Chapter 3

In my dream, it felt as though I had returned to the moment when I first reunited with Miranda.

It was at an alumni gathering. She wore a captain's uniform, looking graceful and beautiful. Despite the attention she attracted from everyone around her, she remained cold as ice, keeping her distance from others. Her demeanor made my heart flutter all over again.

I began to pay close attention to her schedule and found excuses to appear by her side. Whether through alumni events or marine conservation activities, I did everything I could to create chances for accidental encounters.

At first, she remained indifferent, but I didn't back down. I took the opportunity to invite her to discuss sailing-related topics or to share carefully prepared gifts like nautical instrument models and specially crafted lanterns.

I tried my best to appear interesting, independent, and someone who understood her world. Gradually, she started to warm up to me.

After one dinner, I noticed her gaze toward me had changed.

Hope sparked in my heart, and I boldly pursued her, giving her more thoughtful little gifts and even preparing customized gear for her crew.

She didn't give me a clear response, but she didn't refuse either. I thought I was getting closer to happiness.

Finally, she accepted me.

I believed this was the beginning of our beautiful life together, but little did I know, it was the beginning of a nightmare.

After we got together, she became increasingly distant, always using work as an excuse to cancel our dates or leave on sudden missions at sea.

I believed in her loyalty to her work until the day of our wedding, when the truth was revealed.

That day, I received a sudden email from Aaron, her first love.

After his divorce, he reconnected with Miranda, and I had been completely unaware.

Their relationship had quietly resumed while I was dating Miranda.

In the email, Aaron openly described every moment they spent together after reuniting. Their emotional entanglements over the past 10 years had never truly been severed.

It turned out that Miranda's coldness toward me stemmed from the fact that she had always been by Aaron's side.

Her so-called work and tasks were just a cover for their secret relationship.

I felt immense pain, but I didn't have the courage to confront her.

I was afraid of losing her, and I couldn't bring myself to face the brutal truth.

In my previous life, when Aaron died unexpectedly, she remained so calm, even making me think I was the only one left standing.

During that time, she took me to several remote cottages away from the city and even personally designed a room with a sea view for me.

Her gestures, which seemed to promise me a stable life, made me let down all my guard.

But I was terribly wrong.

It wasn't until I died at her hands that I realized all her "care" was part of a carefully planned revenge.

She had never truly loved me. The only person she had ever loved was always Aaron.

When I woke up, I found myself in a hospital room, surrounded by unfamiliar faces, but Miranda was nowhere to be seen.

"Are you okay?" a woman beside me, dressed in a coast guard uniform, spoke in a calm yet concerned tone.

"I'm from the Coast Guard. When I was aboard inspecting the yacht, I found you unconscious on the deck. Your condition wasn't good, so we immediately brought you to the hospital. How are you feeling? Is anything hurting?"

The first thing I did when I regained consciousness was ask about my daughter's whereabouts.

"I'm sorry," she said carefully, "the doctor said... your daughter had already passed away when she was brought in."

Her words, though gentle, couldn't soften the blow.

I gave a bitter smile. "It's not your fault. I knew it already. Thank you for bringing me to the hospital."

Even a complete stranger could tell something was wrong with my body, but my wife, the woman who had been married to me for five years, had never once shown any concern.

Seeing my mood darken, the officer furrowed her brows, her tone turning serious. "You were in a dangerous condition. Why didn't the crew on the yacht take immediate rescue measures? If we hadn't arrived in time, the consequences would have been unimaginable. Where is your family? Why hasn't your child's mother shown up?"

I forced a nod, my voice barely audible. "She... is gone."

The officer gave me a complicated look, as though wanting to say something, but in the end, she simply sighed. She offered to help contact my family and stay with me at the hospital until I recovered.

I declined her kindness and transferred the hospitalization and surgery fees to her before urging her to leave.