Chapter 6

But perhaps realizing he wouldn’t let her go without one, she finally parted her lips, her voice dry and cracked.

“Ian… is sensitive to the sound of doors opening…”

“The sound of doors?”

His gaze clung to her swollen red lips. Even under that blatantly intrusive stare, she showed no reaction. Like she couldn’t feel anything at all.

Her expression remained blank as she stared weakly at the door. And with that, Killian found his answer.

“Ah, so you were slipping away behind your husband’s back?”

The moment he loosened his grip on her wrist, Lucia quietly reached for the door.

She really had left it open to slip away unnoticed.

Not to wait for him. That part was slightly disappointing, but intriguing in its own right.

‘Does she have some kind of plan?’

If she’d gone so far as to leave the door cracked open, then there had to be a reason.

“Planning to run away, is that it?”

She’d rejected his help, but since he’d waited this long, Killian decided he might as well see what she was up to.

He followed her like a shadow.

Whether it was the aftermath of that drawn-out sex, her naturally frail body, or maybe… she was hurt somewhere. Either way, her steps didn’t seem like they belonged to the living.

She moved without leaving a trace of breath behind her, and her pale face held no sign of life. Even so, her steps never faltered, as if she knew exactly where she was going.

The place she arrived at was the hotel rooftop.

Whoosh—

A cold wind swept past with a sharp hiss. Only after stepping outside did the winter truly hit. Amid the wind that broke the stillness, her breath rose in pale puffs.

‘The rooftop.’

She hadn’t gone to the hotel bar to drink and wallow in misery. She hadn’t hailed a taxi to flee as far away as possible.

Killian lit a cigarette and scanned the area. Unlike the lavish interior of the hotel, the rooftop was a mess. It looked more like a construction site.

‘Aren’t there supposed to be fireworks at midnight?’

Seeing the bright, festive streets below brought that detail to mind.

The streets were lavishly decorated, lights strung up on every corner. In the far-off amusement park, Miracle Land, the Ferris wheel sparkled as it made its nighttime rounds. Maybe that was why the whole city seemed to shine even more brightly than usual.

Only the space around them remained dim and silent.

The woman watched the cityscape for a moment, then, without hesitation, walked toward the edge.

…Come to think of it, in this freezing weather, she came out without even a single coat on.

All to slip past her husband unnoticed.

Killian caught on quickly to what she intended. His eyes turned cold in an instant.

“How dull a conclusion this would be.”

“…”

“So this is the best you can come up with, after rejecting my offer?”

With long, deliberate strides, Killian caught up to her. Clicking his tongue, he draped his coat over her shoulders.

The sudden warmth made her shoulders flinch. For a long moment, the woman clutched the sleeves of the coat like they were something foreign. Only then did she speak, belatedly.

“…Am I not allowed?”

“Whatever your story is, if that bastard pulled something like that, just kill the fucker. Simple enough.”

“…”

“I’ll never understand it. Why do women always try to off themselves?”

Killian stubbed out the cigarette he hadn’t even finished smoking and stepped up beside Lucia.

A woman crossed his mind. One who had endured years of her husband’s violence, only to abandon her young child and end her own life.

Creeeak— creeeak—

The creaking sound from the wooden ceiling still clung to his memory, eerie and vivid.

Even now, as an adult, he still couldn’t understand the woman who had given birth to him.

‘If there’s a problem, you destroy the cause. Why the hell would you choose to die instead? How foolish.’

A man who had learned death first through his mother spoke of murder as casually as breathing.

“So what’s your story?”

“…”

“Tell me. They say it’s easier to spill your secrets to a stranger than to a friend.”

The man who had just spoken of death put on the mask of a kind, harmless stranger with his smooth face.

It was all so strange.. His unplanned appearance. His unwanted interference.

None of it had been planned. And this role didn’t suit him at all.

And yet, strangely enough, just like he said, he felt closer to her in this moment than the man she’d just had sex with. At last, a brittle, parched smile surfaced on the woman’s otherwise expressionless face.