DM Chapter 48
When Sarin woke up, it had been half a day. Every time she checked the digital clock on the table, time seemed to fly by.
It was her first time there, but at the same time, she was familiar with it. The hospital’s distinctive smells and sounds of machinery gave her a sense of where she was before she even opened her eyes.
Still, it was a VIP room that was so well-equipped that it could be called a hotel room rather than a multiple-occupancy room. She rose from the bed in a place that would be embarrassing to call a luxurious hospital room seen on TV.
Warmth enveloped her entire body.
This time, she really thought she was going to die, but here she was, alive again. Sarin stretched out her hand. She could still feel where she grabbed Owen underwater.
She cautiously rubbed her back. The water temperature was so cold that even Sarin, who was already accustomed to extreme cold, never wanted to experience it again.
She shivered slightly at the thought.
Swoosh.
Yuri burst through the hospital room door without knocking and paused when he saw Sarin sitting up. He was dressed in a patient’s gown similar to her own, with one hand in a cast and one foot wrapped in thick bandages.
“Are you awake?”
“Is that person okay?”
She checked on Owen first, thinking he was probably more injured than she was. At that, Yuri’s expression grew odd, and he approached Sarin’s bed with a look of who cares about whom.
“He just had to go somewhere.”
“I see.”
Considering that they had both been submerged in the water, it was amazing that Owen was already out and about. She was about to say that everything was fine when Yuri suddenly bowed his head.
“Thank you.”
“What?”
He can’t tell her how desperate he felt when she pulled Owen out of the water. He hadn’t expected Sarin to jump back into the water, much less bring Owen out of it.
Naturally, he thought she would leave him to die in the water, especially since she was forced to be here and he was holding the child hostage.
“…It’s because I’ve been neglecting my duty.”
“Then what can a man do when a truck is pushing forward?”
It was an enormous truck, several times the size of a sedan, and it was so big that she thought she was going to die. He probably wouldn’t have been able to avoid it, even if he had been a racer. It was an unavoidable accident.
When she said it was no big deal, Yuri leaned back and made an incredulous face.
There are some things that are beyond human control. She had already experienced that.
“That was….”
“On a narrow bridge.”
Sarin spoke clearly to Yuri. It was enough to give him some momentary comfort. He had been self-blaming all along. For a moment, he wondered if this was the same woman who’d been bossed around by Owen and told what to do.
“Still, it’s my responsibility. Thank you for saving Owen.”
“Oh… of course, since you injured your hand…”
Yuri laughed bitterly at Sarin’s words. He must have seen the disappointment on her face as she floated ashore, but she didn’t add anything to it.
The woman had already accepted, as a matter of course, that he prioritized Owen above all else. Even though she could make a big deal out of saving Owen’s life, she didn’t seem to have any intention of doing so.
This was why she felt she would be taken advantage of by others for the rest of her life.
“I’ve told the old man about you. Losing Owen was also a great burden on our side, so use that to your advantage.”
In the end, Yuri extended a card to Sarin. Her eyes widened as she recognized the words.
Eden City was an unstable place. With large amounts of money flowing, there were also many hyenas. Owen was the only one maintaining balance, and if he were to disappear, Nikolai would be in a difficult situation.
Many vultures were waiting. In a place where astronomical sums of money were involved, there was no one who wouldn’t be tempted. Even Pavel was harboring unreasonable desires.
After a bloody battle, Owen became the owner of Eden City. If he died, the war would begin again. It was possible that Nikolai would die before the war was over, and that would halt Nikolai’s inheritance of the eternal wealth that he so desperately wanted.
By now, Owen had reached his most important role, managing and shaking Nikolai and Belov’s secret wealth. That’s why Nikolai cherished Owen even more.
“Hayan’s here, and as long as she gets the best treatment, that’s all that matters.”
“But you have debts.”
Yuri blurted out that he had already done background checks on Sarin.
“He paid me a lot of money; I’ll be able to pay it back in no time.”
“It seems Miss will live a long life.”
She’s not greedy for anything other than what is necessary. Even if she were to be used for the rest of her life, she knew her worth. For the first time, Yuri began to like Sarin. From feeling a little sorry for her to now seeing her as a woman who knew her place.
