Wrong Marriage and Sweet Love

“I persist in not believing? Am I blind? Or are you blind, Felix? When Athena jumped off the cliff, you were clearly there. You didn’t see it then? She was standing at the edge of the cliff with a fruit knife, crying and begging Luther, begging him to admit, to not abandon her, to not ignore her, to take responsibility for her since he had taken her. I have never seen Athena so humbled in my entire life; she has always been a proud person. She was begging, even kneeling, and I couldn’t bear it. I even felt that if Luther had agreed, I wouldn’t have wanted to stop them anymore. Ultimately, I didn’t want my sister to suffer. But you knew how cruel Luther was at that moment. Athena was driven to the brink of death, and he still denied it, even saying, ‘Whether you live or die, what does it have to do with me?’ Such cruel words. In order to prove her innocence, Athena, in front of the three of us, jumped off the cliff. I couldn’t reach her in time, I could only watch her disappear before my eyes. You haven’t forgotten all of this, have you? Felix, I don’t understand where you stand, siding with Luther!”

Athena, having listened until this point, was already in tears. Her voice trembled, “Luther, I will never forget what I said to you at that time, ‘If only my death can prove that what I said is true, then let me die. I just hope you can always remember me, always remember today.’ But you didn’t remember me at all. You didn’t care about me at all. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have turned to like this wretched woman.”

She angrily pointed at Joyce, “Why her? It was clear that we met first, fell in love with each other. I even gave you my first time.”

Luther was extremely disgusted. The things that had been haunting him for over a decade, were like a nightmare, making him even suspicious of all women, suspecting that they approached him with a purpose. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have treated Joyce in that way at the beginning.

Unexpectedly, even to this day, he was still entangled in this mess.

Before Luther could speak, Felix had finally had enough. He erupted, “Enough, stop acting, isn’t that sickening?”

Looking at Christian, Felix earnestly said, “You just asked me where I stand? On Luther’s side? I will tell you now. I saw with my own eyes, I even recorded the evidence at the time.”

After that, he took out a recording pen from his pocket. Then he sighed heavily, “Ah, it’s all my fault. I accidentally recorded the evidence back then, but I couldn’t find this recording pen afterwards. This led Luther to be unable to explain himself, no matter how hard he tried. Over the past ten years, you have been at odds with Luther at every turn. I know that when you sent Vicki to Night Bar, it was also related to this matter; you wanted to know the truth of that year. Now that I think about it, I should also thank you for sending Vicki to me. It’s all my fault. If only I had found this recording pen earlier, perhaps things wouldn’t have turned out this way.”

Felix glanced at Vicki and explained, “The last time Westbrook was locked in the storage room, I let him out and, unintentionally, found this recording pen among the old items. I left just now to go home and get this recording pen. After more than ten years, today, let me reveal the truth.”

Athena stared at the recording pen in Felix’s hand, as if realizing something. Her delicate face suddenly turned pale. How is this possible? How is it possible that now, of all times, the evidence from back then was found?

Christian squinted, eager to know the events of that time. He held his breath, waiting.

Felix coldly glanced at Athena, “Athena, you are staging this all by yourself. Over time, you probably even convinced yourself that it was real. You probably didn’t expect that the truth would be exposed one day.”

Athena wanted to lunge at Felix, to grab the recording pen from his hand.

Felix evaded, and at the same time, he pressed the button on the recording pen.

The clear sound of a conversation came from within, the voices of Luther and Athena, everything that happened in the tent more than a decade ago.

“Luther, I love you, I really love you. Please, accept me, I’ll give you everything I have.”

“Put your clothes back on, today I haven’t seen you.”

“Luther, from the moment I first saw you, I fell in love with you. Don’t treat me like this.”

“I have no feelings for you, I warn you for the last time, stay away from me.”

“…”

With a tearing sound, the sound of clothes being torn.

“Do you want to leave? Do you dare to leave? I will tell my brother that you forced me and refused to take responsibility. Let’s see how you handle it then.”

“Joke, do you think I can be threatened by you?”

Suddenly, Athena’s scream was heard, followed by her weak voice, “How is it? Who could have thought that I would use a branch to break my virginity? I plotted against you, framed you? Even if you had a hundred mouths, you wouldn’t be able to explain… Haha… Luther, you won’t be able to escape from my grasp. I will make you know. I am not someone you can refuse! By any means, I will have you!”

The recording ended there, and Felix silently turned it off.

The whole truth was now crystal clear. Felix held the recording pen, his fingers involuntarily tightening, his heart filled with a mix of emotions. When evidence was needed back then, he couldn’t find it, and now he could finally prove Luther’s innocence. The conversation just played was enough to show what kind of conniving, malicious girl Athena truly was from that time, and she hadn’t changed over the years.Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

Felix sneered. Athena would never have peace as long as she remained. It was time to present the evidence, to unveil Athena’s disguise, and deliver the final, fatal blow to her.

When the truth was revealed, Christian looked at Athena in disbelief. It was as if the last bit of faith in his heart had completely collapsed. All this time, even though Athena had become unrecognizable, sly, cruel, and murderous, he had always held onto a glimmer of hope in his heart. He had hoped that Athena had only changed, that she wasn’t always like this.

But he was wrong.

He was utterly, completely wrong. He had wronged Luther and misunderstood Felix. They had gone their separate ways, their past friendship now gone, and it was all his fault.

As if unable to accept it, he stumbled back a few steps, almost unable to stand. The once charming, captivating eyes had become dull and lifeless.

Christian looked at Athena with a heart full of pain, only coldness remaining in his eyes. “All these years, ultimately, it’s my mistake. I misjudged you, Athena Yoshikawa, that’s your real name, you don’t deserve the name Ballard.”

“Hahaha.”

Completely exposed, Athena suddenly burst into maniacal laughter, her voice chilling, “Forget it. I’ve had enough of this show, it doesn’t matter. Do you all really think that today, any of you will leave here alive?”