DM Chapter 99
Despite being clearly exhausted from tension, Sarin remained motionless with her eyes open. Seeing this, Karlena eventually spoke up.
“Get some rest. It’s going to take some time.”
“But you haven’t slept either, ma’am.”
They were both on edge. Sarin had no choice but to entrust everything to Karlena.
Nothing in her world had taught her what to do in a situation like this, and nothing she’d done had helped. All she knew was how to keep her eyes open and stay awake with Karlena constantly on guard.
“I’m not going to…”
“I’ll keep you safe.”
Sarin spoke up.
Karlena’s gaze pierced through her. Even without any real power, her determination to protect was admirable—something Karlena’s usual self would have mocked mercilessly. But this time, that effort was appreciated. Though not particularly quick-witted, she had made effective use of the gun Sarin had given her.
While she didn’t think there was anything wrong with Dimitri, it would have been shocking to any ordinary person witnessing such a scene for the first time.
Karlena laid back on the couch for a long moment without answering. She clasped her hands together, propped them under her head, and glanced at Sarin.
“Did Owen give you that?”
She inquired, glancing at the ring on Sarin’s hand.
“Um… yes.”
“I never really liked that child. Then again, I never liked any child. No child liked me either.”
She remembered how her dead child preferred Kirill over her. All she remembered was constantly fighting with the child, getting angry, and trying to separate them because she was afraid something might happen to him. It didn’t do him any good to stay with Kirill and keep him in Belov’s eyes.
“Ma’am.”
Sarin, who had been hesitant, approached Karlena with an old blanket and covered her. As she tried to get up, Karlena grabbed her wrist.
“The moment I saw that child entering the mansion, I knew. He was the devil my father brought from Ireland to wreak havoc on our household.”
Ireland, and Owen.
Suddenly, Sarin wondered what kind of child he had been in his younger days. Why did everyone fear him and portray him as such a ruthless child?
“Hiding claws under the guise of innocence is easy. I know, because I’ve done it too.”
The hand holding her wrist was as thin as a bone. Unconsciously, Sarin covered Karlena’s hand with her other hand. Karlena’s eyes widened in surprise.
“I’ve been waiting for this day for a long time. I always believed the devil would eventually move.”
To make the devil desperate, one last step was needed. Karlena firmly believed that this woman was the final step. A small, affectionate child who she could not push away eventually wrapped her palm around her hand and silently comforted her.
Finally, an opportunity came her way.
The last chance in her life, she had been living silently like a corpse.
For Karlena, neither her father, Nikolai, nor Belov were bearable. Kirill, the only one who could stand up to them, left with the woman. It wasn’t regrettable or resentful. She admired his courage to leave. But he was someone they could call back if necessary.
But Owen was different. He hid his true nature, then lowered himself and gained Nikolai’s trust. Unlike Pavel, who only said what Nikolai wanted to hear or swore excessive loyalty, Owen recklessly bet and consumed everything he wanted.
That was Eden City.
What Pavel had long coveted ultimately went to Owen. Nikolai admired Pavel, who begged like a tongue in his mouth, and tried to entrust Eden City to him somehow, but that didn’t work.
From the beginning, Owen wanted only one thing: to bring that place to a position comparable to Las Vegas.
People were crazy about risk.
A place where all risks coexist, where every pleasure and opportunity to change life exists, Eden City.
Karlena became curious. She wondered if Owen would really end everything in Eden City or if he wouldn’t stop there.
She let go of Sarin’s wrist. Her wrist was white from the lack of blood from how hard she’d held it.
“If you leave here, don’t look back. This is the last warning I can give you. Don’t get involved with the men in this household.”
“I’m only leaving because I don’t want to get in the way. As long as I have the child and Owen….”
“Forget all of that. It’s a chance to start a new life where nobody knows you. Without any attachments.”
A new life.
Karlena told her that she could abandon the life she had lived so far and start anew. The life she had never even considered now seemed sweetly alluring, thanks to Karlena’s words.
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Late at night, Owen, who arrived at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport by private jet, met Yuri, who had been waiting for him.
