Now I finally understood—why he had risked his life to save me only to despise me afterward. The person Nathan wanted to save had always been his foster sister.

But that day was a holiday, and we’d both worn the same floral winter coat. He had simply mistaken me for her.

I wiped the blood from my forehead with a derisive smile. Whatever feelings I’d once held for Nathan were gone.

“Nathan, I’m the one marrying Ethan Reed. From this moment on, we go our separate ways.”

My steely gaze and resolute tone made him falter for an instant, but then his face twisted into a sneer.

“Separate ways? Sophia Carter, what kind of game are you playing? Trying to lure me in by pulling away? Or hiding something under all this?”

“I’m telling you now—if you think you can secretly convince your uncle to marry Chloe to the Reed family, I won’t let you get away with it.”

I looked at him calmly.

“Won’t let me? And what exactly do you plan to do about it? Keep sneaking around with Chloe, leave me to live as a widow in name only, father triplets with the housekeeper, then leave everything you own to your precious Chloe—only to make me raise your illegitimate children after you die?”

Nathan froze, shock flashing across his face. And in that moment, I knew—he had been reborn too.

So what? In this life, whether he was a cat, a dog, or a king, he had nothing to do with me. I no longer owed him a lifetime for saving me. This time, we were destined to be strangers.

A flicker of guilt crossed his expression, but he straightened his neck and said stubbornly,

“All of this is what you owe Chloe. I’m just helping you atone for your sins.”

I laughed coldly at both of them.

“Owe her? When my aunt died and my uncle planned to sell her off to some man in the mountains as a child bride, I cried for three days, begging my father to pay to bring her home and take her in as a foster daughter.”

“I gave her the same food, the same clothes as me—everything identical. I even let her be in the same class as me so she wouldn’t feel out of place.”

“What exactly do I owe her, Nathan? That my boyfriend should have saved her first? Or that I let her push me toward the center of the frozen pond, sending us both under the ice?”

Chloe panicked and suddenly dropped to her knees before me.

“Sis, it’s all my fault. I’m the one who made you and Nathan fight. He only worries about me because of my poor health. Please don’t be mad at him—take it out on me instead. I’ll apologize and make it up to you for him.”

She suddenly grabbed my hand and slapped herself across the face with it.

Her cheeks flushed red before she began coughing violently, clutching her chest until her face turned pale and her body trembled.

She did look pitiful and wronged.

Nathan immediately scooped her into his arms, rubbing her chest to soothe her.

“All right, all right, it’s my fault. Don’t get so worked up.”

Then he shot me a vicious glare.

“Isn’t all of this because of you? If you hadn’t forced me into this marriage, would I have treated you that way? Isn’t this all your own doing?”

“Have you ever thought about Chloe? She’s lost the love of her life, forced again and again to marry men she doesn’t love, only to end up divorced—do you know how much pain that causes her?”

I tilted my chin upward, forcing back the ache in my throat, but the pain in my chest spread wide.

Yes, I had been a fool—rescuing a snake and believing I could tame a wolf with kindness.

That childish bond had shackled me for a lifetime, even costing the Carter family’s fortune to help an illegitimate son rise to power.

The humiliation of those identical triplets, the empire I’d built becoming a mistress’s retirement fund—this time, I saw it all clearly.

I looked at Nathan slowly.

“You keep saying I forced you to marry me, that I made Chloe lose her true love. Then tell me—why didn’t you refuse back then?”

“If you had fought to the death or run away with Chloe, what could I have done to stop you?”

Nathan’s expression turned sour, his voice faltering. “Back then, how could I have taken care of Chloe? I couldn’t even take care of myself…”

I burst out laughing—this was Nathan in a nutshell.

On one hand, he relentlessly pursued me to marry into the Carter family’s wealth and influence; on the other, he was full of tender affection for the poor, delicate Chloe.

In the end, he shifted all the blame onto me, claiming I was the villain who had torn apart a pair of star-crossed lovers.

I fixed him with a cold stare and sneered.

“Nathan, don’t you think you’re just like a whore—wanting to play both sides?”

Before the words had fully left my mouth, Chloe suddenly lunged forward and slapped me hard across the face.

“Sis, you can treat me however you want, but I won’t let you humiliate Nathan like this.”

Tears welled in her eyes as she looked at me with wounded indignation.

“True love has no right or wrong. I know I’m just an orphan taken in by the Carter family, and I know Nathan needs your support. I can’t be the one to ruin him.”

She wiped her tears, straightened her posture, and turned to Nathan with a tragic resolve.

“Nathan, don’t make things harder for yourself. As long as your feelings for me are real, I’ll have no regrets, even if I die. From now on, you and my sister can grow old together.”

Before either of us could react, Chloe suddenly ran toward the wall.

Bang! Her body crumpled to the floor.

A piercing cry ripped through the air.

“Chloe, no!”

Like an arrow loosed from a bow, Nathan rushed to her side, cradling her in his arms.

With a frail hand, she touched his face, her voice as soft as a mosquito’s hum.

“Nathan, I don’t want to be married off. If I can’t remain pure for you, I’d rather die.”

I watched her theatrics with an icy gaze. If she truly loved Nathan to the point of life and death, she wouldn’t have divorced six times in my previous life.

Nathan held her close, his voice trembling.

“Chloe, I don’t want you to die. I’ll protect you, and I’ll never let you be hurt again.”

He carried her to the sofa, then turned to me with a dark, stormy face.

“Apologize to Chloe. Bow to her!”

From beginning to end, Nathan saw me only as the bully and Chloe as the victim. He didn’t care that I had been struck, thrown to the ground, and had my head split open; he didn’t care that Chloe had been the one to hit me first.

In his eyes, there was only the fragile, pitiable Chloe.

I met his gaze with cold detachment, my eyes stripped of any trace of affection.

He hesitated for a second, retreat flickering in his eyes, but then his glance fell on Chloe’s tear-streaked face and he seemed to find renewed determination. Grabbing my shoulders, he shoved me toward her.

“Kneel and apologize to Chloe.”

A sharp pain ripped through a hidden place in my heart, but I stared straight into Nathan’s eyes and enunciated each word.

“I will not apologize to a whore.”

His face twisted with cruelty. With a swift kick to my knees, he sent me crashing to the floor in front of Chloe. Before I could react, he yanked my hair and forced my head down—Bang!—my skull hit the floor.

Bang! Bang!

Nathan kept his grip on my hair, slamming my head against the ground over and over again, forcing me to kowtow more than ten times to Chloe.

Finally, Chloe, still curled up on the sofa, spoke in a pitiful voice.

“Nathan, don’t… she’s my benefactor. If you do this, I’ll feel guilty for the rest of my life.”