People like her never do anything reckless.
Perhaps coming here and standing in front of the hotel was the most reckless thing she had ever done.
“Is that so…?”
Sarin’s voice gradually softened with the unexpected talk about her lifespan. She wasn’t sure if such matters were relevant, but considering her unnecessarily long lifeline, it seemed like she could live a worthwhile life.
“Miss is in the same hospital as the child. If you can move, you can go see her.”
Sarin hadn’t realized that Yuri had been calling her Miss for some time now. She just smiled at the words.
“Can I go see her right now?”
Yuri nodded. After getting up from her seat, she hesitated as she looked at the IV line, then sat back down on the bed. She looked perplexed for a moment.
There was nothing wrong with her body, and she didn’t have severe hypothermia. She had completed the examination while she was sleeping and was now just receiving nutritional supplements.
“Is there something wrong?”
“I’d like my clothes brought to me.”
Sarin requested, fiddling with the hospital gown. It wasn’t a difficult request to accommodate.
“Okay, I’ll have someone bring them to you shortly.”
“Thank you.”
She stopped as she realized the child would be uneasy seeing her in a patient’s gown. The hospital was suffocating both the child and herself. As the child’s sole guardian, she had to watch her child resolutely at all times and couldn’t go looking like this.
After telling Sarin to continue receiving the IV while she got her clothes, Yuri limped out of the hospital room. It was only then that she let out a long sigh.
━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━
In the distance, the sound of bells signaling late afternoon echoed from the Kremlin, the Spasskaya Tower. Owen had rarely visited Moscow over the past few years.
First, because the Russian president, Mr. Belov, didn’t like him very much, and second, because now that he was in charge of Eden City, there was no need for him to leave. The city he hadn’t seen in a long time was beginning to take on the appearance of night again.
Owen sat in a chair by the window, basking in the last rays of the afternoon sun.
Even with the window open, the familiar smell of pleasure from the brothel stung his nostrils. He rested his chin on the window sill and faced the setting red sun.
“Aahh… aackk. Ugh….”
Suppressed moans filled with terror reached his ears.
He waited quietly for the sun to set. It was as if he didn’t want the sky to see what he was about to do. The red glow of the sun, just before it set, brushed the side of Owen’s face as he sat by the window. His golden eyes glint dangerously.
As he slowly turned his gaze, he saw the sight of a large man bound to a chair. There was no emotion in his eyes as he looked at the man, still not properly freed from his bandages.
Thunk.
“Hey, what’s this? These people… Pavel, when did you come?”
A drunken woman opened the door, spotted Owen, and approached with a seductive smile. One of the guards standing around the bound man stopped her from entering further.
“If you’re coming, you should come to my room, eh?”
“Mmm… Mmm, Mmm!”
The bound man yelled something. The woman slightly furrowed her brow, as if familiar with this situation. The drink in her hand spilled over her intoxicated body as she swayed back and forth.
Owen gestured to dismiss the bodyguard, who was trying to usher the woman out. Confirming that there was no one to stop her, she staggered towards Owen.
The sun had completely set.
“It seems Pavel comes here often.”
“Hahaha. It’s amusing when you call yourself Pavel. You know what? Some good stuff came in. I want to fxck you again.”
As the woman’s hand was about to touch Owen’s chest, he swatted it away with a cold touch.
“Well, then there’s nothing more to hear, right?”
Owen asked the man who had been gagged. He had already suspected who was behind this. The woman’s words confirmed his suspicions.
The man tried hard to respond, but as soon as the bodyguard took the woman away, Owen stood up from his seat.
“The smell of dampness still lingers on your body.”
He frowned.
The smell was enough to irritate him on a rainy day, and now that he’d been soaked in it, he was not in a good mood. But what made Owen feel even worse was Sarin’s cold face.
With perfectly styled hair and a three-piece suit, he resembled a giant beast in his flawless appearance. Looking at his unblemished face, it was impossible to tell when he fell into the lake and was attacked, and Romanov was thoroughly terrified.
