7 Chapter 7: Innocence

Third-person POV:

"Any last word, Caron Dvail?"

The crowd cheered as the firing squad pointed their guns at Caron. Despite a certain death situation, Caron's expression remained unchanged. It was difficult to guess what was on her mind in this situation.

"I do... I hope you don't count this one as the last."

"Make it fast."

"Sure... Wait, not this one either."

"Enough joking! The next one is your last!"

"..."

There was a silence for a second before Caron continued...

"Neil Casswood, Claus Harrison, Nadia Moris, Lessie Osborne, Norman Lewis... I feel sorry for all of you because your father, the king, made you outside marriage!"

Caron announced the name of the king's illegitimate children out loud. The news dropped like a bomb as the crowd started to discuss in confusion.

"HURRY! SHOOT HER!!"

BANG

Caron died.

Despite that, the confusion didn't die down. If anything, the crowd was now louder than ever. Journalists considered tracking those illegitimate children as the crowds gossiped among themselves.

Caron was unable to fight back. 

Her effort at the last moment only managed to make a scandal against the king that would soon die down. 

Despite that, she struggled until the very end.

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Afterlife:

"Caron! Why are you here?!"

"Oh, Mory, were you waiting for me? You should just go first. It was embarrassing that you could see my last moment..."

At that moment, Emory realized that Caron died because of him. He forced Caron to kill himself, and now all of them had to die a meaningless death.

"Caron... I'm sorry... I..."

"Eh, killing the king was impossible to begin with... I wonder if everything would be different had you just sold me out..."

This time Caron didn't say anything to Emory's apology, neither accepted nor rejected it.

"Caron, what are you talking about...?"

"When the king decided that I should die, you should just kill me! Why did you have to kill everyone else just to save me?!"

Caron's hands caught Emory's neck with her nails dug under his skin. Her desperate tone of voice almost sounds hateful.

"Ca... ron..."

Without any resistance, Emory accepted all of Caron's agony. No amount of sorry could make this up. Everyone died and it was all due to his weaknesses.

"But Emory... How about I give you one last chance..."

Emory fell on his knees as Caron freed his neck. 

"But, Caron... we were all... died..."

Emory desperately caught his breath. His sight was on the floor, unable to face Caron.

"Nothing matters anymore..."

"Mory, was it hurt when I strangled you?"

Emory was confused, not sure why Caron suddenly changed the topic.

"You don't need to answer that. It looks hurt like hell."

Caron chuckled. This time her smile looked somewhat sadistic. It made Emory more conscious of the sensation of pain in his neck.

"You're alive, Emory."

"What?!"

"It hurts because you're alive, Emory!"

Emory was about to say something, but once again, Caron's hands strangled his neck.

"Shut up, Emory, I haven't done talking!"

Emory had difficulty concentrating on Caron's words as his mind blurred by a lack of oxygen. Despite that, Caron continued...

"Kill the king! If you can't do that, at least dedicate your entire life to kill him! Remember that his existence was your curse since the beginning!"

Caron then threw Emory to the ground and stepped on his chest to prevent him from getting up. Caron pulled out a gun and pointed it at Emory's head.

"Do you know that inside a nightmare, dying will forcefully awaken you? Time to wake up, Emory!"

BANG

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"Caron!!"

Emory woke up and realized that he was on a hospital bed.

"Ouch!"

His wounds hurt. It hurts like hell.

"I'm... alive..."

It was just a nightmare. Caron might be alive.

Emory wondered why Caron let him live but then decided that confirming whether Caron was dead or alive was more important.

Emory tried to go out of the room, but at the same time, the doctor came in.

"Wow, it's good to see that you're finally awake! How do you feel, Emory?"

The sudden friendliness from the doctor caught Emory off guard, but then Emory regained his composure.

"I'm feeling fine, doctor..."

"Oh, I'm a nurse, not a doctor! The doctor wears a white coat."

"Oh, I'm sorry! I never saw a male nurse..."

