Chapter 115 Daniel's Heart Aches Like Twisting
Wronged?
How could she not feel wronged? She had been falsely accused for four years.
That night she clearly did nothing wrong, yet overnight she became the laughingstock of Shadow City's high society.
She became a scheming bitch, despised and scorned by everyone for four years.
No matter how she tried to explain, she couldn't clear her name. She was condemned by all, labeled as ungrateful, calculating, and greedy.
Back then, she thought she could handle being misunderstood and cursed by everyone, as long as Daniel believed her.
But he didn't. He saw her that way too, trampling her into hell with no chance of redemption.
She had no one to share these grievances with.
Now he was willing to believe her, but she no longer needed it.
Scarlett looked up, her eyes now completely dry without a trace of tears, only emptiness and desolation remained.
She smiled slightly and said, "None of it matters anymore. I was cursed for four years, seen as a stain on you in everyone's eyes. Now that we've registered our divorce, I don't have to be the guilty one anymore."
Daniel felt the blood in his body freeze at her words, his face turning pale.
He would rather have her curse him, kick him, go crazy and cry, than see her calmly tell him it was all in the past.
His thin lips moved, wanting to explain why he couldn't believe her back then.
But those words felt like rolling on razor blades, too painful to speak.
No matter what, he was the one who didn't believe her. When she needed his protection most, he cruelly pushed her away just like everyone else.
His heart ached terribly, yet he had no defense.
"I'll get to the bottom of this, Scarlett..."
After a long while, Daniel spoke, his voice trembling slightly. He wanted to apologize, he had so much more to say.
But Scarlett didn't give him the chance. She nodded and calmly interrupted him.
"Whatever you want. The truth doesn't matter to me anymore."
She had already suffered everything she should and shouldn't have suffered.
She had long gotten through it and didn't want to keep reopening her wounds for others to see.
Scarlett pushed Daniel away and got off his lap. She smiled and said,
"But still, thank you. After all, you chose to believe me now before even investigating. I guess that's some small comfort."
Daniel felt a sharp pain in his heart. He grabbed Scarlett's hand, his brows furrowed.
"I'm sorry. I should have figured all this out earlier. If only I had stayed back then to listen to you more, this wouldn't have..."
After the incident that year, he didn't know how to face her and chose to avoid it.
When he saw her again, almost a year had passed.
By then the wound had festered into a sore that no one wanted to mention. Even when Scarlett tried to explain later, he didn't want to touch on it and never investigated thoroughly.
"It's okay, you were a victim too. You don't need to apologize to me."
Scarlett shook her head, smiling as if it meant nothing.
Daniel looked into her eyes, which were truly clear and clean, without a trace of resentment.
At this moment, she seemed docile again like the Scarlett in his memory, standing behind him all soft and gentle. She seemed like she would never get angry at him, would worship and tolerate him without limits.
But this didn't make Daniel feel any better. Instead, his whole body filled with a sense of helplessness and defeat with nowhere to vent.
Daniel's expression remained cool, but his lips grew paler.
He gripped Scarlett's wrist tightly, as if trying to hold onto her, but Scarlett still slowly pulled her hand back and smiled.
"Daniel, if you really feel sorry, can you promise me one thing?"
"Yes, I promise." Daniel agreed without even asking what it was.
He seemed eager, as if afraid that a second later, Scarlett would take back this chance at compensation.
Scarlett nodded, "Then promise me you'll be a good ex-husband from now on."
Daniel's chest sank. He reached up and tugged hard at his tie.
"Good ex-husband? But we're not officially divorced yet!"
"That's why I'm asking you. I don't care, you just promised me anyway."
Scarlett frowned and huffed lightly. This little temper of hers was so much better than her earlier detached, numb appearance.
Daniel's stern features softened, "What makes a good ex-husband?"
"Just stop constantly appearing in front of me and grant my wish to leave."
She didn't want him to keep shaking her resolve. She couldn't handle this kind of back and forth. She was afraid she'd turn back again, only to find herself falling into another abyss.
Daniel suddenly clenched his fists, his eyes full of bitterness.
He never thought that what she would finally ask of him was just to let her go, to let her leave him.
She was really good at using the most docile manner to say the cruelest things.
He didn't want to agree, but she had been innocent these four years.
She had been innocently trapped in the Wilson family, trapped in marriage.
She had been ignored by him, despised by others.
After four years of his coldness and neglect toward her, what right did he have to ask her to stay?
"Alright, I'll grant your wish."
After a long while, Daniel's Adam's apple bobbed as he spoke in a hoarse voice.
"Thank you, Daniel."
Scarlett smiled. With that, she turned and opened the car door, getting out directly.
Daniel watched her resolute retreating figure, his eyes gradually filling with bloodshot lines like cracks in a spider web.
He suddenly closed his eyes.
He had granted her wish, but who would grant his unwillingness and regret?
What Daniel didn't know was that the moment Scarlett got out of the car, the calm and nonchalance she had forced onto her face had already crumbled.
How could she easily let it go?
She still remembered lying in that hospital bed, her body torn and aching, yet her heart held a secret, shameful sweetness.
She thought maybe it was for the best—by some twist of fate, she had become Daniel's woman. Perhaps this was destiny.
It was heaven's mercy, giving her a chance to tell the person she deeply loved about the feelings she had always buried in her heart and never dared to speak.
She looked forward to Daniel coming to see her. She would definitely be brave and confess to him, tell him she wasn't sad at all, tell him she had actually liked him for a long time.
Not the kind of liking between family members, but the kind between a man and a woman.
But she didn't wait for Daniel. Instead, she heard that he refused to face her, and after being whipped bloody by Magnolia, he went abroad.
By then, Scarlett's physical wounds had long healed, but that's when she truly felt her body being torn apart.
Later, she gathered her courage to call him, but could never reach him.
When he finally answered her call and she tried to explain what happened that night, all she got was his cold mockery.
His tone was exactly the same as those who mocked and scorned her.
He wouldn't believe her either. He even said her feelings disgusted him, called her fake.
Even so, she still refused to give up, shamelessly clinging to him and waiting for him for four years.
Everything was so vivid. Too many grievances, pain, and disappointments flooded her heart, and tears fell to the ground.
All those tears warned her—she must not turn back!