Worldly Traces

After I was framed and thrown into prison, Keean came to see me every single day. He would hold my hand through the glass, whispering promises that he believed in my innocence.

But five years later, on the day of my release, he looked me in the eye and confessed the truth.

Actually, I was the lawyer who built the case against you.

"I was the one who framed your brother for harassing Johanna, ruining his reputation until he jumped from that rooftop."

"And I was the lead surgeon who took your mother's kidney to give to Johanna."

He stared at the thick, jagged scars crisscrossing my wrists, his voice entirely devoid of remorse.

"Johanna accidentally killed someone in a hit-and-run. She is too fragile to survive prison. I am her only brother, her protector, so I needed you to take the fall."

"As for your brother, he brought it on himself. He dared to try and take Johanna away from me."

"Your mother's surgery? Johanna complained of back pain around that time and didn't want to wait on the transplant list."

I stood frozen, the blood in my veins turning to ice. "Why?"

Keean spared me a cold, indifferent glance.

"You always targeted Johanna. I only wanted to teach you a lesson, to make you grow up. If you can't accept it, we can get a divorce."

The metallic taste of blood welled up in my throat, and in my mind, a long-silent, robotic voice chimed.

Host, do you wish to abandon the mission and withdraw from this world?

The sudden reappearance of the system, dormant for so many years, left me dazed. I looked at Keean's calm, handsome face, and a sharp, blinding pain pierced my chest.

Five years ago, he called me, claiming he had been in a horrific car accident on his way to celebrate my birthday. Terrified out of my mind, I sped through a shortcut to find him. The moment I stepped out of my car, police surrounded me. They claimed I had run someone over and killed them. I was sentenced to five years.

During those five years, I was locked in solitary confinement every single night and beaten. My body was covered in bruises that never had a chance to heal. Yet, every time the pain became unbearable, the thought of Keean kept me going.

And now? The mastermind who destroyed my life, drove my brother to suicide, and left my mother hospitalized was Keean, all to shield Johanna.

Tears spilled over as a violent, trembling hatred consumed me.

"I want to leave."

Request received. The departure countdown is now seventy-two hours.

Seeing the tears on my face, Keean instinctively reached out to wipe them away, his voice suddenly softening to that familiar, gentle tone.

"You don't have to divorce me if you don't want to. But Johanna has suffered enough. You are not allowed to lay a finger on her again. She still has nightmares about the slap you gave her."

I once carried Keean's child. Four months into the pregnancy, I drank a bowl of porridge Johanna brought me and suffered a miscarriage. In a fit of grief and rage, I slapped her. At the time, Keean held me tight, whispering soothing words of comfort. But the very next day, reporters smeared my brother's name with false accusations of sexually harassing Johanna, driving him to leap to his death.

Grief-stricken by the loss of both my child and my brother, I had been too broken to see the truth. I never suspected that Keean had engineered all of it just to avenge Johanna.

My chest felt like it was being ripped open, every breath a stab of agony. "If you were going to lie to me, why didn't you just keep lying for the rest of my life?"

He stared at me for a long time, letting out a soft sigh.

"You are my wife, Cassie. I only wanted you to learn your lesson so we could protect her together. Besides, Johanna's other kidney is failing now. She needs another transplant. If you agree to save her, I will let the past go and make it up to you."

A profound, freezing numbness washed over me. Unable to contain myself, I swung my hand and slapped him hard across the face.

"Never!"

"You destroyed my brother, threw me into a living hell, and left my mother rotting in a hospital bed! How dare you ask for my kidney?"

His head turned from the blow. Seeing the raw hatred burning in my eyes, his expression darkened instantly.

"Cassie! I thought five years in prison would teach you some humility. It seems you haven't changed at all! Men, take her to the hospital for a match test!"

His bodyguards swarmed me, trying to drag me into the car. I fought with everything I had, breaking free and running blindly toward the street.

A heavy truck roared around the corner. Tires screeched violently, and the next instant, I was thrown through the air, crashing hard onto the asphalt.

Blood pooled around me, blurring my vision. Through the haze, I heard Keean's terrified, desperate scream.

"Cassie!"

When I woke up, I was lying in a hospital bed. Every bone in my body ached, and even breathing felt like swallowing glass.

A nurse stepped forward to examine my injuries, but Keean cut her off, his voice tight with anxious urgency.

"Do the kidney match test first! Johanna is waiting!"

