9
I paused for a moment, finding the scene utterly absurd.
Even at this point, Damien still believed I cared for him.
Julian, standing beside me, suddenly reached out and unbuttoned his suit cuff, revealing a dazzling gleam. He spoke calmly, “Mr. Blackwood, are you referring to this?”
He held up the jade cufflink, letting it catch the light, his smile wide and confident.
“Stella personally picked these out for me. They fit perfectly!”
Damien’s face froze, his eyes wide with disbelief.
“Impossible. How could you have known him so early?”
“I don’t believe you could move on from me so quickly?”
He stared at me intensely, stubbornly refusing to let go.
I curled my lips, looking down at him.
“I’ve changed my mind. Letting you die so easily would be too kind.”
“I want to see you rot, helpless and miserable, longing for death. That’s truly entertaining.”
O
“That corrosive poison will be your lifelong companion, Damien. Your nightmare has only just begun.”
His psyche instantly collapsed, plunging him into utter despair.
He allowed the medics and bodyguards to carry him out of the venue, the pungent, nauseating stench of medicine and decaying flesh emanating from him, causing everyone to avoid him.
The night deepened, long and sweet.
I rubbed my aching back, softly pleading, “Julian Vance, can’t you let me off just once?”
3:41 pm B
<
But he seemed to have an endless source of energy, keeping me entwined until dawn.
Just before drifting off to sleep, I couldn’t help but ask, “That day, why did you agree to marry me without any hesitation?“”
His eyes lit up with tenderness. He pulled me into his arms, his thin lips leaving a soft kiss on my
cheek.
“Only asking now?”
“Silly girl, I’ve been secretly in love with you for over a decade!”
When I was young, I visited my grandfather’s friend’s house. His friend’s grandson happened to be
stung on the face by a poisonous bee.
His whole head swelled up like a balloon, and he wouldn’t stop crying.
I cut my finger and fed him a few drops of my blood. Within moments, the toxins in his body were
expelled.
From that day on, he carried me in his heart.
“So that little boy was you!”
I suddenly understood, regretting that I hadn’t recognized him sooner.
In my last life, I was always chasing after Damien Blackwood. He must have thought I had found my own happiness, so he sealed his heart, burying his love deep inside.
Even until his death, I never realized someone had been silently watching over me.
I froze, parting my lips, suddenly realizing that, from beginning to end, the only person in this world who truly held me in his heart was Julian Vance.
Thankfully, this time, we didn’t miss each other.
Though Damien Blackwood’s life was spared, he was confined to a nursing home, needing his dressings changed every few days.
As summer arrived, his legs were full of open wounds, and maggots crawled freely.
་
3:41 pm G
<
The entire hallway reeked of putrefaction; even the medical staff were reluctant to take shifts there.
What’s even more laughable is that Willow had secretly increased the dosage when she fed him his
medicine.
Now, he suffered from full–body after–effects, with no hope of ever having children.
Mr. and Mrs. Blackwood were utterly disappointed in their ruined son. The desperate couple simply
moved abroad to pursue IVF treatments, hoping to start over with a new heir.
Damien was furious when he heard the news, raging helplessly in his room.
“Shameless!”
He had someone push him to the detention center. Willow’s screams and curses echoed
relentlessly.
“I want to see Damien Blackwood! How dare you lock me up? I’m Mrs. Blackwood!”
She pounded on the glass like a madwoman, none of her former gentle charm remaining.
Damien stared blankly at her deranged state, suddenly realizing how utterly foolish he had been all
these years.
“You ruined my life! You turned me into a cripple! You deserve to die!”
But his muscles were rotting, he didn’t even have the strength to stand, let alone do anything to
Willow.
Willow’s eyes were full of scorn.
“You’re the one who deserves to die! You couldn’t have fallen ill at any other time, but you had to collapse at the most crucial moment of the wedding!”
“I was so close to being Mrs. Blackwood!”
Damien stumbled out of the detention center, Willow’s screams still ringing in his ears.
Julian Vance’s business grew exponentially, eventually acquiring Blackwood Inc.
<
I also dedicated myself to a career in medicine, earning awards at a young age.
Now, people no longer refer to me as someone’s wife, but respectfully address me as Dr. Stewart.
Damien Blackwood moved out of the nursing home and into a dilapidated villa in the city’s outskirts.
I drove out to see him that day.
He sat under the eaves, the once arrogant man now a picture of haggard despair.
Seeing me, a flicker of hope ignited in his eyes.
“Stella, you still can’t let me go… can you?”
I curved my lips into a smile.
“Damien Blackwood, haven’t you understood yet?”
“I just wanted to see with my own eyes how utterly ruined you’ve become.”
“You still don’t know, do you? That half–baked mystic? I hired him.”
“But that poison? Your true love, Willow, personally fed it to you!”
Damien’s eyes widened incredulously.
“How could it be you? Why?”
“Just because of those things in the previous life?”
I said lightly, “Exactly. The pain from the last life, I can’t forget it even now.”
“But those people… they’re all alive now, aren’t they?”
He truly didn’t understand my hatred.
“They’re alive, but the evil you committed, you still have to pay for it!”
“You think simply being reborn means everything never happened? It’s not that easy.”
Julian Vance waited for me at the entrance.
I didn’t look back. I took his hand, and we walked away, step by step.
As for Damien Blackwood, let him spend the rest of his life in the stench of decay and endless nightmares.
Yesterday
