Chapter 8
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Bruno stared at the reports I had written, unable to say anything for a long time. Perhaps it was because he recalled once promising to support me in becoming the best forensic examiner, or perhaps it was because he realized that I had already found a new path in life.
“Prepare to leave for Nalom immediately. I’ll bring her back myself! Have everyone keep an eye on her! She’s mine, and she will always be!”
After a ten–hour nonstop flight, Bruno arrived in Nalom. He stood in front of the forensic lab with his hand raised, but he couldn’t seem to knock on the door. In the end, he merely slumped against the wall and sat down in silence.
The next morning, when the lab director came to work, he informed Bruno that I had already left the city.
Bruno felt his heart become enveloped in ice, and he staggered out of the lab.
Following leads from the intelligence team, he wove through the complicated, twisting streets, terrified that even the slightest delay might mean that he’d never find me again.
When he walked past an old cathedral, his footsteps suddenly faltered. I was standing on the steps, taking final farewell photos of a victim. Sunlight streamed through the stained glass and onto my uniform.
I carefully took photos of each detail, wearing a calm and focused expression on my face. It was a radiance Bruno had never seen in the past five years together. A bittersweet smile tugged at his haggard face.
He was proud of how independent I had become, but he also couldn’t accept that he had lost me.
After struggling internally for a while, he finally walked forward, but he didn’t come closer to me and instead stood on the other side of the
cathedral.
His hoarse voice was filled with regret as he cried out, “Amy, I’m sorry! I was such a bastard back then! All these years, I thought what I felt for you was only guilt, but when you left, I finally realized that I’d already fallen in love with you! Madly in love!
“I don’t know how to live without you! I regret it! I regret all those things I did to hurt you. I’ll never be able to repay my debt to you in this lifetime, but please… Please let me stay by your side so that I can atone for my sins.
“Everything of mine, including this life, is yours. I only just want to watch over you like I’ve done these past few years. Let me stay, please?”
The cathedral bells echoed in the air, and a requiem started playing on the pipe organ. After a while, I turned to look at him, speaking in a calm
voice.
“Bruno, you don’t deserve to stand by my side. Everything you have isn’t mine but Lilah’s. You’ve already written your will, haven’t you? I’ve spent all these years living in the web of lies you spun. Do you know how much I hated myself when I learned the truth? I hated myself for loving you the murderer who killed my father!”
As I stared at the face that I had seen every day for the past five years the Don who had traveled here from Aitaria–all the hatred I carried suddenly dissolved into nothingness.
Perhaps everyone would come across such a person in their life—someone you could entrust your life to but who would also deliver the most fatal blow when you trusted them the most.
From the top of the cathedral steps, I looked down at him, and my lips pulled up into a carefree smile. But my eyes were still hollow as I said, ‘ Bruno, I’ll never forgive you.”
Though the blazing sun shone down on him, Bruno still felt a chill run through his body. Smiling bitterly, he said, “But Amy, I really do love
you.”
His voice, as light as a feather, was swallowed by the echoes of the cathedral. I raised my camera and took photos of the mourners inside, documenting each of their expressions.
The man hidden in the corner, with his head bowed, looked like he was suffering from intense pain.
“Miss, could you please take one last photo of the deceased?” an elderly woman asked as she handed over a family portrait with trembling hands. In it was the son she had just lost.
“Sure,” I answered with a small smile as I raised my camera, capturing their last moment together.
