Episode 131
Translator: RaidenTL
Episode 131
“Your past is the context, not the reason.”
Funnily enough, that one sentence left him speechless.
The voice of his stepfather, kicking him and spewing curses; the body of his mother, pulled from the river; his biological father, who encouraged and praised his violent tendencies; the duchess, who looked upon them all with contempt; the whisper of a woman who sneered that winning his heart was easier than she thought; and the cruel truth that he had been nothing more than a puppet in a puppet show.
Looking back, there were many moments that should have suffocated him to death. But this was strange. That single sentence was more painful than anything that had come before. Her dispassionate voice, stating a simple fact, had pierced him through.
Not even knowing what he was thinking, Cain reached for her hand once more. He grasped it desperately, forcefully, as if seizing a lifeline.
I don’t know. I don’t even know why I’m reaching for you. I’m just drawn to you, instinctively.
But Elysia, her expression firm, pushed his hand away again. At the same time, her icy gaze stabbed into him. He froze, not even aware of the look on his own face, and stared into her eyes.
Was it the humid air of the greenhouse? The woman’s face seemed to blur. With a heavy expression, Elysia opened her mouth to speak.
“You asked why I came to find you.”
Her calm voice echoed in his ringing ears. He stared at her with trembling eyes. Unlike him, a complete wreck, Elysia, who had pushed him away, seemed perfectly fine.
A sense of emptiness swelled within him, a desperate need to grab onto something. He clenched his fists, though he had nothing to hold.
Why? You’re the same as me. You were lonely in this fake world, just like me. I am your adversary, yet I’m the only one who truly understands you. So why are you foolishly pushing me away?
I know all your pain and tears, and I thought you would know mine…. His thoughts naturally spiraled into a sense of victimhood, and the tightly wound thread of his reason finally snapped.
A murderous aura began to stir in his empty hands.
In the end, this woman is just the same. Just another outsider trying to eliminate me, a defect who has gained a sense of self. Elysia Hemming is just one of the arrogant ilk who tried to ruin my life and reduce me to a fool….
He was seized by a moment of terror. A chilling thought naturally crossed his mind.
Shouldn’t I just kill her?
Even sensing his killing intent, Elysia remained composed. She met the gaze of Cain, who was now leaning over the table, looking down at her menacingly, and finally got to the point.
“I came here today to give you one last chance.”
The man sneered, as if to say, don’t make me laugh.
“What kind of chance? A chance to willingly swallow that damn drug? A chance to be reduced to a moron who knows nothing? That’s some adorable bullshit, Elysia.”
“Are you crazy? Why would I do that?”
In that instant, Cain’s expression crumbled. Elysia’s eyes were as indifferent as ever.
She’s not lying…. He stared at her, dumbfounded. He was so stunned that he forgot the murderous intent that had been surging within him. Thump, thump…. An emotion he couldn’t identify as either tension or fear stirred in his heart.
Cain looked into those ambiguous gray eyes—neither black nor white—that he thought he understood so well, but now couldn’t read at all.
Then what in the world are you?
He felt a sense of confusion at her perfect neutrality, on neither his side nor anyone else’s.
Elysia’s face crumpled in irritation as she continued.
“I don’t know what nonsense you’re thinking, but I have no desire to use that drug. First, I find it unpleasant that they used me as a courier, and second, I don’t think it’s wrong for you to think with your own free will.”
“What?”
“So, ‘Target Initialization’? They can shove it.”
To be trapped in another world overnight, leaving behind everyone she loved, only to be told she was sent here to fix a rampaging error—her resentment toward the company soared.
She had no intention of following their orders. However, she also had no intention of letting the tyrannical Cain run wild. Looking up at him with a cold expression, Elysia said, “But if you committed a crime of your own free will, you have to take responsibility for it.”
“You… what the hell are you talking about…?”
Sitting up straight, Elysia commanded, “So clean up your own mess. And confess.”
“What?”
“That pathetic business you’ve started—shut it all down. And confess to everything you’ve done, including the murders you’ve committed.”
Meeting his eyes, she stood up from her seat. Cain caught the scent of early winter that clung to her. A dry, hollow laugh escaped him.
Elysia Hemming doesn’t take anyone’s side. She was a woman who would chase him, but never, ever be on his side.