“As I said before, his slush fund will always and forever have to go through Eden City. Belov doesn’t have anyone to succeed him, so he’s been working hard to save up his slush fund for when he steps down from his position of power.”
Managing that was Owen’s task, a mission assigned to him by Nikolai. The gatekeeper overseeing their long-standing, stagnant money.
“And when the old man steps down, he wants to put his own person in that position.”
Yuri’s voice became quieter as he mentioned Nikolai. He whispered so only Owen could hear. There was some pain due to guilt toward Nikolai, in Yuri’s words. But soon, as if he had cast it aside, Yuri showed no further emotion.
Without saying anything, Owen listened to Yuri’s story. Suddenly, in a busy airport, amidst countless passing people, he bent his waist deeply.
His pale face was unable to conceal the rising nausea.
Startled by Owen’s abrupt behavior, Yuri tried to support him, but Owen raised a hand to stop him. The spot where his ring had been was raw; the skin peeled off. Seemingly struggling to breathe, Owen leaned on the railing and briefly closed his eyes.
The tracker’s location still hadn’t moved far from the villa.
Slowly, almost imperceptibly, it moved, as if flowing.
Like being submerged in a river.
With veins throbbing from his backhand, he straightened his waist. His mindless eyes scanned the busy airport crowd.
“…Still.”
“Maybe the tracker fell off when they were running away.”
“What are the odds of both of them falling off by accident?”
There’s no way Sarin could have known it was a tracker. Yuri couldn’t say anything in response to Owen’s cold words.
“Owen.”
“I’m fine, Yuri. This is the most rational I’ve ever been.”
He believes she’s alive. Searching the river was just to be sure.
Something like that wouldn’t have come and gone so futilely by his side. Owen’s lips curled into a thin line.
He left the airport as if nothing had happened.
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Darkness fell over Moscow.
Sarin, who was listening absentmindedly to incomprehensible Russian broadcasts, suddenly turned around instinctively. It felt like Owen’s voice was coming from somewhere. It couldn’t be; he wouldn’t be here, but her body reacted first.
As she stared blankly at the crowd, someone reached out and touched her shoulder.
“Ah.”
“What are you thinking about?”
Through the deep hood of the bucket hat, only the other person’s nose and mouth were barely visible. It was an unfamiliar American passport and a plane ticket to New York.
“Oh, nothing. Just…”
It felt like she heard Owen’s voice.
Sarin couldn’t finish her sentence. It sounded ridiculous, even to her. In the midst of the crowd, amidst different voices and languages, she heard Owen’s voice. They say that when you’re desperate, you hear things that aren’t there, and it feels like that.
“It’s a ticket to New York, departing in an hour. It’s probably best for us to part ways here.”
Seeing Karlena hastily trying to leave the airport, perhaps fearing someone might recognize them, Sarin stood up from her seat. The only baggage she had was the Boston bag that Karlena had handed her.
“If you need anything, use the passbook inside.”
After obtaining the passport from the old man at the bookstore who made it for her, most of the cash in the Boston bag was transferred to an account under an unknown name for later use. It was risky to carry cash out of the airport.
“Thank you.”
Karlena didn’t respond. Sarin turned away first.
As she headed towards the departure gate, handing over her passport and boarding pass made her heart race unknowingly, but she passed through without any hindrance. And before passing through the gate, she looked back, but Karlena’s figure was already gone.
She was really alone now.
She was alone when she first came here, too. No one knew when she could return or if she could see Owen and Hayan again. She had to leave without knowing if Kirill and Gayeon were okay—there was nothing certain.
In this world, she is unfamiliar with; she was a foreigner. A person who had to retreat without being able to help at all.
As she left, she had only one wish.
She hoped Owen would get what he wanted. Because of that man, her predictable and somewhat dull life had improved and become a bit more interesting. The heart she had left behind when she left the sick child with that man had now broken apart and scattered.
“Oh, miss. Are you okay?”
A person ahead of her posed this question while they were waiting in line at the security checkpoint.
“Yes. I’m fine.”
She nodded, saying she was fine. Tears streamed down her cheeks with every movement.
For the last time, she hoped to hear the hallucination one more time.
But all she heard were the unfamiliar languages.
