December 8th. Just seventeen days until Christmas and Percival and Evadne’s engagement party.Evadne heard Percival hurt his left hand, so she personally made soup and took it to the hospital. She thought it was a minor injury but was shocked to see his hand in a thick cast.“How did you get hurt so badly?”Percival was resting. When he heard Evadne’s voice, his eyes shot open, a cold light flashing in them.“What are you doing here?”“I heard you got hurt, so I came to see you.” Evadne looked at his left hand, frowning. The injury was so bad, would he even be able to wear a ring at their engagement?“Get out!”Previously, Percival had merely disliked some of Evadne's actions. Now, he genuinely loathed her, and his cold gaze and tone made no effort to hide it.Evadne pretended not to hear him, placing the insulated container on the table. “No matter how much you hate me, you’re still going to marry me in a few days.”“I don’t need you to remind me.” Percival’s face was icy. “Even if w
Eulalia knew her stomach issues weren’t normal. Percival could fabricate her entire background, so bribing a doctor to fake a medical report wouldn’t be hard for him.Maybe she was already beyond saving, and Percival had threatened her not to commit suicide. Fine, she wouldn’t kill herself; instead, she’d kill him. Like yesterday’s impulsive stab—it felt good, but she only managed to hit his hand, causing no real harm.Outside, the courtyard grass had turned yellow. A few days ago, Mr. Lee bought a box of weed killer, and it had dried up the weeds within two days. Eulalia had swapped out a bottle back then and hidden it under her bed. Mr. Lee was busy outside, Ms. Hayak and Ms. Jonas ignored her.Eulalia brewed a pot of tonic soup. It was her first time poisoning someone, and she only wanted to kill Percival. She poured the entire bottle of weed killer into the soup without a second thought, and the mixture smelled awful.She immediately gagged and ran to the bathroom to vomit, staini
Eulalia was quite experienced with “escaping,” but she didn’t intend to run away this time. She found a phone booth, inserted some coins, and started dialing. She was always good with numbers, which probably had something to do with her job before she lost her memory.The call went through, and after a few rings, a lazy male voice answered, “Hello?”“Trent, I’m willing to go with you,” she said.There was a brief pause before Trent chuckled. “I heard Percival was hospitalized, and his left hand is half-crippled. Did you do that?”“Yes, and I poisoned him today,” she replied.Trent was surprised. He didn’t expect such a seemingly fragile woman to dare poison Percival. It was true that a cornered rabbit would bite.“My grandpa would be furious if he found out,” Trent commented.Eulalia didn’t want to turn to Trent either. She felt he was just as bad as Percival. But with her memory loss and no one else to turn to, she couldn’t fight Percival alone and had to seek help from his “enemy.”
The hospital was a total mess. Percival had been found poisoned, and the only thing he had eaten today was the dark, murky tonic that Eulalia had brought him.The pot of soup was still on the table, and the remaining residue was sent for testing. The results came back quickly—it contained "herbicide."Mr. Lee was stunned when he heard this. The herbicide was from their home. Lately, the garden at the villa had been overrun with weeds, and nothing seemed to work, so he had bought a box of powerful herbicide. It killed the weeds instantly, drying them out in less than two days. He never imagined that the same herbicide would nearly kill Percival.This powerful herbicide was extremely corrosive. It could erode tree roots, let alone a human stomach. Thankfully, Percival was in the hospital. He was rushed for a stomach pump immediately, saving valuable time.If he had been far from the hospital and treatment had been delayed or mishandled, he might not have survived.Percival was taken int
Eulalia stared at the video. She was just one step away from regaining her memory, but fear gripped her. The terror she had buried deep in her soul suddenly erupted, screaming at her not to click on it, warning that something horrifying awaited inside.She took a deep breath, her hand trembling as she placed it on the mouse and clicked on the video. A man appeared on screen, kneeling in a strange position. His white shirt was soaked in blood, and his legs were twisted, obviously broken.The video had been edited down to five minutes. Eulalia sat dumbfounded in front of the computer. As the video played, her locked memories flooded back like a torrent, overwhelming her mind. They shattered into fragments, each piece a mirror reflecting the memories she had lost.These memories roared within her like demons, fighting to cover up the most terrifying ones. But as the video continued, the locks holding these demons broke one by one, revealing them in all their bloody horror before Eulalia'
Percival knew she was planning to run away just by looking at her outfit. Despite feeling fired up inside, seeing her gaunt figure, swollen red eyes, and the blood at the corner of her mouth just shattered his heart like ice under a hammer.He walked over and took Eulalia’s cold hand, surprisingly, she didn't resist and quietly got into the car with him.“You poisoned me as a chance to escape?” Percival asked, holding her close with one arm.“Yes, too bad the weedkiller wasn't strong enough to kill you outright.”Percival clenched his teeth so hard that he tasted blood, his freshly washed stomach starting to burn with pain. He asked in a hoarse voice, "Eulalia, do you really hate me that much? To the extent that you'd dirty your own hands by poisoning me?"Eulalia laughed bitterly as if she heard a huge joke, her body shaking like grass under a storm.“Dirty my hands?” she retorted, thrusting her ugly, trembling hands in front of Percival. “These hands, stabbed with 28 steel needles,
“You think I’d still love the child tainted with your blood after all I’ve been through?” Eulalia’s words were cruel, but her heart ached fiercely, like a small hand was squeezing it tight.Her eyes were red and sore, but no tears fell. “You’ll never know how I counted every minute during that hour, or those ten calls... I called you ten times. Why didn’t you answer? If you’d just answered the last one, Vincent wouldn’t have died.”She wasn’t afraid of pain or disability; she just couldn’t accept losing the most important person in her life.For over ten years, Vincent had been her guiding light, one she silently cherished in her heart, only for Percival to extinguish it with a casual swipe.Percival’s throat tightened as he picked up Eulalia’s coat and wrapped it around her, covering her injuries below her neck. He held her tightly, tears falling onto her neck. “You should hate me. I don’t deserve your forgiveness, but Eulalia, I have only you left. Only you. I know I’m unforgivable,
“Eulalia!” Percival screamed in terror. “Pull over, now!”The driver instinctively slammed on the brakes, jerking forward from the sudden stop. He looked back, confused. The tightly closed window was now open, and the wind howled as if mourning.Percival sat alone in the backseat; Eulalia was nowhere to be seen. The driver snapped out of his daze and got out of the car, following Percival.Eulalia had leaped out of the window too quickly. Percival, his left arm in a cast, couldn’t grab her in time. He watched helplessly as she fell, leaving a bloody trail on the ground—---Eulalia felt like the fall had shifted all her organs. The pain in her leg was excruciating, as if the bones were shattered.Her coat was gone, her white sweater was dirty and bloody, and her exposed skin scraped against the pavement, feeling like it was on fire.She lay trembling on the wet ground, too pained to even scream.Eulalia curled up like a corpse, motionless for a long time. A car approached, and just as