Lily Sherwood had never, not even in her worst dreams, imagined she would die on her ruby wedding anniversary.

That day, on their anniversary, Victor Sutton was flying the private plane she had given him. Who would’ve thought he still wasn’t used to handling it? The aircraft slammed straight into an old tree clinging to the mountainside. The windshield shattered with a crash, and icy wind mixed with the sharp smell of blood came pouring in.

Lily was flung out on the spot.

Her back smashed hard against the torn-open cabin, and the pain made her suck in a shaky breath. But she had no time to care. She pressed both hands over the blood streaming down Victor’s forehead, so anxious her voice had gone hoarse. "Victor, hang on. You have to hang on. I’ll call someone right now. We’ll get help."

She had spent forty years with Victor, watching him climb from a street peddler dodging inspectors in the old days to the business giant he was now. Half the dignity and comfort he wore so naturally today had been built with her own hands beside him.

And he had always treated her with care too. Every single day, he would call and remind her not to overwork, to drink more water, to mind her health.

What they had between them was like a quiet stream, steady and unbroken, flowing on for forty years without ever running dry.

Victor looked at Lily, her face soaked in tears, but his eyes did not stay on her. They drifted past her, toward someplace far away.

In that direction, someone he truly longed for was waiting.

"Xiao..." His lips moved faintly, but then a mouthful of blood surged up and scattered the rest of his broken words.

Lily only heard that one syllable. Before she could make sense of it, he was gone.

It felt as if her heart had been torn clean apart. Clutching his body, she fell with the wreckage of the plane into the sea below.

...

Lily felt as if a heavy stone was crushing her chest. She could barely breathe. Something was forcing its way into her mouth and nose.

"Help them! Hurry!"

"Pull them out now, quick!"

Her mother’s voice?

How could that be?

Half-conscious, Lily slowly opened her eyes. Through the blur, she saw her mother on the shore, pacing in panic, frantic with worry.

But her mother had been dead for over thirty years.

The only thing she felt was that awful choking pain from drowning. Nothing else on her body hurt.

Lily Sherwood thrashed in the water, fighting to stay up, and then it hit her all at once—she had gone back to that year, back to the day she and Mina Sherwood fell into the lake together.

In her last life, Mina had shoved her in, and both of them ended up in the water.

Victor Sutton had jumped in without a second thought and grabbed hold of her. That was how the next forty years of marriage had begun.

Thinking of the accident on their wedding anniversary, Lily suddenly felt as if maybe heaven had given them another chance to start over.

Even the lake around her didn’t seem quite so freezing anymore.

Splash—

Someone had jumped into the water.

Warmth rushed through Lily’s chest. Victor had come for her.

That figure swam straight toward her. Lily opened her arms, waiting for him to pull her into his embrace just like he had in her last life.

But... that figure swept right past her and headed off to the side.

Victor pulled Mina out of the water.

"Lily! Lily’s still in there! Somebody go pull her out!" Margaret Whitfield shouted, her voice sharp with panic.

Lily’s head buzzed like it was about to split open.

Victor hadn’t come to save her?

She choked on several mouthfuls of water at once and started sinking.

Then it came back to her all of a sudden.

She knew how to swim.

In her last life, she had nearly drowned. Victor had been scared half to death and insisted on dragging her off to learn swimming no matter what.

She was just about to loosen up and steady her limbs when she heard another splash nearby.

A figure swam quickly to her side and seized her by the arm.

In no time, Lily Sherwood was hauled up onto the bank.

Margaret Whitfield hurried over and wrapped a wool blanket around her shoulders.

The one who had dragged Lily out of the water was one of the village women from the militia.

She looked over the ring of people standing there, then at the man holding Mina Sherwood, and asked bluntly, "You can swim, can't you? So why did you only save one?"

Victor Sutton's lips moved, but before he answered, his eyes drifted on their own to the half piece of jade showing at Mina's collar.

Lily turned to look at Victor. Only then did she notice he had taken off his own coat and wrapped it around Mina.

