Chapter 6

In fact, Paul came back that very night.

Still shaken by the assassination attempt, he sent many men to protect me and personally stayed by my bedside with a gun.

On the day I was told I could be discharged, he finally found out who had sent the assassin. While dealing with it, he accidentally fractured his hand.

After hearing the news, Elizabeth didn’t trust the servants to take care of us and came to Garcia Manor herself to help.

She was everywhere in the manor. One moment she was changing Paul’s dressing, the next she was guiding me through recovery exercises, like the true lady of the house.

When my arm could finally be lifted again, I planned to go to the practice room to stretch.

As I passed by Paul’s study, I heard the sound of something shattering inside.

The door was slightly ajar. I could clearly see Elizabeth standing behind the statue of the Virgin Mary. It seemed she had also discovered Paul’s hidden room.

Her hands trembled as she brushed over his collections. Then she looked in shock at the photos of me, marked and investigated like prey.

After a long while, she suddenly began tearing down my photos, then threw all of Paul’s things related to her into a cardboard box.

Seeing that she was about to come out, I quickly ran into the next room.

She appeared in front of the trash bin not long after, holding those things.

From the love letters, diaries, to photos, everything was torn apart. All of Paul’s collections were dumped into the trash.

Once she was finished, she returned to the hidden room and called Paul over.

They argued fiercely over the things in the room. From where I hid in the next room, I could catch parts of it.

“Why would you keep these at home? What if Emily finds out?”

“She doesn’t know the statue is a mechanism. And without my permission, she wouldn’t dare come in.”

“You’re that sure? What if she did go in? She loves you so much. Have you thought about how hurt she would be if she saw all this?”

“So what if she’s hurt? Listen, Elizabeth, you don’t need to worry about that. You only need to answer me.

“Are you still going to marry someone else? As long as you say no, I’ll divorce her immediately!”

With a loud bang, Elizabeth slammed the door and ran out.

Through the floor-to-ceiling window, I saw her drive away. Right after, Paul’s car left the manor, too.

I pressed a hand to my chest. This time, aside from my heart beating faster from hearing the truth, it didn’t seem to hurt anymore.

That was good.

The wounds on my body and the ones in my heart were almost healed.

Late that night, I saw that Paul had personally gone to the trash bin and picked up everything Elizabeth had thrown away.

Over the next three days, he locked himself in the study. I guessed he was repairing those collections.

I didn’t ask a single question. I just told the servants to bring him food every day.

Now that my injuries had fully healed, I invited a few old friends in New Haven to a bar for a small gathering. After all, I wouldn’t be back once I left.

During the conversation, someone mentioned they could introduce me to the Royal Val Verde Ballet, but I declined.

This time, I wanted to rely on my own efforts to prove myself.

At the end of the gathering, I planned to go to the restroom before leaving. As I passed the smoking area, I heard familiar names.

“Paul, you skip the alumni gathering every year. If Elizabeth hadn’t come back this time, we still wouldn’t have seen you.”

“Didn’t expect you to still be hung up on Elizabeth. You two were the legendary couple back in school. I still remember when you confessed. You used a helicopter to scatter flower petals. That video is still on the school forum!”

“I remember that, too. And Paul playing the guitar under Elizabeth’s window all night, singing a love song he wrote himself.”

Someone pulled up the video and played it.

I listened quietly for a while.

In my mind, an image of twenty-year-old Paul appeared. He was bright, charming, with no ruthlessness in his eyes, only sincerity, as he played the guitar and sang with feeling, “I will love you forever…”

That was his youth, a time that could never return.

It was a beautiful love song, but that was all.

After all, it wasn’t sung for me.

I smiled and shook my head, about to leave. When I looked up, I saw Elizabeth’s reflection on the metal wall.

She was standing behind me, watching me in a panic.

My heart skipped a beat.

I couldn’t let her know that I had discovered everything. That would ruin my plan.

Without turning around, I hurried toward the bar’s exit.