Chapter 5

Days later, Chloe had me sent to a pigsty on an outlying farm.

She locked my ankle with an iron chain, just long enough for me to move between the feeding trough and the straw pile.

The air was thick with the foul stench of feed and manure.

"This place really suits you. You're no different from an animal anyway."

Witnessing all this, Leo simply stood by in silence.

I guessed he had given his unspoken consent.

From then on, I lived with the pigs every day.

And Leo, after he left, never came to see me again.

Until one morning, I woke from a daze.

I heard footsteps approaching from a distance.

Looking up, I saw the one person I longed for—Leo.

He was dressed in a sharp suit, walking cautiously closer.

He knelt down, looking at me through the fence:

"Scarlett, I'm marrying Chloe today."

I gazed at him blankly.

He looked so handsome, more handsome than I'd ever remembered him.

"I'm sorry, you've suffered these past few days. After the wedding, I'll come and get you."

His voice was very soft.

I nodded in bewilderment, reaching out to touch the hem of his suit, but then I saw my own dirty hands and pulled back.

He stood up, gave me one last look:

"Wait for me to come back."

With that, Leo turned and got into his car.

Watching the car drive away, I didn't call out to stop him.

I just repeated over and over:

"Leo, I'll wait for you."

Around noon, the pigsty door was suddenly pushed open.

I thought it was Leo, but instead, I saw a stranger.

"Idiot, Miss Chloe specifically told me to send you off."

He said coldly, then began splashing liquid around.

The pungent smell made me cough.

I instantly realized he was pouring gasoline.

"Blame yourself for being in the way. As long as you're alive, Miss Chloe won't have a single day of peace."

"Go on and die quietly. People like you are better off dead."

The next second, as flames erupted from the corner.

The pigs, startled, scattered and fled.

The fire spread rapidly, and a scorching pain radiated from my skin.

The thick smoke made me cough relentlessly.

Even if I wanted to escape, bound as I was, I had no way.

I'm really going to die this time, aren't I?

But, maybe that's not so bad.

The wooden beams of the pigsty began to collapse. I looked at the small patch of sky outside the fence.

I thought of Leo in his suit again.

"Leo, you have to be happy..."

This time, I won't be a burden to you anymore.

In a daze.

I seemed to hear the screech of tires in the distance, and Leo's heart-wrenching cry:

"Scarlett—!"

Before I completely lost consciousness, I only heard someone quietly regret:

"Mr. Leo, she has no heartbeat."