Chapter 61

And such an extreme emotion was something incredibly confusing for me.

I had lived a completely ordinary life and had never experienced that kind of emotion before.

It’s not that I had never loved someone or been angry enough to want to hurt someone.

It’s just that I had never felt emotions ‘that intense’.

I did love my family.

If my parents had passed away, I would have lived with regret for not treating them well enough.

I had always felt affectionate toward my parents, and even though we clashed while living together, I always thought that family was family.

But I never felt my heart race or had the urge to run and hug my parents when I saw their faces.

Even when I came home on my first leave from the military, I was happy, but I didn’t feel this level of emotion.

Also, there were many times when I disliked someone.

There were cases where I used to be friends with someone, but after a trivial fight, we ended up despising each other.

There was even a troublesome customer who frequently visited my workplace.

Naturally, there were times I wanted to beat him up, and I even wished he would just die, or cursed him behind his back.

But I had never forcibly restrained myself from killing someone.

“Come here.”

Choi Na-kyung extended both arms toward me as she said this.

One step, Ye Sara’s body moved toward her.

It felt like I was being crushed under the weight of emotions pouring out from the depths of my heart.

It was a truly strange feeling.

‘I’ was clearly feeling emotions.

No, maybe it wasn’t me.

It could be Ye Sara’s emotions.

It seemed like Ye Sara’s memories and emotions, who I thought had swallowed a handful of sleeping pills and fallen asleep forever, were slowly waking up as she looked at Choi Na-kyung.

However, I still couldn’t fully agree with those emotions.

Because I didn’t share Ye Sara’s memories.

I didn’t know the reason, the method, or the cause, but I had come into Ye Sara’s body.

If Ye Sara’s personality was still intact, I was now in very close proximity to her.

Maybe I could even claim that I was Ye Sara herself.

But even though our minds were trapped in the same body, I felt as though I was watching Ye Sara from a step away.

I was standing here.

Ye Sara was trying to move forward.

And I couldn’t truly empathize with her.

In that bizarre situation, with layer upon layer of confusion, Ye Sara’s body awkwardly took one step after another, like a child just learning to walk.

“…”

The face of Choi Na-kyung, who had been smiling at me—no, at Ye Sara—became slightly blurred.

What was that woman trying to prove?

It didn’t seem like Ha-neul, Lee Soo-ah, or Shin So-hee had been threatened or given any kind of proposal separately.

Because Choi Na-kyung had not been looking at them from the start.

It was as if she had been waiting desperately, sitting endlessly and staring at the door Ye Sara would enter from.

Choi Na-kyung’s arms slowly dropped.

Seeing this, Ye Sara’s heart pounded even harder.

It’s not too late yet.

Even now, you can still go quickly.

It felt as if she was trying to persuade me.

Why?

I asked.

No proper answer came back.

It wasn’t Ye Sara’s personality returning.

It was just that the body, the heart, and the memories left in the brain were trying to reclaim control.

But somehow, even though it wasn’t clearly articulated, I felt like I could understand that persuasion.

Because she’s my only person.

The only one who has responded to me—

The only person who has acted like a human in front of me.

The only person I could have emotions for.

……

Right.

Now, finally…

I think I understand.

I think I finally understand why Ye Sara chose death, even though she had so much money and a bright future outside of this cage.

What did Ye Sara write in her will again?

Please, I hope you would have loved me.

So that my death could hurt you.

Yes, that’s right.

It was ‘literal’.

Whether Ye Sara left the cage, lived, or died, it didn’t matter.

The only person that mattered to Ye Sara had always been just one person.

That precious person, the one she resented, was still only one.

Money?

That didn’t mean anything.

Only one person meant anything to her.

The one who had protected her, solid and strong, from everyone who tried to use her during her childhood,

The one who had made her childhood beautiful, and poured love into her in place of the mother she couldn’t even remember,

And that person who had locked her in this cage, destroyed all her relationships, stolen her normal life, her emotions, her dreams, and crushed everything—

That ‘Mother’.

To Ye Sara, Choi Na-kyung was ‘the only one’.

The only one in the world who couldn’t be replaced.

Even before I came into this body, even long before she swallowed a handful of pills, Ye Sara was already broken into pieces.

……

But even so, she still had one wish.

Please, Mother, love me.

Love me as much as I loved you in my childhood…

Ye Sara had always been sincere.

