When There Is Nothing Left But Love

“What nonsense are you spouting, Scarlett?” Sally widened her eyes and shot me an incredulous stare before exclaiming, “You’re crazy. You’re absolutely crazy!”

I felt rancor toward this woman and couldn’t help but find her laughable. “You personally sent the White family to their death—three lives in total. Aren’t you afraid of retribution? You were the one who forced them to their deaths!”

“I didn’t!” Sally roared. “Scarlett, I won’t pursue this matter since you’re Ashton’s wife, so you’d better stop running your mouth or I’ll exercise my right to sue you for slander and false accusations.”

My lips curled into a sneer. “Sure, go ahead. As long as you can sleep peacefully at night instead of being haunted by your conscience; as long as you can let go of those three lives, go ahead and sue me!”

Sally’s chest heaved from so much anger that she couldn’t speak for a long time as she glared at me. Finally, she sneered. “Why are you so sad that Marcus is dead, Scarlett? Are you in love with him? Are you heartbroken? Are you reluctant to part with him? Don’t forget whose wife you are and what you should and should not say.”

Hah!

It’s so crazy how people can be so shameless.

It started snowing heavily just then. Large snowflakes fell from the gloomy sky and onto the glaring pool of crimson blood on the ground. Before long, it was covered with a layer of white snow so thick that I could barely make out the blood beneath it, as though everything that happened earlier was only a bad dream.

Ashton brought me back to the villa and never once spoke during the whole journey. Neither did I have the urge to talk as the image of the pool of blood Marcus left behind weighed on my heart and mind along with self-blame and guilt.

If only I had noticed the changes in him sooner and realized that he had lost faith, I could’ve ignored the gossips and Ashton’s jealousy to accompany him through this period of time. If I did, perhaps things wouldn’t have turned out this way for him.

of me. I was selfish and

the snow outside was getting heavier. My mind kept replaying the scene of Marcus closing his eyes for

was so maddening that I went downstairs and out to the yard, wanting to use the cold winter to drive away the resentment and pain overwhelming my

buried deep within me. The harder I tried, the more violently the memories

Seeing me covered in so much snow, she persuaded in a gentle tone, “Madam, let’s go inside. The weather’s too cold. You might get frostbite like

looked at her in a daze and broke into a peculiar smile. Shaking my head at her, I murmured feebly,

for me over my shoulders before reaching out to tug on my hand. “Don’t say such things,

contact with my ice-cold hand, she gasped in shock. “Look at how cold your hands are! Quick! Let’s

of harsh environment. Molly tugged on my hand a few times, but for someone who was up in the years, she couldn’t make me budge an inch. Hence, she had no choice but to relent. “Don’t fall asleep. I’ll go get Mr. Ashton. You’re

immediately went into his study. Probably having heard Molly’s voice, he

me standing rigidly in the snow,

and sighed. “Madam is

raised my eyes to see Ashton who was clad in all-black. As I looked at him, a sense of detachment and unfamiliarity rose in me.

to skirt around Ashton. Just like my heart, my face had gone slightly numb

Molly asked with concern, “Mr. Ashton, Madam

replied in a low voice, “It’s fine. Go in and