Only Realized After Losing You

54. Nine Fingers

Had Lennon also been fascinated by the advertisement “Ellie, the mute who listens to others”?

What was the secret of the man who only looked down on others arrogantly?

He seemed more carefree than anyone else.

Hayden wanted to know Lennon’s secret.

No, he had to know Lennon’s secret.

Only then would he be able to surpass the eldest son, Lennon, and become the next Duke of the Hills.

If Hayden could bring Lennon to his knees, would it make up for all the misery he went through because of Lennon?

“…….”

Hayden stopped thinking about the past and got up from his seat.

The sky had darkened before he knew it, but he still put his clock on and pulled the hood over his head.

Then Hayden left the Duke of Hills’ mansion and headed to Ellie’s house.

Hayden didn’t take a carriage.

It wasn’t a long walk from the Duke of Hills’ mansion to Ellie’s mansion.

As he walked down the dark street, Hayden thought about what he had come to know about her.

The other day, he overheard a conversation between Ellie’s father and a man.

Hayden had secretly sought Ellie out that day.

Because at the banquet at the Hills Duchy, he saw Ellie there as Lennon’s partner.

However, what he heard that day were shocking words.

‘… Is it possible to make one blind without any defects on the outside?’

‘Is it possible to have surgery to remove the eye as soon as tomorrow?’

Hayden was shrewd.

He recognized the implications of the conversation immediately.

Ellie’s father, who had discovered the taste of money, wanted to make her the perfect doll.

Into a mute who could only listen.

What a wretched human being, Hayden thought.

Of course, he didn’t think of himself as a good person either. But he didn’t think he was evil, either.

But he was convinced that Ellie’s father was evil.

He was angry.

It was the first time in his life that he was angry regarding a woman he didn’t know well.

What happened to her had nothing to do with him…

Despite that, his head was pounding.

He wanted to get Ellie out of there right away.

He wanted to help her without any strings attached.

Even he couldn’t quite understand why he felt that way.

Did he have some kind of affection for Ellie, for the way she genuinely listened to him?

Hayden had plenty of money.

It was not difficult for him to care for a poor woman until they died.

But…

‘I’ll help you get out of here.’

Hayden made an offer to Ellie.

If she told him Lennon’s secret, he’d help her get out of there.

‘I’ll be back tomorrow. I hope you will give me a chance tomorrow.’

He even gave her a day’s grace.

But Hayden was determined to help her, even if she didn’t tell him Lennon’s secret.

After all, she was the only woman who made him feel at ease.

The kiss he shared with Ellie wasn’t too bad.

She was also the first woman who made him realize that kissing a woman was actually decent.

The thought of her being crippled by someone else’s greed disturbed him.

But the next day, Ellie disappeared suddenly.

Only her bum-like father was in the house.

‘That bitch… ran away without even being grateful that I raised her.’

He told her he’d give her time to think about it… And yet she ran away?

Hayden seemed to know why she had run away.

She must have fled from her father, who was trying to cripple her.

When Hayden learned of her disappearance, he felt anger.

He wasn’t afraid that Ellie would leak his secrets.

Hayden still had an odd conviction that she would keep his secret to herself.

Despite his temptations, Ellie had kept Lennon’s secret to the end.

There was no way she would divulge his secrets. He was convinced.

Even if she did speak again, the chances of her divulging his secret were extremely slim.

It was just a feeling.

Some people had an uncanny sense of certainty just through feeling.

Hayden was angry for a different reason.

Ellie didn’t ask him for help and ran away alone.

Hayden couldn’t fathom why she hadn’t reached out to him.

Would he never see her again?

Where had he gone?

… It was hopeless.

Not being able to see her, not being able to talk to her, it was horrible.

Then Hayden remembered the pistol he had hidden in a drawer.

Hayden had given an order to Ellie’s father that day.

‘Find her again by any means necessary. I’ll pay you any amount of money you like if you find her.’

Of course, Hayden was secretly investigating her whereabouts.

