Eira’s shoulders shook violently with every cough as she struggled to endure the pain in her chest and the burning sensation in her throat. She stood hunched over the sink—coughing up flower petals mixed with blood that seemed to be tearing at her throat.
The moment her coughing subsided, she stared at her reflection in the mirror. Her face was as pale as a corpse’s.
Her dazed gaze then shifted to the pool of blood and cherry blossom petals in the sink before her hand reached for the faucet and turned it on, letting what had just come out of her body flow down the drain.
The sound of her short, labored breaths filled the silence of the bathroom.
“Why?” Eira murmured. Her throat was too sore to speak aloud. “Why am I alive if only to be given this deadly pain?” she continued quietly.
There was a sense of anger at her fate, which consistently denied her happiness. Yet Eira only wanted to love Kael. But there was too much she had to pay to hope that Kael would love me just as much.
“WHY?!” Eira screamed at her reflection in the mirror, ignoring the burning pain that assaulted her.
But then her throat felt unbearably itchy again, causing her to cough once more and expel the same two things.
Blood and those damned cherry blossoms.
“Eira, can you go out onto the street if you want to scream like that?!”
Eira’s body jolted upon hearing Kael’s voice from outside her room. She quickly washed her hands and then rushed out to meet Kael.
“Are you crazy?! It’s rush hour, and you’re screaming like that?!” Kael scolded.
Eira bowed her head deeply and said, “I’m sorry.” That was all she could manage to say at the moment.
“If you’re so bored, just sell yourself and make some money instead of screaming like that. At least your moans would make money and lighten my load, damn it!” Kael cursed as he walked away, leaving Eira behind.
Hearing that, Eira felt as if she’d forgotten how to breathe the oxygen around her. It was as if thorny roots were tightening their grip on her heart and sprouting more and more cherry blossom petals for her to expel with excruciating pain.
Coughing up blood and those petals was truly bringing her closer to death.
Hanahaki.
That was how the disease deeply rooted in Eira’s body worked.
Hanahaki arose from unrequited love. Or more precisely, because Eira loved a man who hated her. The more Kael showed his hatred, the worse Eira’s condition became.
“Do you really want to stand there all day, you damn woman?”
Eira’s reverie was shattered. She immediately walked off to the kitchen to prepare breakfast before Kael left for the office.
But before her feet had even reached the kitchen, the loud ringing of the doorbell stopped her. Eira quickly turned to open the door for the guest who had arrived at the crack of dawn.
Eira’s eyes widened when she saw the familiar face standing at her front door.
“Hi,” she greeted her warmly.
A smile spread across Eira’s face as her mind processed the woman standing before her. Without a second thought, she immediately hugged the woman.
“Alice, you’re here!” she exclaimed happily.
Alice just rolled her eyes in annoyance at Eira’s reaction—that she was actually happy to see her. Reluctantly, she returned the hug before finally gently pushing Eira away.
Eira couldn’t hide the joy on her face. She was so happy to see her old friend—the only person who had ever made her feel like life was worth living while at Silvermoon Academy.
A dormitory for children abandoned by their parents due to the clan war.
“How are you, Alice? Did you come to visit me?” Eira asked.
Alice replied with an awkward smile while holding out two items to Eira.
“I’m sorry, Eira, for coming to your husband’s house without permission. Actually, I came to return your husband’s tie and belt,” she said.
When her eyes caught sight of the two items Alice was holding out, the smile on Eira’s face vanished instantly. Her mind raced, trying to figure out how her husband’s belongings had ended up with Alice.
The tie and belt
For some reason, her gaze shifted back to Alice. Her eyes scanned Alice’s outfit and her makeup.
So beautiful and sexy.
“Mr. Valerius left them at the hotel,” Alice explained without being asked.
“Ah, I see. Are you working as a hotel employee now?” Eira asked innocently.
Alice’s smile widened—cunningly. “Haha… no,” she replied.
Eira tried to think positively about what had happened between Alice, her husband, and the two items left behind at the hotel. But it seemed her dark thoughts were taking over.
“Where is Mr. Valerius?” Alice asked, peering inside the large house.
“What were you doing with my husband?” Eira asked, unable to contain her curiosity. However, she was afraid to hear the honest answer from her best friend.
Alice looked down on Eira. Judging Eira’s appearance as so disheveled and boring. On the other hand, she thought it was only natural that Kael would choose to seek entertainment with another woman if the woman in his own house couldn’t make him happy.
“What else? Of course, we’re having fun.”
Eira and Alice immediately turned toward the source of the voice, where Kael walked in and joined them, dressed neatly and ready for work.
Without so much as a glance at Eira, Kael roughly snatched the tie and belt from Eira’s hands and took both items with him.
“So, you were with This Slut all night, Kael?” Eira asked, her voice trembling.
“Yes.”
“I am a whore. So, I was just serving your husband as part of my job as a whore,” Alice replied casually.
“And I have the money to pay Alice,” Kael added as he stepped out of the house, while wrapping his arm around Alice.
Eira stood frozen in place, watching the two of them walk away from her affectionately. Her heart was shattered after realizing that Kael wasn’t just sleeping with another woman, but also a woman she knew well.
Her friend, whom Eira always turned to, was like home.