Chapter 55
Chapter 55
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 55
Chapter Title: Oppa Loves You Too
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“What happened?”
Crow asks Lily in as calm a voice as he can manage. Lily, lying on the bed, sobs endlessly, tears streaming down her face as she speaks.
“I told Orca Unnie to stop messing with Oppa.”
“Why did you do that?”
“I didn’t want to see Oppa changing like that.”
Crow rubs both hands over his face a few times, then covers it entirely and groans.
He lacks the courage to face Lily, who lies on the bed with her eyes wide open. Just reining in his own emotions is agonizing enough right now.
“I told you to stay quiet. I said I’d handle it myself!”
His voice rises a little despite himself. He knows he shouldn’t be getting mad at Lily, but with her coming back covered in injuries on her very first day, he can’t just let it slide.
“Why are you like this? Are you an idiot? Didn’t it even occur to you? Why do something so stupid? You did it on purpose, didn’t you? What were you thinking? Is it that hard to listen to me?”
Even though they’ve only just reunited, Crow snaps at her. He already senses that if he doesn’t speak up now, Lily will make an even bigger mistake down the line.
The mood between them grows tense. It’s just like watching any ordinary family bickering and getting awkward.
“…Haa, no. I’m sorry, Oppa. I didn’t mean to get mad.”
But their situation is a little different.
Lily just nods along, sniffling at Crow’s words, while Crow loathes himself for having yelled at her.
“I just... didn’t want Oppa to go through all that…”
Lily wipes away her tears with her battered body.
The top of her gray pillowcase darkens, soaked from the tears that have dripped down.
Crow starts to say something for a moment, then clamps his mouth shut and rubs his face a couple more times.
He’s well aware that Lily occasionally shows a sharp, cunning side. Her brilliant mind always stays one step ahead of his, scheming something.
“Yeah…”
But he also knows just how deeply she cherishes and loves him. When it comes to anything involving Crow, Lily reacts as if all her usual wisdom vanishes.
“I get it. But please, don’t ever do this again. Please…”
Of course, Crow sees her as his little sister—or family, at the very least. By now, he treasures her enough to throw away his own life for hers.
“…No.”
But Lily,
defies him for the first time.
“Oppa, Oppa…”
Lily pushes her aching body upright and reaches out her right hand toward Crow. Though gripped by anxiety and worry, he isn’t heartless enough to brush off the hand she offers.
“I can’t just stand by and watch Oppa suffer like that. No matter who it is. Orca Unnie? Scardi? Even if it’s someone else in this prison messing with Oppa, I can’t bear it.”
Lily presses her cheek against the back of Crow’s hand. The unpierced cheek feels soft, like that of a young woman just out of her teens.
“Is Oppa really okay?”
And the other cheek
is dressed in gauze and tape. It reveals the deep devotion of a woman who knows how to sacrifice for the one she loves.
Lily’s ability should let her recover quickly enough, but since she was injected with drugs right here, it’ll probably take at least another week.
“Oppa, you don’t have to wreck your body just because you’re worried about me. Please don’t.”
Lily props herself up a bit more. The blanket catches ambiguously on her damp breasts and hips, sliding up with her.
In that position, Lily pulls Crow into an embrace. She wraps her arms around his back and presses her cheek and ear to his chest, right where his heartbeat rings the loudest.
“Even if every day is nothing but torment, as long as Oppa’s by my side… I can endure it all. With just Oppa, it’s not hell.”
Crow, unsure how to respond, simply follows her lead. Lily tugs him down to sit on the bed.
The two embrace face-to-face on the narrow bed. Crow hugs her as protectively as an older brother doting on his sibling, but Lily clings with the desperate passion of a woman lost in love.
“What about Oppa?”
“…”
It would be a lie to say he doesn’t know Lily’s feelings. Even if he’d managed to ignore them until now, in this very moment, Crow reaffirms her love for him.
“Lily, don’t do this.”
She’s like family—no different.
He’d cherished her like his own daughter or little sister.
“Don’t…”
Lily sees Crow as a man. She rubs herself against the traces of his trained muscles that still linger, and his refined features that shine through even in his haggard state.
His head throbs. Crow has suddenly realized exactly why Lily goes this far for him.
Normally, she would have exploited Orca or Scardi to her heart’s content and squeezed out every possible gain. But to women who lust after Crow’s body, Lily refuses to yield him.
“Does Oppa hate me?”
“Enough. Let’s eat lunch. You need to eat well to recover faster.”
“Oppa, don’t dodge the question. Answer me. Do you hate me?”
He doesn’t hate her. And that’s exactly why it hurts him even more.
“Lily, listen to Oppa. I know how you feel. But this isn’t the place for it.”
“No. It’s because this is the place that I can say it. Until now, I lived cheering on Justice Unnie and Oppa. But Unnie abandoned both of us. Now all I have left is Oppa…”
Lily starts to sob. A woman’s tears can be awfully convenient at times. Especially for Lily, who turns into a fountain in front of Crow.
“I, I…”
Lily stammers, clutching Crow tightly. Whether she’s buying time to think or genuinely flustered, there’s no way to tell.
“If I lose even Oppa now, I don’t know what I’d do. If Oppa doesn’t love me… then I’m nothing…”
In that state, she begins trembling violently, as if seizing. Startled, Crow grips both her hands tight and offers unconditional agreement to her words.
“A-alright! Lily, calm down! Let’s calm down first. Okay? Deep breaths. Slowly…!”
Lily’s breathing is erratic. She’s gasping in too much air but barely exhaling. Her face flushes red from hyperventilation.
“Deep breaths! Lily! Follow Oppa. Suuup—Hooo—”
With tears pooling in her eyes, Lily awkwardly mimics deep breaths. Even then, she can’t stop talking.
“I-I feel like I’ll die… Oppa with other villains…”
“Calm down, please!”
In the end, Crow pulls her into a tight embrace, pats her back, and guides her breathing himself. He has to calm her down somehow.
“I’d rather go insane. Oppa, sob, hic… I only ever thought of Oppa, but Unnie betrayed me, they all hit me and threatened me… Now Oppa’s all I have left…”
Listening to her pour it all out like that, tears well up in Crow’s eyes too. She’s right— he really is the only thing she has to lean on anymore.
“I don’t want to live… Me, Oppa… Why should I even keep going…? Oppa’s suffering more every day, and I can’t do a thing for him—we’re both just dragging out an existence worse than death…”
Crow panics so hard his head feels like it’ll split open. His once-sharp mind, dulled by drugs and endless misery, buckles under the strain.
“No, no…! Please don’t say things like that…”
Lily wails that she wants to die. But Crow knows he’d have no reason to live without her.
He wants nothing more than to get her out of here and gift her a free life once more. She’s far too young and beautiful to give up on life like this.
“O-Oppa’s sorry. It’s Oppa’s fault. I won’t say stuff like that anymore.”
Lily says nothing more, just cries. She knows a few tears will confuse him far more than any words.
Crow feels like
everything is his fault.
She gave up everything to help him and ended up thrown in this prison, and now it feels like he’s ignoring every trial she’s endured.
How much pain must she have been in? Everyone giving her dirty looks, spreading lies and slander. And now, the only thing she has left is him.
“It’s Justice’s fault. And the villains here, Orca and the rest… So please, don’t ever talk about dying. I’ll do anything I can for you. Please…”
Her shattered heart yearns for him, and he isn’t cruel enough to reject it. Crow loves Lily far too much.
“Oppa loves you too, Lily. You know that, right…?”
And so,
in the heart of this tragedy,
Crow cannot lose Lily.