Chapter 54
Laila promised she would come to see us again the next day.
Dragging my tired body back to the lodging, I was ready to sleep immediately. I probably would have, if Enoch hadn’t stopped me.
“Explain.”
“Explain what?”
“That woman burned your shoulder and…”
Enoch grimaced, as if he couldn’t bring himself to finish the sentence. I waited patiently for him to continue.
“What do you mean, she gutted you?”
“I meant it literally… Do you need the full details of how badly I was hurt?”
“I’m not trying to fight, Florence.”
Enoch really had grown up a little more than I had. He didn’t take the bait, even when I provoked him with childish deflection. I glanced at Keith. He stuck out his tongue teasingly—it was clear he had mentioned Laila on purpose, knowing Enoch wouldn’t let it go. Maybe he thought it was unfair for Enoch to be the only one left out now that Laila was on our side.
“Right after I came back, I ran away to the Seymour mansion first.”
“…”
“I had to avoid Linus. I figured if I pretended to be her, I could hold out for a little while. But Grace saw through me right away. I guess that’s family for you—she recognized me with just one look.”
I wasn’t even bitter about it. I felt Enoch’s grip tighten around the hand he was holding. To him, they were basically siblings. The reason I had disliked Enoch was because he was close with them. Just because they were cruel to me didn’t mean he had to hate them too.
But the moment Grace’s name was mentioned, Enoch tensed up, his face sharpening.
“What did she do to you?!”
“What do you mean what did she do?”
“I asked you what she did!”
“…She didn’t do anything. She just stormed out, saying she couldn’t stand to look at me. I couldn’t stay at the mansion after that, so I just packed up my grandmother’s belongings and ran away…”
“And you didn’t think to come find me?”
“….”
I had asked Lishi about him, but there was no need to bring that up now. I continued, pretending not to know.
“Right after I left the mansion, I was kidnapped. Those men who came from the shadows took me, and when I came to, I was already being beaten. Then Laila arrived, burned my arm with fire, and sliced my stomach open.”
“You say horrifying things way too casually. Seriously, it was brutal. If we’d been just thirty minutes later, you’d be dead.”
Keith added. But his words clearly did nothing to calm Enoch. Enoch’s broad chest heaved, his face contorted in anger.
“And you want to work with her?!”
I had almost never heard Enoch raise his voice. He was usually calm, the type not to shout. Surprised, I widened my eyes. Enoch, now breathing heavily, took a step back. I tried to soothe him.
“We can’t kill Linus without Laila. You know that.”
“Florence.”
“Think logically. That’s what you’re good at, Enoch Haynes. Why are you acting so emotional?”
“And you’ve become such a logical person now?”
“Besides, I don’t hate Laila.”
In fact, I liked her—because she hated Jang Hyunji just like I did.
“Goddamn it. Then why the hell did you go alone—”
But he stopped mid-sentence. Enoch wasn’t an idiot. He knew exactly what kind of person Laila was, and he understood why I went alone. He wasn’t angry because he didn’t get it—he was angry because he did.
I muttered without hiding my sudden reflection.
“You’ve gotten hot-tempered while I was gone, Enoch…”
“When hasn’t he been a short-tempered bastard? Maybe he was just pretending to be all proper around you.”
Keith draped an arm over Enoch’s shoulder. I chuckled softly.
“No, even back then, he was just as bad as me. That’s why we kept fighting every time we saw each other. Now that I think about it, he spoke calmly but he was totally hot-blooded. He never went easy on a girl three years younger.”
“I did go easy on you.”
“That was you going easy?”
“Yeah.”
What a joke. I scoffed. Enoch Haynes wasn’t the kind of person who’d go easy on anyone. If he had, I probably would’ve fought back even harder. He’d given it his all against me, just like I had with him. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have fought at all—that’s just how we both were.
Enoch covered his eyes with one hand and sighed.
“Please. Just don’t go anywhere dangerous alone again, Florence.”
“Okay. I didn’t want to, either.”
“I’m not joking. When I found out you were gone, I thought my heart was going to stop.”
