Summer was blazing hot, and even the wind blowing across the fields felt like it had come out of a furnace.

Lily Hargrove was hoeing the land when a snake bit her, and she dropped straight to the ground.

While she was out cold, she had a long, long dream.

In that dream, she got bitten by a snake too. Then a harsh-looking man saved her, but she never gave him a kind face.

Because she knew that scary-looking man liked her. But she did not like him. The one she liked was Vincent Mercer, the educated youth sent down from the city.

The field she was hoeing now had originally been assigned to Vincent Mercer by the commune, but she, a girl spoiled by her family since childhood, was working under the burning sun for love, doing his share, while Vincent Mercer was nowhere to be seen.

Later on, she got what she wanted and married Vincent Mercer. After the educated youths were allowed to return home, that shameless Vincent Mercer abandoned her, then came back to look for her again.

She happily followed him to the city, thinking she was finally going to live a good life, only to learn that he had failed to make anything of himself there. He beat women, and the wife he had married in the city had already run off.

And she, after being beaten over and over again, was hit by a car and killed while trying to escape.

But after she died, her soul drifted in the air for a long time.

She saw what became of her family, saw how badly things ended for them, to the point that after her death, not a single person came to visit her grave.

At long last, one day, someone finally came.

And it was that fierce-faced man.

He found Vincent Mercer, the man who had abused her, and got revenge for her. But then some petty schemer used that against him, reported him, and he was arrested and sent to prison.

When she saw that, her spirit, numb all that time, suddenly broke, and tears poured down like rain...

"Lily Hargrove? Lily Hargrove?"

A man's low, rich voice sounded by her ear, and Lily Hargrove snapped her eyes open.

The face before her belonged to a man with sharp, hard features. Under a pair of straight dark brows, his eyes were deep and steady. When he was not smiling, he looked a little fierce.

It was him. The only man who had avenged her in that dream. The man who had saved her now too. Ethan Caldwell.

Seeing her awake, the man finally loosened his tightly drawn brow. "You're awake? I called you for ages and you wouldn't respond. How do you feel now?"

His breath brushed against the tip of her nose, hot and close, and for a moment, it felt like even the air around them had grown hotter.

"Ah? Huh?" Her mind still hadn’t caught up. She stared at him, blank and dazed.

That soft, muddled look on her face made the man’s eyes darken a little.

His throat bobbed. He pressed down whatever was in his gaze and asked in a low voice, "Are you still feeling bad anywhere? Is your head still spinning?"

Lily Hargrove was still foggy-headed. She gave a small nod. "Yeah. Dizzy."

The man looked at her hard with those dark, ink-black eyes, then lowered his head and sucked at the wound again.

His lips were warm and soft against her skin. His breath brushed over her calf, hot enough to make Lily feel weak all over, as if the strength had gone out of her arms and legs.

He spat out another mouthful of blood. "The blood’s turned red now. The poison’s all drawn out. If you still don’t feel right, just sit here and rest a bit."

After saying that, he picked up her hoe and started working the field for her.

"Hey, wait." Lily looked at him, still a little lost. "This field belongs to..."

"I know."

He knew this was the plot Vincent Mercer was supposed to work on. He also knew Lily didn’t like him, that the one she cared about was Vincent Mercer, the educated youth from the city.

But he was just that hopeless. He couldn’t stand seeing her wear herself out.

Lily sat in the shade of the tree and watched Ethan Caldwell out there under the blazing sun.

The man was tall, broad-shouldered, almost powerfully built. The dark coarse cloth shirt on him had been washed so many times it had faded pale. It was obviously too small now, stretched tight over his body, but that only made his strong frame stand out even more.

He swung the hoe with easy skill. As he lifted and brought it down, the muscles in his arms tightened and shifted again and again.

It was like he had endless brute strength in him. Under that burning sun, after working for so long, he still didn’t look tired.

Only the sweat kept rolling down, breaking into bright sparks in the light, and somehow that made him even harder to look away from.

How could Ethan not notice she had been sneaking glances at him the whole time?

Usually, her eyes never stayed on him like this. So in his chest, there was a bit of hidden joy, something he couldn’t quite name.

But just how long had she been watching him? Half an hour already, hadn’t it?

Ethan Caldwell finally hit his limit. He pushed his tongue against the back of his teeth, flung the hoe onto the ground, and strode straight toward her.

The man was tall and broad-shouldered. When he stopped in front of her, she could smell the sweat on him now that he was close. Strangely, it wasn’t unpleasant at all. It carried a faint scent of fresh grass.

He crouched down in front of her, his eyes dark and heavy. "Have you ever been kissed?"

Lily Hargrove’s mind exploded with a buzz.

"W-what?"

His throat bobbed, the corners of his eyes tinged red.

"You and Vincent Mercer... have you kissed or not?"

Probably yes. The thought drove him nearly mad with jealousy. Even knowing full well he wasn’t good enough for her, he still couldn’t stop himself from wanting her, from thinking about her day and night.

Sometimes he even felt heaven was unfair. Why couldn’t the one she loved be him?

His gaze swept over her sweet, delicate face, then dropped to her rosy lips.

Something fierce flashed in his eyes. One hand grabbed her small hand and yanked her forward. The other pressed against the back of her head as he lowered his face and sealed his mouth over her full lower lip.

Let her hate him. Let her despise him. Who told her to look at him like that, to keep staring at him for so long?

So let him... lose control just this once.

Even if after this, he might not even have the right to protect her from afar anymore.

She was soft and sweet, so soft it was hard to pull away. Bit by bit, he forgot the jealousy, forgot the hurt, and all that remained was a deep, aching satisfaction.

After a long while, he let her go, his voice rough and hoarse. "You... why didn’t you..."

Why didn’t she curse him out? Why didn’t she slap him? Why didn’t she report him for acting like a hooligan?

"I..."

Lily Hargrove didn’t know either. Her head was a mess, filled with the sight of him avenging her, and with the way he had looked just now under the blazing sun, strong and solid, the kind of man you couldn’t help staring at.

If not for that unbelievable dream, she would never have noticed it before. This man... was actually this striking, this magnetic, this hard to look away from.

And when she thought back to that kiss just now, that kiss with his breath wrapping all around her, she actually... liked it a little?

The thought made the blush on Lily Hargrove’s fair little face spread all the way to her ears.

"You don’t hate me?" Ethan Caldwell asked, sounding calm on the surface.

Lily shook her head softly. "No. I don’t."

"I mean when I kissed you. Do you hate that I kissed you?"

"Huh?"

She looked up at him, and their eyes met just like that.

Under the bright summer sun, his eyes burned hot, like they had fire in them. Lily quickly turned her face away, not daring to keep looking.

"I... I don’t know either..."

Ethan’s gaze grew even hotter. "Then that means you don’t hate it?"

Something stirred deep in those dark eyes. "Then will you be with me? I’ll work hard, earn money, and give you a good life."

His family was poor right now, sure, but he believed in himself. With his own two hands, he was certain he could let her live well one day.

Lily shook her head. "No... Vincent Mercer..."

She and Vincent Mercer were still considered a couple at the moment. She had to break things off cleanly with that bastard first. Otherwise, people would start talking, and the gossip would all land on Ethan.

But Ethan had no idea what was really on her mind. The moment Vincent Mercer’s name came up, he let out a quiet, mocking laugh at himself.

"...Alright. I get it now."

So in the end, he had been dreaming.

No, more than that, he had been a fool.

He had actually forgotten that the thing standing between them was never just his poverty.

The light in his eyes dimmed at once, turning dull and ashen.