He even met people that looked like her.

He met other mute women and tried to confide in them.

But there was not a single woman who gave him the same warmth that Ellie had given him. It was a shame.

There was one more sad thing.

Even today, he had no idea where she was.

So he was on his way to visit Ellie’s father, just in case.

The more he thought about her, the more desperate he became.

By the time he finished reminiscing about the past, he had arrived at Ellie’s house.

Hayden’s silver eyes lingered on Ellie’s flower garden.

The little flower garden, which had been nicely maintained, had fallen into disarray since she disappeared.

The seedling shovel was strewn haphazardly on the soil, and the soil had been dug up and messed around.

It was a testament to her absence.

Hayden tore his gaze away from the garden and opened the front door of the house.

The door opened smoothly. It was unlocked.

As soon as he entered the house, Hayden’s face fell.

The stench of alcohol stung his nostrils.

He knew right away who it was.

Hayden’s gaze landed on a man sitting at the kitchen table with his head bowed.

On the table was a glass of strong rum that he had just consumed.

The man was Ellie’s father.

Hayden stepped closer to him.

“…Hey.”

Her father was so drunk that he couldn’t keep his head straight.

“Hmph… Who are you?”

Hayden said, taking off his hood.

“Hayden Hills.”

At Hayden’s introduction, he finally looked up at Hayden’s face.

His head bobbed up and down, and Hayden was almost glad that he hadn’t blacked out.

“Oh, huh. What brings you to this shabby place this late at night, Hayden?”

Hayden said only what he wanted to say.

Whether this asshole was drunk or otherwise was none of his business.

“Did you find Ellie?”

“Don’t even talk about it. Hmph. I don’t know where they took her… where she ended up… I trusted that bitch and quit my job. Heh.”

Hayden ran a hand through his hair roughly.

The smell of alcohol was terrible in the house. Ellie’s father was also drunk.

He hadn’t been able to find her even now. Even his confession that he couldn’t find her…

Everything irritated him and he was angry.

Hayden couldn’t help but take his anger on someone.

He reached out with one hand and put it around her father’s throat in a vicious chokehold.

Her father was much larger, but he struggled to breathe, unable to escape Hayden’s grasp.

“Oh, oh, Hayden!”

“Don’t call my name, you foul-smelling snout.”

Hayden wanted to kill Ellie’s father as it was.

He had no control over his seething anger.

If I kill him, will my anger subside?

Ellie’s father was struggling, as if he was about to pass out.

Hayden used the arm that wasn’t strangling him to fumble around.

In his hand was a dagger with an uncharacteristically familiar edge.

It was the same dagger he’d held to the end of Ellie’s throat before to threaten her.

Hayden let go of his stranglehold.

“Ugh!”

Her father gasped for air and placed his hand on the table.

Almost simultaneously, Hayden’s hand closed tightly against her father’s wrist.

It was then that Hayden’s other hand, the one with a dagger, was raised into the air.

The dagger sliced down squarely on her father’s pinky finger.

His pinky finger was cleanly severed.

The table was covered in dark red blood and a little finger that had lost its owner.

Ellie’s father let out a horrified scream.

“Agh!”

“Shut up, be quiet, you won’t die from a finger being cut off.”

Hayden wiped the bloody dagger on the hem of her father’s robe.

Then he slipped the dagger back into his clothing as if nothing had happened.

His demeanor was too nonchalant for someone who had just cut off someone’s finger.

As if this wasn’t the first time it had happened.

In a fit of rage, Hayden had cut off one of her father’s fingers, but his anger did not subside.

“If you disappoint me next time, I’m going to cut off all nine of your fingers.”

Hayden meant it.

If he had to kill her father to find out where she was, Hayden was willing to do it.

As he left Ellie’s mansion, the words flashed through Hayden’s mind.

‘I don’t know where they took her… where she ended up…’

“… They.”

The one that intercepted Ellie.

Hayden wanted to find them as much as she did.