Despite knowing his cruelty, a wave of absolute despair washed over me. The old Keean would never have treated me this way.

Years ago, when he was a homeless teenager begging on the streets, I had defied my parents and brother to bring him into our home. I gave him the warmth and care he had never known. Before my father passed away, Keean had knelt by his bed and sworn an oath: "I will protect Cassie for the rest of my life. I will never let her suffer."

After we married, he worked himself to the bone to prove he was worthy of me, eventually becoming a titan of the business world. Everyone in Emerald Bay knew he treasured me above all else. I thought I would be happy forever. That was why I chose to stay in this world.

Until he brought Johanna home.

He had held me and pleaded, "Cassie, Johanna is the daughter of my father's late comrade. I can't leave her on the streets. I promise she'll just have a roof over her head. She will never take your place."

Looking at the frail, pitiful girl, my heart softened. But she became my living nightmare.

She would spill hot soup on herself whenever Keean walked down the stairs, kneeling before me in tears: "I'm sorry, Cassie. It was an accident."

She would push me aside after I had stayed up all night nursing a feverish Keean, wrapping her arms around him the moment he opened his eyes, sobbing, "Keean, you're finally awake! I didn't sleep a wink watching over you!"

She would steal the business proposals I spent all night drafting and present them to Keean as her own: "I stayed up three nights straight to write this for you, Keean."

Despite her constant framing, Keean never blamed me. He would always hold my hand and whisper, "I believe you, Cassie."

Back then, I was so blinded by his sweet words that I failed to notice the growing coldness in his eyes when he looked at me, or the deepening tenderness when he looked at Johanna.

Until the day I lost my baby, slapped Johanna, and triggered five years of pure torment in prison, my brother's wrongful death, and my mother's illness.

My vision blurred again, and I drifted back into darkness.

When I woke up next, the countdown had reached forty-eight hours.

Keean was sitting by my bedside, looking like he hadn't slept all night. Seeing my eyes open, a flash of relief crossed his face, quickly replaced by his usual cold indifference.

"You're awake," he said, tossing a medical consent form onto my lap. "The match is a success. Your kidney is a perfect fit for Johanna, just like your mother's was. Sign this, save Johanna, and I will pretend none of this ever happened. I'll get the best doctors for your mother's recovery, and we can go back to how we were."

I shook with rage, finding his words utterly laughable. I grabbed the consent form and tore it into shreds.

"You destroyed my entire family. How do you have the audacity to ask for my kidney? There is no future for us, Keean. I want a divorce."

The sharp crash of breaking glass shattered the silence.

Johanna stood at the door, her eyes red, a spilled bowl of chicken soup puddling at her feet.

"I heard about your accident, Cassie. I spent hours making this soup for you," she sobbed, rushing forward to grab my arm. "I don't want your kidney anymore. It's all my fault. I'll leave. Please, don't fight with Keean because of me."

Her voice was sweet and pleading, but her eyes gleamed with malice. As her hand gripped my injured arm, her sharp nails dug viciously into my raw wounds.

White-hot pain flared through my body. Instinctively, I shoved her away.

"Ah!" she shrieked, tumbling backward onto the broken glass.

Keean's breath hitched. In an instant, he swept her into his arms. Seeing the blood on her palms, his face contorted with fury.

A harsh, stinging slap delivered with brutal force caught me across the face. My cheek went numb, and the metallic taste of blood flooded my mouth.

"You knew how weak Johanna is, yet you still pushed her!" Keean snarled. "You're even more vicious than you were five years ago! You want a divorce? Fine. But first, you will apologize to Johanna, and you will give her your kidney!"

The wounds on my arm throbbed. I glared at Keean, pointing a trembling finger at the security camera in the corner.

"She pinched my wounds first! If you don't believe me, check the cameras!"

Keean froze, a flicker of hesitation crossing his eyes. But before he could speak, Johanna gasped and went limp in his arms.

"Johanna!"

Turning pale with panic, Keean didn't spare me another look. He scooped her up and rushed out to find a doctor.

I let out a bitter, hollow laugh. Dragging my battered body out of bed, I tried to leave the hospital, only to be cornered by Johanna in the stairwell.

The frail, fainting act was gone. She sneered at me, her face twisted in mockery.

"All these years as a task-host and you still failed. What a useless waste. You should just give up."

I froze, staring at her in sheer shock. "You... you're a host too?"

