Chapter 114

“Please, just go back. We already have enough to handle.”

“You enjoyed someone else’s as if it were yours, like a thief.”

“Didn’t you just want Florence’s healthy, beautiful body?”

“Rely on me. I’ll do everything for you. Anything you can’t do, I’ll do for you.”

“She’s still not my Florence.”

Voices came one after another.
It was terrifying—like only my consciousness was left floating.
The fear that I might scatter and vanish swallowed me.
If Bee hadn’t been crying beside me, I might have fainted several times.
I listened closely.

“This world isn’t a novel.”

“Everyone is selfish!”

“I wasn’t the only one wrong, was I?”

“Who told you to give up your body…?”

“Linus.”

Jang Hyunji’s voice poured down like a storm.
Her emotions stung, carried through the sound.

I was sure now.
Things were going exactly as I had expected.
That woman, lost in a dream, was finally seeing what my world was really like.
Truths she should have realized long ago—if only she had opened her eyes.

There is no world filled only with beauty.
Beautiful things are rare, hard to find, which is why we call them treasures.

A world where everyone loves you?
Where no one hates you, and everything turns in your favor?
If such a world exists, then something is terribly wrong….

How amusing. I wanted to laugh loudly.
I had thought I would be happy when Hyunji finally became just like me.

“It wasn’t only my fault! Right, Linus?”

“If you cheat, I’ll kill you.”

“Me too.”

But no. It wasn’t satisfying.
It wasn’t refreshing.

Instead, it made me feel even more miserable.

Hyunji, who had lost everything, hadn’t changed at all.
From beginning to end, she was the same.
The only difference was that I had stolen her magic and spirit arts.
If I could fully control them, I could even seal them.
But even with just that, everything had changed.

It wasn’t because of me being me, or Hyunji being Hyunji, that people treated us differently.

We were simply living among those kinds of people.

To them, whether it was older Hyunji or the younger, it never mattered.

But I had loved them—and because of that, I was hurt. That was all.

If Hyunji hadn’t tried to steal my life on purpose…
If she had apologized, saying it was just fate, an accident…
If she hadn’t stolen Mari’s life…
What kind of revenge could I have taken?

“Maybe then, I could have understood.”

Because we both had lived our lives, we might have shared feelings only the person themselves could know.

But Hyunji and I had gone too far.
I could forgive everything else, but not Mari’s death.
No matter how pitiful she became, no matter if she realized why she had to cling to my life—I would never understand her.

No reason, no justification, no righteousness would ever matter.
Stories only have meaning when written in lines of text.
I was not her reader, nor in a position to sympathize.
Maybe somewhere there’s a fool who would hand over their life out of pity—but not me.
I couldn’t. I would never forget.

“You must pay for what you’ve done.

Because Mari can never return.”

“Hyun…ji?”

“Die, Linus!”

“Argh, what the hell—damn it!”

“You said it was only me….”

“You told me not to leave the bedroom….”

“Since when was it with Helen?”

“…..”

“Florence…?”

“You laughed at me, the two of you together?”

“No, Florence! I only… I was only with him until the wedding….”

“Then what’s this? What am I seeing right now?”

“Master, y-your blood!”

“It’s fine. Just a shallow cut.”

“Don’t you hear me? I’m talking to you!”

“I hear you. Haa… Helen, fetch the doctor.”

“Don’t move! You filthy things….”

“Filthy? Me?”

“That look, Linus. You’re the one who betrayed… You’re the one who committed adultery….”

“It was just a drunken mistake.”

“You kept the maid you had before marriage right next to me?”

“Helen works well. You chose her.”

“I didn’t know she was your lover, damn it!”

“I don’t know why I have to explain this. After marriage, it was only you. But you disappeared.”

“…..”

“You left me first, Hyunji. You disappeared, didn’t return. You think you can accuse me?”

“What….”

“I couldn’t sleep without you. But you were gone. Never came back. Without alcohol I couldn’t sleep! And when I was drunk, I missed warmth.”

“…And Helen just happened to be there.”

“I only satisfied desire. I still love you.”

“Love….”

“You weren’t there, my love.”

It was shameless.
Even the most spoiled nobleman wouldn’t do something this vile—keeping his lover as the wife’s maid.

Even the maid had cherished Hyunji like a younger sister, envying her.

This was reality.

“So now you’re saying I’m wrong? That Florence took my body…”

“That was never your body. This is your body now.”

“…..”

“The one I loved wasn’t who you are now. But when you return as yourself completely, then I’ll send Helen back to the Lindquist estate. I promise.”

“Not now—but when I become whole again….”

Hyunji burst into laughter. Her vision turned red, then white.

“This is your love? Keeping your lover beside me, while deceiving me saying I’m your only one?”

“I don’t see the problem. When you were here, I was faithful. I abandoned my family, my lord, for you. How can I love more than this?”

“Ha, haha, ahaha….”

“….”

“…You’re right, Linus. I was foolish.”

“….”

“My appearance is so pitiful now… I can’t complain about you relieving your desire. I was too narrow-minded.”

“My love, you understand me.”

“Of course. I love you too. We both gave our best, didn’t we, my love? Even if I look unbearable now… will you still accept me?”

“Of course. You’ll return to normal soon.”

But saying she would “return to normal” meant that now Hyunji was “abnormal.”

So this was their love.
This was what obsession and possession meant.

A love without respect cannot exist.

When you truly love someone, seeing them hurt is more painful than being hurt yourself.
Even if they cause you suffering, you can’t bring yourself to make them unhappy.
They grow larger than yourself, and you shrink before them.

Calling possessiveness love—without respect—is nonsense.

There are no “special men” in the world.
There are only those in love and those not in love.
And those faithful to love—or not.
Linus was neither special, nor truly in love, nor faithful.

“I was wrong… I know I look unbearable, but if you feel even a little sorry for holding Helen in front of me…”

“….”

“No, I said it wrong. If you could comfort me, even a little… could you hold me?”

“Hold you? Now? That’s….”

“Just tightly, hold me. I’ll cover my face. You can close your eyes.”

Pitiful, Hyunji. Truly miserable….

I existed inside Hyunji, and I could take over her body anytime.
What she saw, I saw too.
A solid, muscular chest was before my eyes.
Her thin, knotted fingers stroked it.
Her gaze rose slightly, seeing a clenched jaw, teeth gritted as if enduring something.

He embraced the woman he claimed to love—while gritting his teeth like it was filthy to bear.
With that mouth, he dared to speak of love.

“Linus. I love you.”

“Yes, me too. Hyunji.”

“I truly love you….”

Even in this state, you couldn’t kill Linus.
Poor Hyunji, still loving him.

I didn’t know if Hyunji heard me.
But I was sick of this ridiculous play.

I blinked twice.
Warmth returned to my fingertips.
The touch of Linus’s skin on my lips made my flesh crawl.
But I endured without pulling away, and whispered:

“Bee.

Burn this trash.”