Burning with fever and on the brink of death, Reese was found by the country doctor, Logan.

He saved her life.

In return, she willingly became his proxy. She let them brand her the daughter of a disgraced businessman, parade her through the streets, and subject her to public denunciation.

Then they locked her in the quarry for three years of backbreaking labor.

When she finally emerged, rumors swirled—that she’d been with a dozen men, that she was riddled with filthy diseases.

Logan didn’t seem to care. He took her home anyway.

She thought he loved her.

Then the earthquake came, trapping them both.

With his dying breath, Logan whispered:

“If I’d known she’d marry a stranger out of guilt… I never should have let you take her place…”

Reese had no time to understand. Her world went dark, then flooded with light again.

She was back. Back in the drafty cowshed where she’d first met Logan.

This time, Logan walked arm-in-arm with his cousin, his gaze sliding right past the feverish girl begging for help.

In that moment, Reese understood. She had never been anything but a scapegoat.

And now, Logan had been reborn, too.

This time, he would chase his true love.

A cold, dead weight settled in Reese’s chest. Clinging to the last shred of her will, she dragged herself to the matchmaker’s door. “The man from the Edward family,” she rasped, her voice raw. “The one they say is impotent. I’ll marry him.”

...................................................................

For six long days, Reese shivered in the wind-whipped cowshed, waiting for that familiar figure.

He finally appeared—but this time, a delicate, fair-skinned girl clung to his arm. His cousin, Mary.

She was practically hanging off Logan, tilting her face up to laugh at something he said.

Logan looked down at her with a tenderness Reese had never seen. He even reached out to gently tuck a stray lock of hair behind her ear.

That look, that gesture… it was foreign to her.

But she had no time to dwell. Desperate, she clawed at the wooden fence, forcing a weak cry from her parched throat. “Logan—”

Her voice was a ghost of a sound, barely carrying.

Yet Logan seemed to sense it. His head turned.

Reese’s heart hammered against her ribs, a flush of desperate hope staining her pale cheeks.

But Logan’s gaze merely drifted over the cowshed. It didn’t linger for even a second.

Confused, Reese tried to call out again.

Before she could, Logan wrapped an arm around Mary and deliberately changed direction.

“We’re not going this way.”

Mary tugged playfully at his fingers. “Why not? I thought we were going to the store?”

“Let’s take another route. This one’s… unclean.”

Logan’s clear, cold eyes speared straight through Reese.

Mary glanced over, too. “Oh! Is there someone lying in that cowshed?”

Logan pulled her head against his chest. “Don’t look. It’s just that thieving niece of Old Reese’s.”

Reese recoiled as if struck, her teeth grinding together.

Her parents had died young, leaving her greedy uncle and aunt to seize the family home. They abused her regularly. To cover their tracks, they spread rumors throughout the village that Reese was an incorrigible thief. They even sent their own son to steal from the community supplies, then pinned the blame on her.

Logan knew all of this.

In her past life, after saving her, he had gone to her uncle’s house and given the couple a piece of his mind. Reese had always believed he was on her side.

But now, he was the one calling her a habitual thief.

It felt like a lightning bolt had struck, freezing her in place.

Mary’s saccharine voice floated over. “Was she beaten for stealing? She looks like she’s dying. How pitiful.”

Logan’s tone was ice. “Don’t bother with her.”

Then, his voice softened into a familiar, intimate cadence as he tapped Mary’s nose playfully. “My Mary is just too kind-hearted.”

*Mary!*

He called his cousin *Mary*!

Reese’s eyes widened in shock.

In her past life, in moments of passion, Logan would hold her close and murmur “*Reese*” with that same tender affection.

Now she saw it clearly. That gentle name had never truly been meant for her.

Logan began to lead Mary away.

“Wait—!”

Driven by a stubborn, dying hope, Reese stumbled out of the cowshed and lurched after him.

Logan shielded Mary, stepping aside.

Reese lost her balance. Instinctively, her hand shot out, catching Mary’s sleeve.

*Riiip.*

The delicate lace trim tore.

“Ah! My dress!” Mary shrieked. “Cousin! She ruined the dress you gave me!”

Reese tried to say it was an accident.

But when she looked up, she met Logan’s eyes—cold enough to freeze hell over. A shudder ran through her.

Before she could utter a word, Logan’s foot connected hard with her stomach.

“Ah—!”

Agony ripped through her. She cried out, staggering backward and landing with a sickening splash in a filthy puddle of mud and waste.

“Pfft!” Mary couldn’t hold back a giggle, then immediately wrinkled her nose in disgust. “Ew! It stinks!”

Logan pinched her nose playfully. “Feel better now?”

Mary nodded vigorously. “Mmhmm. She looks like a mangy stray now.”

A faint smile touched Logan’s lips as he chuckled along.

Reese listened to their laughter, disbelief turning her bones to lead. She stared up at him, dazed. “Log—”

Logan glanced down, his expression utterly detached. “I know you can’t pay for it. You ruined Mary’s dress. I ruined yours. Consider it even. Stay away from us from now on.”

