Kardian sat with a bored expression, staring at the door of the operating room.

It was said that Bekishi’s surgery would take quite a long time. Then it would be good enough to wait for the surgery like this. He could come back around the time the surgery ended.

Kardian, who got up from his seat, gently stroked the door of the operating room.

Unlike his affectionate touch, his expression was chilled and sunken.

“Beki, what if you’re not helpful like this?”

Bekishi should have died on the spot earlier. But she stubbornly survived and was even undergoing surgery. The untidy ending made him uncomfortable.

Then, the sound of striding footsteps was heard from behind. The corners of Kardian’s mouth went up. Even without looking, he could tell who it was.

“Ansi.”

Kardian turned around. Ansi, her face flushed with full anger, approached Kardian and slapped his cheek.

Kardian’s cheek turned slightly. He turned his head back to gaze at Ansi and slowly raised one eyebrow.

“What are you doing, Ansi?”

“What are you doing? Why on earth to Damion…!”

“What did I do? It was Mion who tried to kill Beki.”

Kardian’s low voice was confident. As if Damion had really done such a thing.

“You’re the one who called him to that hotel. To trap Damion.”

“Don’t involve me in the secret meeting between those two.”

Secret meeting? Ansi narrowed her brows.

Seeing that, Kardian laughed and soon added in an implicit voice.

“I’m the victim. Like you, Ansi.”

Ansi was at a loss for words.

This was Kardian’s plan from the beginning. To create an environment where Bekishi and Damion were having a secret meeting at the hotel, fabricate that Damion killed Bekishi, and send him to prison.

It made no sense at all.

In the first place, the reason for his hostility towards Damion was incomprehensible, but isn’t Bekishi Kardian’s wife? Why would he go to such lengths to hurt his own wife?

“I heard that the chances of success for Bekishi’s surgery are not very high. Even if it succeeds, there’s no guarantee that she’ll be able to wake up.”

Kardian continued in a regretful-sounding voice. However, it seemed as if he was talking about someone else’s business. It was hard to believe it was a story about someone close to him.

“The one undergoing surgery right now is your wife.”

“She was. Even though she cheated with Ansi’s husband.”

“I know the truth. Why are you lying to me when I know that?”

“Because what I said is the truth.”

“……”

“Mion makes people die. There have been more than a few people who died because of that child. It’s the same this time. I just wanted to create a place for the two of them to meet, I had no intention of killing Beki. But why did Beki die?”

Kardian tilted his head to the side.

It meant that Bekishi’s death was Damion’s doing.

“You crazy bastard.”

“Do you want to see your elder brother?”

Ansi bit the inside of her lip hard. The tender flesh was crushed by her teeth. A fishy taste lingered on the tip of her tongue.

Kardian bent his waist and whispered quietly into Ansi’s ear.

“Then come to me, Ansi.”

Ansi unknowingly took a step back. It was a terrible joke. But Kardian didn’t look like he was joking at all.

Kardian opened his mouth again. Anyway, the corridor was restricted to anyone outside the Orphe family. The only ears to hear it here were Ansi’s. He could say whatever he wanted for her.

“If Bekishi dies and Damion goes to prison, it will be a legitimate reason for divorce. No one will blame you, Ansi. Then you can come when that happens.”

“Ha.”

Ansi let out a hollow laugh. The bastard was spewing out nonsensical words too easily. It was almost like he was crazy.

How could he do that to his younger brother and his own wife… And make such a proposal to his younger brother’s wife.

To the daughter of the man he killed, no less.

“You piece of trash.”

“I have things that Mion couldn’t have. I want to give Ansi a chance to enjoy them.”

Kardian seemed to really believe that he was giving a great opportunity. Ansi shook her head.

“You’re not even human.”

“You can take your time to think about it. I’ll take good care of your elder brother.”

Kardian grinned. His golden eyes shone.

He believed that Ansi would come to him regardless of whether her thoughts were short or long. Just as she pretended to agonize so much, glared at him as if looking at a shameless person, but in the end betrayed Damion and granted the request to call him to the hotel.

Ansi shifted her trembling gaze to the door of the operating room. There was no sign of Bekishi’s surgery ending.