“That’s a little dramatic…”
I laughed, thinking it was a joke, but then stopped. As always, Enoch didn’t have even a hint of humor on his face. He held my hand and said, with a gaze so intense it was almost frightening:
“Five years is a long time, Florence.”
“…”
“I knew it wasn’t really you during those five years, but there was nothing I could do.”
That was strange. I’d never seen this side of Enoch before.
“Do you know what it feels like? That helplessness? I couldn’t do anything. I didn’t even have a clue. Not even a cause. If you’d died, it might’ve been easier. But you were alive. Smiling. Yet it wasn’t you.”
“…”
“I tried so many times to give up. I knew even if I found you, you wouldn’t be happy to see me. But I just couldn’t let it go. I wandered, barely holding on—and then you came back, Florence. How do you think that feels?”
While I was gone, I wondered if anyone—just one person—might try to find me.
I didn’t dare hope for it.
“It still feels like a dream. Honestly, it doesn’t feel real.”
The man who spoke of dreams had a grim, hardened face. If he really was dreaming, shouldn’t he look a little more awestruck?
“Do you always frown like that when you dream?”
“When I dream about you, yeah.”
“So like you.”
Finally, Enoch’s expression softened a little. I smiled too.
Enoch wiped his face with his hands and let out another quiet breath. His eyes, revealed beneath his hand, were soaked in exhaustion. He looked at me and said:
“I’m angry at myself. For not abducting you from that house earlier.”
“…”
“Even that—someone else beat me to it.”
His handsome face twisted like he’d just swallowed bitter medicine. I couldn’t hold back my laughter.
The next day.
Laila came to see us.
She wasn’t dressed like an old woman today. Though her outfit was ordinary—simple clothes reinforced with light leather armor—she looked as if she could dive straight into a battlefield. The moment Laila saw me, she warned:
“Don’t you ever pull that kind of stunt again.”
“Huh?”
“Don’t go wandering around alone.”
…Was I getting scolded right now? I felt a little dazed.
“If even a single strand of your hair was seen by someone, the Commander would have found you. Don’t underestimate him. Assassination is all about thorough preparation. You mustn’t be discovered until everything is ready on our end. Your role is the most important, got it?”
“…Yeah.”
“You’re a precious bait, after all.”
Laila smiled in satisfaction. Once again, I felt strangely unsettled. I was grateful for how actively she was involved in the plan to kill Linus, yet the way she called me bait and looked at me like I was a delicious cake was… hard to ignore.
Laila continued.
“I thought about it, and I think the reason you were able to come back was because of the curse I cast.”
“What?”
“Didn’t I tell you? The reason I was imprisoned was for the attempted murder of the Marchioness. But just because I didn’t kill her doesn’t mean the curse failed. I knew I probably wouldn’t kill her. I cursed Florence, saying I’d kill her even if it cost me my life—and right after that, you collapsed. And then you returned.”
There was no denying the cause and effect—it was too clear. The timing was perfect. That body possessed by Jang Hyunji had already neared its limit, and her dying state called her soul back. And right then, Laila’s curse had struck. It impacted Jang Hyunji’s soul residing in my body, creating a slight crack that allowed me to return.
Laila Green really had saved me.
“Honestly, she should be dead by now, but that woman is still stubbornly clinging to you. She doesn’t seem to know how to give up. It’s hilarious.”
She laughed heartily, enough to reveal her throat, then suddenly stopped. Her face turned stiff as she looked at me—and gently caressed the area over my heart.
“Right here…”
The soft flesh just above my breast squished under her touch. Her slender fingers were longer and finer than mine. Beneath them, my heart was beating.
“That’s where she’s clinging to you.”
Her violet eyes gleamed with a strange desire, like she was gazing not at an enemy, but at a cherished lover.
“Stop. Get away from her.”
Enoch grabbed Laila’s hand and pushed it away, while Keith pulled me into his arms. Laila only shrugged her shoulders.
“I’m not planning to kill her right now. No need to be so on edge. That body’s mine anyway.”
“What’s that supposed to mean—?”
I quickly cut Enoch off.
“She means after I die.”
“Here. Take this.”
Laila handed something to me.
“The Commander must be getting desperate. If he’s resorting to something this crude…”
It was a wanted poster—with my face printed on it.
