Second Chance, New Me

After I was murdered, my daughterwho had always despised merisked her life to avenge me.

My wife, who used to spend every day indulging in pleasure, personally killed all my enemies with her own hands.

Then she died for love, clutching my urn.

My soul floated in the air, unable to believe what I was seeing.

When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to the past.

I was in the middle of viciously berating my daughter for only ranking second in her class, while smashing my wife's expensive perfumes to pieces.

Me: "..."

Ah, was I really this cruel before? This time, I'm going to live differently.

Shattered perfume bottles littered the floor, torn test papers scattered at my feet.

The butler and servants stood nearby, trembling.

I silently set down the last perfume bottle in my hand, changing my grip on my daughter Aurora's arm from pinching to stroking.

Aurora took a step back, dodging my hand. Her delicate yet still childish features held a cold edge.

She bent down to pick up the torn pieces of her test paper one by one, clutching them in her hand, then turned and left in silence.

I stared at her retreating figure for a few seconds, then raised my voice: "Aurora!"

She stopped on the stairs but didn't turn around.

"I remember you have a parent-teacher conference tomorrow? I happen to be freeI'll go," I said.

"Not necessary." Aurora flatly refused and continued upstairs.

The words I hadn't spoken stuck in my throat. I sighed quietly to myself, glanced at the mess covering the floor, and ordered someone to clean it up.

Then I dialed a number. It rang for a long time before someone on the other end answered leisurely, background noise chaotic.

"What is it?" A woman's voice, her tone light and lilting, humming a tune. A frivolous manner through and through.

Yet this was the same woman who, after my death, went mad and destroyed my stepmother's familytheir business collapsed, their family fell apart.

My thoughts drifted far away, recalling what I'd witnessed as a wandering soul.

My wife, Ravenalways promiscuous, living a dissolute lifehad red-rimmed eyes, bloodless lips, and none of her usual casual attitude. She used ruthless methods to make everyone who had wronged me pay a terrible price.

Actually, I could understand these actions. After all, no matter how bad my relationship with this mother-daughter pair was, I was still the male head of the Lane family, the family's representative.

But Raven had absolutely no reason to die for love with me.

After she finished avenging me, she stood by the seaside where we'd held our wedding, holding my urn. She stood there for most of the day, the wind stripping away her usual composure until nothing remained.

Only desolation.

At the time, my soul floated nearby. I sneered to myselfrunning around partying every day, and now you finally have some conscience?

Then.

Under my shocked gaze, she walked step by step toward the deep sea, clutching my urn.

Never looking back once. Lonely and resolute.

Until the waves rose and covered her, and her figure vanished.

Leaving only my soul, deeply shaken.

...

This damn, childish woman, polluting the waters. When her body bloated and floated up, she'd definitely look hideous.

The late-night beach. So quiet. So quiet. My lonely soul seemed trapped in place, yet I also felt a damp, salty wind blow past, disheveling my hair and disturbing my heart.

I gripped my phone tightly against my ear, listening to Raven's casual voice: "Need money? Or what?"

I pressed my lips together: "I broke your perfumes."

Raven let out an "oh," unconcerned: "Fine. I'm hanging up then."

Before she could disconnect, I quickly spoke: "Where are you?"

She paused on the other end. A moment later, all the chaotic music sounds disappeared, leaving silence so complete you could hear a pin drop.

"What. You want a divorce?" Raven's previously lazy tone turned slightly cold in an instant.

"After the divorce, where would you go? Back to the Blake family? Would they let you have an easy time?

"Did you fight with Aurora again?

"You'd better not forgetyour business still has my financial backing.

"Darling. Shut up now, and I can pretend I didn't hear anything."

I listened to Raven's entire string of words in considerable astonishment.

I really had no idea how she'd gone from me asking where she was to assuming I wanted a divorce.

But I knew she'd always been like thisbeneath her seemingly easygoing exterior lay a lofty indifference.

She could speak moving words of love with her romantic almond-shaped eyes completely devoid of warmth, and she could easily discard past lovers.

She moved between numerous men but never gave her true heart to anyone.

And I wasn't exactly good-tempered myself. In street terms, I was an arrogant, domineering lunaticespecially after I got sick, I became especially tormenting. Otherwise, I wouldn't have turned the entire Lane household upside down in my previous life.

My earlier good mood had come from seeing what they'd done after my death. I'd been so moved that I'd wanted to be gentler with them in this new life.

Who knew neither of them would appreciate it.

"Fine, let's divorce right now. Take your daughter and get lost," I said coldly with a sneer, deliberately saying the opposite of what I meant.

As soon as I spoke, I locked eyes with Aurora, who was coming downstairs with books in hand. Her dark eyes showed no discernible emotion.

She looked half like her mother, half like me, but her personality resembled neither of us.

I wanted to see how they'd react to hearing about divorce.

"You want a divorce?"

Aurora stood not far from me, her tone calm.

She had a maturity that didn't match her age.

Though... children without parental love do tend to mature earlier.

