"Hmm?"
"Why are you trembling?"
Yates Donovan looked down at her, a cruel, vicious smile on his lips. "You haven’t betrayed me, have you?"
"..." Under his terrifying gaze, she gave a slight nod.
Yates Donovan stared at her for a long time before finally crushing his lips against hers.
Gasps and jeers erupted from the crowd. Her cheeks burned. She felt like an animal on display, filled with shame and anger.
But she didn’t dare resist.
The man bit her ear viciously, his voice a breathy threat. "Don’t worry. Even if you betray me, I won’t have the heart to kill you."
"But..." His index finger traced a light path across her cheek. "You have to learn your lesson, don’t you? People who betray me don’t tend to meet good ends."
"Don’t let me see you getting so close to them again, or else..."
"...Ngh!"
A sharp pain shot through her tongue, and tears instantly welled in her eyes. Their lips ground against each other, the taste of blood mixing between them.
She had a mission to complete, so naturally, she couldn’t stay away from the other male leads.
Having read the original novel, she firmly believed that a madman like Yates Donovan would do exactly as he said. He wouldn’t let her off easily.
Yates Donovan closed in on her, step by step.
Gradually, she became mentally and physically exhausted.
Because she had been secretly in contact with Yates Donovan, she had a premonition that he would be the one to kill Serena Grant in the end.
In other words, she was supposed to die at Yates Donovan’s hands in Serena Grant’s place.
’I have to die anyway,’ she had thought at first, ’so what’s the big deal if it’s at his hands?’
But when she calmed down and thought it over, she realized that if she fell into the hands of the other male leads, she could have a swift death.
But in Yates Donovan’s hands, he would only make her suffer a fate worse than death.
’Yates Donovan won’t kill me. He’ll probably torture me cruelly for a while. As for how... whether he does it himself or hands me over to others... that will all depend on his mood.’
For some reason, she was just certain that nothing good would come of falling into Yates Donovan’s hands.
Maybe it was because Serena Grant had taken a photo of a drunk Silas Grant kissing her.
She felt that Serena Grant would definitely give it to Yates Donovan.
That time bomb would shatter her to pieces sooner or later.
So, after much thought, she tricked the System and got it to agree to let her die at the hands of one of the other male leads.
By that time, she was already sick.
The pain from her lung cancer made her look as pathetic as a wild lily battered by the elements at Serena Grant’s birthday party, ready to be snapped in half at the slightest touch.
She wanted to find Silas Grant, thinking that a ruthless man like him would be decisive.
But then she remembered that kiss, and after a long hesitation, she gave up on the idea.
She saw Felix Sinclair not far away; his gaze seemed to be following her constantly.
After a pause, she looked toward Ian Sinclair, who was also nearby.
The young man noticed her gaze and frowned.
It was hard to tell if it was disgust or something else... but after staring at her for a few seconds, he walked over.
"I haven’t seen you in a few days. How did you... get so thin?"
"Is the Grant Family not feeding you?"
"Why’d you take such a long leave of absence? Are you still not coming next week? Are you sick?"
"Hey! I’m talking to you!"
’He’s so noisy,’ she thought, but she could hear a faint trace of concern in his words.
She hesitated again.
Then she sought out Kian Keller.
The original novel said that Serena Grant was deeply in love with him. To her, he was the unattainable love of her life.
Of all the male leads, they had the least contact.
Every time the man looked at her, his gaze was no different from how he looked at anyone else—indifferent, like a serene, untouchable figure on a pedestal.
She mustered the courage to approach Kian Keller, but he was occupied by Serena Grant and her parents from the Grant Family.
Across the crowd, their eyes suddenly met.
Her heart skipped a beat, and she instinctively looked away.
Turning her head, she saw Hayes Hughes by the second-floor railing, chatting with some other people.
She hesitated yet again.
But the System told her that if she didn’t choose Hayes Hughes, the only one left was Yates Donovan.
The System didn’t know about her dealings with Yates Donovan at the time and even recommended him enthusiastically: [I think Yates Donovan is a great choice! He’s so crazy. If you ask him to kill you, he’ll definitely agree.]
[And look at this Hayes Hughes... a doctor. He probably won’t have the heart to do it. Come on, let’s go find Yates Donovan! I’ll help you look, he’s currently at...]
"It’ll be Hayes Hughes!" she said. "Dying at the hands of the person I love... I’ll only get one chance like this in my entire life."
"I have to seize it!"
With that, she lifted the hem of her dress and walked toward the second floor.
* * *
Inside the dimly lit room, Hayes Hughes turned and switched on the wall lamp.
A warm yellow light spilled down, illuminating her emaciated figure.
A scalpel clattered to the floor. After a long moment, Hayes Hughes bent down to pick it up, feigning composure as he asked, "You don’t look well. Are you feeling unwell somewhere?"
"Have a seat first."
She snapped back to her senses and grabbed his hand.
"I’m not kidding."
"I really don’t have much time left."
"I... I’ve been diagnosed with lung cancer. It’s incurable."
"If you don’t believe me, you can contact the Hughes Family’s private hospital right now and pull up my admission records."
This was a simple matter for Hayes Hughes; a single phone call was all it took.
He stared at her medical report, unable to process it for a long time.
"Sit down and calm down first. Even if... there’s still a chance of recovery. I’ll take you there now..."
She gripped him tightly. "There’s no time!"
"Please, I’m begging you. I don’t want to live out the rest of my life in so much pain."
"I know this is asking a lot of you... but... I-I can’t bring myself to do it."
"You don’t have to worry about getting into trouble. You’re part of the Hughes Family. The old master will take care of everything. You’ll have nothing to worry about."
"Please!"
In the shifting light and shadows, she saw the shock in Hayes Hughes’s eyes.
Gritting her teeth, she said, "I’ve liked you for a very long time."
"I’ve never thought of you as my brother."
"Hayes Hughes, I really, really like you."
"My life has already been so painful. I don’t want to have any regrets in my final moments."
"So, if it’s possible, I want to die at your hands."
"If you don’t do it, I’ll go downstairs and kill Serena Grant right now!"
"..."
From start to finish, there was no sign of struggle in Hayes Hughes’s eyes. He looked resolute, unshaken by her words.
She started to break down, coughing up a mouthful of blood as she cried.
Hayes Hughes’s hand trembled.
She kept coughing while begging him to end her tragic, short life.
He didn’t speak, his eyes just quietly reddened.
The System was still urging her on. She clenched her jaw, suddenly yanked his hand forward, and plunged it into herself.
That’s how the first stab went astray.
’It hurts so much.’
Her body was already at its limit, and with this stab, pain engulfed her entire being. Her hands trembling, she tightened her grip on Hayes Hughes’s hand, not letting him pull back.
"It hurts so much, Hayes..."
She wanted him to find a vital spot and give her a quick end.