The thought of leaving an eternal scar on the woman she both loved and hated by dying,

And remaining forever in her heart, was completely genuine.

*

“…”

The three girls swallowed their breath as they saw Ye Sara enter the reception room in her white dress.

The dress looked so beautiful that anyone would think she could walk down the virgin road at any moment.

That’s why they hoped Ye Sara wouldn’t go into Choi Na-kyung’s arms.

Seeing Ye Sara in that dress, embracing Choi Na-kyung, made it feel like she would never return.

That’s the feeling they had.

Even though the person waiting for her was her stepmother.

…This isn’t normal.

None of the three sitting on the sofa thought otherwise.

Even Yoo Ha-neul, who had long been suspicious,

Even Shin So-hee, who had felt somewhat reassured when she learned that ‘Chairwoman’ referred to her ‘Mother’,

And Lee Soo-ah, who had suspected from the start that something was wrong with the family.

They all realized this situation was definitely wrong.

That woman is dangerous.

And it’s clear that Sara, who’s looking at her, is in danger as well.

Everyone saw Sara take a step forward.

As if she wasn’t sure if she should go or not, she took one trembling step after another, looking unstable as if she wanted to go but couldn’t, or as if she was being forced to go even though she didn’t want to.

And somehow, it felt like no one should interfere.

They knew it was wrong.

They were seeing it with their own eyes.

But for some reason, it felt like a sacred ritual.

How long this had gone on, they didn’t know, but it seemed like a ritual that had been continuing for a very long time between only the Chairwoman and Ye Sara.

“…”

But now, Sara was rejecting that ritual with her entire being.

Trembling like a leaf, she forced herself to take another step.

She wanted to go, but she couldn’t.

It was as if Sara knew this, as she forced herself to walk, step by step.

Choi Na-kyung’s smile gradually faded.

Her arms, which had been raised, slowly lowered.

…At that moment, Sara’s steps came to a complete halt.

And, like a puppet with its strings cut, Sara collapsed to her knees on the spot.

“Sara!”

The first to jump up at that sight was Yoo Ha-neul.

Without a second of hesitation, she rushed toward Sara, who had sunk to her knees with her shoulders limp, but even as she ran, she couldn’t easily touch Sara.

She just sat a little distance away from Sara, calling her name over and over with a sense of desperation.

Sara didn’t move at all.

Her vacant eyes simply stared at the floor, lifelessly.

No one knew why it had come to this.

Even Choi Na-kyung, who had probably seen Sara many times, seemed not to know.

“…”

Silence hung in the air for a long time.

Choi Na-kyung stood up.

It was a soundless movement, but everyone in the room looked in her direction.

Choi Na-kyung rose from her chair and stood for a while, looking down at Sara without expression.

Then she turned her gaze to Yoo Ha-neul, who was sitting beside her.

Yoo Ha-neul also looked at Choi Na-kyung.

Choi Na-kyung wasn’t glaring.

She simply looked at Yoo Ha-neul, silently, calmly.

The corners of her mouth were slightly raised.

But no one thought she was smiling.

Choi Na-kyung’s gaze briefly swept over Shin So-hee and Lee Soo-ah, who were still frozen on the sofa.

There was no change in her gaze.

Though she seemed to be smiling, her expression was empty, creating a strange atmosphere.

Her face, both beautiful and filled with ugly desire, looked over the three of them.

As if confirming her thoughts.

“…”

She soon began walking.

Her destination was still the open door.

Her steps, which had been confident at first, paused in front of Sara.

Sara, who had been slumped like a broken puppet, slowly lifted her head and looked up at Choi Na-kyung standing before her.

“…”

No words were exchanged between the two.

Only two empty gazes lingered on each other for a while.

Or perhaps, they were both pleading with one another, each in their own way.

But probably, that emotion didn’t reach either of them.

Choi Na-kyung took a step forward again.

This time, her pace didn’t slow, nor did she hesitate.

Sara simply bowed her head again, listening to the sound of the footsteps fading away.

The sound of footsteps grew distant, and the door quietly closed.

Yoo Ha-neul raised her hand, reaching out to Sara, but in the end, she couldn’t bring herself to touch her, and lowered her hand again.

Sara had given up something important today.

I could guess what it was.

But just how important it was, Sara couldn’t even begin to imagine.

And so, she simply sat there next to her, endlessly.