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."

When Sophie pushed open the door, a pair of handmade cloth shoes at the entrance stung her eyes.

Lily had made them, and in her past life, Daniel hid them deep in the closet.

Yet during Sophie's illness, he dug them out, placing them by her bedside, touching them day and night.

They disgusted her until her final breath.

The living room glowed with warm yellow light. Daniel sat slumped on the sofa, hands repeatedly clutching his knees.

At the sound of footsteps, he snapped his head up, eyes filled with wariness and confusion, like a wild animal lost in a bustling city.

He didn't know where he was or whether the person before him meant harm.

This place felt terrifying, nothing like the warmth of Seaside Village.

"Who are you?"

Sophie's heart felt gripped by an icy hand, cold and painful.

This was the Daniel just brought back.

He couldn't even tell if he was Daniel or Danny.

"I'm Sophie." She approached him, deliberately holding her breath.

The faint salty scent of the sea clung to him, a smell she disliked.

It belonged to Lily and Seaside Village.

Daniel frowned, straining to recall the name, but only shook his head. "I don't know you. They say you're my fiancée, no... they say we're already married. Is that true?"

Sophie let out a bitter laugh.

He didn't remember.

He only remembered Lily.

He didn't care how much effort the Wilson and Carter families poured into finding him.

"Do you want to go back to Seaside Village?"

Daniel's eyes lit up instantly, like a spark catching fire. "Yes! Of course I do!"

He shot to his feet, knocking over a glass on the coffee table in his haste. Water soaked the expensive rug, but he didn't notice. "I don't want to stay here, learning all these rules, listening to old men drone about company business. I just want to go back, fish with Lily, and lie on the boat at night watching the stars.

I'm not Daniel Carter. I'm Danny the fisher!"

He spoke Danny the fisher with such ease, as if it were his true, born identity.

Sophie looked at the pure longing in his eyes and felt the absurdity of it all. "I can take you to see it."

Daniel cheered instantly.

Sophie took him on a boat to Seaside Village.

The sea breeze carried a briny tang, and Daniel leaned eagerly over the railing.

At the dock, several women in rough cloth clothes mended nets. Their eyes lit up at the sight of Daniel, then shifted to Sophie with hostility.

"Ain't that Danny? You're finally back!" A stout woman spoke first, her tone warm but her gaze slicing over Sophie like a blade. "And who's this? All dressed up, some fancy city lady?"

Before Daniel could respond, a young woman grabbed a bucket of seawater and splashed it over Sophie.

The icy water soaked her clothes instantly, salty droplets dripping from her hair onto her chest.

"You wicked woman! Breaking up a sweet couple like that!" The young woman stood with hands on hips, face full of anger. "If you hadn't dragged Danny away, he'd be married to Lily by now! You made her cry for days, and you've got the nerve to show up here!"

More people crowded around, their accusations piling on.

"Exactly! Our Lily's such a good girl, waiting for Danny all this time!"

"City women are just rotten, can't stand to see others happy!"

"Danny, don't let this kind of woman fool you!"

Sophie stood there, drenched and disheveled.

She looked up at Daniel.

But Daniel only frowned, staring at the chaotic scene, his lips moving slightly. "Hey... don't do this. Where's Lily?"

Daniel led Sophie deeper into Seaside Village.

He seemed oblivious to her silence, lost in his own nostalgic tales of the village.

"Look at that old oak tree," he said, pointing to a lush, leafy tree nearby. "When I first got to the village, I came down with a high fever. Lily carried me three kilometers over the hills to find a doctor. We stopped to rest under that tree. Her hands were sweaty, but she kept asking if I was cold." "And that rocky beach at the village entrance," he continued. "It's dangerous at high tide, but Lily wasn't scared. She's a strong swimmer."

The Lily Harvey he described was kind, her heart and eyes full of him.

Sophie kept her gaze lowered.

Kind?

If Lily was truly kind, she wouldn't have hidden Daniel in this remote village when the Carter family used every resource and offered a hefty reward to find him, cutting him off from his family entirely.

"We're almost there." Daniel stopped, pointing to a low tiled house ahead.

Fishing nets hung in the yard, and strings of dried fish dangled under the eaves, the air thick with the damp, briny smell of the sea.

The door stood slightly ajar, and a faint cough came from inside.

Daniel pushed it open, barely containing his joy. "Lily, I'm back."

At his words, a figure rushed out from the house.

When she saw Daniel at the door, she froze.

"Danny?" Her voice trembled, tears welling up instantly. "How... how are you back?"

Before Daniel could respond, Lily threw herself at him, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist, her face buried in his chest, sobbing. "I thought... I thought I'd never see you again in this life. They said your family found you, that you went back to the big city, that you'd never come back."

Her cries carried grievance and fear, as if Daniel's return was a treasure reclaimed.

Daniel, held tightly, instinctively patted her back, his voice soft. "I'm back, Lily. I didn't leave."

Sophie stood at the gate, watching the two locked in a tight embrace, feeling the absurdity of it all.

She watched quietly until Lily seemed to notice her, lifting a tear-streaked face. Her gaze landed on Sophie, now sharp with wariness and hostility. "Why... why is she here?"

Daniel glanced back at Sophie, looking conflicted.

Sophie stepped back, putting distance between them, her voice calm. "I brought him here. You two talk. I'm leaving."

With that, she turned and walked away.

Behind her, Lily's choked voice called out. "Danny, is she here to take you away? Please don't go..."

Daniel's tone carried a hint of helplessness as he soothed her. "Don't overthink it. I'm not going anywhere."