On the third year of our anniversary, the cruise ship Louise York—my fiancee—and I were on sank.

I gave her the only life jacket we had before getting dragged under the currents and losing contact with the world.

Three years later, after I healed from my injuries, I rushed back just in time to see her getting married to my adopted brother. Since she owed me her life, she was forced to marry me instead. That caused her to start hating me, because I had separated her from the man she loved.

Even my parents accused me of being immature. They said that I was ruining my brother’s happiness. Their coldness and rejection caused me to become obsessive, and I fell into despair.

Then, my family’s enemy came looking for revenge. To save my life, Louise ended up being stabbed right into her heart.

Blood gushed out of her as she tried her best to drag me to a safe place.

“Nathan, I’m returning the life I owe you. I just hope that you won’t bother me again. I just want… to be with Stanley…”

I felt my chest twist in pain as I died full of hatred.

When I opened my eyes again, I found myself back to the day I crashed their wedding.

“Miss Louise York, will you take Mr. Stanley Xander as your lawfully wedded husband and be with him…”

The emcee’s stern question entered my ears in an unreal way, as if his voice were muffled.

The guests turned to look at me, the unwelcomed man who had just interrupted the emcee’s speech.

“My goodness, isn’t he the Xander heir who died three years ago in the ocean? Why is he still alive?”

“Look at his getup. He looks so… pathetic. I heard that today’s bride used to be his fiancee and that they were a really loving couple in the past. Is he here… to steal the bride?”

“Hush… Quiet. Things are getting interesting.”

Those voices dragged me out of my muddled thoughts.

I watched as Louise stared at Stanley with loving eyes.

In my previous life, I had rushed on stage like a madman and acted hysterical. I asked her why she would betray me and why she would marry Stanley when he was just an adopted son who had taken my place.

My parents had run after me to shut me up. “Nathan, stop throwing a tantrum and come back with us!”

Louise’s eyes had held no trace of joy for our reunion. There had been nothing but deep annoyance. Later on, she had no choice but to cancel her wedding with Stanley to marry me.

That was the start of my nightmare.

Stanley was then diagnosed with severe anxiety and would sometimes hurt himself. In order to comfort him, Louise often spent the night at his place while lying to me by saying that she had to work overtime.

Later, I realized that her ‘company dorm’ was really just Stanley’s house.

She spent every night accompanying him while leaving me alone in our house.

At some point, in order to get her sympathy, Stanley threw himself down the stairs in front of me and broke his leg, thus ruining his own future of becoming a professional athlete.

Louise even ended up becoming pregnant with Stanley’s child.

When I demanded answers from her with her pregnancy report, she only looked at me in disgust and said some really cutting words, “I’m already your wife in name. What else do you want?”

Stanley also was the one my parents pitied the most. As for Louise, she did not care to learn the truth of his fall.

She just insulted me, “How could you be so evil? You should have just died in the ocean back then! Why did you come back and ruin our lives?!”

None of them wanted me to live.

“...Nathan, I’m returning your favor of saving my life in the past. I just hope that you won’t bother us again…”

Those were Louise’s ruthless words before she died.

This time, I would fulfill her wish.

Just as I was about to leave, my mother held my hand and cried. “Nathan, my son, I’m glad you’re alive…”

I no longer believed in this false familial love.

Suddenly, Louise grabbed the microphone.

“I was in despair when Nathan disappeared into the ocean after saving me. Now that he’s back, I’m happy.”

Then, she tightened her hold around Stanley’s hand.

“But the past is the past. The person I love now is Stanley, and I won’t marry anyone else because I’m told I owed them.”

I was stunned. Then, I put on a mocking smile.

She had returned to the past too.

Slowly, I pushed my parents’ hands away and took the microphone from Louise.

“I’m not here to elope with you.”

I turned to Louise and smiled.

“Miss York, congratulations on your wedding with Mr. Stanley. I’m only here today to wish you two a happily ever after in front of everyone.”

Then, I turned to my pale parents. “I’m also here to get what belongs to me.”

“Dad, Mom.” I stressed those words but held no hint of familial love in my voice. “I remember that the 15% shares that were under my name for Xander Corporation were transferred to Stanley three years ago, right after I disappeared.”

My mother’s face turned even paler, and she found herself unable to say anything.

“That’s fine. I’ll go through the legal procedure,” I said with understanding. “From today on, I’ll hire a lawyer to reclaim all the assets that once belonged to me. After all, I’m still alive.”

Finally, my father was unable to keep his silence and growled in anguish, “Nathan, what on earth are you doing? Stanley is your brother! What’s wrong with giving him your shares? We thought that you were dead! Why did you have to come back and make things such a mess at home?!”

