Side Story Chapter 5
“But you were so scary.”
“What was?”
“You.”
To the point where she forgot the thought of dying, Owen was terrifying. As a result, she found herself worrying only about her immediate self. Thinking about Hayan and unraveling the situation one by one led her here.
Now she was facing a man who was no longer frightening.
“I was scary?”
Owen chuckled briefly, as if finding the statement amusing. But the atmosphere remained somber, especially since the word ‘death’ had been mentioned by Sarin.
“Yes.”
“But aren’t you usually fearless?”
If she were fearful, she wouldn’t recklessly jump into the winter river to save a scary person. Sarin laughed at Owen’s fierce words. Even though she knew her mood had sunk, laughing like that showed she was truly fearless.
“I wasn’t saying you’re scary now. What’s scary now is actually our uncertain relationship.”
Sarin laughed, indicating that the type of fear had changed slightly. Despite being right in front of her, there was an inexplicable feeling that she might disappear.
“Sarin.”
“Come here.”
She gestured to Owen. He approached quietly as she had called, and she lifted her heels to match his height. He seemed to understand her feelings and stooped down to her level.
He was a man who had even been jealous of the muffler she had tied around the child’s neck. So this time, she wrapped it around his neck first.
“Ha.”
“You said you get cold easily.”
Why did this gesture please his so much? His once fierce demeanor had softened.
Finally, she found solace in the anxious thought that she might be the one to leave him first. A person with such a weak heart wouldn’t abandon herself to death.
Owen leaned his upper body slightly and rested his forehead on Sarin’s delicate shoulder.
“That’s right. Miss Sarin might freeze to death without my care.”
“That would be a problem.”
His tone as he said that still sounded orphaned. It seemed utterly different from before. Despite knowing his thoughts had softened, she gently touched his shoulder with her small hand.
He had seen her soothe the child with such a touch before. Even though he hadn’t experienced it when he was young, receiving such treatment didn’t feel entirely unpleasant.
***
She pressed her finger firmly between her furrowed brows. The thought that morning might not come crossed her mind vaguely. But soon she realized that even that thought was futile and buried her face deep in the chair.
Her father’s study had been familiar to her since childhood. So, after entering the mansion to not forget what happened here, she didn’t change the study.
It would be a long night. She couldn’t fall asleep every time one of her father’s acquaintances raised their glass to her. Insomnia was an old problem, but recent events had been so troublesome that Karlena swallowed a deep sigh.
“To leave such things to me.”
Karlena lamented, thinking of one arrogant face.
It seemed like she was handing over a punishment. For her, this place was a position where she had to endure day by day. It seemed ridiculous that someone who had turned so many arrows back at her would just care about themselves and their comfort, using herself as a shield.
However, it had been somewhat good at that time. She had been so blinded by revenge that she even used a pitiful woman. If it was about this household, she had been utterly tired of it. After barely pushing her away, the woman who had come back on her own gave Karlena a strange satisfaction.
Kirill’s partner had been the same, and Owen’s partner had been similar.
“Why do I have to deal with such beasts.”
She questioned, tapping the desk with her thin fingers. But there was no answer. She had thought of Kirill, who couldn’t give her affection even though he had thought of her briefly, but soon erased him from her mind.
Knock.
Someone was knocking on the door with caution as if they had forgotten that no one around here knocked like that. Karlena’s gaze sharpened as she realized this fact.
She had become sensitive due to the recent repeated assassination attempts.
Even though today she had even dismissed the bodyguards due to the annoyance of knowing someone was outside, was someone doing something foolish again?
She stood up from her seat with the gun she had placed under the desk and approached the door before Karlena could touch it.
Then the handle turned before Karlena could even touch it.
Click.
As she unlocked it, the door opened. And she realized there was no one at her eye level. When she lowered her gaze, she saw a small child with golden eyes looking up at her intently.
“Hello.”
When their eyes met, the child clasped their small hands tightly against her stomach in a manner so curious it seemed as if her fingers were stuck together, and she greeted with a belly-button salute. There shouldn’t have been a child in this mansion. However, she resembled someone so much that Karlena easily discerned the child’s identity.
