Chapter 1

Elias Jenson hated me for ten years because his childhood sweetheart died.

The day after our wedding, he volunteered for the harshest military outpost on the frozen northern border.

For a decade, I sent him countless letters and tried to win him over, but his only response was always the same.

"If you're really that guilty, why don't you just go die already?"

But when I was taken by kidnappers, he stormed into that den of thieves alone.

He took multiple bullets to get me out.

Before he took his last breath, he used his remaining strength to shove my hand away.

"My biggest regret this life... was marrying you..."

"If there is a next life, please, stop haunting me..."

At the funeral, Elias's mother wept with regret.

"My son, it's my fault. I shouldn't have forced you into this..."

His father looked at me with pure venom.

"You caused Jocelyn's death, and now you've killed my son. You're a curse. Why are you still alive?"

Even the Colonel, who had insisted on our marriage, sighed and shook his head.

"I shouldn't have broken up a happy couple. I failed Elias."

Everyone was mourning for Elias Jenson.

Including me.

I was dishonorably discharged from the medical corps. That night, I drank poison and died in a desolate field.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back to the eve of our wedding.

This time, I decided to let them all go.

1.

"Sylvie Brooks, don't think for a second that I'll ever love you just because you used your military honors to force this marriage. It's never going to happen!"

Ten years later, I heard that familiar mockery once again.

A young Elias Jenson stood right in front of me, alive and well.

In his crisp uniform, he looked as sharp and arrogant as ever. But the undisguised contempt in his eyes still made my heart sting.

I hadn't died. I was back ten years in the past.

I fought back the bitterness, staring at the face I had spent a decade longing for.

"I know. You love Jocelyn Hunter. She's the one you want to marry, right?"

Elias frowned, his eyes narrowing with suspicion.

"So what if you know? I'm warning you, don't try any of your little schemes. I―"

"I'm going to make it happen for you both."

I cut him off softly.

Elias stared at me intensely. After a long silence, he let out a cold sneer.

"I don't have time for your nonsense. Just sign the papers. The Colonel needs them for the files."

He tossed the marriage application onto the table and turned to leave.

Watching his retreating back, a needle-like pain pricked my heart again.

In my past life, I loved him so desperately it was pathetic.

Because he had once risked his life to save me, I foolishly thought he felt the same way.

Even his parents told me, "He's just got a sharp tongue. If he didn't like you, why would he have saved you?"

But after the wedding, I realized how wrong I was.

The moment he heard Jocelyn had tried to end it all, Elias applied for a transfer to the border.

He left me to waste ten years of my life, only for me to end up abandoned by everyone and hated by the world.

I remembered when I secretly traveled to the border to visit him. I overheard him talking to his brothers-in-arms after getting drunk.

"I never should have married Sylvie. I shouldn't have listened to my parents, and I definitely shouldn't have left Jocelyn when she needed me most."

"I regret it so much..."

Those words he said before dying―asking me to stop haunting him―had been the final blow.

It turned out that my ten years of love were actually ten years of torture for him.

The worst thing that ever happened to him was meeting me.

Luckily, God gave me a second chance.

This time, I won't let him die because of me.

Letting him go is how I'll repay him for saving my life once.

Once this is settled, we'll go our separate ways.

For the rest of my life, I will never haunt him again.