I Faked My Death—Now I Have to Tame the Crazy Men I Left Behind-Chapter 27 - 25: The Leap

"..."

Mia Grant smiled.

It turned out that people really did laugh when they were utterly speechless.

Just like her, right now.

’What did he mean, helping me decide?’

’How amusing.’

’The coercion couldn’t be more obvious, pal.’

’Fine, fine. So that’s how we’re playing this, is it?’

"What do you want then, Brother?"

"Mia knows best what I want." His fingertip caressed the spot over her heart.

Mia tilted her head back and gave him a sweet smile. "So, what you want is an obedient little bird you can lock up, admire, and tease all by yourself. Is that right, Brother?"

The faint, ticklish sensation over her heart vanished.

His fingertip had stopped abruptly beside the thin strap of her dress.

A gentle flick of his finger was all it would take to hook it open, allowing him to take more.

Time slipped by. The back seat was silent. Silas Grant still hadn’t made his next move.

Mia Grant’s gaze was innocent and pure. She stared at him for a long time before reaching out to cup his face. "Brother, I know you love me very much."

"I love you too."

The man’s dark eyes behind his glasses trembled violently.

She smiled. "I’ll never forget the day you brought me out of that basement."

"I’m so scared of being alone, and I’m terrified of the dark."

"I know that going with you is the safest, most secure choice. But I don’t want to spend my whole life like this, as someone who can’t see the light of day."

"If it’s like that, then for me, it’s no different from being in that basement, or in that room in the corner of the cruise ship."

"If it really has to be that way, I don’t know if I’ll end up making the same mistake again."

"Ever since I came back, you’ve never once asked me why I chose to jump into the ocean that day, or why I didn’t come back for so long..."

"I understand. Someone as smart as you must know the reason, Brother."

Mimicking his earlier gesture, she gently caressed his cheek, silently capturing his gaze, trying to sway her lover bit by bit.

"So, a choice doesn’t have to be either-or, does it, Brother?"

[Host, what kind of new strategy is this?]

"I’m betting on whether he’s still human."

[?]

"If he still has a shred of humanity, he won’t take me away."

Mia Grant was also taking a gamble.

Silas Grant’s blackening value was so high that a heartfelt appeal might not work on him.

Because he was utterly heartless.

She could only give it a try for now.

It was better than going through the motions of spitting up blood and fainting. She really didn’t have the energy to go through that ordeal again.

She didn’t want to resort to that unless it was absolutely necessary.

The man’s eyes flickered.

’Yes, I never believed she was really dead.’

’The things I said to Kian Keller earlier were just to make him lower his guard, making it easier for me to continue investigating Mia Grant’s whereabouts.’

’Such a vibrant life. When she first boarded the ship, she was looking all around, finding everything novel, yet she still stood obediently by my side, whispering secrets to me...’

’How could she be dead the very next moment?’

’She was so timid, afraid of the dark, afraid of water, afraid of so many things...’

’But she really had leaped off the ship, right in front of my eyes.’

’She even looked back at me one last time before she jumped, smiling in relief.’

He didn’t have a strong moral compass. Everyone close to him knew he was unscrupulous.

Yet, in the time after she jumped into the sea, it was as if he was trapped in a nightmare from which he could never awaken.

In the dream, she sat by the window, her long hair whipped about wildly by the sea breeze.

She, who had always been so concerned with her appearance, no longer cared about how she looked.

She would look back at him, a wide smile on her face, and say, "Silas Grant, I never got the chance to tell you before."

"I hate you."

"I hate the Grant Family, I hate your parents, your sister—I hate everything related to you all!" 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

"You knew your parents didn’t like me, but you still told them you were planning to take me away, letting them yell at and beat me."

"You knew I was scared, but you were still going to lock me up for your sister’s sake."

In the dream, he would try to explain, but she would just shake her head. "Forget it. It doesn’t matter anymore."

The person at the window faced the sea and opened her arms.

"We’ll never see each other again anyway, so let me tell you another secret. I don’t belong here at all."

"And now, I’m going home~"

Then, she would leap.

For a time, Silas Grant couldn’t tell if this was a dream or a memory of something that had actually happened.

He had no such memory, yet everything in the dream was so vivid it felt like he had personally experienced it.

Regardless, the unchangeable fact was that in the moment she jumped, she had truly wanted to leave.

Why hadn’t he asked for the reason? Probably because he had known what the problem was all along.

’Was it avoidance? Indifference? Or maybe... guilt...’

The reasons were so complex that he didn’t want to talk about the past anymore.

’I want to take her away...’

’...take her to a place where no one can find us, where no one will disturb us.’

But he’d forgotten. The rabbit he was raising wasn’t suited for a cage. When cornered, she wouldn’t bite others—she would only hurt herself.

...

Mia Grant peeked at his blackening value. Even though he said nothing, she knew with certainty in that moment that she had succeeded.

The man had been defeated.

Seeing this, she secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

’Guilt-tripping sounds unethical, especially against someone who has no ethics to begin with, but hey, as long as it works.’

Mia Grant had the system give her a little nudge, allowing her to put on a frail, helpless act at just the right time.

’When it came to messing with me, the system was indeed very cooperative.’

She immediately felt unwell. She coughed a few times and leaned weakly into Silas Grant’s arms.

"Brother, I was caught in the rain tonight. My head feels a little heavy, and I’d like to rest soon."

’Have some decency, you old fossil. I want to go back to my dorm and sleep!’

In the end, Mia Grant didn’t make it back to school. It was very late, so Silas Grant took her to his manor in Jynsia to stay for the night, promising to take her back to school the next morning.

In the middle of the night, Mia Grant woke up thirsty.

Her eyelids were still fighting to stay open, and her head was still dizzy. After gathering herself for a moment, she got out of bed to pour some water. The moment her feet touched the ground, her legs felt like jelly, and she almost collapsed.

HISS... Mia Grant fell back onto the bed, cursing internally. ’This damn system is really too good at its job...’

"System, that’s enough. You can stop now. It was only supposed to be an act for Silas Grant."

[It’s not me this time, Host.]

"Then why is my head still so dizzy?" Mia Grant felt it was getting more and more unreliable.

[That’s because you have a fever from being in the rain. Don’t your cheeks feel hot?]

"..."

Mia Grant reached out and touched her cheek, then her forehead two seconds later.

"I guess it is a little hot."

Her palms were hot too, so she couldn’t tell the difference.

Mia Grant’s limbs were weak. She struggled at the edge of the bed for a moment before giving up, flopping back down, rolling over, and pulling the blanket around herself.

She mumbled, "Forget it. I’m not getting a drink."

[Host, your body temperature is abnormal!]

Mia Grant was extremely drowsy. She closed her eyes and replied groggily, "Whatever. It’s nice to be alive, but dying is fine too."

[...If you really die, you won’t get your bonus!]

A few seconds later, Mia Grant forced herself to grab her phone. She struggled to pry her eyes open a crack and, running on pure instinct, groggily dialed a string of numbers—