To the Man Destined to Kill Me - Chapter 92

Scarlett brought Noah to the workshop.

Though it was called a workshop, it was really just a room where they talked with tailors or stored purchased materials. Still, it was set up well enough to sit and have tea while talking.

Noah kept taking deep breaths and stopping. His emotions were so up and down that even he felt like he was going crazy. His chest wouldn’t stop trembling, and his breathing was fast.

Scarlett opened a wardrobe on one wall and took out a small piece of clothing. It was the size for a child about three or four years old.

“Look closely at this fabric. They said it’s from Kavenia, but when I checked, I found out Kavenia doesn’t produce fabric like this.”

Scarlett came closer to him. Her hair fluttered right beside him.

Since she was so close, he could even see the tiny hairs on her skin. Without realizing it, he swallowed hard. His mouth went dry, and his throat burned. His mind went completely blank.

He should hate Scarlett. He should be furious, but even now, he liked this moment too much.

‘Noah Ashford, you idiot.’

Noah cursed himself and listened carefully to Scarlett’s words.

When her thin fingers moved in front of his eyes, he felt like he was losing his mind.

There was a time he used to kiss those fingertips. He knew very well the feeling of that small hand.

“It absorbs sweat well and breathes easily, so I really want to find it again, but no matter how much I search, I can’t find it. I really love this fabric. But the merchant we visited that time has gone back to his hometown and isn’t in the capital anymore.”

“Uh… this is…”

He didn’t know anything about fabrics or buttons. He wasn’t interested, and it wasn’t his business. But if it meant he could see Scarlett again, he had to pretend he knew.

“I haven’t seen it often either, but if I search hard enough, I think I can find it. If you give me this piece, I’ll look into it.”

“Alright. Take it.”

“It’s children’s clothing, right?”

“It’s for the little one you saw earlier. Teddy. He gets hot easily. He wore this when he was younger, and seeing him sweating while playing made me remember it and want to find it again.”

“I see. You must love the child very much.”

At his words, Scarlett smiled brighter than he had ever seen before.

Noah was speechless when he saw her smile. It was dazzling.

It was a smile so full of love that even the one looking at her felt overwhelmed. She looked perfectly happy, as if she was satisfied with her life.

Noah bit down hard on his molars. He hated Scarlett for living so well without him.

“By the way, I’d like to check the buttons and lace samples we were looking at earlier.”

“Oh, yes.”

Noah quickly laid out the samples on the table. Scarlett carefully checked each item he had brought. And Noah watched her secretly.

Her graceful figure, her straight posture, her focused face, her calm eyes. Everything about her made it hard for him to breathe, like his heart was going to explode.

While he stayed tense, she spoke to him.

“I need a lot of lace. I’m not using it just to decorate clothes; I plan to make clothes out of the lace itself.”

“Is there… an important event coming up?”

Scarlett had asked Wilhelm to move up their engagement. Maybe she was planning to make her own dress for the engagement ceremony.

“Yes. I can pay whatever it costs, so please prepare the best quality lace in this pattern. About ten yards should be enough.”

“Understood.”

“When can I visit again?”

“Whenever you want.”

Whenever she called, he would come running like a well-trained dog.

It didn’t matter what resentment he held against her.

He would destroy everything around Scarlett. Then he would kneel before her and beg for her love.

Even after waking from death, he was still bound to her, still dreaming about her. This was a nightmare that would never end.

“Alright. Also, bring some men’s accessories next time. My boyfriend will need them for the engagement.”

The blood drained from his face, and his vision turned white.

The vivid anger from last night came rushing back—the memory of seeing Scarlett and Wilhelm embracing.

He tried not to grind his teeth, but he was breathing heavily.

Scarlett noticed his reaction and was puzzled, but soon misunderstood it in a different way.

“You thought I was dead too, didn’t you?”

“Well, yes.”

“I’m not dead. I survived. I’m alive, I’m in love, and soon I’ll be engaged. But to the world, I’ll stay dead.”

“Why… are you doing this, if I may ask?”

Instead of answering, Scarlett gave a mysterious smile.

She looked a little sad but also seemed relieved.

Noah thought it was the smile of someone who had succeeded in getting revenge on him.

And he was right. The only thing Scarlett could gain by faking her death was hurting him.

If that was her goal, then Scarlett’s revenge was a success. Because he was suffering to the point he wanted to die.

“You can go now.”

Scarlett placed the lace samples on the table and left the workshop.

Noah watched her retreating figure. He kept watching until she opened the door and completely disappeared.

She hadn’t recognized him. She didn’t seem to miss him at all. No, it seemed she had completely forgotten him.

What had Noah Ashford ever meant to Scarlett?

A stain? A childish fling? Or just a target for revenge?

