Chapter 124
Oh God
“Can I have one last cigarette?”
He casually brushed the hair from his forehead and extended his empty hands. Three gun barrels followed his movement with relentless precision.
“We’re not enemies. You could at least show some mercy.”
“Try anything funny, and I’ll shoot you right away.”
The thug readjusted his grip on the gun, finger on the trigger.
Johann, expressionless, reached into the inner pocket of his jacket. In the suffocating silence, a silver cigarette case appeared in his hand.
Click. The metallic lid opened, and Johann took out a single cigarette, placing it between his lips. Locking eyes with the thug, he fumbled for his chest again.
“Anyone got a light?”
The thug at the front motioned for him to come closer. The snipers positioned behind adjusted their aim, moving slowly in sync with his steps.
One of the thugs briefly rested a rifle on his shoulder and struck a match. The weak flame flickered dangerously in the sea breeze. The man shielded the flame with his hand and leaned toward Johann.
In an instant, Johann’s gaze changed. He wrapped his hands around the man’s neck and twisted it in one swift motion. Simultaneously, he drew a revolver and pulled the trigger at the other two.
“Run!”
Bang! Using the man whose neck he had just broken as a shield, Johann fired. The thunderous shots mingled with the horses’ gallop, shaking the night sky.
The man Johann had held by the scruff was already riddled with bullets. One thug fell from his horse, and Johann, pierced through the thigh, was on the brink of collapse.
As the last thug aimed at Johann, preparing to fire, bang!—a bullet struck the thug’s heart precisely, and he collapsed from his saddle to the ground.
The alley fell silent.
Johann slowly turned toward the direction of the bullet. There, standing with her hands gripping a silver revolver, her chestnut hair glowing like autumn, was unmistakably Olivia.
Johann let out a dry laugh and sank to the ground.
“Johann!”
Olivia ran toward him. Leaning against the wall, Johann quietly watched her.
“Are you okay?”
Johann gasped, struggling to breathe. Olivia’s hands, holding him, were soaked with blood.
“Can you stand?”
She tried to lift him, but his solid, heavy body was too much for her frail arms.
“You didn’t recognize a sharpshooter.”
Beneath the shadow she cast, the man’s face broke into a faint smile, pale as moonlight.
Olivia felt tears threatening to spill, but she held them back.
“Come on, Johann.”
He had lost too much blood. It was impossible to tell, in the dim light, how many times he had been hit or where. Thick, sticky blood pooled in the cracks of the stone floor, glowing red in the moonlight.
Tears threatened to overflow, but she pressed her lips together.
“Look at me. You have to stay conscious. Johann, can you hear me?”
Johann’s face was turning pale, his breathing fading. Olivia shouted, forcing him to focus. His eyes flickered faintly a couple of times before closing.
“Johann!”
Her scream echoed through the narrow alley.
“…Not dead yet, Olivia.”
He chuckled weakly, vomiting blood. Johann slowly opened his eyes. Moonlight reflected in his ash-gray irises. His gaze, deep and calm, was fixed on her.
“Let’s go back.”
“….”
Johann lifted his bloodied arm with effort. A cold hand brushed her cheek—his body temperature was dropping rapidly.
“…Let’s go back, Olivia.”
“You say that in this situation?”
“You wouldn’t refuse.”
“….”
“…Let’s go home.”
“…You… really are a terrible person…”
“Yeah. I know.”
Tears she had been holding back slid down her cheeks. She temporarily forgot about Olivia Blanchett’s fate. She was just terrified that he might die. Johann wiped her tears with his blood-stained fingertips.
“Come on. First, we go to the hospital.”
His breathing was becoming irregular. Just as Olivia bent down to support him, Johann suddenly lifted himself, wrapped her in an embrace, and twisted his body.
Bang!
A gunshot tore through the night sky. In the blink of an eye, Johann collapsed.
“Jo… Johann!”
Her panicked scream devoured the night air. The sound of limping footsteps echoed in the silence. Before she could grab a pistol, her gaze met the sniper aiming at them. The instinctive sense that everything was over hit her. Was death the price for avenging Annblin Grace Britt?
Click.
Olivia looked up at the sniper. A barrel pressed against her forehead, the sharp smell of gunpowder filling the air. She saw the man’s finger slowly resting on the trigger. She held her breath.
Then, bang!
Before the sniper could fire, a light, sharp gunshot rang out in the autumn night. The man’s head exploded, flying apart.
“!”
The body that had blocked her view fell, and a familiar set of footsteps echoed from the other end of the alley. Even in the darkness, his presence was unmistakable—it was Edgar.
He walked steadily, frowning slightly.
Crazy. Edgar let out a smirk as he roughly grasped the situation.
In the pale moonlight, a blood-soaked Johann was cradled by a crying Olivia—a scene worthy of a classic painting.
“…Help me.”
Edgar narrowed his eyes and looked down at her. Her pale face, red-rimmed eyes, crying for another man, filled him with a sense of futile defeat.
He slowly tugged at his tight tie. Who was this stage for? The protagonist had always been someone else.
His cold, slate-gray eyes shifted slowly to the man Olivia held.
Bastard.
It should have been him in Olivia’s arms. Things were going well, then suddenly Johann had taken everything. He couldn’t even laugh at the absurdity.
“You’re not mine.”
Johann’s voice pierced his helplessness. Edgar looked down at the bloodied Johann, limp like a fallen bird.
If you’re not mine… then maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if you just died here. So that the comfort for the living would be my burden.
Don’t open your eyes, Johann Leopold.
Edgar exhaled deeply, slowly clenched his fist, and holstered his pistol. Before he made an irreversible mistake in front of her. He still had enough reason left to restrain himself.
The night soaked in red terror passed. Johann’s surgery ended at dawn, when the sky was turning pale blue.
The unexpected arrival of Duke Leopold in the middle of the night triggered an emergency at Britt Royal Hospital. A specialist was dispatched to his residence, and within an hour of arriving, Johann was in emergency surgery.
Bullets had pierced his shoulder and thigh, grazing his forearm and side. Fortunately, no organs were damaged, and the femoral artery had narrowly escaped. The surgeon completed the suturing and explained Johann’s condition.
The problem was that Johann had fallen unconscious from shock due to excessive blood loss.
In the dimly lit hospital room, there were only three people: the nurse, Olivia, and Johann. After checking his temperature and blood pressure, the nurse bowed to Olivia and quietly left, leaving the two of them alone.
Finally, she approached the bed and sat, gazing at Johann, unconscious as if asleep. Under the bedside lamp, his frail body looked almost lifeless. Olivia felt completely helpless, like a lost child.
“Let’s go back, Olivia.”
If it were Edgar… then, having borrowed a life, she might have let him take her hand. But with him…
Olivia bit her lips hard. The inevitability of death scared her. Jian had endured a hard life; she wanted to fully live this second life she had been gifted—quietly, peacefully. That was her only desire.
So she could not go back with this man. She mustn’t.
A storm of emotion rose from deep within her. Olivia reached out her hesitant hands. She clasped his large, unyielding hand with both of hers, unable to let go or fully take control.
“Open your eyes, Johann.”
Please.
Olivia bowed her head slowly, pressing her forehead to his cold hand.
Oh God.
For the first time, she called on a God she had never sought before. Desperately.
She prayed that this man would live.