That look in his eyes… it was identical to the last one he’d ever given her.

And suddenly, everything clicked into place.

Logan had been reborn, too.

The truth, sharp and cruel, finally cut through the fog in her mind.

In her past life, Logan had saved her and coaxed her into falling for him—all so she would willingly step forward and take the fall when Mary’s secret was exposed. Mary, the spoiled rich girl from the wrong side of politics.

Back then, Reese had accepted the blame without complaint: the public shaming, the denouncement rallies, the quarry. Her love for Logan had been the crutch that got her through those three brutal years.

By the time she regained her freedom, Mary had already married well and moved to the city.

Reese had thought it was the best ending, that everyone could finally be happy.

Looking back now, across a lifetime, she saw it for what it was: a delusion born of her own foolish devotion.

Logan had even blamed *her* for Mary’s distant marriage. He’d only taken her in because Mary had felt a twinge of guilt.

And in that final moment, trapped and dying, Logan had regretted it all.

Given a second chance, he wanted a different life—a life without Reese in it.

Reese wiped the muddy water from her face. A low, broken laugh bubbled up from her throat, growing until her shoulders shook.

So be it.

If that was what he wanted, so be it.

Staggering to her feet, she swayed her way to Aunt Sharon’s door. At the older woman’s gasp of shock, Reese grabbed her hand with a grip born of final desperation.

“Auntie,” she said, her voice strangely calm. “The man from the Edward family. The one they say is impotent. I’ll marry him.”

The Edwards family wasn’t poor—just tragically short on people.

By this generation, only Edward remained.

And that Edward, rumor had it, was… impotent.

A month ago, his mother Janet had put the word out: any girl willing to marry her son would receive a thousand dollars as bride price—a fortune in their village.

Wayne and Elizabeth, Reese’s aunt and uncle, were the first to bite.

They took half the money upfront, already counting the days until they could ship her off.

But on the day of the formal meeting, Reese had pressed a pair of scissors to her own throat, refusing point-blank to even see the Edwards family.

In the end, it was Edward who stepped back, preventing the whole ugly scene from escalating.

Now, less than a month later, the same girl who’d fought tooth and nail not to marry him was dragging her sick body to his doorstep.

Reese knew how badly she’d behaved last time.

She braced herself for resentment, for hurdles.

But Janet only looked at her with detached calm.

“I know what happened,” she said. “You’re willing to marry my son, on the condition we pay for your treatment. So tell me—how do I know you won’t run the moment you’re well?”

Her gaze sharpened with suspicion. After all, Reese had proven herself unreliable before.

Reese clenched her fists, then forced them open. “You have my word,” she said, voice firm. “I’m not ungrateful. Save me, and I’ll spend the rest of my life looking after Edward.”

Janet studied her for a long, silent moment, her expression giving nothing away.

It was Edward who broke the stalemate, emerging from the inner room.

He held out an envelope. “Take this,” he said, his voice low. “Get well first. We’ll talk after.”

His fingers brushed hers as he passed it over—cool to the touch, yet the contact sent a shock like touching something hot, followed by a wave of warmth.

He was generous. Two hundred dollars—twenty of the new ten-dollar bills, more money than she’d ever held at once.

She stared at the cash, then up at him, stunned. “You—”

A faint smile touched his lips. “Medicine first,” he said. “My fiancée.”

Her ears burned. Mumbling her thanks, head bowed, she hurried away.

---

Reese remembered most of the prescriptions Logan had given her in her past life.

One particular herb was only available from a local, old-school herbalist.

She rushed over, arriving just as he was packing up the last bundle.

“Lucky timing, girl,” the old man, Louis, said with a chuckle. “The season’s over for this stuff. Miss this batch, you’d be waiting till next year.”

He held the paper-wrapped herbs out to her.

Reese reached for it—but a hand shot out from the side and snatched it away.

“Cousin, is this the one that can cure Blackie?” Mary asked, clutching the packet as she turned to Logan.

Logan glanced at Reese, then nodded. “Yes.”

“Perfect!” Mary’s eyes lit up. “Mister, we’ll take it.”

Louis pointed at Reese. “This young lady was here first.”

Mary put on a sweet smile. “Please, I need this for my dog. Could you let me have it?”

Reese almost laughed. “I need it to save my life. And I *was* here first.”

“Go buy it somewhere else,” Mary said, hugging the herbs to her chest as if guarding against a thief.

Louis chimed in, “That herb only grows in the valley behind our mountain. Growing season’s long gone. This is the last of it. Using it on a dog… well, it’d be a shame when this girl needs it to live.”

Mary threw herself against Logan. “Cousin, Blackie is suffering so much.”

Logan looked at Reese, his expression cold. “I’ll give you twenty dollars for it. Hand over the medicine.”