And Mina had her shoulders hunched, tucked tight in his arms.

Lily's head started buzzing, like something had blown apart inside it.

How could this be different from her last life? Back then, the one who saved her was Victor. He had jumped in himself and dragged her out of the lake.

Victor glanced at Lily and said evenly, "She knows how to swim."

Droplets clung to Lily's lashes and slid down one by one. All at once, a scene from her previous life flashed into her mind—how she refused to learn, and how he had forced her into the water anyway.

Margaret Whitfield snapped, "Neither of them can swim!"

She shot Victor a disappointed look, thanked the militia woman, and reached out to help Lily home.

"Come on. I'll take you back first."

Just then, Victor spoke again. "Auntie, I need to tell you something."

The crowd around them still hadn't broken up.

He had been holding Mina the whole time since just now, with no sign at all of letting go.

In a clear voice, he said, "I saved Mina. I've had physical contact with her. For the sake of her reputation, I have to take responsibility."

Margaret Whitfield whipped around and stared straight at Victor.

Then she said, "Have you forgotten? You were engaged to Lily long ago."

"Mina is your daughter too. And with her in this state, I have to take responsibility. I want to marry her."

Lily Sherwood just stood there, staring blankly at Victor Sutton.

Margaret Whitfield’s voice turned hard at once. "Have you really thought this through? You had to say this here, of all places?"

Victor said evenly, "Since everyone’s here already, I’d like you all to witness it for me."

Lily’s body swayed.

He wanted to marry Mina?

And he was even trying to use the crowd to force the matter through.

But why Mina?

Her eyes shifted to Mina Sherwood, who was curled up in Victor’s arms, looking weak and pitiful. Yet in the depths of Mina’s eyes, there was a smugness she couldn’t quite hide.

Mina was only the Sherwood family’s adopted daughter.

Lily was the real daughter.

She had been switched by mistake when she was little, and it wasn’t until she was eight that she was found and brought back to the Sherwood family.

Back then, Mina had refused to go back to her biological parents.

The Sherwoods had raised Mina for eight years. Her parents had grown attached to her, so they kept her and treated her as if she were their own. Truth be told, the Sherwood family had originally arranged two marriages.

Lily’s mind was still in a daze. Before she had even returned to the Sherwoods, the family had already settled a marriage match with the Vance family.

Later, when the whole matter of the real and adopted daughters came to light, that engagement was still left to Mina. It was never changed.

As for Lily, when she was nine, she was always trailing after Victor wherever he went. Because of that, her grandfather and Victor’s grandfather arranged another marriage agreement.

Victor looked at Lily, wrapped in a blanket, soaked to the skin. A trace of hesitation flickered through his eyes, but he still said, "Auntie, please let us be together."

Margaret Whitfield was about to speak again when Lily suddenly reached out and grabbed her hand. "Mom, I’m cold."

At once, Margaret steadied her. "Come on. We’ll go home first and talk there."

After they got home, Lily changed out of her wet clothes. The moment she stepped out of her room, she heard Margaret demanding, "If you marry Mina, then what are you going to do about the Vance family?"

"I’ll go to the Vance family myself and make it clear," Victor Sutton said, his tone firm and unbending.

Margaret Whitfield stared at him and asked, "Does your grandfather know about this?"

"Ma’am, this is the new society now. My marriage is my own business. I get to decide it myself," Victor replied without hesitation.

All at once, Margaret Whitfield felt a sharp pain clutch at her chest. She pressed a hand over it, her face turning bad. Lily Sherwood hurried out of the room at once and caught hold of her arm. "Mom."

Victor raised his voice a little, as if afraid she still had not heard him clearly. "Ma’am, you can’t force something like feelings. The one I like is Mina. Lily used to tag along after me all the time, so the elders at home just assumed the two of us were suited."

"But now I have to tell the truth. The person I want to spend my life with is Mina. As long as the Vance family agrees, then ma’am, please don’t stand in our way anymore."