Once again, Emory was caught off guard. He never saw a male nurse before.

"Nah, that's okay! It was the first time somebody called me a doctor, though! It made me proud, but at the same time, kind of embarrassing... It would be nice if I could become a doctor, though."

"I see... hope it goes well for you."

Emory had a feeling that this nurse might be a talkative type that wouldn't stop talking once he started. Emory decided to end the conversation quickly.

"Now, If you'll excuse me, I'm in hurry..."

"Wait, where are you going?"

The Nurse blocked the door and refused to let Emory pass.

"An urgent business..."

"No can do, go back to the bed."

"How about I paid you 50$, and you let me go."

The nurse laughed like Emory just said something ridiculous. It was. He didn't even have his wallet with him since he was in a hospital gown.

"Nice try, but I am still dreaming to be a decent doctor someday, so I had to reject your generous offer."

Emory tried to think of another plan, but nothing came to his mind.

"I'm not changing my mind. Go back to your bed."

"...On second thought, it might be not so urgent after all."

Emory backed down. Forcing his way out would complicate the situation as lots of his wounds were still healing.

"Do you... have any newspaper?"

"We do. I'll get it for you. The newest issue, of course!"

The nurse went out to get some newspapers, leaving the door unguarded. For a second, Emory considered escaping before the nurse return. But he decided that he didn't want any more problems.

Emory decided to wait. Sometime later, the nurse came back, his breath running so fast.

"You okay, nurse?"

"It's good to see that you're not running away! I thought you will!"

"Don't worry. I'll behave."

"Good to see that understanding people like you still exist. This week two people already ran away without paying. You see..."

The nurse started to gossip as he sat on the chair beside Emory's bed. Emory didn't have the heart to stop it. He ended up listening to hours of gossip.

Hours passed.

"Oh, the doctor called. I should go! See you later."

"See you later..."

Hours wasted on gossip. At least it was not totally useless. The nurse knew a lot about the latest news gave Emory some good info.

The most recent news was the existence of the king's illegitimate children had come to light. It was a hot topic. 

Fortunately, Emory's name was not on the list... for whatever reasons it was. He never wanted to admit that the king was his father, so Emory was okay with this. 

It was similar to his dream. Emory got creeped out by this. But the most important news was that Caron Dvail's whereabouts were still unknown.

Emory sighed in relief, knowing Caron's death was unconfirmed. Even if the newspaper did confirm Caron's death, it might be just Caron pulled some strings and falsified her death documents like what she did for him a long time ago. Emory wouldn't believe in Caron's death unless he saw her corpse, just like how he witnessed the end of everyone in the organization.

Despite all the info, Emory preferred to read the newspaper. Gossip often changed the information as it passed from one person to another. Newspapers were definitely a more reliable news source. Unless it was some restricted information, then it was an entirely different topic.

"Wait, where's the newspaper?"

It seemed the nurse had forgotten to bring him one. Emory decided to get the newspaper by himself. When he opened the front door, he was greeted by someone who didn't seem to be part of the hospital.

"...Who?"

"I'm Linda Casswood, a journalist. The doctor had agreed to let me interview you."

Linda gave Emory her business card as proof that she worked for a newspaper agency. It was one of the newspapers company he subscribed to.

"The doctor didn't tell me anything about this..."

"The doctor had agreed, so please just proceed with it! I promise you it won't take long!"

"...Sure."

With a sigh, Emory was forced to agree.

"What do you want to know from me?"

Emory asked as he walked back and sat on his hospital bed. Linda sat on the chair beside Emory's bed.

"This is about the case when Caron Dvail tried to murder you. I want you to tell me everything about it as much as you can."

Linda pulled out a small notebook with a pen attached to it, prepared to note down the answers. 

"If you're not sure where to begin, I have a set of questions that might help to jog your memory."

Emory then realized that this might be a chance to clear Caron's name.

"Caron didn't attack me. I asked her to end my life."

"Wait, what...?"

