In my previous life, my fiancé Ryan Miller’s first love was trapped in a fire. I blocked his way, threatening my own life to stop him from rushing in to rescue her.

Later, his first love, Chloe Adams, was disfigured by the flames. Three months later, on the day of my wedding, she threw herself into the sea and died.

When Ryan found out, he said nothing and still went through with the wedding. But on our wedding night, he set the mansion ablaze.

I woke up choking on thick smoke, desperate to escape, only to realize my body was weak and paralyzed, completely drained of strength.

Through the smoke, I saw Ryan standing at the door. I begged him to save me, but he only glared at me with hatred.

“Chloe was just as helpless back then. If you hadn’t stopped me, she wouldn’t have died. You owe her. Now I’ll let you feel the pain she endured.”

In despair, I was devoured by the fire. At that moment, I swore—if given another chance, I would never meddle again.

When I opened my eyes, I was back in the fire. This time, I decided to let him go.

…

“Emily Carter, let go of me. I have to save Chloe.”

The familiar voice rang in my ears. I looked around and instantly realized I had returned.

The pain of being burned alive in my past life still lingered, making my body tremble uncontrollably.

I released Ryan’s arm and said calmly, “I won’t stop you. But if you go in, our engagement ends here.”

He glared at me, furious. “You want to break up with me?”

“Yes. Break up. Whatever happens to you afterward will no longer concern me.”

Hearing this, Ryan sneered, his voice dripping with mockery. “Trying to threaten me with that? Impossible. If you want to break up, I’ll gladly oblige. Let’s see how you come crawling back, crying.”

“Even if we were married already, if you threatened me with divorce, I’d still agree.”

I neither grew angry nor upset. I only smiled faintly at him. “Good luck.”

Without my interference, he spat a few harsh words and, ignoring the firefighters’ attempts to stop him, rushed headlong into the burning building.

I remembered my past life—how the fire inside had been too fierce, and Ryan had no experience or protective gear. I had only tried to stop him for his own safety.

Back then, the firefighters already had rescue operations underway, and one by one, the trapped victims were being saved.

Chloe was burned and disfigured because of her vanity. Even in such danger, she insisted on changing clothes and redoing her makeup, delaying the best chance for rescue.

Her recklessness even caused the death of a firefighter. Later, she killed herself because the incident went viral in the news, and she was viciously attacked online until she couldn’t bear it anymore.

But Ryan never cared about the facts. Simply because I had stopped him, he blamed everything on me—and in the end, cruelly killed me.

In this life, I no longer cared about their so-called tragic love. I only wanted to stay far away from those two lunatics.

Clutching my phone, I quickly left the scene.

Back home, I hurriedly packed my clothes, blocked every way Ryan could contact me, and booked the earliest flight out for a vacation abroad.

I turned off my phone for three days. But when I powered it back on the fourth day and saw the news from the U.S., I was utterly shocked.

I never expected their mess to drag me onto the headlines.

“Hero Firefighter Loses Leg Saving Others, Heartlessly Abandoned by Fiancée.”

Seeing that title—and my photo splashed across the screen—made my head spin with rage.

Clicking into the article, I learned the truth: this time, Chloe wasn’t injured at all. Instead, Ryan was severely burned in the fire, and his leg had to be amputated.

Online, Ryan wept publicly, claiming that after becoming disabled while saving lives, I had heartlessly abandoned him and broken our engagement.

In the video, he sat in a wheelchair, pale-faced, one pant leg hanging empty.

“Emily, come back. I don’t believe you would throw away our years together.”

Beside him, Chloe spoke tearfully.

“I’m the one he saved. I owe him my life. I sincerely thank Ryan for rescuing me. And I beg Miss Carter—Ryan is a hero. You can’t abandon a hero just because he now carries scars. If you want compensation, I’ll do anything. Just please, don’t leave him when he’s at his weakest. He truly needs you.”

The two of them played off each other seamlessly, pushing me right into the storm.

I hadn’t expected that even after fleeing abroad, I’d still get dragged into their farce. Overnight, I became the target of online outrage.

“This is what a shallow woman looks like—dumping her fiancé the moment he’s disabled. She’s an embarrassment to women everywhere.”

“Hurry back and take care of him. He’s a national hero now. If you don’t, we’ll make sure you pay.”

“A woman like this deserves the worst—she should burn in hell!”

Malicious comments flooded every corner of the internet. Some even doxxed me, exposing my personal information.

My parents weren’t spared either. Their photos were plastered online, and our house was vandalized with spray-painted graffiti.

“Look at the kind of parents who raised such an ungrateful daughter. With a daughter like her, they can’t be any better.”

