Chapter 3

I paled, my face ashen, and asked in disbelief:

"What nonsense are you talking about!"

"Stop pretending. Last night, the commotion Scarlett caused at her lover's mansion - anyone who cared to know, knows. Besides, I know Evelina."

My body stiffened.

"I was chatting with her about this last night, and she even asked me who Ethan was."

I gripped the bed sheets tightly, my eyes rimmed with red, holding back tears:

"Why did you save me?"

"Saving you? I just wanted to see how miserable you could be. You probably don't know yet, but you're paralyzed from the waist down now. You'll be in a wheelchair for life, with a catheter bag. Ah... Now I feel so satisfied."

"Is that so..." I nodded, smiling.

Where others can't see, my nails dug into my flesh.

In truth, I never believed that my past actions helping Evelina left no trace.

So I've long been prepared to die.

Scarlett hasn't settled the score yet, which only meant she hasn't discovered it.

Otherwise, saying I'd have been torn to pieces last night wouldn't be an exaggeration.

But in my current useless state, I couldn't even seek death, could I?

Still...

I wanted to see her one last time.

Before I left.

"Can I try rehabilitation?" I asked out of the blue.

I felt deeply humiliated, begging for help from Evelina's friend without compensation.

I escaped with my body covered in wounds, without a penny to my name.

The strange woman paused for a moment, quickly grasping my meaning, and smiled maliciously, "Of course, I'll cover all your hospital expenses. After all, it's only interesting if you're alive, isn't it?"

As she was leaving, she suddenly turned back and said:

"She'll be engaged to Young Master Sterling next month. He once took a knife for her. What about you? How many times have you stabbed her? You're both men, but..."

I was stunned on the spot.

One month later.

I accepted the reality of being paralyzed and became familiar with the presence of a wheelchair.

On the day of Evelina's engagement.

I set out with the intention of seeing her for the last time.

I was stopped at the entrance of the banquet hall.

"Sir, I'm sorry, but you can't enter without an invitation."

The security guard smiled apologetically at me.

People who had already gone inside turned back curiously, suddenly becoming excited and shouting, "Oh, isn't this Ethan? Didn't your owner Scarlett come with you?"

Laughter erupted from inside the banquet hall.

Countless excited eyes converged on me.

I felt suffocated.

They weren't bored enough to genuinely mock me; they were just trying to curry favor with Evelina by making their stance clear.

"What's the matter? Want to come in and suck up to Miss Harrington?"

With the change in the Harrington family heir, the title "Miss Harrington" had naturally shifted to refer to Evelina.

"Bark like a dog a few times, and we'll let you in."

Someone chuckled.

My eyes searched for a certain figure, but to no avail.

Staring at my powerless legs, I gritted my teeth.

"Dogs aren't welcome here."

A familiar presence brushed past me.

This statement silenced the entire room.

I gazed, dumbfounded, at that figure.

She walked into the banquet hall arm-in-arm with the handsome guy I'd seen on TV that day, occasionally whispering intimately.

After a while, Evelina's friend called security to let me in.

She glanced at Evelina, her expression resigned, but when she turned to look at me, her face was full of anger.

I realized that people are always greedy.

When you haven't seen someone, you think seeing them once would be enough. But once you do, you want to exchange a word with them.