Czarina sat on the bed, biting her lips, her eyes swollen from crying.
"Why did you hurt my child?"
"You know exactly who did it," I whispered weakly.
By then, I fully understood—her so‑called illness had always been an act.
Hearing my words, Czarina suddenly snapped.
She pulled out the needle from her own hand and screamed, "Oliver, she did it on purpose! She's jealous of me—jealous enough to kill my baby!"
"And you found out, didn't you? Her mother was planning to flee with her. Isn't that running away out of guilt?!"
"This has nothing to do with my mother!" I glared at her, fury trembling in my veins.
"I don't care," she sobbed. "If Lydia did something wrong, shouldn't she be punished? Unless... Oliver, are you treating me like an outsider now?"
Her words sealed my fate.
A tablet was placed in front of me; the video began to play.
One by one, the stray animals my mother had rescued were being euthanized.
My mother broke down, screaming and begging on her knees.
"One life for another. That's how it should be," Czarina said coldly.
Then a syringe filled with clear liquid appeared in front of my mother.
If it touched her... she would end up like those animals.
The grip on my arms suddenly loosened. I collapsed to the floor, knees hitting the cold tile.
"Don't hurt my mother—don't touch her! Do anything to me, I don't care—please!"
"Oliver... I'm begging you. For the last time, I'm begging you!"
All my life, I had begged others to save my dying mother.
But never him. I never wanted to show weakness in front of him.
For a moment, a flicker of hesitation crossed his dark eyes.
I thought—naively—that he was about to relent.
But he turned his head away... And covered Czarina's ears.
The next second, someone yanked me up, and a fist—hard as steel—slammed into my abdomen again and again.
Blood burst from my mouth, splattering across the tablet screen.
On the screen, my mother looked up with tears streaming down her face.
Her eyes widened in despair. "Lydia... Mom can't drag you down anymore."
Before I could scream, she grabbed the syringe—and plunged it into her own neck.
"Mom!" I clutched the blood‑stained screen, another mouthful of blood spilling from my lips.
"Mom..."
Curled on the cold floor, a tearing pain ripped through my abdomen, spreading to every organ inside me.
A coat was suddenly draped over my body, covering the blood.