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Xavier froze for a while. He had tried his best to recall it, but he drew a blank.
“Xavier?” Josiah was worried that something had happened to Xavier when he noticed his unfocused
eyes, so he gently patted his arm. “It’s fine if you can’t remember. Just get well first.”
“No!” Xavier did not want to end the topic just yet. He grabbed Josiah’s arm. “It’s true that I don’t
remember much about what happened after Yulissa showed me the video, but”—Xavier drew his brows
together—“you know that Jacinta’s words can’t be fully trusted. I’m still looking into her.”
“I know,” Josiah answered. “We haven’t come to a conclusion for the fire at the Fairchild residence yet.
Even now, I still think of Jacinta as a suspect. But, Xavier, as I said, I was walking in front of Rachel
back then, and Winnie came down soon after me. Just as she came out, Christopher fell onto the roof
of the car. She asked Christopher about it. Although Jacinta’s words can’t be fully trusted, Christopher
said your name. As far as I know, Christopher was an honest man. Do you think he would lie before he
died?”
Xavier looked at Josiah in silence. A few seconds later, he frowned and asked, “Do you also think that I
pushed Christopher off? Do you think I killed him on purpose?”
“That’s not what I’m saying, Xavier! Calm down,” Josiah replied. “I just want to figure out what
happened back then. You were involved, but you can’t remember anything, and we can’t trust Jacinta’s
words. That’s why the only thing we can do now is to reason. No one knows what happened—whether
it was you who made a mistake or it was someone else who pushed Christopher off. We know none of
this right now.”
“What about Yulissa?” Xavier’s frown deepened. “Is she saying the same things as Jacinta?”
“She… killed herself. You don’t remember it, but she and Christopher are dead. Jacinta’s the only
witness now.” Josiah sighed. “But don’t worry. Even if you did push Christopher off, it’s understandable.
After all, you were in a terrible mental state at that time. You were a victim too.”
A beat later, Josiah asked, “What did Yulissa show you that made you lose control?”
“She said…” Xavier started, Yulissa’s words ringing in his head again.
She had said that Christopher and Winnie were willing to give up on their dignity for each other and that
the two of them had made a promise to be together in their next lives.
She even said that he had been cuckolded a long time ago. Without him, Winnie and Christopher
would have been together.
She also told him that everything Christopher did was to separate him and Winnie and that Christopher
wanted him gone from this world.
That was not all. In the end, she even told him that as long as he pushed Christopher off the building
and killed him, Winnie would be his alone.
Those were the things he could remember Yulissa telling him. What happened after that was
something he could not remember at all.
“I think I took a look at the video at that time. I saw Dumbo hugging Christopher, and Christopher
wasn’t wearing any clothes. I was really…” Xavier could not continue as he tightened his fists. Seconds
of silence later, he suddenly said to Josiah, “I’ll turn myself in.”
“What?” Josiah, who was still reeling in from the shock, was snapped back to reality by Xavier’s words.
“Why would you turn yourself in?” Regardless of everything, Josiah was on Xavier’s side. “I told you
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtthat you were a victim too. You can’t be legally prosecuted for what happened while you were mentally
unstable. If we go by the books, even if you want to turn yourself in, you can’t do it in Avenport. You’ll
have to go to Yeringham in Manchernius instead.”
“Is… that so?” Xavier stiffened for a second before curling his lips into a bitter smile. “Do me a favor
and ask Professor White whether or not the drug Yulissa injected me will affect my intellect.”
Josiah’s jaw dropped. “I don’t think there’s any issues with your intellect if you can say that. Still, what
prompted you to think that? Do you know how serious things will be if you turn yourself in?”
“What prompted me to think that?” Xavier wondered out loud. “It’s because it’s very likely that I was the
one who pushed him. If that’s the truth, I’ll have to bear the responsibility for that. Even Christopher
himself said my name.”
“Then maybe…” Josiah did not wish to suspect Christopher’s involvement, but he could not truly
dismiss that possibility either. “Maybe he said that on purpose. As Yulissa said, he wanted to sow
discord between you and Winnie. That’s not completely impossible, is it?”
Xavier fell silent. He did not know the answer to that. Christopher was dead, and the dead could not
prove his innocence.
Josiah fell silent as well. Truth be told, he did not wish to do mindless guessing, but Xavier being the
culprit was a genuine possibility.
All of a sudden, a firm female voice rang out, breaking the silence in the air.
“That’s impossible. He would never do that. I have faith in him!”
Xavier recognized the voice even before the owner of the voice entered. He quickly got out of bed and
hurried to the doorway.
“Winnie!” Xavier pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly. “You’re finally here. I miss you so
much.”
Winnie, however, did not respond to the hug.
She looked past Xavier’s shoulders and met Josiah’s eyes.
As she stared at him, she hissed, “He’s dead, so can you stop the mindless guessing?”
Josiah did not see her scolding coming, and he frowned in response.
“I just refuse to believe that Xavier was the one who pushed Christopher off. I don’t mean to tarnish
Captain Bennett’s reputation; I’m only mentioning one of the many possibilities.”
Winnie closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. “Then I’ll tell you one more time that it is
impossible.”
Josiah tried to hold himself back, but he failed. “So you’re telling me that Christopher is the only one
who speaks the truth? Am I not even allowed to point out a possibility? If you believe in Christopher’s
words, that means you think Xavier was the one who pushed him off. Is that what it is?”
Rage suddenly crashed into Josiah like a tidal wave as he continued, “I know you’ve experienced some
things with Christopher—even life-and-death moments. But here’s the thing, Winnie. You, Xavier, and I
have been through life-and-death moments too. When you wanted to head to that place to save your
granny, Xavier and I went without a word of complaint. Do the perilous situations we’ve been through
and the injuries Xavier and I sustained mean nothing to you? Are we not worthy of your trust? Xavier’s
head hasn’t properly recovered, and I’m still in a wheelchair. Yes, Christopher’s dead, but can only the
dead gain your unwavering trust?”
