Chapter 1

A small flickering candle on the windowsill lit up the cramped, rundown mud-brick house.

A man with black cloth wrapped over his eyes silently held a woman's hand, tears falling from his face.

The woman was lying on a clay bed, her belly large and round. Her face was pale, and she had no breath left in her.

A bolt of lightning flashed, lighting up the room for a moment.

It was just a simple mud-brick house. After entering through the yard, the main room was in ruins. On the left side was the room where the man and woman lived. On the right side was a firewood room. As thunder rumbled overhead, rain began to fall heavily, each drop big as a bean.

From the small path outside, a woman in her forties ran over, holding a wooden basin.

“Liam! Liam!” she shouted.

Liam heard her and felt his way out in the dark. As he passed the main room’s threshold, he tripped and fell hard into the muddy ground.

The older woman didn’t have time to help him up. She rushed to the front of the house.

“Liam, there’s no one else at your place. Can you boil some hot water?”

Liam looked troubled. “Midwife Li, do you have a fire striker? I can’t find ours.”

Midwife Li pulled one from her clothes and pushed it into his hand. Then she handed him a bamboo stick from the doorway.

“Liam, hurry up. Giving birth is a life-or-death matter. All the doctors in town have closed for the night. I told Kana to hurry over. Make sure the water boils.”

Liam sniffled and nodded quickly. “Thank you, Auntie.”

Midwife Li didn’t answer. She walked into the inner room and saw the thick blanket covering the raised belly on the clay bed.

Her heart tightened. Liam was the only one left in his family. He’d gone blind serving in the army a few years ago.

After all that, he finally got married, but now there was no one else in his household. He didn’t even have anyone to fetch the midwife.

“Miss Aria? Miss Aria? How are you feeling?”

She called several times, but there was no answer.

Midwife Li pulled the blanket back and gently patted the woman’s arm.

The moment her hand touched Aria’s skin, she froze. The body was cold, even a little stiff.

She turned Aria over just as a loud thunderclap rang out and lightning flashed again.

Aria’s face was dark blue, her lips pale. She looked like she had already passed away.

Midwife Li screamed in fear.

“Ah! She’s dead! She’s dead!”

She ran outside and bumped into Kana, who had just arrived. Shaking, she pointed inside.

“Kana, Aria is dead!”

Kana’s face went pale. She gripped her mother’s hand tightly. “Mom... how could she die?”

Kana gathered her courage and pulled aside the curtain to the inner room, slowly stepping toward the bed.

She stared hard at the woman lying there. Another crack of thunder shook the room.

Suddenly, the woman on the bed opened her eyes and began breathing heavily.

Aria clutched her throat, gasping desperately for air.

Midwife Li, who had followed her in, screamed again. “She came back from the dead!”

Outside in the kitchen, Liam heard the scream and panicked, knocking over a chair as he fumbled his way inside.

“Midwife Li, how’s my wife?”

Midwife Li, still terrified, waved her hands. “Liam, your wife came back from the dead!”

Aria opened her eyes and saw the broken mud-brick ceiling above. Noises around her made her uncomfortable.

She felt irritated, but the next moment, a sharp pain stabbed her belly, cutting off her words. She let out a piercing scream.

Kana finally came to her senses. Aria was going into labor.

“Mom! Don’t talk nonsense. Aria is alive! Help her give birth!”

Midwife Li slowly moved closer and touched Aria’s hand.

Strangely, the hand that had felt ice-cold before now had a bit of warmth.

She didn’t have time to think the woman’s sharp cries and Liam’s anxious voice nearby pushed her to start preparing the birthing tools.

Kana grabbed Liam, who was panicking beside her, and pulled him outside.

“Brother Liam, there’s too much blood in the room! Come help me boil water outside!”

Liam couldn’t see, so he let her pull him away.

Aria watched as he was led out of the room. Midwife Li’s commands echoed in her ears again and again.

Only then did Aria realize she had entered a book, right into the body of a side character, the male lead’s doomed first love.

This woman had a name that sounded similar to hers. She barely appeared in the story. After marrying the second male lead, she got pregnant and died from a difficult labor not long after.

And now, she had somehow taken her place.

If she didn’t deliver the child today, she would die again.

She came from a family of traditional medicine experts. Was she really going to die from childbirth?

Gritting her teeth, Aria used all her strength to push the baby out.

Time passed, and Aria was drenched in sweat. Still, the baby hadn’t come out.

In the original novel, the child couldn’t be delivered because he was too large. She suddenly thought of the man she had glimpsed earlier.

Her brows furrowed deeply. “Liam! You damn bastard!”

Outside the room, Liam heard her shout and stumbled back in.

“Wife, don’t die! I’m a bastard, alright? Just hang in there, the baby’s almost here!”

Aria took a deep breath. If this child didn’t come out soon, he might end up brain-damaged.

Another sharp wave of pain struck. Aria gritted her teeth and shouted, “To hell with your grandma’s leg!”

A moment later, a loud cry rang out. Midwife Li lifted the baby and carefully examined him.

“It’s a big, healthy boy!”

Hearing that, Aria’s eyes rolled back, and she passed out.

Liam didn’t hear her voice anymore and asked quickly, “Midwife, where’s my wife?”

Midwife Li cut the umbilical cord and wrapped the baby up. Smiling, she said, “She just fell asleep. She’s fine!”

Only then did Liam relax.

Aria woke up around noon the next day. The first thing she saw was a tall, handsome man gently cradling a baby in gray swaddling clothes, softly coaxing him.

“Avi, be good. Once your mom wakes up, she’ll feed you.”

Aria interrupted, “Hey… you got any water?”

Hearing her voice, Liam turned around in excitement and leaned closer with a bright smile.

“Wife, you’re awake?”

“Uhh… do you have water?”

“Oh oh… I’ll go get some right now.”

He gently placed the baby near Aria’s feet and fumbled his way to the window, pouring a cup of warm water. He then carefully walked back.

Aria took the cup and waved her hand in front of his eyes. He didn’t react. She looked down and drank the water.

“Liam, right? I’m hungry now. I’d like to eat…”

Her eyes scanned the run-down mudbrick house cautiously.

This man would become a villain later in the story. She definitely didn’t want to anger him.

Liam’s face fell immediately. He had been beaming with joy, but now his expression turned gloomy.

“Wife, why don’t you call me your husband anymore?”

Husband your head! She was never his wife to begin with!

That’s what she thought in her heart, but her belly and mouth betrayed her quickly.

“Hu… husband… I’m hungry…”

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