She laughed, her voice dripping with disdain. "I'm nothing like you. You spent years failing to secure him, while it only took me five years to take everything. If you know what's good for you, step down. I am the one Keean loves. I will be the only Mrs. Lockwood."

"Oh, by the way, your brother didn't commit suicide. I pushed him."

The blood in my veins turned to ice.

She smiled, a wicked, sadistic curve of her lips. "I lured him to the rooftop, promising I would help clear his name. The idiot actually believed me. I can still see the look of absolute shock on his face as he went over the edge."

My hand flew across her face, my entire body shaking with violent rage.

She held her bruised cheek, her eyes narrowing into slits of pure venom.

"Johanna..." Keean's voice echoed from down the hallway.

Johanna flashed me a terrifying, twisted grin.

"Actually, I don't even have kidney disease. Your mother's kidney? I had it carved up and fed to the dogs. Now tell me, who do you think Keean will believe? You, or me?"

Before I could react, she grabbed my hands, forced them against her shoulders, and threw herself backward down the stairs.

By the time Keean reached the stairwell, Johanna was sprawled in a pool of blood at the bottom, looking up at me with tearful, fluttering eyes.

"Keean... please don't hate Cassie. She didn't mean to push me..."

My face went white. I shook my head frantically. "No, I didn't do it..."

Before I could finish, a furious Keean charged up and kicked me squarely in the chest, sending me tumbling down the stairs.

A sickening crack echoed as my leg snapped. I screamed in agony, but Keean didn't even look at me. He scooped Johanna up and ran, throwing a final, freezing threat over his shoulder.

"If anything happens to Johanna, I will make you pay with your life!"

I lay in the stairwell, drowning in agony, until a passing nurse finally found me. But before they could wheel me into the operating room, Keean's bodyguards intercepted the gurney and pushed me straight into Johanna's room.

Keean stood over me, his eyes burning with absolute disgust.

"Johanna is suffering from acute renal failure because of your push. Are you satisfied now? You caused this, and you will give her your kidney to pay for it!"

I stared at him, my eyes bloodshot. "Never!"

His face remained entirely cold, treating me like a mortal enemy.

"You can refuse. But don't forget, your mother is still in my hands."

A bodyguard held up a tablet. On the screen, my mother lay helpless in a hospital bed, her oxygen mask ripped away. Her face was blue as she thrashed in agonizing suffocation.

My sanity shattered in an instant. I screamed, completely broken.

"No! Stop! I'll do it! I'll give her the kidney! Just put the oxygen back on her, please!"

Keean threw a consent form onto my chest. "Sign it. The moment the surgery is finished is the moment she gets her oxygen back."

With my mother's painful gasps echoing from the tablet, my hand shook violently as I signed my name.

As the anesthetic took hold, I drifted into darkness, consumed by absolute despair.

When I woke up, a fresh, raw scar throbbed violently on my abdomen. Ignoring the excruciating pain, I dragged myself out of bed to find my mother.

In the hallway, I saw two nurses wheeling a gurney covered in a white sheet.

"That poor old lady. Someone pulled her oxygen plug. By the time anyone noticed, she was already gone."

A pale arm slipped out from beneath the sheet, wearing a bright green jade bracelet. The very bracelet I had bought my mother for her birthday five years ago.

My blood froze. I stumbled forward, screaming.

"Mom! Mom!"

Before I could reach her, Keean blocked my path, shielding Johanna behind him.

"Johanna just got out of surgery. Stop making a scene. Go back to your room, or I'll have your mother suffer more."

Tears poured down my face as I thrashed wildly. "Let go of me! That's my mother! She's dead! She's dead!"

Keean grabbed my wrists, his brow furrowing. "What do you mean she's dead? What nonsense are you talking about?"

Suddenly, a middle-aged man charged into the hallway, wielding a long kitchen knife.

"You bitch! You killed my son! I'm going to make you pay!"

Keean's pupils dilated. Instinctively, he stepped back, pulling Johanna behind him, shielding her completely.

Leaving me entirely exposed.

A cold blade plunged deep into my chest. White-hot pain flared, and I collapsed into a pool of my own blood.

Keean turned, his face suddenly twisting in sheer horror.

"Cassie!"

Watching my mother's gurney disappear down the hall, I slowly closed my eyes.

"Dad, Mom, Gavin... I'm coming to join you."

Mission failed. Initiating world departure...