A sharp, fine pain prickled in Reese’s chest. Her face paled. “I don’t want your money. There’s an order to things. First come, first served.”

Logan’s brow furrowed with displeasure. “I can prescribe you something with a similar effect.”

He knew perfectly well this herb was the only thing that could cure her root condition—yet he lied straight to her face.

A suffocating pressure filled her chest. Reese shook her head. “I want this one.”

Impatience flashed in Logan’s eyes. He was about to offer Louis more money when an old acquaintance walked in and called him over to the door.

Seizing the chance, Reese quickly pulled out thirty dollars. “Sir, I’m buying it.”

Louis sighed, gesturing helplessly at Mary. “Young lady, just let her have it.”

Mary pouted, the very picture of wounded innocence, and slowly held the packet out.

But as Reese reached for it, Mary suddenly grabbed her wrist, leaning in to whisper, venom in her tone:

“Don’t think I don’t know what you’re up to. That day by the old re-education shed—you came chasing after my cousin on purpose, didn’t you?”

“Take a look at yourself in the mirror. How dare you?”

“Today, I’ll show you what wishful thinking really means.”

She let go with a sharp jerk and let out a theatrical cry, throwing herself backwards onto the floor.

Her forceful shove sent the already-weak Reese stumbling and crashing down.

A dull *thud*.

Reese’s forehead struck the leg of a table.

Warm liquid blurred her vision.

Through the haze, she saw Logan running over.

He helped Mary up, then turned and strode toward Reese.

Her heart began to pound against her ribs.

Was he coming to check on her? To see how badly she was hurt?

Against all reason, a sliver of hope bloomed.

Even if he didn’t love her, they *had* shared a bed once.

She was bleeding so much. Surely he couldn’t be that cruel?

But he was crueler than she could have imagined.

Logan stepped right over her, bent down, picked up the fallen packet of herbs, tucked it under his arm, and walked out, supporting Mary.

From start to finish, he acted as if Reese wasn’t even there.

And in that moment, with the blood trickling into her eye, Reese finally knew for certain:

Every moment of her life spent by his side, in that other lifetime, had been nothing but wasted effort.

Unable to bear the sight, the old herb farmer helped Reese bandage her wound.

"Ah, you must rest," he urged. "This illness demands it—you cannot push yourself."

Reese agreed, bid the farmer farewell, and wandered away. Her feet moved without thought, carrying her until she stood before Logan's house.

The familiar brick building loomed, and with it came the flood of memory—this very night, in her past life.

Back then, Logan had thrown the door open, his eyes rimmed red, and pulled her into a desperate embrace.

"Reese, they've dug up my cousin's family background," he choked out. "Her father was labeled a class enemy during the political purges—a factory owner accused of exploiting workers. But that was before he married my aunt."

"My cousin was snatched by traffickers as a newborn, only found and brought home recently. She knows nothing about any of it."

"Our whole family already ached for her, losing all those years. We wanted to make it up to her. And now, just as she's starting to have a few good days, they want to drag her out for public denunciation…"

"I was adopted by this family. I can never repay their kindness. If I could take her place, I would."

He buried his face in her chest, tears streaming down.

Heart aching, Reese offered to take Mary's place.

"After all, no one in the village knows what your aunt's real daughter looks like. If I just claim it's me, no one will question it."

Logan looked up, his expression torn. "But you'd suffer for it. I can't ask you to do that."

"It's fine," Reese said, patting her chest. "You saved my life. You've fed me, sheltered me. This little thing is nothing."

Deeply moved, he kissed her then—fervent, clumsy.

Lost in his intensity, she felt his ragged breath against her lips as he whispered, "Once this blows over, we'll get married."

Naive as she was, Reese thought it would only be a public shaming, something she could endure.

She never imagined the three years of hell that would follow in the quarry.

Nor did she foresee the vicious gossip that would chase her even after she'd served her time.

"That one? She was the communal grinding stone at the quarry. Different men every day."

"Hey, a doctor I know said she's so rotted down there it's festering."

"Doctor Logan is truly loyal, taking her back even after all that."

"Right? I don't know how she has the face to burden him. If I were her, I'd have hanged myself long ago."

Wherever Reese went, she was cursed and chased away. Children threw stones and rotten fruit at her.

Heartbroken, she returned to Logan and poured out her hurt.

He only said, lightly, "Then go out less."

His indifference was plain, but Reese, blind and deaf to it all, truly believed he meant it for her own good.

Only after dying and returning did she finally see Logan for who he was.

Lost in the memory, Reese didn't notice the door to Logan's house opening.

Mary stepped out and spotted her immediately.

"What are you doing here?"

"Ah, I know! You're here to steal the medicine!"

"Shadow! Chase the thief away!"

With a sharp whistle, a dark shape shot out and lunged straight for Reese.

Weak from her illness, she had almost no strength to resist.

As the black dog bared its sharp fangs, her instinct screamed for the man now standing in the doorway.

"Logan—help me!"