Chapter 340
“So, is that it? Why didn’t you just kill them?”
Ava clenched her fists, her eyes burning with frustration as she watched the two hated men being taken away by medical staff. Turning away, she shot the question at Karl.
But neither of them answered her, with Karl not even bothering to spare her a glance.
“You two cowards, useless idiots!” she snapped, her voice dripping with scorn. “You don’t even really care about Ava, do you? Fine, if you won’t do it, I’ll take matters into my own hands.”
Unable to tolerate the cold silence any longer, Ava stormed off from the pavilion where they had sought shelter from the rain.
A long while passed before Selena finally spoke, her voice quiet and filled with uncertainty, “Is what you said… true? Is she really still alive?”
When she first saw Ava’s death on the livestream, her instinct had been the same as Ava’s: kill the Drayton family and those damn Rockwood father and son. But Karl had told her to wait.
Wait for what? He said to wait for Ava herself to show up. That was why Selena hadn’t made a move on Torin and the others that night.
But now, Karl’s words crushed that hope.
“She’s dead,” he said flatly, his tone so casual it sent a chill through Selena’s spine
Her face twisted in disbelief, and in an instant, she was looking at him with the same expression Ava had just worn moments before: a face full of disillusionment.
Without another word, she turned to leave, her anger boiling over.
“I didn’t lie to you,” Karl spoke up suddenly, his voice firm. “She has a way. Just like Valeria, when she suddenly collapsed and then made that decision afterward. Ava can do it–she can meet the people she wants to, communicate with them. If she needs us to kill anyone, she will come to us herself.”
It was all a gamble.
Karl knew he didn’t deserve to see Ava again, but what if she had asked him to do something for her? Just like when she had made Valeria enter the dream to leave behind that robot.
He was being selfish, he knew. But he couldn’t help it—he longed to see Ava again.
Selena’s face twisted in disgust. She slapped him hard, the sound echoing sharply in the still night air. Five bright red handprints bloomed on his cheek, stark against his pale skin.
“I can’t believe I ever trusted you. Isn’t it our duty to avenge Ava? And yet, here you are, trying to use it for your own gain. How shameless.”
Karl said nothing, his head lowered, seemingly resigned.
Who would have thought this man, who appeared so loyal, could be so despicable? But Selena quickly accepted it. After all, this wasn’t the first time he had done something like this.
A bitter laugh escaped her lips. “I bet even if she had the ability, she wouldn’t come to you. She has me. She has Ava. And she has that woman from Silverwood. You men, always so deceitful.”
With that, she left, each step more forceful than the last, as though the ground beneath her feet were Karl himself, and she was venting all her frustration on it.
The two parted ways in anger.
Not long after, news broke that Torin had been attacked in the hospital. Normally, Ava would never fail a mission like this, especially one as simple as an assassination. But this time, the failure was intentional.
She never meant for Torin to die. Instead, she had given him a mental suppressant–one of the few drugs she carried. It wouldn’t kill him, but it would make his life feel like a slow, endless torment.
Selena wanted Torin to feel fear, to be haunted by nightmares for the rest of his life. She wanted him to live in a perpetual state of unease, constantly terrified of the dark.
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12:43 PM
Chapter 340
“From now on, enjoy the gift I’ve given you,” Ava’s strained voice echoed in his ears, garbled and disconnected, as though she were speaking through a veil of fog.
Torin, lying motionless on the bed, had barely reacted when nurses and doctors came and went, checking his vitals.
Even when Ava had given him the drug, he wore a strangely calm, almost relieved expression.
But now… now fear began to creep into him, spreading from the moment darkness fell.
Hallucinations began to take shape, his mind fracturing as he saw Elysia standing by the window, waving at him.
His dull, lifeless eyes suddenly lit up, like someone had flicked a switch. Time seemed to freeze as he stared, transfixed, until Elysia smiled at him and said sweetly, “Torin, I’ve missed you.”
The words hit him like a warm breeze against his heart, a sensation both ticklish and comforting.
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“Elysia… is it really you?” His voice was rough, a whisper after two days of silence, cracked and trembling. “I… I really missed you too. Elysia, I know I was wrong. Can you forgive me?”
“Even if you can’t forgive me… as long as I can stay by your side, I swear I’ll take care of you from now on, just like I did when you were a child…”
Before he could continue, Elysia’s voice interrupted him, soft but firm, “But I’ve grown up now. I don’t need you to take care of me anymore.”
She blinked, tilting her head, her face lighting up with a pure, innocent smile as if she were genuinely thinking about his words.
Torin panicked. “No, no. Elysia, you’ll always be my child. I can still take care of you. Like… like I’ll learn to cook for you. If you’re tired, I’ll massage your shoulders. Anything!”
In a desperate rush, he threw off the covers, attempting to get out of bed. But he’d forgotten his legs had been kneeling in the storm all night. They were numb, unable to move.
Elysia’s voice came again, warm and coaxing, “I don’t want you to cook for me. I don’t want you to massage my shoulders. But I’m so cold right now… could you come over and hold me?”
Torin’s eyes widened, his face lit up with hope. He hadn’t heard Elysia speak to him like that in so long. The sheer affection in her voice left him speechless.
Seeing him still motionless, Elysia pouted, her lip trembling as her eyes filled with tears. “Is it really that bad? Or… do you not like Elysia anymore? Do you only like Rowena?”
Torin’s heart shattered, and even though he could barely move, he tried to crawl toward her. “No! It’s only you. It’s always been only you. Only
Elysia.
At that very moment, just as he reached the window, the door to his room suddenly burst open. The lights flicked on with a sharp “click.”
“What are you shouting about, patient? You’re disturbing everyone… Oh my god.”
The nurse froze mid–sentence, her eyes widening in horror as she saw Torin half hanging out of the window.
She screamed, “Someone help! He’s trying to jump!”
Upon hearing the news that Torin’s suicide attempt had failed, Ava blinked, murmuring, “I didn’t think the drug would work that fast…”
When she was finally released, she learned that Torin had attacked someone in the middle of the night and was now locked in a mental institution, a place with such strict control that even if he wanted to die, he wouldn’t be able to.
At le
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