Rebirth: The New Bride Wants A Divorce-Chapter 496: Someone else was involved

Now they were getting to the real reason.

"Go on," Daniel said smoothly. "I assume you have already confirmed whatever you came here to confirm."

He leaned back in his chair, composed and unbothered, though his eyes remained sharp.

Ethan’s smile faded just enough to show seriousness.

"That night at the bar," he began slowly, "you were not just scanning the room or eyeing the women like everyone assumed."

He paused deliberately.

"You were lip-reading their conversation. Am I right?"

The room fell into a heavy silence.

Ethan remembered it clearly now. Daniel had been unusually still that night. Not distracted. Not entertained. Focused. His eyes had followed specific lips, not bodies. Specific exchanges, not movements.

At the time, Ethan had brushed it off.

Now, looking back, it made sense.

Daniel did not respond immediately.

But his silence this time felt different.

"I was?"

Ethan blinked, clearly thrown off by Daniel’s reaction. Something shifted in his eyes. He had expected denial. Or deflection. Not this.

"Then there is no point in keeping this from you," Ethan said quietly.

Daniel’s frown deepened as Ethan unlocked his phone and played a recording.

The room filled with familiar voices.

Anna.

Kathrine.

Fragments of a conversation that did not belong to this lifetime.

When the recording ended, the silence that followed felt heavier than the confession itself.

"Anna and Kathrine had a rebirth," Ethan stated firmly.

His eyes never left Daniel’s face, searching for shock, disbelief, even mockery.

But Daniel remained still.

Too still.

"Then I suggest no one else knows about it," Daniel said calmly.

"...What?" Ethan stared at him, stunned.

For a brief second, he thought Daniel was dismissing it. Pretending ignorance.

But Daniel continued.

"I do not want anyone labeling them unstable. I know exactly how that feels. I once spoke about rebirth to a friend. He laughed at me."

The implication hung in the air.

Ethan’s mind raced.

Wait.

"It means... you too?"

Daniel met his gaze evenly.

"Yes. And I believe they are both telling the truth."

Ethan inhaled sharply.

He had never doubted Kathrine. Not truly. But when Anna sent him the recording with that cryptic message, pieces began falling into place.

The way Anna and Kathrine had cried at the bar that night.

The strange promises.

The way Daniel had stayed calm instead of stepping in.

Ethan had assumed Daniel dismissed it as drunken nonsense.

Now he realized the truth.

Daniel had understood.

He had simply given them space.

Silence settled between them again, thicker this time.

Not only had Kathrine and Anna been reborn.

Daniel had too.

"I can see you are still processing it," Daniel said quietly. "Which means Kathrine told you about her past life."

Daniel had not been surprised when he suspected Kathrine’s rebirth. After lip-reading their conversation that night, he already sensed something deeper at play. And if Anna remembered, it was only logical that Kathrine did too.

Ethan let out a breathless chuckle.

"How can you be so calm about this?"

Daniel leaned back in his chair, composed.

"There is nothing to panic about," he said softly. "I made peace with it long ago."

A faint, almost private smile touched his lips.

"In this life, I managed to win my wife’s heart."

And that, to him, was enough.

Ethan let out a low chuckle, shaking his head at Daniel’s expression.

There was no doubt about it. Daniel was dangerously devoted. The kind of man who would smile calmly one moment and tear the world apart the next if anyone dared to harm his wife.

"I do not doubt that," Ethan said. "But imagine being told you died by suicide in your previous life. Not knowing how to react to that makes me wonder just how miserable I must have been back then."

There was no humor in his voice now.

Daniel’s expression shifted slightly.

He remembered the headlines.

Ethan had been accused of harassing his co-star, Fiona. The scandal had exploded overnight. Contracts were terminated. Brands withdrew. Film projects collapsed. His reputation crumbled in days.

The public outrage had been merciless.

Ethan had withdrawn from the world, isolating himself completely.

And then he died.

Only after his death did the truth surface. Fiona had fabricated the accusations. Evidence proved his innocence, but it came too late. She was detained for her lies, but an innocent life had already been lost.

Daniel met Ethan’s gaze calmly.

"Then consider yourself fortunate for not remembering everything," he said gently. "Some memories are not blessings. They are burdens."

A faint smile touched his lips, but there was understanding behind it.

"No one would willingly relive that kind of pain."

If Ethan had remembered the humiliation, the betrayal, the loneliness that drove him to the edge, he might not be standing here this composed.

Sometimes ignorance was not weakness.

It was mercy.

Daniel leaned back slightly.

"You have a chance to live differently this time. That is what matters."

And unlike the past, this time Ethan was not alone.

***

It had been a few days since Collin escaped from the hospital.

And the fact that he had done absolutely nothing since then was what unsettled her the most.

"How long does he plan to stay hidden?" she muttered under her breath, her fingers tightening around the small note she had found in his hospital ward during her visit.

The paper was slightly crumpled from how many times she had reread it.

She was certain someone had helped him escape. Collin did not have the strength or resources to pull that off alone, especially in his condition.

But who?

That question had been haunting her for days.

At first, she suspected her mother. It would not have been impossible for her to arrange something discreetly. She had influence. She had connections.

But the more she thought about it, the less sense it made.

If her mother truly wanted to help Collin escape, she would have done it during her visit. There would have been no need for secrecy. No need to leave behind a cryptic note that hinted at a third party.

Which meant one thing.

Someone else was involved.

Someone who did not want their identity revealed.

Her eyes moved over the handwriting again, analyzing every stroke as if it might betray its owner.

"Who are you?" she whispered.

Because whoever had orchestrated Collin’s escape was not just helping him.

They were planning something.

And the silence that followed his disappearance felt less like retreat...

And more like preparation.

Anna folded the note and kept it aside, her eyes slowly darting away from it as her mind raced. But when she thought she couldn’t stop and unexpected call interrupted her.