A person who, like him, hated the outsiders who had trapped her here, but who wouldn’t try to destroy the world they had created.
Funnily enough, rather than marveling at her integrity, he found himself grinding his teeth. A complex mix of inferiority, hatred, and admiration churned within him as the man glared at her.
You should have been broken, just like me. You should have been shattered into pieces, cracked and broken just like me, and fallen perfectly into my arms. I’m so lonely it cuts to the bone. I need you. I want you. So….
He burst into laughter. His face instantly hardened as he replied, “And if I refuse?”
“I’ll drag you into court myself and prove it.”
The reply was cold. But those words were enough.
“You’re going to keep chasing me?”
Elysia furrowed her brow as his eyes curved into a beautiful arc. He smiled faintly and took a bold step toward her. He could feel the woman’s light breath on his skin.
Elysia Hemming, are you curious about what I’m thinking?
I was thinking about how I could possess you. I was pondering how to make you perfectly, completely my ally.
To make you cling only to me, to love only me, so that even if someone died before your eyes, you wouldn’t bat an eye as long as it wasn’t me. To make you feel nothing but satisfaction at my murders.
But now I see. I can never make you that way, you who hold justice deep in your bones.
You understand me, but you cannot embrace me. You will never open your arms, hold me, and tell me you understand everything.
I want it so badly I’d sell my soul for cheap, but it will never happen.
Probably, not ever.
His mind, consumed by madness, smiled.
But you can’t be indifferent to me.
Staring intently at her, Cain smiled provocatively.
“When I imagine you, following the footprints I leave behind, searching desperately for any trace of me…”
“…Ha.”
“You’re so lovely it’s driving me insane. What am I to do?”
Elysia let out a hollow laugh and swept her hair back. His heated red eyes traced a path down her cheek. She flinched, feeling as if she were being preyed upon. Sighing with a look of resignation, Elysia shook her head.
Her gray eyes, calm as if she had expected this, but wavering with surprise at the desirous gaze that had brushed her cheek, looked straight at him.
“This is the last chance I’m giving you. Confess.”
Cain took another step toward her. He inhaled her cool scent, letting it fill his lungs. Then, with a defiant smile, he rejected the choice she had offered.
“No.”
Twitch. The woman’s sharp eyes moved, if only slightly. As he took another step closer, Elysia stepped back, as if warning him not to come any nearer.
Cain closed the distance pointedly, grabbed the cheek of the woman who spoke only unpleasant things in her pleasant voice, and growled.
“I’m going to kill more, and I’m going to destroy more.”
“…”
“So that you’ll chase only me. So that you’ll be desperate to catch me. So that you’ll think of only me, even in your dreams…!”
His clouded red eyes drew near. His breath came in ragged gasps, like a wounded beast, hovering just before her lips. She should have pushed him away immediately, but the madness in his red eyes stole her breath.
As she stood frozen, his unrealistically beautiful face, now inches from hers, was graced with a crazed smile.
“Even if that dream is a nightmare.”
The moment their hot foreheads touched, Elysia threw a punch. With a dull thud, Cain staggered back. He wiped the blood trickling from his lip with the back of his hand and burst out laughing.
Her face cold and pale, Elysia muttered, “Are you dying to get hit?”
She had expected him to refuse to confess. This might have been the first time Cain had received such an offer, but the words were not unfamiliar to her.
She had given countless others the chance to clean up their own mess and confess. But not a single one had ever taken it.
So, naturally, she had expected Cain to refuse as well. But… a bitter taste filled her mouth, as if a part of her had hoped he would accept this choice.
She took one last look at the man, who was staring down at the blood dripping onto his palm, and warned him.
“Just wait. I’ll make sure to throw you in prison, one way or another.”
With a taunting smile, Cain turned to watch Elysia leave the greenhouse and returned her words in a light tone.
“I’ll make sure you have no choice but to chase me, too. I’ll make you go so crazy you’ll try to kill me.”
“…”
“Even if I have to kill everyone around you.”
Her steps, which had been walking away without faltering, paused for a moment. But she quickly clenched her fists and continued forward.
Cain watched Elysia’s retreating back with obsessive intensity until she had completely vanished, until she became a single dot in the distance.
When she was finally out of his sight, the man swiped a finger across his bleeding lip and whispered.
“I really… want you.”
Like a young monster that had found its prey, he smiled brightly.