My mother started crying as well. “That’s right, Nathan. You never grew up beside us, and we know that we owe you this, but Stanley has been with us for more than a decade. He’s a good, mature boy, and we’ve long since treated him as our son. How can you be so petty and immature!”

Those words again.

I was never as mature and attentive as Stanley.

Since I did not grow up beside them, I was born rotten to the core. It was only right for me to be sacrificed and abandoned.

Just then, Stanley walked over with teary eyes. Regret was prominent on his handsome face as he grabbed my hand. “Nathan, I’m sorry. It’s all my fault. As long as you come back, I can give up everything. I’ll return your shares and assets to you… I won’t marry Louise either if that will make you stop being angry…”

Both his concession and that harmless act accurately triggered Louise’s protective streak once again.

She shielded Stanley behind her and hissed at me, “Do you have to be so aggressive, Stanley? He’s innocent! I can compensate you with money and the rest of my life for the pain you suffered, but you can’t hurt him like this!”

As I saw how self-righteous she was acting, I remembered how she behaved when we were in high school. Back then, I had just been brought back to the Xander family. I was unsophisticated and had low self-esteem. I was the joke of the entire school. Only Louise stood up to defend me when the others mocked me. Perhaps it had only been so because she was the student council president.

Still, after school, she would follow me and insist on walking me home.

However, it only took three years of me being gone for everything to change.

I observed the wedding hall. Champagne roses, lights resembling stars, and white chocolate were placed as gifts for the guests.

Stanley had jokingly mentioned that this was his ideal wedding to Louise in the past.

So, she had not forgotten about our past. She had only poured all of her efforts into someone else and replaced all her memories of our past with Stanley.

The final bit of warmth in my heart went out.

I met Louise’s eyes. They were shining with complicated emotions.

Then, I removed an obsidian bracelet from my wrist. She had made the bracelet for me while we were madly with each other, and I treated it like treasure. I threw it on the floor with a loud, resolute crash.

“I’m returning this to you, just like the life I gave you three years ago. You do not owe me anything anymore. We’re through, Louise.” I pointed at the bracelet and looked away.

In the end, the wedding was still cancelled.

In order to salvage their dignity, both the York and Xander families announced that they would choose another date for the wedding. In order to resolve the rumor about me not being on good terms with Stanley, they wanted me to be the host for Stanley’s and Louise’s wedding.

Once we arrived back home, my parents immediately started yelling at me.

“You have to host the wedding, Nathan!” My father slammed his newspaper on the table. The headline on the paper was full of mockery. Right now, everyone is saying that we’re mistreating you and forcing you to turn against us because we keep siding with Stanley. You have to come forward and clear things up!”

I stared at him coldly. “Why should I lie against my conscience for your dignity’s sake?”

“You rascal!” My father was so angry that he started trembling.

Stanley immediately teared up and said sadly, “Are you still blaming me for stealing Louise, Nathan? I know that you still love her. That’s why you don’t want to see us being happy with each other, right?”

Without even waiting for me to say anything, he immediately ran to the railing on the balcony and turned around with tears falling down his face.

“I know that I’m the useless one here. I’m the thief who stole Nathan’s life. Will everything return to its original place if I die? I’m sorry, Nathan…”

Then, he made it seem like he was going to jump down the balcony.

In the next second, Louise rushed over and dragged Nathan off the balcony before hugging him tightly. Her voice was full of unprecedented panic and fear. “Don’t be stupid, Stanley! How could you be useless? You did nothing wrong!”

After she comforted Stanley, she glared at me with bloodshot eyes. “When will you stop with this, Nathan?! Stanley is kind. He never fights for anything and just wants to live properly! He’s not like you! You’re always so angry and won’t stop until you hurt everyone around you!”

My parents hurried over to stand beside Stanley to comfort him with great pity in their hearts.

“Don’t stay here tonight, Nathan. Go out and calm down. Don’t make Stanley upset again when he sees you.”

I watched this loving family coldly and said nothing. Instead, I just walked out of my supposed ‘family.’ When I was out on the deserted street, I took out my phone from my pocket. On the screen was a message I received a few hours ago.

[Have you thought things through, Nathan? Professor Lane and all of us look forward to your return.]

I sucked in a deep breath and typed one word on the screen. [Sure.]

The very next second, I received a phone call.

A familiar and delighted voice came through. “That’s great news! Nathan, you finally said yes! Professor Lane will be delighted once she hears about this! But you know that we need to be isolated from the world to carry out our experiment, and there’s no set time limit for this. Will your parents and fiancee agree to it?”