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.