The world around Seren began to spin faster. The roaring sound in her ears returned, louder than before.
She stared at the fresh blood dripping from her nose, staining the sacred white floor. Mark was right, she hated chaos. And for Mark, Seren's presence right now was the biggest chaos in his orderly life.
With trembling, numb fingers, Seren pulled a small towel from the gold hook beside the sink. She wiped her face roughly, ignoring the sting on her skin. She had to clean this up. She had to erase the evidence of her weakness before Mark came back in and gave her that disgusted look again.
Outside, she faintly heard Mark talking on the phone. His tone had changed drastically—no longer low and threatening, but full of calm concern and authority.
"I've made sure his room is ready and comfortable. Don't worry about anything. Yes, I'll pick you up at the airport myself."
Seren froze. Her hand, holding the blood-stained towel, froze in front of her face. Pick me up at the airport?
Mark never picked her up. Even when Seren had just returned from minor surgery last year, Mark only sent his assistant, and that was because he was forced to by her late grandfather. But for this woman, Mark was willing to spare his precious time.
Seren's breathing became short again. The roaring sound in her ears grew louder, like the sound of a storm hitting the rocks. She tried to stand up, holding onto the edge of the cold bathtub. Her head felt very light, as if her brain was lacking blood supply.
"I can't die here," Seren whispered to herself. "Not tonight."
She crawled out of the bathroom with the last of her strength. She saw Mark standing near the large window of their room, with his back to her. Mark was still holding his cell phone, staring into the darkness of the night with a faint smile that he rarely showed Seren.
Seren tried to walk towards the nightstand to find her emergency medicine—medicine that she had secretly kept without Beatrice's knowledge. However, her vision began to blur. She saw two figures of Mark, then three, and they all seemed to be moving away from her.
Crash!
Seren bumped into a small table in the corner of the room, knocking over a crystal vase filled with white roses she had arranged that morning. The vase shattered into pieces, spilling water onto the expensive fur rug.
Mark turned around very quickly. His face, which had looked gentle a moment ago, instantly changed into a mask of cold anger.
"Seren! What are you doing?!" Mark snapped. He stepped closer angrily. "Can't you just stay still for an hour without breaking something? Do you know how expensive this carpet is?"
Seren couldn't answer. She knelt in the middle of the crystal shards, her hands reaching for Mark's pants. She wanted to ask for help, she wanted Mark to see the blood that was now seeping from her nose and soaking her thin nightgown.
"M-Mark... p-please..." Seren's voice was just a stuttering hiss.
Mark saw Seren's bloodied hand, injured by the crystal shards, trying to touch his expensive trousers. With a brutal reflex, Mark jerked his leg, causing Seren to fall forward, landing directly on the broken vase.
"Don't touch me with your dirty hands!" Mark shouted, his voice booming throughout the room. "You think that by hurting yourself, I'll feel sorry for you? You think I'm that stupid?"
Mark didn't see Seren's face, which had turned blue. He only saw the mess on his carpet and the blood staining his expensive furniture. To him, this was emotional sabotage by Seren to ruin his mood before tomorrow's guests arrived.
Suddenly, Mark's cell phone rang again. He looked at the screen, then stared at Seren with deep hatred.
"Mom was right, you are a curse on this family. Stay there until you learn how to behave properly. I'm going to sleep in the study. Don't you dare knock on my door tonight."
Mark walked away, stepping over Seren's body lying on the floor as if his wife were nothing more than a pile of trash blocking his path. He turned off the main light in the room, leaving Seren in total darkness, illuminated only by a faint moonlight filtering through the clouds.
Seren gasped for breath. The pain in her heart now felt like a slow explosion that crushed all her nerves. She tried to crawl toward the nightstand drawer, but her fingers touched something cold under the carpet.
A small metal object. The silver cufflink she had taken from the trash the night before.
Seren gripped the button tightly until its sharp edges cut into the palm of her hand. In the silence of the night, she heard the strange sound of a car engine outside the house. It wasn't the family car.
The sound of the front door downstairs opening slowly.
Creak...
Someone entered the house without a key, forcing their way in. Seren tried to lift her head, but her eyes caught sight of a shadow at the threshold of their unlocked bedroom door. The shadow was tall, large, and motionless.
It wasn't Mark.
The figure stepped into the dark room, approaching Seren, who lay limp and covered in blood. Seren wanted to scream, but her voice failed her. Her heart beat once with tremendous force—the most excruciating pain she had ever felt—then the world fell completely silent.
Seren lost consciousness just as the mysterious figure stood over her body in the darkness of the room.