“If I had a daughter like that, I’d beat her to death. Total disgrace. How does she even have the face to live?”

“This whole family doesn’t deserve to exist on Earth. Send them away before they waste more resources.”

Fury boiled inside me. I hadn’t expected this disaster to drag my parents down as well.

Just then, my phone rang—it was Mom.

Her voice trembled with worry. “Sweetheart, what on earth is going on? We could never believe you’d betray someone like that. Did something else happen that we don’t know about?”

Hearing how, despite enduring so much abuse, she still trusted me unconditionally, my eyes instantly grew hot with tears.

Not wanting to burden them with the truth of my past life, I said, “Mom, Ryan and I broke up before he ever went to save Chloe. He told me himself—whatever happened after would no longer concern me.”

“And he went after Chloe because they were already having an affair. I have proof. This is all part of Ryan’s scheme. Now that he’s crippled, he just wants to chain me to him.”

“Besides, the firefighters were rescuing people that day. Why was it that everyone on the first floor was saved unharmed, yet only he was badly injured? Doesn’t that seem suspicious?”

Mom grew furious. “That Ryan—I knew something was off. And to think he played the hero. Good thing you’re not like what they’re saying online. But now that the whole internet is slandering you, what do we do?”

I reassured her. “Mom, you and Dad stay home. Don’t go out for now. I’ll handle this. If he wants to use public opinion to force me into taking care of a cripple, then he can’t blame me for striking back.”

After hanging up, I let out a cold laugh.

Ryan, in this second life, I hadn’t planned on bothering with you. But since you’re shamelessly clinging on, don’t blame me for being ruthless.

I dialed a number. “Is what I asked for ready?”

Moments later, a file landed in my inbox. Just as I expected, everything I needed was there.

In my past life, I only learned after my death that Chloe and Ryan had already been secretly involved. They often sneaked into the mansion I had prepared for my wedding to carry on their affair.

Back then, I had suggested moving into the mansion early, but Ryan insisted we wait until after the wedding, saying it would be more meaningful.

In truth, it was because he and Chloe were already using it as their love nest.

Chloe even hid pinhole cameras in the mansion to record their encounters.

Before leaving last time, to be safe, I had a friend pull the security footage from the mansion and connect the feed to my phone. I wanted to see how Ryan would explain this away.

I booked the earliest flight back to the U.S. and went straight to the hospital upon landing.

The moment I reached his ward, a crowd of livestreaming influencers surrounded me.

“So you’re the fiancée who abandoned the hero firefighter, Emily Carter? How could you be so heartless—dumping him just because he’s disabled?”

“Today I’ll expose you. Let’s see if anyone will dare marry you again. You’ll die lonely.”

“Yeah, women like you deserve to be publicly shamed so everyone sees your true colors.”

As I was being bombarded, Ryan sat in his wheelchair, feigning weakness, and spoke up.

“Don’t be too harsh on Emily. I’m sure she didn’t mean it. She just couldn’t accept my disability at first.”

“Emily, I know you still love me. You only ran away because you were scared, right? You’re not really a faithless woman. Our wedding will still happen, won’t it?”

Trying to force me into submission by putting me on the moral high ground—despicable.

Chloe chimed in, her tone self-righteous.

“Ryan’s right. If Miss Carter truly abandoned you because you became disabled while saving someone, then she’s no better than an animal.”

She looked at me smugly. “Am I right, Miss Carter?”

I chuckled. “You’re right. If my fiancé became disabled while saving others, and I abandoned him, then I wouldn’t deserve to be called human.”

Ryan thought I had yielded. A flash of triumph crossed his face.

“I knew Emily wasn’t that kind of person. Now that I can’t move well, Chloe has been helping me these past few days. From now on, that responsibility is yours. I trust you’ll take good care of me.”

“Actually, I need to relieve myself now. Emily, help me with the urinal.”

When I didn’t move, Chloe quickly handed me a foul-smelling urinal.

“Miss Carter, from now on, these things should be your duty. It’s not really appropriate for me to keep doing it.”

She moved too hastily, spilling a few drops on me.

I silently took the urinal—and in front of everyone’s stunned eyes, I splashed it right across Chloe’s face.

“Then you can deal with it yourself.”

Chloe gagged violently, retching nonstop, her mask of innocence slipping as she shrieked, “Emily, are you insane?”

Ryan immediately yelled at me, his earlier frailty gone.

“You vicious woman! You stopped me from saving Chloe before. You’re jealous of how much I care about her. You probably wanted her dead in that fire, didn’t you?”

The crowd eagerly turned their cameras on me, their fury rising.

“So that’s the truth? Emily really is a venomous woman—she wanted Chloe burned alive!”