The image of Bekishi saying it would be nice to have a child with Kardian, that it would make their marital relationship more solid, came to mind.

Bekishi’s voice was somewhat bitter. Ansi had guessed that there were some unspoken difficulties in her relationship with Kardian, but she never thought the relationship would be as thin as paper.

No, Bekishi probably didn’t know either. She must have thought of Kardian as her husband.

To Kardian, she was just a tool to be used and discarded.

“It won’t go your way.”

Leaving behind the poor woman who became Kardian’s sacrifice, Ansi turned her body.

At that moment, a figure standing behind the corner hurriedly hid. The figure stood still, holding its breath until Ansi disappeared.

Ansi got out of the carriage that stopped in front of the Piaget Hotel. Having stopped by the police station, the time was already heading towards evening.

Ansi told the police the truth, thinking that somehow she could clear Damion’s charges if she told the truth.

That she was the one who called Damion to that hotel, and the hotel was a place Kardian had reserved.

But the police snorted.

〈It was Lady Bekishi who made the reservation for that hotel, madam. She didn’t even ask a servant to do it, but made the reservation herself by making a phone call.〉

It seemed that Kardian had somehow made Bekishi make the reservation herself.

Perhaps Kardian made sure his name would never be revealed in any other connection. Then what Ansi was saying was nothing more than a conspiracy theory to cover for Damion.

Just as it had been when her father died.

‘I need to find evidence.’

Evidence or a witness was needed.

Before that, she wanted to see Damion. She couldn’t even begin to imagine how devastated and desperate he must be, bearing such a ridiculous false charge. She wanted to make sure he was okay.

Ansi begged to be allowed to see Damion. However, contact with Damion, who was under investigation, was prohibited.

In the end, Ansi turned around and came to this hotel.

About to enter the hotel, Ansi frowned. She picked up an extra edition scattered on the street.

Orphe’s second son tried to have his sister-in-law

The sensational article title was immediately visible. The content of the article was that the two had been secretly meeting until now, and in the midst of that, this incident occurred.

Just as Kardian intended.

Ansi crumpled the paper. Bony knuckles protruded over her thin back of the hand.

She couldn’t just sit back and watch this. But for now, she had to focus on finding a way to get him out. To save Damion, she had to find a way, any way.

Ansi entered the hotel.

Inside the thick iron bars, Damion sat leaning against the cold wall, staring only at the floor with downcast eyes.

A thick sense of despair spread like fog around him. With each inhale, despair pierced his lungs along with it. It was painful. So much so that he thought it would be better to die.

Every moment, he thought of Ansi. He denied that she could betray him again. He ruminated on her blue eyes from earlier. And the conclusion he reached was, once again, her betrayal.

He had tried to deceive her heart to gain life, and she had tried to deceive his heart to take revenge.

Perhaps it was a wrong relationship from the beginning.

Nevertheless…

Damion believed that they could be happy together. Because he was sure that his feelings for her were sincere, and she was the same. At least from the moment he opened his eyes in the hospital, he was convinced that there was no falsehood in the way they looked at each other and the words they spoke to each other.

It was a misjudgment.

Ansi was in the future Damion had decided on, but it seemed that in Ansi’s future, it was not so.

It was painful, as if his heart had been twisted.

Damion brought both hands up and rubbed his face.

Was it Kardian’s scheme?

And Ansi went along with it?

Did she turn around halfway through? Or was this her intention from the beginning, even when she promised happiness with him?

We clearly agreed to forget everything and leave together.

We agreed to tell each other the truth now, to trust each other like that.

But why are you doing this, Ansi?

If you were going to betray me like this, did you ask to leave together? Was I not someone you had to consider from the beginning?

Did you ever love me?

Resentment towards Ansi clawed at his entire body.

“Haa…”

A sound that could be either laughter or crying burst out of Damion’s mouth. He twisted his face in agony.

Pathetically, even in the midst of this, he kept thinking.

That there must have been some circumstances for Ansi.

Surely there must have been circumstances that left her no choice but to listen to Kardian.

And…

He missed that woman like crazy.