Vera Xavier sat up, clutching her head. It hurt—so much!
But she quickly realized something was wrong. Cara Preston had set a trap, leaving her to burn to death in a fire. She could still vividly remember the excruciating pain, the sound of her own flesh sizzling… So why was it only her head that hurt now?
She opened her eyes and looked around. The room was cozily furnished with floral lace curtains, carved mahogany furniture with padded corners, a delicate vanity, and a pink bedsheet and duvet set. It was all decorated in a style she had loved as a teenager.
She was confused. 'Where am I?'
Just then, the door opened, and sunlight flooded the dim room. The light was too bright, and she instinctively raised a hand to shield her eyes. That's when she saw it—her hand was covered in blood. She froze.
A tall, imposing man walked in slowly, backlit by the morning sun. The golden light cast him in a stunning silhouette, and each of his steady footsteps seemed to hammer against her heart.
The scene felt incredibly familiar to Vera Xavier. When she was eighteen, Nathaniel Nathan had kidnapped her from her own wedding and locked her in a room. She'd hit her head on a wall while trying to escape, injuring herself.
She remembered it clearly. This was 1994.
The next moment, a hand with long, slender fingers tilted up her chin. "How was your taste of death?" he asked coldly.
As her head was lifted, Vera saw his face—Nathaniel Nathan's face, so handsome it would put any movie star to shame, and his eyes, so deep you could drown in them. Right now, they were suppressing an intense storm of emotion. Yet his face was so much younger than the Nathaniel she remembered.
A storm raged in her heart. 'Didn't Nathaniel die with me in the fire, trying to save me? Could it be... I've been reborn?'
Overwhelmed with excitement, she stared at him, her eyes wide with disbelief.
He clearly misunderstood her expression. "You must really hate me now," he asked in a cold voice, "for ruining your wedding to Wesley Kane and stopping you from marrying him."
Tears instantly welled in Vera's eyes at his words. 'Yes... That's exactly what I believed in my past life!'
Nathaniel Nathan had torn her away from her wedding to Wesley Kane. She had believed he'd destroyed her lifelong happiness and hated him to her very core.
For the next ten years, he had tried everything to stay by her side, only to be met with her constant scorn. Every time they met, it ended in a bitter fight, fueled by endless misunderstandings.
And yet, this was the man who had been burned alive trying to save her. The man who, even in death, had used his own body to shield hers.
'How many people in this world would give their life for you?'
Nathaniel Nathan reached out and coldly wiped her tears away. "But you're a real fool, Vera Xavier. To think you'd kill yourself over a man like that. It's a shame, but it doesn't matter how much you hate me. I won't let you go unless you marry me."
"Do I have to marry you for you to let me go?" Vera asked softly. Her voice was lovely, like the sweet, warbling song of a lark.
"That's right!" Nathaniel said, looking at her. "If you don't marry me, you'd better be prepared to spend the rest of your life locked in here!"
Vera's eyes reddened. They'd had a similar conversation in her past life. Back then, his words had thoroughly enraged her, and she had bitten him hard. But he had never truly made things difficult for her. His proposal, in the end, was only meant to protect her. She had just never understood his true intentions.
Looking back now, she realized he had been incredibly patient with her then.