Winnie had been overwhelmed with fury earlier when she heard Josiah’s harsh words toward
Christopher despite the latter’s tragic death. That was why she had been equally harsh with Josiah.
She did not consider the consequences and did not expect Josiah’s response to be that bad.
Taking in a deep breath, she said, “I’m sorry. It’s not that I don’t believe you, I just feel bad. I can’t help
the negative emotions from seeping out of me.”
Josiah, too, felt that he had made a mountain out of a molehill, as Xavier did not even say anything.
A pause later, Josiah said, “Enjoy your talk. I’ll excuse myself now. Anything I say is wrong anyway.”
With that, he wheeled himself out of the ward.
Winnie turned to look at him. There were some things she wanted to say to him to diffuse the tension
between them, but she was not in the mood to do that just yet.
After Josiah left, Xavier and Winnie were the only ones left in the ward.
Xavier had already let go of Winnie when Winnie began arguing with Josiah.
Now that Josiah was gone, Xavier did not hold himself back from staring at Winnie in silence.
Winnie lifted her head to glance at Xavier before helping him sit up from the bed.
However, Winnie remained standing.
Seeing that, Xavier held her hand to guide her to sit down beside him.
Winnie continued to stay quiet, her silence fueled by guilt.
Not long after she returned, the police had come to get a statement from her.
She and Christopher had sent important information back to the government when they were at
Harold’s place, but Christopher had been missing in action since then. That was why the police had
come to her.
Her time with the police was not only to authenticate the information they had given to them, but they
also ended up talking about Christopher’s missing status as well.
Winnie chose to be selfish about the matter.
She lied to the police, saying that she saw Christopher falling off the building, and didn’t tell them what
Jacinta said.
She said she knew nothing and heard nothing. All she knew was that the scene on the rooftop had
been chaotic and that many people had died at that time. She was uncertain how Christopher had
ended up falling off the building.
As the incident happened overseas, the local police could not file an investigation in Avenport, and that
was how Winnie removed Xavier’s involvement from the incident.
Winnie could not deny that she was selfish. She wanted to keep her loved ones safe. Even if she had a
second chance to make things right, she might choose to do the same thing.
Still, guilt would fill her insides. She felt sorry for Christopher, and that was why she could not bear to
hear Josiah talk badly about Christopher.
At that moment, looking at Xavier only made her feel worse, so much so that when Xavier lowered his
head to kiss her, tears rolled down her cheeks, and she moved away.
Xavier was startled by her action, but he soon came back to his senses.
“Even if I had pushed Christopher off the building when I wasn’t myself, you still couldn’t face me, could
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmyou?”
Winnie looked at Xavier, her eyes red. “I know you definitely didn’t mean it. I know you were a victim
too, but you’re right. I don’t think I can face you right now, and I don’t think I can face myself either.”
After that, she choked out, “I just came back from the police station after spending almost five days
there. I’m tired; I want to rest. You… You should rest too.”
She then stood up, planning to leave.
Xavier could understand what Winnie felt at that moment.
If he were to put himself in her shoes, no matter how much he loved her, he might not be able to bring
himself to face her for a while if she were to lose control of herself and kill Josiah.
Although he couldn’t control his illness when he pushed Christopher off the building, he still wouldn’t
forgive a mentally ill person who killed his friend or family easily.
Any normal person would hate the crazy culprit. Even if the law were to give the culprit a verdict of not
guilty, a normal person would still be cursing death to the culprit until their last breath on Earth.
Xavier told himself that, at that very moment, what he should do was let her go and let her rest. If
needed, the two of them would stay separated for a period of time.
However, he could barely bring himself to do that.
He was already reluctant to see Winnie go just as she took two steps away from him.
In the end, his emotions won his rationality, and he abruptly hugged Winnie from behind.
As he wrapped his arms around her, his chest constricted, refusing to let any fresh air into his lungs.
“Winnie,” Xavier breathed. The sorrow in his eyes was obvious to the naked eye. “You’ve never even
asked if I’m fine since you entered the room. Do I no longer hold a place in your heart? The first thing I
did when I woke up was to look for you. Grandpa told me that the police took you away, and Josiah told
me that I might have accidentally killed Christopher. He told me you saw Christopher falling right next to
you. I even thought about turning myself in because I wanted to see you, even if it means that I’ll be at
the police station. Winnie, my head hurts. You came in and started talking to Josiah, but you never
even talked to me. I didn’t have the chance to ask you anything too. How is your arm? Does it still hurt?
How did you leave back then? How have you been these days? Have you been eating well? Have you
been sleeping well?”
Winnie’s tears fell. She turned around and buried her face in Xavier’s chest.
“I want to talk to you. I want to pretend that those things never happened. Love is selfish. The love I
have for you triumphs over my friendship with Christopher. To me, you’re more important than him. But
he’s dead; he’s gone, and I can’t get over that yet. I know why you lost control that day. It’s because of
the video Yulissa showed you. I know that some of my words in the video will upset you, but I didn’t
betray you. He was dying, and I couldn’t bear to let him die without getting his peace. If this was why
you pushed him, then this whole thing is my fault. I was the one who said those words that made you
lose control. I feel horrible, Xavier. I’ve never felt as horrendous as this in my life. It feels as if I’ve fallen
into the abyss. In fact, I also accepted a mission from Wilhelm when we were in Jipsdale. I’m planning
to make a trip back to Yartran in the next few days. I need to give my family an explanation about that
missing badge. Take care of yourself when I’m not around.”
With that, Winnie wiped her tears away and turned to leave the ward.
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