Whatever it was, to Noah, Scarlett was an unforgettable wound.

And seeing her dreaming of a future with Wilhelm only made that wound deeper.

When he left White Mansion, Noah sat down against the wall and clutched his chest.

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

His heart was pounding harder than ever, telling him how nervous and miserable he was.

“Ha. Haha.”

A laugh escaped. But it was closer to a sad sob.

“Hahahaha. Hahahaha.”

As he laughed like he had lost everything, a single tear slid down his face.

* * *

After finishing work in the garden, Andrew washed up and got ready to go to church.

“Did you organize your thoughts a little?”

Susan, who was having tea in the garden, asked him. He often cleaned or organized something when he needed to sort out his mind.

“I just felt like doing it. Gardening is more fun than you think.”

“Sure, sure.”

Hearing her indulgent tone, Andrew frowned.

“You quit seminary, so why do you pray every day?”

“Just because I left school, doesn’t mean I lost my faith. Don’t say such blasphemous things.”

“Alright, alright.”

Clicking his tongue, Andrew left the mansion and headed straight to the church.

After making the sign of the cross and sitting in a pew, he let out a deep sigh as the heavy feeling in his chest loosened.

He pressed his eyes shut to fight the fatigue, then opened the Bible in front of him.

“Love is forgiveness. Love is sacrifice.”

Those words felt so suffocating that he closed the book again.

When he closed his eyes, he saw a battlefield filled with bombs and screams.

Seeing dying soldiers made his insides twist painfully. Especially because it was a war started by his own brothers.

‘God.’

During his last year at seminary, a trespasser broke into the mansion and killed Scarlett. He learned about it while praying in the chapel.

He still couldn’t remember how he made it back home.

The first thing he remembered was his brothers wailing in grief.

“We should’ve killed that bastard earlier! This happened because we let him live!”

“What do you mean? Susan, were you connected to the killer?”

Scott answered instead.

“It was Noah Ashford!”

Ashford. Andrew knew that name well. He was the man who had driven their father to abandon his pregnant wife and children.

“Why… Why would he kill Scarlett? For what?”

Andrew’s voice shook violently. He couldn’t believe Scarlett was dead.

Scott growled as he answered.

“Who knows? Who can understand a madman’s mind? What matters is that Victor Lebedev plans to take him to Natalia! They’re moving the whole trial there!”

“What? Who’s Victor Lebedev?”

“The emperor of Natalia. He’s Noah Ashford’s real father. That’s why Victor himself is taking him.”

“And John’s just letting it happen?”

“The judiciary and parliament are at odds, but because of international politics, it looks like they’ll let it go. Damn it!”

Noah’s punishment was transferred to Natalia. Once there, he only received a small fine and was released, causing public outrage.

Because a sickly young lady from Wifland’s highest society had been murdered, hatred toward Natalia grew among Wifland’s people.

Aaron also got involved. Out of revenge, he used his mafia contacts, and Scott secretly supplied weapons to stir up a civil war in Natalia.

The real trouble started with the mafia. It became an international problem, but John turned a blind eye to his brothers’ wrongdoing. He even persuaded the lawmakers.

A few years later, war broke out between the two countries. Scott sold weapons like crazy, Susan funded the war through the White Bank, and Aaron used his steel empire to make it worse.

Andrew volunteered as a military chaplain to atone for his brothers’ sins. A feeble attempt at redemption.

The revenge war the White brothers started was endless and merciless. And in the end…

“Even if they are sinners, they’re still my family. How can I forgive and sacrifice when my brothers are dead?”

The war ended in Wifland’s victory.

Countless people died, and all that was left were the scars of war.

The government tried to clean up the past and blamed everything on Scott. He was executed as a war criminal. Aaron was killed by the mafia he had worked with.

John, who had defended Scott, fell into depression after losing both brothers and eventually took his own life.

Only Susan, Isaac, and Andrew survived.

But Susan suffered from nervous breakdowns her whole life. Isaac took the family guards and killed Noah Ashford, who had become the emperor of Natalia.

Andrew came to this changed world after that. After Noah’s death, he returned to the day of Scarlett’s nineteenth birthday.

‘The future has already changed.’

Yet he couldn’t shake off his anxiety.

In this new world, Scarlett was alive and even had a child.

Though the past was different, one thing hadn’t changed: the relationship between his brothers and Noah Ashford.

The brothers had kept the truth about Noah’s attack from Scarlett, but Andrew knew from Aaron how deep and complicated their hatred was.

‘Whatever miracle brought about this change, if the same tragedy happens again, I won’t just atone this time.’

This time, he would protect his family. Even if it meant staining his hands with blood.

But still, he desperately hoped.

That he would never have to kill Noah Ashford himself.

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