Chapter 5

A muffled thunderclap rang out, as though it had struck Caleb's heart directly. The pain was so intense that he could barely breathe.

His eyes burned red with rage. "I'll fucking kill you!"

He lunged forward and sank his teeth into Jake's shoulder, biting down with enough force to tear off a chunk of flesh.

Everyone around them stared in shock at his sheer madness.

"Aunt Elena, help me!" Jake cried out in terror.

Elena finally snapped back to reality and ordered the others to pull Caleb away. When she saw the blood covering Jake's shoulder, concern flooded her eyes.

"You're fucking insane!" she shouted at Caleb, then helped Jake out of the cemetery.

Caleb stumbled backward and collapsed. His forehead struck a stone pillar, and blood trickled down his face to mingle with the ashes scattered across the ground.

Insane? It had been a long time since anyone had called him that.

Back then, he'd spoken his mind and exposed countless ugly truths, only to be branded a lunatic.

Only Elena had stood by him. She'd told him he was simply following his conscience, one of the few traces of light left in such a dark society.

Now, all that remained was the madness.

Caleb watched them disappear into the distance and curled his lips into a bitter smile. His heart ached as though it were bleeding.

The farce had finally come to a temporary end.

Everyone gradually left, but Caleb stayed behind.

He knelt numbly before the shattered pieces of the urn. Tears streamed down his face as he repeatedly knocked his forehead against the ground and apologized through his grief.

"I'm sorry, Dad.

"I'm sorry, Dad.

"I'm sorry, Dad."

...

Caleb felt useless. When he was young, he hadn't been able to protect his father. Now that he was grown, he still couldn't protect him.

Again and again, he knocked his forehead against the ground until it was bloody.

The cemetery staff eventually came over and drove him away, and he returned to the Coleman residence in a miserable state.

He didn't want to stay at the Coleman residence anymore. He never wanted to see Elena again.

He returned to his bedroom, packed his belongings, and prepared to leave. But just as he stepped out, Elena's dog came running toward him.

The dog was Elena's most precious possession.

No one in the entire household except Elena could get close to it. Caleb had spent three years meticulously caring for the dog before finally earning its trust, and he'd grown deeply attached to it as well.

"Knight, come here." Caleb crouched down, wanting to say goodbye.

Without warning, Knight charged at him and knocked him to the ground. Then the dog viciously sank its teeth into his shoulder.

"Ah!" Caleb screamed.

He instinctively tried to fight back, but Knight clamped down and refused to let go. The dog finally released him only after tearing away a chunk of flesh.

It hurt. The pain was excruciating.

He wanted to call for help, but his throat felt as though it were packed with shards of glass. He couldn't make a sound. He lay limp on the floor, his face deathly pale.

More than anything, he couldn't understand.

Why had Knight bitten him?

"Good boy, Knight!" Jake walked in at that moment and happily rubbed Knight's head. Only then did he glance down at Caleb. "Does it hurt? This is payback for what you did."

Jake smiled without the slightest trace of pity. He even pressed a finger into Caleb's mangled wound. Agony ripped through Caleb so violently that he nearly passed out.

Only then did Jake ask with satisfaction, "Do you know why he's called Knight?

"After my parents died, I became really insecure. Aunt Elena bought him for me and trained him to recognize me as his master. She even named him Knight so he'd stay by my side and protect me whenever she wasn't around.

"I heard you were the one taking care of him while I was gone these past three years. You even nearly got yourself killed by a car once when you tried to save him, didn't you?

"Heh. I thought he'd forget his old master once he had a new one. Looks like I was worried for nothing. All it takes is one command from me, and he'll still bite you without mercy.

"People or dogs, they're all mine. What could a pathetic loser like you possibly have to compete with me?"

Caleb had never known any of this. He hadn't known that Knight had always belonged to Jake, that Elena cherished the dog so much because she loved Jake too, or that Knight had become an outlet for the feelings she couldn't express directly.

And yet Caleb had foolishly given them everything he had, believing he'd finally become part of this family.

But in truth, he was nothing.

Just as Jake had said, whether it was the people or the dog, none of them had ever truly been his.

Caleb laughed as tears spilled uncontrollably from his eyes. In the end, he coughed up a mouthful of blood, and his heavy eyelids slowly closed once more.