Chapter 2

He didn't know—I've been reborn.

In my past life, Ethan married me out of responsibility.

After marriage, my mutism grew worse for certain reasons.

During episodes, I became paranoid and violent, attacking Ethan with fists and scratches multiple times.

A perfectly good professor, his face covered in scratches from me.

Yet toward me, Ethan never uttered a word of complaint.

Unexpectedly, Ethan's rivals reported him for raping a mentally ill woman under the guise of marriage.

Just like that, the prestigious Northbridge University professor was arrested on rape charges.

Uncle Wilson and his wife begged me to testify in court, but with my severe illness, I couldn't even speak, which only further confirmed the charge that he violated my will.

After Ethan was imprisoned, I entered a psychiatric hospital for treatment. When my condition improved slightly, I went to court to clear his name.

But by then, his reputation was destroyed, his job lost, and all his pride had been ground away in prison.

The night I picked him up from prison, he drove in silence. With his shaved head and ill-fitting old clothes, those eyes that once shone with youth were filled with exhaustion from being dragged down.

Filled with guilt, I asked him for a divorce.

Then, a car out of control came speeding toward us.

Before impact, Ethan instinctively shielded me with his body.

He died. Before dying, spitting blood, he said: "Lily, if you truly feel sorry for me, don't cling to me in the next life. I'm so tired."

His parents lost their only son. Within half a year, they both passed away.

And I, this burden, destroyed Ethan and ruined Uncle Wilson and his wife who raised me. After burying Ethan's parents, I found a deserted place and quietly left this world.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back at eighteen, senior year.

Ethan wasn't imprisoned, wasn't dead. He stood vividly on the table, drunkenly spouting harsh words.

In my past life, I was heartbroken for a long time after hearing those words. But after rebirth, I smiled and called my mom's nominal younger brother—my uncle.

I just had to wait one month, then leave the country with my uncle.

......

When I arrived at school, first period hadn't started yet.

Morgan sat on Ethan's lap, the two sharing a cookie, incredibly intimate.

Classmates around them teased: "Congratulations to campus beauty Morgan—after three years of pursuit, you finally caught the top student."

"I always said Lily was bad luck—killed her parents and cursed Ethan. Now that the idiot's away from Ethan, he and Morgan finally got together!"

"Ethan, you won't protect Lily anymore, right?"

"Then we..."

Morgan's girlfriends glanced at me with sinister glee, their intent to torment clear as day.

Since freshman year, Morgan had been jealous of my relationship with Ethan, constantly undermining me openly and covertly, even bullying me when Ethan wasn't around.

Their malicious stares pierced me. I couldn't help shrinking back, instinctively looking toward Ethan.

But Ethan's words were brief and cruel: "Don't go too far. I have to answer to my parents."

I kept my head down and quickly passed through that crowd of malicious gazes, only to see my desk piled with garbage—sticky soy sauce mixed with moldy bread firmly stuck to the surface.

People around me snickered. I felt lost, frozen for a long time before starting to clean it up.

I heard Morgan say: "Ethan, you don't feel sorry for her, do you? You always protected her before. Now you're my boyfriend. I won't allow you to be soft-hearted toward other girls, even an adopted sister!"

Ethan said indulgently: "What adopted sister? Just an ungrateful wretch who can't even speak properly. I'm sick of her."

My hand paused. My heart felt a faint numbness.

Morgan's beautiful, delicate shoes appeared in my vision.

Crash!

Dirty, sticky garbage was swept onto my head. Frightened, I fell to the ground, helplessly wiping at my hair covered in soy sauce and mold.

The surrounding students laughed louder. I looked up indignantly, but what awaited me was Morgan's heavy slap.

"Try looking at me like that again." Morgan's delicate face filled with mockery. "Lily, you haven't eaten yet, have you? Let your sister-in-law treat you to breakfast."

Two male classmates pinned my hands behind my back. I knelt humiliatingly in that pile of garbage, sharp glass shards piercing my knees.

"Ah, it hurts..."

Morgan grabbed that ball of black moldy bread and tried to shove it in my mouth.

I struggled but couldn't break free, biting my lips tightly, my face covered in the garbage's soy sauce and mold: "Mmph!"

Years of habit made me instinctively look toward Ethan.

A flash of reluctance crossed the boy's brow. He mouthed: "Just give in and I'll save you."

He permitted Morgan to hurt me, waiting for me to beg him for help.

I withdrew the tears from my eyes and suddenly rammed into Morgan's stomach.

"Morgan!"

Ethan caught the off-balance Morgan in alarm.

Just then, the homeroom teacher's voice rang out: "What's going on here?"