I watched Aurora's expression carefully, raising an eyebrow almost imperceptibly: "Your mother doesn't love me, and your relationship with me isn't even as deep as your relationship with your tutor. What reason do I have to stay with you Lanes?"

"No..." Her expression showed no obvious change, but her words stuttered for a brief moment.

After a long while, Aurora said flatly, "My mother won't agree to it."

"Well, that's not up to her," I replied.

The living room fell quiet for a moment.

"Because I won't let you attend the parent-teacher conference, you want a divorce?" Aurora suddenly asked.

I froze.

Just like mother, just like daughterboth had such peculiar thought processes.

Aurora lowered her eyes, as if making some kind of decision.

"...If you want to attend, then attend."

Me: ?

I suddenly understood why Aurora was reacting this way.

She must think I'd embarrass her at the parent-teacher conference, which is why she didn't want me to attend. But... she even less wanted me to divorce Raven.

My heart softened a little.

"...Daddy just wants to know how your studies are going lately." After a long silence, my voice gentled as I tried taking a step toward Aurora.

Her lips parted slightly, as if she wanted to say something. Just then, the villa's front door opened.

Aurora and I both turned to look. Raven's tall figure stood backlit in the doorway.

As Raven strode in on her long legs from the entrance, the hickey on her neck gradually became clear. The air pressure in the villa dropped again and again.

Aurora stared at Raven's neck for several seconds, then didn't even ask how she was doing. She simply walked around Raven and headed straight outside.

I instructed the butler to have someone follow her.

The butler smiled: "It's exactly time for the young miss's tutoring session. The driver is already waiting at the door."

I paused slightly, then nodded, suppressing my worry.

Raven's gaze met mine. She raised her index finger slightly, and everyone else in the villa left, disappearing from view.

"Where did you get the nerve to ask for a divorce?" Raven loosened her collar, her casual manner making it seem like an offhand question.

I couldn't control my gazeit locked firmly onto her.

It was scrutiny, it was questioning, and it was... strange.

She was clearly such a cynical person, so why would she, after my death...

Raven lazily leaned back on the sofa, crossing her arms as she looked me over, her tone still flippant: "Darling, you'd better rememberthe banquet is tomorrow night."

Tomorrow night's banquet would be attended by several local families, including my birth family.

My birth family was very strange. They both hoped I could firmly bind Raven and the Lane family, yet also didn't want me to have it easy.

"You have enough lovers outside. No need to waste your breath calling me 'darling.'" I smiled without picking up her thread, sitting down beside her.

My words contained a deliberately casual probe.

After death, as my soul wandered aimlessly, I'd seen many scenes I'd never witnessed before.

Like the countless men around Raventhere seemed to be another story there.

However, I still needed to explore the specific truth.

Raven's expression became unnatural for a moment. She glanced at me, and the smile at the corner of her mouth faded somewhat.

"You're actually jealous of me?" She seemed to mock herself, seemed to be sarcastic, her fingertips tapping her own thigh intermittently.

I took the opportunity to also place my hand on her thigh.

The woman beside me immediately froze completely.

Raven: ?

"Wife," I lifted my lips provocatively at her, "Although you always think what's outside is better, but..."

Raven stood up almost as if fleeing in panic.

She took a deep breath, looking down at me: "Felix, have you lost your mind?"

Raven's ears turned red.

But someone experienced in the game of love couldn't possibly be embarrassed that easily.

I pulled at my lips, launching into a continuous stream without pause: "We already have such a big kidwhat's wrong with touching you? Are you so precious that you can't be touched? We're not even divorced yet. I'm your legal spouseis it illegal for me to touch you?"

The tension was thick. This was the tone I'd always used when speaking in the Lane household in my previous life.

Mm.

Except this time, the tension carried a hint of teasing.

Loyalty is the foundation of maintaining a marriage. In my previous life, I'd always felt Raven was playing around outside, which disgusted me to death. Naturally, I had no good attitude toward her and was even less willing to be close to her.

But now it seemed the previous intelligence had some errors. So my attitude could change accordingly.

Raven repeated again: "...You've lost your mind."

This time not only her ears but her neck also flushed slightly pink.

Just as I thought Raven would fly into an embarrassed rage and turn to leave, the butler rushed over urgently, phone in hand: "Madam, Sir, something's happened to the young miss!"

I frowned, exchanged a glance with Raven, then chose to rush to the school together.

After getting in the car, Raven was on the phone with her people: "Figured out the reason?"

I turned my head to look at the scenery flying past the window, while listening to Raven's lazy, careless words on the other end:

"Hit someone? Getting arrogant just because I donated a few sums to the school? Tch, making a big fussno idea who she inherited that from."

The corner of my mouth twitched hard.

She might as well have pointed directly at me.

But Aurora was mature and quiet to a frightening degree, completely lacking the innocent and naive appearance other eight-year-old children had.

I wanted to refute Raven but held back.

I was very puzzled about what could make a child like Aurora resort to hitting someone.