now?

"If we don't hurry, Dorian's going to get fussy and throw a fit," she urged.

In my previous life, my eldest son, Dorian Winthrop, cried his eyes out and made a scene all night because Clara wasn't home.

Cedric, bothered by the noise, told me—bruised and battered as I was—to go calm him down.

But Dorian, in his innocence, asked me, "Mom, can you go back and swap yourself for Aunt Clara?"

The pain from my past life hit me all over again, and I just stopped fighting.

Cedric pulled Clara along and left without looking back.

I was dragged into the woodshed, and the bandits came and went in waves.

By nightfall, I was barely clinging to life, just waiting for death to take me.

The last two bandits pulled up their pants, snickering.

"Damn, never thought we'd get to mess with a pregnant woman. That's a first for us."

"That bitch is ruthless, trying to kill two lives at once."

"Still, she's way more alluring. What a shame... Boss said if that guy didn't pick her, we could just take her for ourselves..."

They exchanged a lecherous glance, their intentions obvious.

It turned out that Clara orchestrated everything.

Back then, after she died in my previous life, I genuinely felt guilty for her.

But in the end, she had it coming.

If Cedric ever discovered that the angel he worshipped was nothing but a scheming manipulator behind that innocent face.

Early the next morning, the bandits burst into the woodshed.

"The garrison from Crownward Keep is already on its way. we have to move! Now!"

"As for this bitch, the boss said just kill her!"

One of them drove a blade straight through my heart.

They cursed at me, then stabbed me over and over, ripping open my stomach without mercy.

Before they left, they yanked off my silver bracelet and snarled, "What a useless bitch!"

Then I died in agony.

But my soul didn't leave.

Instead, a mysterious power dragged me straight to Cedric's side.

Suddenly, as if he felt my presence, Cedric jolted awake from his dream.

"She's been reborn, too?" he murmured to himself.

"Dad, is Mom coming back?" Dorian asked, his voice small and uncertain.

Early the next morning, Cedric brewed a scripted remedy himself and brought it to Clara, with Dorian tagging along.

My heart twisted with bitterness.

So, even when I was gone, Dorian still worried about me.

"Mom will be back. I let Crownward Keep know before I went up the mountain," Cedric said offhandedly.

So it was he who tipped off the Crownward Keep.

But before I could even feel moved, Dorian started bawling and fussing.