Chapter 25 Playing Edith
He let out a low snarl and lunged toward the bed, slamming his palm against the metal rail.
Caroline jerked, her whole body going rigid. Her pupils shrank to pinpoints.
Her fragile hallucination shattered like glass. Reality came crashing back, cold and merciless.
The man in front of her was nothing like the Alexander from her memories—the one who used to smile so gently.
This Alexander was the mob boss who hated her guts. Cold. Ruthless.
The devil who stripped away her dignity with the cruelest words imaginable.
And she… she was just Caroline.
The woman who had killed her sister. The failure who could not even protect Edith's things.
Filthy. Unworthy of warmth or hope. A shell barely clinging to life…
What had she just said? What had she done?
A baby? With Alexander?
Shame hit her like a plunge into icy water.
Alexander glared at her, his eyes promising violence. Rage and disgust filled his chest.
But what he could not accept—what made him sickest—was the flicker of anticipation he had felt when she said those words.
And he knew it was not because she had sounded like Edith.
It was because of her. Caroline herself.
How could he even think that?
She was a criminal. The most repulsive woman he had ever known.
After a long silence, Alexander spun around, turning his back on her. His voice was laced with contempt.
"Looks like the fire didn't kill you. Just fried your brain."
"Caroline, remember who you are. You're a criminal. A tool for atonement. Nothing more. Don't you dare think otherwise."
"Say something that disrespects Edith again… and I won't hesitate to make you into a real lunatic."
He did not wait for a response. He strode to the door, yanked it open, and left without looking back.
The door slammed shut behind him.
Caroline lay frozen on the bed. She did not move. Did not even blink.
Only the tears came, streaming silently from her empty eyes, trailing down her temples and soaking into her hair.
Repulsive thoughts…
Yes. She really had lost her mind.
To have such a ridiculous hallucination. To say something so vile.
She really could not do anything right.
Even her breakdown was clumsy. Disgusting.
She stayed rigid, staring at the cold white light on the ceiling.
She felt her soul slowly detaching from this broken body, drifting toward some void where there was no pain, no memory.
She did not know how much time passed before the door opened again. A sickly sweet perfume wafted in before the person did.
Caroline's eyes shifted slightly, but she did not turn her head.
She knew who it was.
That scent was like thick honey coating a needle of poison. Every time, it found a way to pierce her heart.
Celeste stopped beside the bed.
"Caroline, are you feeling better? Alex asked me to check on you."
Caroline did not respond.
Check on her?
More like check how pathetic she looked. How broken. How she was rotting in humiliation and despair.
Celeste did not seem to mind the silence. She sat down in the chair beside the bed.
"That really scared me earlier." Celeste pressed a hand to her chest, her face the picture of lingering shock.
"Caroline, how could you say something like that? You wanted to have a baby with Alex? My God, Caroline, are you… completely delusional? So shameless." Her tone was steeped in scorn.
Caroline's body tensed, just barely.
"I know you've been suffering. Blaming yourself." Celeste sighed.
"Losing Edith hit you so hard. Sometimes having… inappropriate thoughts is understandable."
She paused, then added with deliberate weight:
"You and Edith look so much alike. Sometimes even I get confused."
What was she implying?
Caroline's heart skipped.
Then, slowly, it clicked.
Right. She and Edith were twins. Twins were supposed to look alike.
Even though their personalities and tastes were completely different, that similar face did not lie.
Caroline finally reacted. She turned her head stiffly and looked at Celeste, staring straight into that sweet face.
Celeste seemed uncomfortable under her gaze, but quickly recovered, her expression full of concern again.
She leaned forward, her voice low and coaxing.
"Caroline, have you ever thought… maybe this isn't a bad thing?"
Caroline's pupils tightened slightly.
Celeste's lips curved into an ambiguous smile as she continued.
"Look, Edith is gone. But Alex still loves her. Still misses her. You're her only sister. The person closest to her. And you look so much like her… Sometimes, comforting Alex in her place, easing his pain—wouldn't that be a way to atone?"
Comfort Alex… in her place?
As atonement?
What exactly was Celeste suggesting?
That she use this face—the one that looked like Edith's—to satisfy Alexander?
To be Edith's replacement? And call it 'atonement'?
"You…" Caroline's cracked lips trembled.
She stared at the undisguised malice in Celeste's eyes. An emotion she thought she had buried long ago—anger—surged up from deep in her chest.
But Celeste acted like she did not see the fire in Caroline's eyes. If anything, she became more earnest.
"Caroline, I'm trying to help you. Look at yourself. What's the difference between you now and being dead? Alex hates you. Your parents don't want you. Everyone despises you."
"But if you could… let go of a little pointless pride. Learn to act like Edith…"
She reached out, as if to touch Caroline's face.
The gesture was gentle. The look in her eyes was ice-cold.
"Maybe you could still find a place for yourself in that apartment. Even if it's just as a stand-in, at least you'd still be alive. Isn't that better than this? Better than being half-dead?"
Her fingers were about to brush Caroline's cheek when Caroline jerked her head away.