Chapter 12
At this moment, Naomi was floating around, not wanting to even see her body. Just like before, she curled up in a comer.
However, there was a complete lack of emotion–until she saw James appear before her again.
Jaimes looked utterly dejected. Tears silently streamed down his face, running along his cheeks
Many memories rushed back to him, each of them making it impossible for him to accept the outcome laid before him. He had spent his whole life protecting Naomi, but he was also the one who pushed her into the abyss with his own hands.
Back then, a boy once tried to give Naomi a love letter, claiming that she would get to enjoy riding in his sports car if she agreed to date him.
After James found out, he immediately gifted her a garage full of luxury cars worth tens of millions of dollars, just for her to play around with.
When Naomi had a fever, he skipped important meetings overseas and flew over ten hours just to rush back and be by her side. He even stayed awake through the night until her fever finally broke.
When she had period cramps, he would personally make her some hot chocolate and feed her little by little while gently coaxing her
He held her hand and took her to amusement parks, bought her ice cream, and rode the carousel with her.
Countless memories that were sealed away came crashing down on James. He had always thought that Naomi’s feelings for him were a
Only after she was gone did he realize that he had long grown accustomed to her presence. He could no longer live without her.
He was ten years older than Naomi. She had always been adorably clingy as a child, always asking him for hugs.
a mistake.
Back then, Naomi’s pedre, adorable figure gave him so much strength. Whenever he faced the chaos and harshness of the outside world, he endured it all because he remembered that Naomi was still waiting for him at home.
He had always told himself it wasn’t love.
However, when Jarnes saw her rerum from the academy all disoriented and detached, he found himself restless and irritable.
Seeing Naomi endure his numerous whippings without crying out or pleading twisted something deep within his chest.
Her back was covered in horrifying wounds. They weren’t just fresh welts from the lashes, but countless old scars crisscrossing her skin, the result of
repeated, merciless torment.
At that moment, his heart ached, and he felt a sense of helplessness.
Even now, as he held onto Jocelyn, his mind was still filled with thoughts of Naomi.
His Naomi, who used to cry out at the slightest pain, who would snuggle up to him and act coy, not this lifeless figure lying before him, whom everyone believed to be dead.
“Naom… You must be so cold.” As he said this, James gently lifted Naomi’s body from the cold metal surface and pulled her into his embrace.
When the cloth slipped off and revealed the scars that could no longer be hidden her bruised, purpling body–James couldn’t bear to look anymore.
He cradled her against him, lying down beside her.
James carefully pulled the cloth up to cover her again, holding her tight in his arms. “Naomi, don’t be scared. I won’t leave you alone.
As he spoke, his body visibly trembled. The temperature in the morgue wasn’t something a normal person could endure.
“Na… Do you still remember the gift I got you for your 18th birthday?”
Hiding in a corner, Naomi, even if she could speak, couldn’t recall it anymore.
Her 18th birthday was the beginning of her dream, and also the start of her nightmare. The hard–won acceptance letter from Hayvard University was torn to pieces, and she was forced into Jeanine Academy–the place that would utterly break her.
Everything else… she couldn’t remember anymore. The pain and numbness had long since overwritten any sweet memories that once wOLD.
“I gave you all the properties, under my name. There weren’t many, but they were scattered in many places
“I figured that since you got into such a great school, you’d be excited to travel. Even if you didn’t like some of the houses, you could sell them and use the money for your trips.
“I wanted you to live happily for the rest of your life.”
James gently combed his fingers through Naomi’s hair, smoothing it softly, his eyes filled with tenderness.
He even lowered his head and pressed a trembling kiss to her forehead.
“I was wrong. I thought that if you gave everything up, we could go back to how things used to be.
“But all I did… was turn you into a young woman who no longer cries out in pain, who no longer acts spoiled.
“I was wrong
As James said this, his eyes were fixated on Naomi’s face–her eyes, delicate nose, and lips that had lost their color, now a pale, ashen gray. And then, without besitation, he kissed her.
Chapter 12
Naomi stared in utter disbelief, watching James kiss her corpse.
What shocked her even more was that he lay down, holding her cold, lifeless body, and slept like that the entire night.
