By Zephyria My heart sank in an instant. How long had he been there? What was he thinking? Winston frowned at Yu-jin’s flustered and unconsciously shrinking figure. Yu-jin was terrified.
“…Hiek!”
Winston raised himself up and opened his mouth, but almost simultaneously, Yu-jin screamed and gasped. He tried to back away urgently while sitting, but then collapsed without even screaming this time due to the pain that rushed in.
“Yu-jin!”
“D-Don’t, don’t come near me!”
He gasped and screamed, but it was mixed with a shrill hiss and didn’t form a proper voice. Winston didn’t move any further at the sight of Yu-jin coughing with rough breaths.
“What the hell…”
After watching him for a while, he finally sighed and spoke for the first time when Yu-jin’s breathing subsided. But Winston couldn’t continue speaking, and after sweeping back his hair and looking away for a moment, he turned his gaze back to Yu-jin. Yu-jin was still huddled up with a pale face, just staring at him with terrified eyes. Only then did Winston open his mouth in a subdued voice.
“I was just going to ask how you were feeling. I don’t know why you’re so scared. I’m not the one who attacked you.”
The last words sounded like he was bursting with frustration. But Yu-jin also didn’t know. Why his heart was beating so fast and why he was so scared. The more his memories came back to life, the greater the trembling became. He couldn’t breathe properly, feeling like Charlotte was about to stab him in the heart at any moment.
“Cha, Charlotte, where’s Charlotte…”
Winston answered in a quiet voice as Yu-jin barely managed to stammer.
“She’s not here.”
Then where was she? Yu-jin couldn’t feel relieved at the vague answer. Winston finally continued in a slow tone as he pulled the sheet up to his neck and looked around.
“She’s with Gordon. Gordon said he’d find out why she did such a thing himself.”
Yu-jin blinked a couple of times before finally asking.
“…Is that it?”
His voice sounded somehow drained. Winston also knew the reason. She tried to kill someone, but she didn’t even go to the police station. No, she just went back home safely without any action taken.
So that’s why she could do that.
It was such a bold and reckless act. Trying to kill someone, so openly. But she has the Campbell family behind her. Could she have done that if she didn’t believe that this incident would be buried and she could get away with it?
If I had died right there…
Goosebumps ran all over my body and I shook convulsively. Yu-jin’s body could have been buried somewhere in the vast Delights and everything could have ended as if nothing had ever happened. Yes, it happens a lot in novels. They could bring in someone who looks similar and pretend they’re the real one, or there would be many other ways. Because they have that much money and power.
Suddenly, tears welled up. What am I really to these people?
Just as I thought that.
“…Gordon wanted to do that, but.”
Yu-jin inadvertently raised his head at Winston’s slow tone. He quickly closed and opened his eyelids in his vision, which was full of tears and couldn’t see properly, and soon large teardrops streamed down his face. Winston suddenly stopped talking at the sight. Yu-jin was puzzled, seeing his expression become somehow blank. Why is he being like that all of a sudden? Yu-jin, who was just blinking and waiting for the next words, gradually became impatient as that time stretched on indefinitely.
“So?”
“What?”
Winston was startled and asked back at the question that he finally couldn’t stand and asked. Yu-jin sighed and continued, seeing his surprised expression as if he had been splashed with cold water.
“So what happened? Gordon wanted to do that.”
“Ah, ah…”
Only then did Winston let out a low groan like a sigh. He looked somehow absent-minded, which made Yu-jin feel uneasy. What is he trying to say that he’s hesitating so much?
What can I do to shut my mouth and not cause harm to the family, or something like that…
“Bring her.”
Yu-jin stopped daydreaming and returned to reality at the sudden voice. Winston was putting his cell phone in his suit jacket pocket after hanging up. He looked at him questioningly, but he didn’t say anything more. Yu-jin also had no choice but to shift his gaze to the door, as if he was just waiting for someone. What on earth is about to happen?
I didn’t have to wait long, and after a while, I heard footsteps followed by a knock. After a pause, the door opened, and finally the figure of the person I was waiting for came into view.
Charlotte…!
Yu-jin froze without even being able to make a sound. The sight of her wielding a knife at him for the last time filled his eyes, and he was so terrified that he couldn’t even breathe, but he saw the guard standing behind her gently pushing Charlotte’s back. She staggered in helplessly, and he slammed the door shut mercilessly.
A silence as heavy as death fell in the hospital room. All that could be heard was Yu-jin’s ragged breathing.
“H-How, how…”
Yu-jin barely managed to say that. Didn’t Gordon take her away? What is going on?
As he was flustered and didn’t know what to do, Winston’s voice was heard.
“She did that to you in my house, so there’s no way I’d just let her go.”
He turned his head at the cold voice, but Winston wasn’t looking at Yu-jin. He kept talking while fixing his gaze on Charlotte.
“Now, what should we do? Tell me, I’ll do whatever you want.”
“N-Not send her to the police?”
He blurted out words without even thinking in this unexpected situation. Then Winston chuckled and replied.
“So you want to have a trial? Who knows if it’ll take a year or ten years? Honey, I can’t wait that long.”
The last words were added sweetly, but it was impossible not to feel eerie after hearing the content. Yu-jin became more afraid of Winston’s appearance than when he was about to die.
“B-But still, the, the law…”
“What does the law do for you?”
Winston mercilessly cut off Yu-jin’s stammering words.
“What if she endures like that and gets released without charge in the end? She tried to kill you, that won’t do.”
A golden light flickered in Winston’s eyes. Even Yu-jin, who couldn’t smell his pheromone scent, could tell that he was incredibly angry. If he could smell the scent, he might have gone into heat right away. But fortunately, Yu-jin only ended up with goosebumps all over his body.
Winston was serious. He had no intention of forgiving Charlotte. Being his sister-in-law or family was not a reason for amnesty.
He couldn’t forgive her for daring to do such a thing in his mansion.
Yu-jin thought. There’s no reason for that man to be so angry because of me. We just joined hands because we needed each other…
Because he thinks of me as less than a rat in the gutter.
The fear subsided somewhat in his bitter heart. Yu-jin mustered up the courage and opened his mouth.
“So, what are you going to do?”
“You?”
Winston immediately returned the question.
“What do you want to do? Tell me what you want to do first.”
Yu-jin just wanted to know the reason. Why she even tried to kill him. Winston frowned when he told the truth.
“That’s all?”
“For now…”
Winston sighed, “Ha,” at Yu-jin, who hesitated and trailed off.
“You’re too soft, Yu-jin.”
“Wh-What are you going to do?”
Startled, Yu-jin stammered and asked, and Winston turned his gaze back to Charlotte. And he narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth in a slow tone.
“The price for what you’ve done must be paid accordingly.”
In that instant, not only Charlotte but even Yu-jin was startled and terrified. He almost died, but it was still scary to hear that someone else would be subjected to violence. Moreover, Charlotte was trembling all over as if she was about to pee her pants. If there was an earthquake detector around her, I thought the magnitude would be 7.
“I, I, I was wro, wrong…”
“Apologies are unnecessary.”
She opened her mouth for the first time, but Winston didn’t even listen to the end.
“Actions speak louder than words. You’ve already shown me, haven’t you? There’s no need to hear any more.”
And Yu-jin saw him pick up his cell phone again. He could tell what would happen next without even seeing it. In a fleeting moment, the image of Charlotte being dragged away and suffering a terrible fate flashed before his eyes, and Yu-jin shouted without even realizing it.
“W-Wait, wait a minute…! Don’t do it, stop!”