Embers of A New Dawn

Sophie Wilson loved Daniel Carter for a lifetime.

As she neared the end, Daniel held her hand, tears streaming down his face.

She thought it would be a final confession of love.

But then Daniel sighed, "Sophie, being your husband this lifetime was exhausting. I just want to live with Lily in Seaside Village as a plain fisher."

In that moment, Sophie forgot how to breathe.

The Lily he spoke of was the fisherwoman who found him years ago in Seaside Village. She lied, claiming to be his wife, and kept him hidden, living as a couple.

When Sophie found him, Daniel, who had lived in poverty for so long, remembered everything. He didn't spare Lily Harvey a glance and returned with Sophie to the Carter family.

He gave her a grand wedding, promising to stay by her side forever.

But now, as Sophie lay dying, her husband told her he regretted it.

1

Sophie went to the city hall as the first thing after her rebirth.

"Hello, I'd like to know if I can replace a lost marriage certificate," she said.

She watched the clerk, tense and hopeful.

Every second of waiting felt like torture.

Daniel's words from her deathbed echoed in her ears.

She desperately needed to know it was a dying delusion or the truth.

"Sorry, ma'am," the clerk looked up, polite. "There's no record of your marriage in the system. You were never registered."

"No... registered marriage?" Sophie repeated the words softly, her eyes burning.

She lowered her head and smiled.

Of course.

The Carter family had fooled her from the start.

They gave her a fake marriage certificate, using her and Wilson family's resources for their gain.

In that long marriage, Daniel seemed to love her passionately, but something always felt off.

She had her doubts, but Daniel brushed them off, saying his memory loss had changed him, that it was normal.

On her deathbed, tubes everywhere, with only hours left, Daniel spoke the truth.

He said, "Sophie, sometimes I wish you hadn't found me. I could've stayed Danny the fisher, happy in Seaside Village. Being your husband was exhausting. Being the Carter heir was exhausting."

He paused, gazing out the window, his eyes soft. "In the next life, I want to live carefree with Lily in Seaside Village."

Looking back, it was laughable.

Even more laughable, when the Carter family faced its worst crisis, Wilson family used every connection and resource to stabilize Daniel's position.

Yet less than a year after her death, Daniel ruthlessly took over her family's company. The elders who fought for the Carters were all pushed out.

The marriage Sophie devoted her life to destroyed her family.

"So... it was true." Sophie laughed until tears fell.

The rain had stopped when she left city hall.

She stood on the street and tore the fake marriage certificate to pieces without hesitation.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket, the screen flashing with Norvo Medical Academy.

Months ago, an overseas mentor invited her to continue her medical studies.

In her past life, she declined for Daniel, locking her scalpel in a drawer forever.

She locked herself away too.

She stared at the screen, took a deep breath, and pressed accept.

"Sophie, are you sure you won't reconsider?" The professor's kind voice came through.

"Professor," she said. "I'm in. I'll handle the paperwork and be there in a month."