Chapter 63 Volume II – Chapter 29: Helping Hand

*(A/N: I realized that I had made a huge mistake. In the second volume, chapter eight, about 400 words were lost in the translation… I realized it when a friend who read the novel asked me, “Why did you remove that scene in the English version?”

Well… I didn’t remove it :'(

There’s no need to go back and read, though. It simply says that the girl Ethan saves used to be Justin’s girlfriend with some extra things.

Sure, you can look it up if you want.

The scene starts with; When Julian and I walked out of the building, the first thing he asked me was if I had been successful.)*

*******

When I saw Sue and the rock she was holding, an involuntary smile appeared on my face. Happiness mixed with amazement was reflected on my face at the same time.

I had no idea how she was able to stand and not be affected like everyone else, but I was in no mood to think about it.

I looked at Aiden’s body again, then I felt a wave of intense anger rise up inside me, the likes of which I had never felt before in my entire life.

At first, I tried to stand up, but I had to let myself fall to the ground, groaning slightly as my whole body, especially my back, throbbed in great pain.

If I didn’t hold myself, I would have fainted in a second. Maybe I need treatment fast, but I want to put that bastard in his place!

My eyes slowly shifted to Sue, she had moved far away from us and was now slumped on the floor. I couldn’t see her eyes because her hair had fallen in front of her, but she was looking down.

I smiled, ignoring the pain as best I could.

“Y- you’re amazing Sue…”

I really praised her. Even though her whole body was shaking and she was looking at Aiden’s body on the floor with fear, she really had done something.

“Come on… quickly call the academy…”

This is the most deserted part of the academy, one of the deepest parts of the wooded area, and even if that purple glow was quite bright, the trees must have blocked them out.

No one will come here unless we reveal ourselves.

Of course, when we ask the academy for help, we’ll have to explain why we’re here, but that’s not a big deal. What’s important is that I get out of here and that Aiden is to blame. And then I can use the power of my family to get him back.

“Come on, Sue! What are you waiting for?”

Sue looked up, her flickering eyes, visible through her hair, turned to me as I yelled at her.

“Come on! Call the a- academy and let’s get out of here!”

My back is burning like crazy… she has to hurry.

Sue and I met eyes, her expression was filled with fear again as she turned to me, but then she looked surprised. And then the confusion slowly gave way to calmness.

I smiled again when I saw her calm down.

Aiden is finished, he’ll never get away with this. Sue can’t stand up to me either, it’s over…

I heard a rustling sound, then another.

I turned my eyes in the direction of the footsteps, to Sue.

“What…?”

When Sue had finished shuffling to her feet, she took a slow short step without answering me, her navy blue eyes no longer flickering. On the contrary, they were filled with determination.

With each tiny step, she squeezed the stone in her hand tighter, her body stiffening even more.

“H- hey?”

My body wasn’t moving. What Aiden had done had done so much damage to my body that I couldn’t move a muscle, and I would have been an idiot not to realize what Sue would do.

“S- stop…”

She ignored me, as if she hadn’t even heard me, and kept walking toward me.

Fear gripped my body again. As if Aiden wasn’t enough, now I was afraid of Sue.

I gritted my teeth and glared angrily at Sue.

No… I’m not one to apologize.

I’m Justin Malus. The Justin Malus whose name makes everyone who hears it tremble with fear! I’m not going to bow down to a truly ordinary girl like Sue.

I will never beg her after what she did to me, after what she put me through in the past!

“If yo-”

I cursed inwardly, my body so messed up that I couldn’t speak properly.

“If you do what you t- think… Neither you nor your brother will ever live a normal life… for the rest of your life, Sue…”

I swallowed when I finished, I couldn’t see Sue’s face now that she was standing right in front of me, my head wasn’t lifting any higher.

“Now call the a- academy and tell them to come here. I won’t touch you or your brother for the rest of your life.”

Sue didn’t move a muscle, she just stayed where she was.

Even though I couldn’t see her face, I smiled slightly when I saw her legs start to tremble again.

She was like that, there was always a doubt inside her. She could never be sure of herself, she was weak. That’s how I was able to hold her in the palm of my hand.

Even now, no matter what situation I was in, she couldn’t lay a hand on me. As long as I was pulling the strings, she could do nothing.

I had no reason to be afraid, I was just paranoid.

*******

He’s in front of me…

The person who made my life miserable is now in front of me.

The person I once loved, loved so much, but now I don’t even know how much I hate, is lying unprotected right in front of me.

His back looks deformed. His whole body is trembling from the pain. Of course, he can’t move, and that’s the important thing.

“If you do what you t- think… Neither you nor your brother will ever live a normal life… for the rest of your life, Sue…”

And yet he’s still so confident.

He knows me so well that he knows instantly what I’m trying to do, yet he knows I don’t have the courage to put it into action.

“Now call the a- academy and tell them to come here. I won’t touch you or your brother for the rest of your life.”

He is telling the truth. I know him as well as he knows me. He doesn’t go back on his promises, that’s the kind of personality he has and that’s my big chance.

I can finally get out of this hell… Everything can end tonight.

No more days of pain. I can go back to the way I was, right here, today.

A look of disgust crossed Justin’s face, then he looked up at the sky, refusing to close his eyes.

He must have been tired. He was in pain. Yet he was doing his best not to give in to the faintness.

I took a step back, looked up at the stars in the sky, just like him, and then sighed deeply.

I turned my eyes back to Justin on the ground, gripped the stone tightly in my hand, and bent down.

I delivered the first blow with great determination.

While the stone was still in the air, his eyes, looking up at the sky, quickly turned to it, but he couldn’t react much more than that.