It was them.
The child whose flesh the dangerous king of Eden City had peeled to keep alive.
To kill Pavel and spare the child alive—it was a decision Karlena couldn’t comprehend. Today, she had received a message from Gayeon saying she and Kirill would come to the mansion, but she hadn’t expected the child to be with them. She didn’t leave the study even when they arrived.
The child, who bowed again, looked at Karlena with watery eyes. Then she thought they might not have greeted properly and bowed again.
“Hello. My name is Hayan.”
She had forgotten to tell the first-time visitor her name. However, Karlena only looked at the child with cold eyes.
Her children were too grown to be called children. She couldn’t remember the last time she had seen a child, so she didn’t know how to treat this one. And, most of all, she couldn’t understand the language the child was speaking.
“Hello. I…”
“That’s enough.”
Karlena opened her mouth again toward the child, who bowed again. Their languages were significantly different. When their words didn’t get across, Hayan pouted for a moment.
“Hayan.”
And she pointed at herself, murmuring her name, to let Karlena know her name. She introduced herself as Hayan.
After Gayeon left to take care of her sleeping quarters, she was searching for the kitchen because her throat was dry. Despite the late hour, she had planned to avoid the people inside the mansion and just drink water. But the mansion was too big, and she lost her way. She knocked on every visible door and tried to open them slightly, but she couldn’t find anyone or the kitchen.
“I’ll call someone, so wait here for a moment.”
She didn’t know if they understood her words. Karlena spoke to the child, who seemed completely unfamiliar with Russian, in stiff English. But Hayan still didn’t seem to understand. She tilted her head, puzzled. Then something caught her eye.
It was a transparent, large water pitcher on the guest table in the study.
“Can I drink that?”
Hayan asked Karlena, pointing at the water with sparkling eyes. It was easy to see what she wanted by following her finger. Ignoring calling someone, Karlena approached the table and poured water into a new cup.
As soon as she handed it to Hayan, she drank it all in one gulp. When Karlena reached out to remove a few strands of black hair stuck to Hayan’s forehead without even realizing it, she handed it to her. Hayan drank the remaining water with a gentle touch, still lingering in the cup. Karlena gently folded the corners of her eyes at the tender touch. The golden eyes were briefly covered by the eyelids.
Were they so similar because of the same bloodline?
They seemed somewhat similar to Kirill’s childhood. Karlena stopped her hand abruptly, feeling like the child she couldn’t love was in front of her from that time.
“Thank you.”
Placing the empty cup back on the table, Hayan bowed once again.
“Okay.”
Even though their languages were different, they understood what actions meant. When Karlena responded, Hayan smiled cheerfully again. The irresistible sunny smile made Karlena forget even her headache for a moment, unable to take her eyes off the child.
Kirill had never smiled like that even when he was a child.
Even as a child, Kirill always watched her. All she remembered was him watching her from a distance with a blank expression. She had never seen him smile like this. Or maybe she didn’t remember, or he never did.
As Karlena simply watched herself, Hayan’s attention was soon diverted. Her eyes sparkled as she looked around the unfamiliar study. Karlena observed the child too, so they were the same.
“Wow…”
The towering bookshelves in the study, reaching up to the ceiling, must have looked endlessly vast to Hayan’s eyes. She opened her lips in awe and looked up until her head dropped. Then drool threatened to flow down her lips, so Karlena instinctively wiped it away with her fingertips.
“Oops! Thank you.”
She was surprised when her hand touched her lips. But Hayan smiled again without avoiding it, bowing once more. Initially, the stoic foreign lady seemed scary, but Hayan easily saw through her expressionless demeanor. Spending a long time in the hospital only increased her ability to read people’s feelings. She could easily tell if someone liked her or not by reading their expressions.
“If you’re going to look around, sit down.”
Karlena said, thinking that the child had been standing alone for too long.
Realizing that they couldn’t communicate, Hayan pointed to the sofa. Following her gesture, Karlena indicated the sofa. Hayan sat down on the soft sofa with a bounce, swinging her legs in excitement.
