When she regained consciousness, the first thing she saw was the sterile ceiling of the hospital ward.

Clara moved her body with great difficulty, only to find that she couldn't lift her right hand no matter how hard she tried.

A wave of panic washed over her as she desperately attempted to wiggle her fingers.

"What's happening? Why can't I move it?"

"Don't move," Sebastian, who had been sleeping by her bedside, startled awake. "Your hand was already injured, and then you were bitten by a venomous snake. The hand is... it's useless now."

Clara froze, as if she hadn't heard him correctly. "What?"

Sebastian’s eyes were rimmed with dark shadows, and he seemed unable to meet her gaze. "I'm sorry. Under normal circumstances, those snakes don't bite. I thought you would be fine..."

Clara opened her mouth, but not a single word came out.

After everything she had endured, she had resented the world's injustice, but she had never wavered in her determination to use her skills to protect people.

She was the most talented criminal profiler in Washington, D.C.!

There were still so many cold cases waiting for her to solve! So many criminals waiting to be caught!

And now, he was telling her that her hand was ruined—that she could never hold a charcoal pencil again.

How could she possibly accept this?

Sebastian looked frantic. "Clara, don't be like this. From now on, I'll be your hands, okay? I'll take care of you! You can have anything you want!"

That phrase again.

Clara could no longer contain herself. Her voice rose into a gut-wrenching, blood-curdling scream. "I want Arthur dead! He was the one who broke into the basement! He killed my sister, and he tried to rape me!"

"If it wasn't for him, the snakes wouldn't have bitten me! My hand wouldn't be ruined!"

Sebastian froze, his brow furrowed deeply into a dark scowl. "That's impossible. I didn't give him the key to the basement."

A bone-chilling cold settled in Clara’s heart.

What was she doing? Still expecting Sebastian to stand up for her?

Clara took a deep breath and turned her head away, refusing to look at him any longer.

Sebastian knew that Clara rarely lied. His eyes grew murky. After a moment of silence, he said, "I'll look into it. Rest assured, if he truly laid a finger on you, I won't let him off the hook."

Clara didn't believe a single word.

In the days that followed, Sebastian remained by her side, tending to her every need with meticulous care.

Clara didn't give him a single kind word, but he didn't get angry. In her dazed state, Clara almost felt as if they had returned to the early days of their marriage.

Until a few days later, when she was scheduled to be transferred to another hospital for her final surgery.

Sebastian was driving her himself when he received a call from Luna.

"Sebastian... my stomach is acting up again. It hurts so much."

He frowned and unbuckled Clara’s seatbelt. "I have to go see Luna. Take a taxi the rest of the way. Be careful."

Clara was left standing alone on the side of the highway. She let out a self-deprecating laugh.

See? Sebastian’s "love" was nothing but a performance.

Taxis were impossible to find on the highway. Clara walked for five hours, collapsing the moment she finally reached the hospital.

Resuscitation, surgery—Sebastian didn't show up once.

It wasn't until the day she was cleared for discharge that Luna suddenly burst into her room.

With a loud

thud

, Luna dropped to her knees directly in front of Clara, her eyes swimming in tears. "Clara, it's all my fault. I shouldn't have stayed so close to Sebastian."

"If you want revenge, take it out on me! I'm begging you, leave my father alone!"

"He's been a law-abiding, charitable man his whole life. Please stop spreading rumors that he's a killer!"

Clara was taken aback. She opened her phone and saw that the post accusing Arthur had gone viral.

She let out a cold sneer. "I told you, I didn't post that. Besides, it's not a rumor. Arthur deserves to die!"

Luna let out a pathetic whimper. "Clara, how can you say that? You must be blaming me, right?"

"I’ll kowtow to you! Please, just forgive me!"

As she spoke, she began slamming her forehead against the floor with frantic force.

Clara watched with a cold, detached expression, finding the whole scene absurd.

By the time Sebastian rushed in, Luna’s forehead was already badly bruised and swollen.

He lifted her up with agonizing concern. "How can you be so foolish! People who want to hurt you won't let you off just because you bow to them!"

After comforting Luna, he turned to Clara, his face clouded with malice. "Are you even the Clara I used to know? Do you have any idea that Uncle Arthur almost jumped off a building because of those rumors?"

"Luna almost lost her father! And yet you still say such things to her!"

"When did you become so vicious?"

Clara burst into laughter, a sound that grew increasingly tragic. "Vicious? Who is the vicious one? She

almost

lost her father, but I have already lost

everyone

!"

She didn't want to deal with these people anymore. She moved to walk past them, but Sebastian blocked her path.

"Luna already knelt for you. You are going to kneel and apologize to her!"

Clara snapped back instantly, "Not in a million years!"

Sebastian looked at her with a chilling calmness. "Don't forget, I still have those videos of your sister. Do you want her to have no peace even after death?"

Those videos... the ones documenting her sister’s humiliation!

Clara whipped her head around to stare at him as if seeing him for the very first time. "You’re using

those

videos to threaten me?"

"My sister is dead! Killed by the likes of you! And you’re still using her shame to blackmail me?!"

She sounded so utterly hopeless that Sebastian’s heart felt a momentary pang of guilt.

But then he saw Luna’s reddened eyes, and his voice turned cold again. "So what?"

"Fine. Sebastian, you're truly something!"

"I hope you never regret this!"

Clara laughed out loud, her voice tinged with madness.

She turned toward Luna and dropped to her knees.

Her knees slammed against the floor with a sickening crack.

Sebastian found the sight strangely piercing. He averted his eyes and said hard-heartedly, "Reflect on what you've done. You stay on your knees for three hours before you get up!"