When the stone landed on his head, his whole body convulsed, he shook violently and his eyes widened.

He was in shock, blood seeping through his hair, his eyes staring meaninglessly at me.

He opened his mouth to say something but I didn’t let him.

The stone landed once more on his head. The traces of blood on the stone were now very visible, and on his head, there was a swollen wound, but I continued to hit him not caring about anything.

As I kept hitting him, my anxiety diminished. A great sense of relief and peace, of fulfillment enveloped my whole body and I… lost myself.

How many times did I hit him? Who knows…

How many minutes have I been hitting him? I have no idea…

And yet it doesn’t matter.

I forgot the concept of time. I kept hitting him until he was unrecognizable, with blood pouring from his head and his face constantly crushed.

When I finally paused, I realized where I was.

Justin, his body, the floor, the stone in my hand, and all my clothes… all covered in blood. Justin was lying there in front of me, the blood from his shattered head watering the ground, but inside I was still angry at him.

How many hours of bullying did I endure every day, from the time I woke up to the time I went to sleep?

What kind of state was I in every day, talking and lying to my brother?

Even when I went to a psychologist to at least get some psychological support, he didn’t give me any advice because of Justin. He just listened to me, told me to forget it, and threw me out.

And it wasn’t just one time, it was four times in a row. That’s when I realized I was completely alone.

No one was going to help me. I was on my own.

That’s why I tried to be strong, that’s why I resisted no matter what happened to me. Still, deep down inside I wanted someone to help me.

And now I had literally lost myself.

I was happy, to be honest. Hitting Justin gave me a great sense of satisfaction. All the days of pain I’d lived through had disappeared with every blow I struck him.

And now?

I looked at Justin’s blood-covered body and thought about our old days.

Every day we laughed and played and traveled. We spent all our time together and I… enjoyed it.

I loved him. I had always loved him. But ironically, he was the one who had made my life miserable.

That’s why I should have been relieved, and I was, but…

A wave of anger rose up inside me again. I grabbed the stone I had just put down again, I lifted it into the air, but then I felt something stop me.

No matter how much strength I gave it, my hand wouldn’t come down, something was holding my arm.

“Calm down.”

A very cold yet calm and comforting voice entered my ears. I felt the force holding my arm slowly move toward my palms. One by one, my fingers on the stone, which I gripped tightly, released.

“Let me go…”

I gripped the stone tightly again, furious, still not satisfied.

“I’m going to smash him even more, let go of me!”

I tried to get out of the grip of whoever was behind me, but it didn’t work. He was much stronger than me.

“Do you want revenge?”

I hesitated for a moment as his voice seemed to penetrate me through the silent night, but I answered confidently.

“Yes… Now leave me alone.”

“Then why are you shaking? Why are you crying? Why are you hesitating?”

Am I… crying?

I let go of my body and focused on the feeling on my face. I noticed my vision blurred with water, I could feel the tears running down my cheeks.

“I don’t know what you’ve been through, Olivia, but believe me, I can guess.”

His tone suddenly changed, his calmness slowly fading.

“I was like you Olivia, I was bullied when I was little, I tried to commit suicide but I didn’t dare, I wanted to teach those who bullied me a lesson but my body wasn’t up to it, I was weak.”

Ah… Yes, I’m exactly the same…

“Still, one day I poisoned their food and made them crawl with disease. I didn’t kill them, I thought about it but I couldn’t because I was afraid of the consequences.”

He took a deep breath, then continued.

“You are different from me, I don’t know how physically strong you are, but psychologically you are much stronger than me.”

Is he praising me…?

I’m strong?

Huh… Ahahah…

“Yet there’s nothing in life that you really like? Do you really want to rot your own life? Do you really want to go on and go crazy even if it gets in the way of memories you might be happy with in the future? Are you really sure you won’t regret it later?”

My vision blurred even more, and it wasn’t because of pain or anything else. It was only my tears. Tears I shed as I came more and more to myself with every word I heard.

He was right, I had a brother. Paul had always supported me, no matter what kind of person I was.

Could I really leave him?

“I don’t want to lie, it’s too late for Justin, but not for you Olivia. I know what a disgusting person he is, he deserves the worst punishment, but why should you be judged when he’s being punished?”

I looked at Justin’s body, stared at him for a long time, and thought.

“Tell me, what do you want to do?”

“I…”

What do I want…?

Me, who has never been above average in anything, who is completely powerless, what do I want?

Ah… right.

I had been thinking about it every day… I had forced myself to forget, to stop hoping, because it didn’t seem real anymore.

But there was something that I wanted.

“He-”

I stammered, and for a moment my whole body felt weak.

“He- help me… P- please…”

I felt even weaker, almost collapsing, but at that moment I felt him hugging me. I grabbed the arms around my body and held on to them so I wouldn’t fall.

They were warm, comforting, but most of all, strangely more reliable than anything I had ever seen or heard in my life.

“Okay.”

All my muscles relaxed.

I buried my face in the arms that wrapped around me, strangely soft, like a pillow.

“I’ll help you if that’s what you want.”

A great feeling, much bigger and more intense than the anger I had just felt at Justin, swept through my body.

Someone had heard me.

It didn’t matter who it was, just someone had listened to me and had chosen to help me.

I was happy, this was a whole different level of happiness compared to the happiness I had just felt.

After five months of hell, for the first time, someone hadn’t ignored me. For the first time, someone had reached out to me.

“Now, get some rest.”

As my eyes sank into the darkness, I felt my body weaken, unable to hold on any longer.

Still, I didn’t care.

At least… I was safe now.

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