"I'm saying that Caron was innocent."

The journalist laughed despited nothing about it sounded funny.

"What's so funny?"

"Mr.Livell, you don't need to lie about it! The police currently protecting you since your testimony about this case is valuable. Caron can't hurt you anymore! They will arrest her soon, so you don't need to be afraid of her threat!"

"I'm... I'm honest, Miss Casswood! why would you think I lied?!"

"I've seen a lot of people like you. They got manipulated to think that they were the guilty party. You were the same."

"This is a big misunderstanding. How could I convince you that Caron was innocent?"

"...Give me a good reason as to why would you ask her to kill yourself. I might try to believe you."

"I did something unforgivable to her..."

"Something unforgivable?"

"Because of me, all her friends were dead."

"...What?"

"I'm the guilty party here. I will say again, Caron was innocent."

"...Do you know what you were just saying?"

"I do."

"You admitted to the murder of several people?"

"two people, the other three got unfortunate accidental death, also because of me."

Linda was confused by the situation but decided to accept it because it was a big scoop.

"Victim's name?"

"That... I can't tell you..."

The organization had done lots of dirty works, were those exposed, Caron and the relatives of the dead members would get into trouble, so Emory refused.

"I can't tell you the name of the victims, but please believe me."

"...Well, that's useless... No evidence means no truth. The only truth here was the fact that Caron almost murdering you."

"Miss Linda, please at least believe me that Caron was innocent."

"...You're obsessed with Caron."

"What?"

"I mean, why else would you refuse to hate the person who tried to kill you? You were manipulated by her without realizing it."

"Miss Linda, I think it's useless to continue the conversation like this."

"No can do! All we talked about was your delusion of Caron being innocent! I can't use any of these unless you're okay with the news being about you saying something stupid."

"Then I have nothing else I can say to you. Please leave..."

"Not until you tell me the truth! Stop covering for Caron! It won't do you any good!"

"...Since you don't trust me, I think I should show something to you. Something that will make you believe that Caron is innocent."

Emory then spotted a glass of water on the table beside his bed. He got out of his bed and picked up the glass.

"This will do."

CRASH

Emory let the glass fell to the floor, breaking it into several pieces.

"WTF ARE YOU DOING?!?!"

Linda stepped back due to surprise and fear of Emory's unexpected action. She thought Emory had gone crazy. 

Emory then picked up one of the glass shards. It looked very sharp.

"Wait! if you attack me, I'll ask the doctor to euthanize you!"

"Calm down. I'm not attacking anyone."

Emory slashed his own arm. Fresh blood oozes out from the newly formed scar.

"I have a bad habit of hurting myself out of guilt. Even now, I can't shake off my guilt for dragging Caron into this situation."

Linda was unable to say anything as she froze from the fear. The only thing she wanted for now was to run away as far as possible.

"That's how I managed to get Caron to shot me... She was the victim. I forced her... That's why, please believe..."

"KYAAAAAA!!!"

Linda screamed. Emory had caught off guard and accidentally dropped the glass shard that he had in his hand.

As Linda ran outside, the doctor and nurses came inside.

"What's happening?!"

The doctor gasped when they saw Emory with a bloody arm and broken pieces of glasses on the floor.

"Did the lady just attacked you?!"

The doctor grabbed Emory's arm to inspect his wound.

"What?! No! It was a misunderstanding! She didn't attack me!"

"Then why did she run away?!"

"I'm not sure... Maybe she was afraid of blood..."

Emory wasn't sure why Linda ran away. It was because she thought that he went insane, but Emory didn't aware of the fact.

"Whatever the reason was, we should treat you now! You were lucky no shards stuck on your wound!"

As the doctor treated Emory's wound, Emory was frightened by the fact that nobody would believe in Caron's innocence even if it came from him, the victim himself. People believed that he went insane, and Caron was to blame for that.

The stings from Doctor's Treatment felt nonexistent. All he could feel at the moment was the phantom pain of his guilt.