He Chose Her, So I Jumped Chapter 08

He Chose Her, So I Jumped Chapter 08

Marceline chased him outside, but people on the street recognized her and immediately began

shouting.

“Murderer! How dare you show your face? A life for a life: You should die to pay for hers.”

“She’s a vicious, ungrateful snake. That family raised her, and she repaid them by stabbing them in

the back. Disgusting.”

“Exactly. Even death would be too easy for someone like her. She belongs in the deepest pit of hell.”

The shouting swelled. Rotten vegetables and spoiled eggs rained down on her from every direction

Filthy from head to toe, she fled in humiliation.

The next second, police cruisers pulled up. Several officers stepped out and locked handcuffs

around her wrists.

“You’re suspected of inciting online harassment that resulted in multiple deaths. You need to come

with us to the police station for questioning.”

Her reputation was utterly destroyed. No one even knew whether she would walk out of the police station again.

Julian didn’t fare much better. He was branded the cheating bastard who slept with his girlfriend’s

best friend, and the public hatred was enough to drown him.

He lost his job, and fleeing the country was out of the question. He couldn’t even buy a plane ticket.

They both received the punishment they deserved. My spirit could finally rest.

By then, Cassian had boarded a train straight to Redstone Valley. Before leaving, he donated every

asset he owned.

The money went to the impoverished mountain communities and the children who needed it most.

He also accepted a position there as a volunteer teacher. With his overseas doctorate, he was more than qualified.

He would spend the rest of his life surrounded by rugged red earth, repaying his sins in that barren place.

Before leaving Ravenwood Heights, he visited Willowmere Memorial Gardens.

He leaned against my gravestone for a long time, weeping without end.

“I’m sorry. I destroyed your life with my own hands.”

“Elowen, I’ve owed you that apology for four years. If I could…”

His voice broke off before he could finish.

Every word carried his guilt and unwillingness to let go, but it was far too late for any of it.

A cold gravestone stood between us. Death had divided us forever.

No amount of remorse could cross that distance. He would have to wait until his own death to say

the rest.

It rained again on the day he left, soaking Cassian’s clothes.

He went to Redstone Valley, just as he had promised, and put down roots there.

He poured every ounce of guilt he carried for me into serving that land.

Life as a volunteer teacher was hard. The local families respected him and always offered him the best of whatever little they had.

But it was nothing like the comfort of life in Ravenwood Heights.

He lost a great deal of weight. Food was scarce, the cold cut through his clothes, and the hands that had once known only privilege became covered in calluses.

When he wasn’t teaching, he worked the land beside the local families.

He planted vegetables in the yard so he could feed himself.

Even drinking water had to be carried back from a well miles away.

Still, he showed no desire to return. He truly seemed determined to spend his life there.

Almost six months passed in the blink of an eye.

I knew the day had come for me to leave.

On another rainy day, I slowly began to fade in front of Cassian.

As if he sensed something, he suddenly lifted his head, wiped the sweat from his brow, and stared toward me in silence.